Nintendo Wii Review: Madden 11 - Page 3

Gameplay itself unfolds exactly as you would expect from Madden on the Wii.  You can again opt to go with either simplified, arcade, controls or the expanded, conventional, ones and within those selections you can choose to either pass by pointing at the receiver and throwing or the more traditional method of selecting a receiver via one of the buttons and then throwing.  The graphics are little bit improved from last year and there are updated stadiums and uniforms. 

Whether or not the cartoony look that EA Tiburon has gone for the past couple of seasons works for you individually and whether you prefer a traditional controller setup and better graphics or not, the basic problem with Madden NFL 11 on the Nintendo Wii is that it feels almost unfinished.  Some menus require that you point with your Wii Remote and click, others give you the choice of using the D-pad or pointing, and still others only allow for the D-pad to be used.  Scrolling left-to-right to see a player's or a team's stats can be exceptionally frustrating depending on how large your TV is and how far you are from it. 

Beyond the controlling of movement in the menus though, the in-game experience is just a little lacking as well.  The biggest of these issues lies in the all-too-often occasion when you'll swear that you swung your arm up in the exactly correct fashion to give a decent if not spectacular kick, but the game will merely register your pushing of the button to initiate the kick and no swing (which provides force to the kick) whatsoever.

There are also issues in terms of playcalling.  If, while on offense, you see the defense come to the line and you decide to flip the play or call an audible, odds are you'll hit button to make the change too soon and all the choices will be grayed out.  Close the menu and then return and all the choices will be accessible, but you'll have wasted a few seconds on the play clock waiting for the game to catch up to you and that should never happen.  If you can see the defense and your players are, or nearly are, set you should be able to audible.

Article Author: Josh Lasser

Josh Lasser, formerly known as "TV and Film Guy," and complete with a Masters Degree in Critical Studies in said areas, gives his opinions on TV, Film, and Entertainment in general. All of which he does in a shameless attempt to try to get paid to do the exact same thing. …

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