The Rugby World Cup may have dominated local sporting coverage in recent weeks, but September also means the start of the NFL season and, as predictably as night follows day, that means a new Madden title.
Everything you need to know about the franchise’s success is in the way it’s referred to. There's no NFL 2012 here, or Pro Evolution Football 2012 for that matter, but simply Madden. No other sports franchise has come to dominate its market, or seep into popular culture, in the way this franchise has. The Madden curse (whereby for several years cover stars fell victim to season-wrecking injuries) is familiar to NFL fans who wouldn’t know a PlayStation 3 from an abacus, and the name John Madden itself is by now at least as closely tied to the world of gaming as it is to the Oakland Raiders teams he coached in the '70s.
Of course, familiarity breeds contempt, both from game designers who can afford to coast from year to year on a couple of minor tweaks, and from fans who might find it hard to care about yet another edition from such a venerable franchise. In any given year there is a solid chance the new Madden title will be a good game, without really being anything to get excited about. Changes are seldom so dramatic as to win new fans, while the avid player who can cope with out-of-date rosters can generally afford to skip a year or two of releases without really missing out.
So, will 2012 be the year that EA Sports buck this trend, or is it just business as usual for the Madden franchise?
Gameplay itself sees no radical departure from previous iterations of the franchise, but it remains enjoyable. The mix of strategy and action that defines the sport it is captured effectively, with increasingly savvy opposition AI making play-calling more and more vital. Importantly for the New Zealand market, this is complemented by coaching support that will give less knowledgeable players a fair idea of when one might want to use particular kinds of play. Another new feature is “dynamic player performance”, which simulates the ebb and flow of a players confidence and ability in-game. This means that less consistent players will experience hot and cold streaks when things start going right or wrong, while consistent players, even if less innately skilled, will present a safer pair of hands. It’s a good addition that should be a staple of all sports titles.
Of course, the game looks fantastic too, but while much of this is the standard buffing and polishing of graphics and menus that occurs from edition to edition, a real effort has also been made to enhance tackling animations in particular, making for more fluid, varied on-field action.
However, the improvements that have been made shine a light on the failings that have remained unaddressed. For example, utilising your QB as a runner a la Michael Vick is still unduly frustrating (even when playing as Michael Vick), while balancing the sliders and quarter lengths to secure statistically realistic games remains a science only one step beneath cracking the mysteries of time-travel. Blocking is also a little haphazard, with fullbacks in particular failing to cover their assignments in situations where they appear to have been ideally placed to do so.
Also disappointing is the commentary, which is disjointed and halting and presents some gratingly over-excited utterances in fairly dull moments of the game. This is a common complaint about sports titles, but one that bears repeating when considering the position of this franchise near the top of the sporting heap. It is, however, a small enough blight on an otherwise enjoyable and clearly, if not massively, improved on-field experience.
It is not the on-field action that has seen the most significant changes in Madden 2012 though. Instead, it is in franchise mode where this title stakes its claim to being worth your attention.
EA have taken several strides towards better capturing the complex back-room wheeling and dealing that goes along with drafting, trading and cutting players. It's now possible to offer up future draft picks as part of trade deals and partake in more competitive bidding wars for free-agents. The manner in which the squad must be cut back as the season develops is also increasingly realistic. This is made more challenging by the fact that player development is less predictable than in many previous Madden titles. Players are for more likely to rocket up or plummet down the depth chart from season to season, making decisions about the roster (particularly borderline rookies) all the more challenging.
The Superstar mode is perhaps less impressive. Player development is undertaken through a somewhat tedious points system enabling unrealistic player development that doesn’t necessarily reflect the manner in which a player was utilised to earn those points. Gain a lot of points dancing around tacklers, for example, and they can be used to strengthen a player’s ability to bulldoze the opposition. Logical? Not really. This aside, however, Superstar mode remains enjoyable with improved player creation options and notifications as the player approaches key NFL records. Overall, this mode of play remains enjoyable, but its ‘improvements’ are less convincing than those of the franchise mode.
Ultimately, for the dedicated NFL fan there are some indications EA has made an effort to upgrade their esteemed warhorse. A couple of small but worthy on-field improvements complemented by heightened realism in the back-room simulation aspects of the game make for an improved gaming experience.
None of this is likely to matter a jot to casual fans and the unconverted, or indeed those who shelled out good money for the 2011 title only a year ago, but for all the people out there that have played their copies of Madden 2010 or 2009 to death, it could well be enough to motivate a purchase.
However, it is hard not to think more could have been done to capitalise on the improvements that have been made and make this year’s Madden a milestone title. Instead Madden NFL 2012 is, well, ‘just’ another Madden title. As such, it is also hard not to think that the NFL, and gaming fans, might not be better served by some fresh blood in this niche of the market.
Cover-star Peyton Hillis has survived the first two games of the season without breaking anything though, so that’s nice.
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