Madden 10.

Well at least this time I'm a little more up to date, right? Haha. Well enjoy! And don't worry it's a positive review this time. But they probably aren't as fun, are they?

You know what got me into American Football? Manga. Yeah I said it, Manga. Eyeshield 21 is a manga recognised by the NFL and it taught me American Football. I generally disliked American Football being that I'm English and we're supposed to hate this game by default but when I started learning the rules and watching real life games I was in awe. Finally a sport that actually lived up to all the bold claims of sports fans who claim sports are so much more than men running up and down the field with a ball. And American Football is, it has discipline, tactics, it's a mental game as much as a physical one, amazing stuff (as far as sports go). So I HAD to get my hands on an American Football game!

And well the game turned out to be frustrating and hard but ultimately enjoyable. 

The difficulty comes in some truly baffling controls and a sports game tendency to overwhelm. I found Fifa hard to manage and most football players can really fit any role without much effort, American Football is a lot more role specific, requiring much closer management. 

The frustration reminds me a lot of racing games. I remember so many times I'd excitedly pull ahead, I'd have 30 seconds on the car behind me, one more bend and I win the race...OH NO! I went round the bend to fast, I crashed and now...I'm in last place. And at this point I'm screaming at the game to burn in hell and attempting to break my controller in half. Whether that is how it is in real life or not, I don't care. I don't feel happy or challenged, I feel punished. The AI makes tons of errors, but if I make one? Well then naughty corner for you! Sadly the same thing happens here. I've lost nearly every game so far by making seemingly small mistakes, a foul simply because I was tired of unskippable ref animations and my finger was already on the stick or pressing 'b' too many times so I end up choosing the wrong player and missing the catch, running the wrong way with the ball when I make an interception as everything kicks off, yes they're stupid mistakes I get that but when I make them, suddenly the enemy team AI kicks into over drive and I find my 13 point lead disappear into oblivion in just two plays from the enemy team, this isn't a challenge it's a punishment. It's like the games giving me a middle finger and saying, "You suck at this game!" I don't think I've ever been in the lead in the second half... 

But you just said it was 'ultimately enjoyable'! Yes and it is. Nothing beats the thrill of a good play, a good pass, an amazing push, a daring sprint and then a touch down. Nothing beats getting a sack and crushing every runner so they can never get more than two yards, it's truly thrilling. Nothing beats coming back from 14 points down to win the game. And games like this are MADE for playing with friends and all the silly mistakes they make. I once got a touch down from a fair catch as I ran the whole length of the field because my friend sucked at the game. It was hilarious. He still won in the end though, oddly enough.

So should you play it? Yeah, I think you should. Thanks to the general hecticness of all you have to do at once (a fault with most team based sports games not just this one) and some laggy and badly mapped default controls the learning curve can seem steep to noobs or foreigners like myself but maybe this doesn't affect fans of the series already. But once you get past this, all you have is thrills, truly fantastical moments and hours of multiplayer fun.


Think about it!


-Locke