In truth all of the players feel like unique individuals, and this is perhaps the game’s greatest strength. No longer are players simply interchangeable – even if their overall ratings are similar players are going to be better at different things. Braylon Edwards makes circus catches look routine – but will drop a crucial 3rd down pass in a heartbeat. Every team feels different in both style and in talent, it’s long overdue, and is a breath of fresh air.

The pace of the gameplay is also spot-on. The default game speed is set to slow, which is going to take Madden fans a while to get used to – of course you can speed things up if you like, but this slower pace really allows you to survey the field when passing or when playing pass defense. You can see holes develop and fill holes as needed. However, that’s not the best part of the flow of the gameplay. There’s very little wasted time in this year’s game. You can play a game of Madden on 13 to 15 minute quarters with the accelerated clock and a 20 second run off, get a pretty accurate/realistic number of plays and be done in less than an hour. Brilliant.

The in game settings – the “gameplay sliders” need to be fiddled with a bit to get an optimal game. Your mileage is always going to vary when it comes to personal settings but a few truths ring true regardless. The CPU AI struggles when running the ball. This is in part due to the weird blocking logic where players struggle, at times, deciding who they should block. This leads to a lot of open gaps where defenders can rush in and blast the halfback. For a human player this is easier to circumvent but the AI can’t do that. It just gets pounded. Thankfully you can tweak the settings to alleviate this to some degree, but it’s still one of the game’s biggest weaknesses.

The greatest compliment I can give Madden 10’s gameplay is that it’s unpredictable. After nearly 20 games under my belt I still see new stuff nearly every game. I’ll have games when, playing as my hapless but beloved Browns, Jamal Lewis runs like a mini-tank. Other games he’ll get shut down. Brady Quinn will have a great game then turn around with a 3 INT nightmare. Madden 10 feels less scripted than any other version to date and that’s what really keeps me coming back for more.

That’s not to say that the gameplay is perfect or that EA can now safely go into cruise control. Aside from the run blocking logic, the game is still plagued by strange defensive pursuit angles, a fiddly pass rush mechanic that makers it hard to speed rush even with quick ends, and play calling on both sides of the ball that needs a shot in the arm.

This last issue is troublesome because it takes away the whole “chess match” feeling that the game is striving to achieve. For example, if you are on offense and come out in a 3-wide formation, the AI should see this and immediately go into a Nickel defense, bringing in an extra defensive back to cover the 3rd wide receiver. With ratings meaning so much more this year, it’s terribly difficult for a safety or a linebacker to try and cover a speedy slot receiver.