If you asked most people who the face of gaming is, they’d likely say somebody like Mario or Link, perennial figures in the gaming industry whose images conjure up feelings of nostalgia and reverence in the hearts of hardcore gamers. But if you really stop and think about it, taking into account which games are responsible for the size of the industry today, you might come to the same conclusion as I did. Namely, that John Madden’s ugly mug is the true face of games today. For better or worse, EA’s Madden franchise is as big as ever, and as the only publisher with the rights to the NFL license, you’d figure you have a recipe for stagnation and downright mediocre gameplay. Fortunately for the hundreds of thousands of people who buy the Madden games in droves, this year’s title represents a terrific chapter in the franchise’s sometimes-rocky history.
One of the things that EA seems to do in all of their new games is to force-feed the player some hokey new gameplay mode or control scheme in the dim hope that it makes him forget that he’s essentially paying full price for a roster upgrade. And while I don’t doubt that the motivation for this year’s Superstar mode was something along those lines, the finished product is a richly endearing experience that will appeal to all types of players. Basically, you take on the role of a superstar straight out of college, signing an agent, running workouts, and with some luck, getting drafted to a Superbowl-bound team. It’s a fresh departure from the old franchise mode, especially for casual players, because you’re only responsible for looking after your player.
Not only does this free you from the responsibility of managing the whole team, but also it forces you to adapt the role and mindset of whatever position your superstar plays. The ability to play from an on-the-field perspective isn’t new, but the way that you’re forced to play a specific position realistically gives it an almost RPG-like quality. Just as a Rogue and a Priest will likely view the same game extremely differently in a traditional turn-based game, a Quarterback and an Outside Linebacker are going to experience games in very different ways. It lends a lot of replayability to the title, because each position feels so fresh and different.
EA’s also made a number of interesting improvements to the vanilla gameplay that most gamers have gotten well acquainted with over the years. For one, there’s a newfound focus on blocking this year. You can take control of any player on the field and spring the CPU-controlled halfback with a well-timed pancake or chop block. While the thought of relinquishing control of the ball to the CPU can be hard to swallow at first, when you start to see how effective it is in practice, it starts to get a little addictive. Running-backs also seem especially nimble this year, so you’ll see guys like Clinton Portis and Tiki Barber really taking advantage of seams in the defensive line. I do think that the defensive element suffers a bit as a result. Combine the new offensive tactics with a tackling mechanic that is slippery at best, and you have the recipe for some extremely high-scoring games.
The graphics received a fairly serious kick in the pants, at least as compared to last year. The animations are a lot smoother, the framerate is pretty consistent, and they’re finally starting to get around to mapping the faces of some of the more obscure players, which really brings you into the experience. I’m not quite as blown away by the detail in high definition as I was last year, which I suspect is just me being jaded after a year of playing games in HD, but the game definitely looks a heck of a lot better than last year when compared side to side, or even next to NCAA Football 07. There are some stutter problems though in the Superstar mode that seem to come from a problem with caching data to the harddrive, but it’s relatively minor.
There are some other things of note, like the ugly menu system and pleasantly subdued commentary, but they’re all really subordinate to the gameplay, which is a real knockout this year. I think that even those that hate on Madden for being too mainstream would find a lot to like about the Superstar mode because of how similar it is to more traditional role-playing fare. And of course I recommend it heartily to any and all football fans out there, but I say that knowing that they all probably own the game already, as they well should. It’s a good year for football.
Score: 85%
