Madden 2012 Review

The lockout has ended and the NFL preseason is here. That can only mean one thing:  It’s time for another iteration of EA Sports’ annual franchise, Madden Football.  EA Sports and Tiburon entered this year with a critically well-received Madden 2011 tucked under their belts. But like every year that passes, there are many others that clamor for something new, fresh, and evolutionary.  While some of these fans may not find Madden 12 to be the “rebirth” of the football genre, most should find this year’s game to be well crafted and very satisfying when they take a peek at some of the upgrades to many features that needed a little love in past versions of the series.

When “Madden Time” rolls around, my first question has been (and always will be): what new game play additions we can expect this year?  If you are looking for something brand new in Madden 12 you might be let down; however, this year’s game delivers numerous enhancements to some already established features.  Last year’s new collision system has been fine tuned in Madden 12 by eliminating any and all player suctioning and sliding between two players before the collision animations start, thus allowing more realistic blocking and tackling.  The defensive AI has been improved to allow for much better zone coverage, especially in the flats,  but I still find myself (at least once or twice per game) frustrated with my down field man-coverage blowing a big play because the AI decides to stop moving instead of swatting the ball down or going for the interception.

The improved collision system makes the running game much enjoyable than in past versions of the Madden franchise.  Your pulling guards and your blocking back’s AI have been improved as well and helps add to the game’s realism.  Instead of blocking only the defensive line and/or blitzing linebackers, your blockers will now trudge into the secondary and take out a free safety, allowing a simple halfback dive to go for six points if you follow your blocks well enough.

I was a fan of the GameFlow system last year, but found myself constantly being given the same plays over and over again in some cases.  This year, you still have the option of rummaging through your entire playbook or use the updated GameFlow playcalling system.  On defense, you now have the option to stick to your current game plan (which you can still fully modify), choose “conservative”, or send seven men blitzing by choosing the “aggressive” option.  On the offensive side, you can go with the normal game plan or automatically call for a pass or a run play.  This is probably one of my favorite new upgrades because it gives feeling that I have more control over the ball game instead of the system’s AI just handing me the play it “feels” I should be running next.

The biggest upgrade that was added this year has been the additions to the Franchise mode.  EA Sports looked to the community to see what the hardcore fans requested for this mode and the development team responded.  In the preseason, you have your expanded rosters that now need to be cut down by certain dates in order to move forward to the next week.  You don’t like how your 2nd team quarterback played in the week 2 preseason game?  Cut him from the team and pick up someone using the updated free agency system.  This time around your are bidding against the other 31 teams in the league.  If another team outbids you, then give a better offer, but keep a keen eye on your salary cap because you are going to need some room to sign on rookies the following year. Also, scouting rookies has been broken down into several sections.  You can now scout numerous players throughout the regular season, pro days, the NFL Combine, and individual workouts. During these stages, you slowly unlock their ratings. So when the NFL Draft arrives, you get to find out if you have scouted out the next Tom Brady or the league’s next Matt Leinart.

Another addition to this year’s Franchise mode is Dynamic Player Performance.  This allows the players’ ratings to be slightly different on a week-to-week basis.  If my Drew Brees has a bad game, he will go into next week  on a cold streak making his skills and overall rating a bit lower than usual and the opposite is true when a player is on a hot streak.  These player streaks are somewhat evident in the game play, but unfortunately the newly introduced player roles and traits do not give off the same desired effect.  There are numerous special roles and abilities given to most players, but I hardly felt like they made much of a difference in-game.  For example, I had a couple bad weeks with my starting running back and he developed the “Fumble Prone” role, but in the 2-game stretch of earning that negative role, that running back never fumbled once.  Now, overall, I am glad that I never experienced that misfortune, but it would have been interesting to see my player suffer from that trait at least once.

Other features like team practices, changing teams mid-season, improved draft class importing,  and injured reserved placement are all welcome additions that allow this year’s franchise mode to be the most robust and improved area of Madden 12 to date.

My #1 gripe this year still comes from the presentation, but let me start with the good first.  EA Sports teamed up with two cinematographers from NFL Films this year to record true-to-life camera angles and scenes that we see on Sunday.  Authentic team entrances, players celebrating on the sidelines, or a coach talking to their quarterback before the first drive are all filmed in fantastic steady-cam fashion.  Kickoffs and field goals are also shot in the same angle we see on television, thus giving Madden 12 some of the best minute-to-minute presentation to date.  Alas, my disappointment arises in the same area every year:  I never feel as if I am watching a game on TV.  This is a sim football game, so that is the point, right?  Where is ESPN?  Where is the NFL Network?  Give me the authentic telecast experience that we received years ago with 2K’s NFL 2K5.  Madden 12 does such a wonderful job with drawing focus to the little things like authentic crowd chants and goal line pylon physics that it’s a shame that this one gripe keeps resurfacing every year.

Audio, in terms of ambiance and stadium music, is all fantastic (aside from the fact that the “Who Dat” chant was removed from the Superdome).  Chris Collinsworth and Gus Johnson return to the booth to call the action and, overall, they do a great job.  Aside from some technical issues with the commentary, I feel it’s as good as a football game can get this generation.

Graphically, the game looks bloody great.  I cannot explain how giddy I get observing the addition of 3D grass on the field or the helmet/jersey degradation that you gradually see throughout the game.  Like I said earlier, EA Sports does a great job focusing on the little things that help make this game look wonderful.

In conclusion, Madden 12 has done a fair job of improving from the last iteration.  The majority of the improvements to GameFlow, Franchise mode, graphics, and cinematography all add to what the series needed to be outright better than last year, so I believe people who previously were not digging on Madden 11 might enjoy what EA Sports now has to offer.  Aside from the presentation and player trait issues that I experienced, I’m rather satisfied with my time playing Madden 12 so far.  Although, I do feel that the development team played it a bit safe this year, so come Madden 13 I’d love to see some risks being taken to help evolve this prized franchise from a “good” football game into a “great” one.