Madden NFL 11: My Final Impressions - PlayStation 3 Preview at IGN

Madden NFL 11: My Final Impressions - PlayStation 3 Preview at IGN
The release of Madden is a momentous occasion each and every year. Not just because it's the only NFL-branded game of pigskin available, but also because -- for many of us -- it signals the beginning of the NFL season. I've spent the last two weeks playing the finished review build of Madden NFL 11 and I can say that those looking for a great game of football needn't look any further once August 10th rolls around.

There's a lot to like in Madden NFL 11, especially if you skipped out on this year's NCAA Football game. The amount of gameplay changes is impressive and permeates just about every aspect of the game. From the new strategy pad that houses your hot routes, coverage audibles and other abilities to the new dual analog stick control that lets you pivot your player's upper body to glance off hits and gain extra yardage, there's a lot of nuances that weren't in Madden NFL 10.

I have no doubt that some gamers will complain about some of these changes (such as the aforementioned strategy pad, which requires an extra button press to change an assignment), but the bulk of these additions do a great job of adding extra layers of depth to the gameplay.
Madden Intro Video

Probably my favorite and most-used new feature is the improved blocking. It's great to be able to trust your pulling guard or surging fullback to lay the proper blocks when you expect them to do so. Talented defensive linemen are still going to be able to shed blocks every now and again, as they should, but all in all you're going to have a much easier time trusting your lead blockers than you have in the past.

Of course, according to EA Sports marketing, it isn't the blocking that should excite you. Instead, it's the new GameFlow playcalling feature. This enables the artificial intelligence (AI) to handle all of your playcalling on both sides of the ball. You can use a feature called Gameplanning to organize a set of plays that the AI will pull from, but at the end of the day GameFlow is going to be calling your plays unless you elect to go the full list of plays as you've done in past years.

Using GameFlow means that games essentially fly by. You can finish a game in 20 minutes where before it would've taken 40. I still found flaws in the default GameFlow settings as the AI routinely called long-bomb streak plays even when I was in the red zone, but all I had to do to fix it was organize my own playbook (and yes, you can have multiple playbooks) within the Gameplanning feature to remedy the situation.

The other big new addition is Online Team Play that's actually fun. This one I really love. I wrote a preview on it yesterday, so check that out for information and videos. Just know that it's great and works better than you could've imagined.

All that said, there are still moments of frustration that creep into Madden's design. First of all, ball physics could've been better. Watching the ball bounce around the field and on different parts of a player model looks very artificial. All too often the ball will get caught on a piece of a player's body and will bounce around unrealistically. Also, as I've experienced in just about every Madden game in history, defensive backs are pretty incompetent when it comes to making interceptions. I'm not saying that it doesn't happen (I've thrown plenty of picks myself), but there are certainly too many situations when one of my professional, NFL-quality defensive backs would have an interception right in his hands, only to have the ball drop to the ground. If I make a mistake in the passing game, I should be punished and the same goes for the CPU.

NFC Pro Bowl Offense Video

Another fact that's certainly going to enrage Madden diehards out there is that the Online Franchise, Offline Franchise, and Superstar modes are all untouched from last year's game. In fact, the Franchise Mode even had the NFL Network's weekly show and halftime presentation removed from this year's game (or at least I haven't been able to find how to turn them on). I understand that the main goal was to streamline the experience, but I think some will miss the presentation element.

Thankfully there are quite a few new presentation touches to talk about. Close-up shots of enthused crowd members are great to see and Gus Johnson brings a lot of excitement to the commentary, even if it technically is as fragmented as ever. I'd really like to see EA Sports develop some new technology to deliver commentary, as this has been a problem for some time. You still get enthused remarks coupled with subdued statements that just don't fit together properly.

I think those people concerned with a better gameplay experience above all else will be pleased with what Madden NFL 11 brings to the table. GameFlow coupled with all of the gameplay refinements that NCAA Football enjoyed make this year's title a real treat to play, but if you want a bunch of added features to Online or Offline Franchise mode, you're going to be sorely disappointed.

Keep an eye out for our review on IGN.com as we inch closer to Madden NFL 11's August 10th release date on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation 2, PSP and iPhone.