Nintendo Wii Review: Madden 11 - Page 4

As another example, the net that catches field goals rises beautifully before an attempt, but it magically disappears after the attempt every single time.  If you are going to go to the trouble of making the net go up instead of just being there after selecting to go for a field goal why not have it go down as well?    

Additionally, there are a coupling of niggling problems with the commentary, delivered this year by Gus Johnson and Chris Collinsworth.  While we all know to expect a great deal of repeated phrases from our play-by-play and color commentators, Collinsworth suggesting that a 21 point lead is a "one-score game" is – if my understanding of how points are scored in football is in any way reality-based – ludicrous.  That's certainly not Collinsworth's fault, but it makes you hate him just a little bit when you have the game well in hand and he's jabbering on about how the computer can catch up by scoring some magical 21 point play.

These issues are all, on the whole, small things and the exact same sort of problem we've gotten used to seeing in Madden over the years.  However, that does not make them less distressing. 

GameFlow is the sort of addition that fans of the series will debate endlessly, and makes for a perfect selling point for the game ("this year we've completely revamped the way playcalling takes place!").  I, however, think that the game of football that Madden puts out on a yearly basis is a ton of fun and don't need to be convinced to buy the new version so I can get whatever difference they're putting forward from year to year.  Some of the changes are good and some of them are less than good, but I what I want is for it feel finished, to feel polished.  Rather than including tons of new animations for different things (and they did this year), fix the animations that are currently there (or not there, like the magical disappearing net).  The new animations look good, but they only make the problems with the old ones more glaring.

All of that being said, I still would probably buy this year's version over last year's.  The facelift Franchise mode has been given is fun, much like the rest of the game allowing for depth for those who want it and letting those who simply want to play season after season do that too (the advisors are largely ignorable if you win your games).  GameFlow isn't perfect, you do need to spend time customizing your play choices if you want to really use it successfully which kind of goes against the accessibility thing EA promotes.  However, I look forward to seeing how it gets tweaked down the line, it isn't great, but it hints at possible greatness in the future. 

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. …

Visit Josh Lasser's author page — Josh Lasser's Blog