Review by: William Abner

Madden NFL 10 was a revolutionary release in the history of the franchise; a game that basically redirected the ship from arcade gameplay into the realm of moderate simulation. Madden NFL 11 is not another revolution. You saw that last year. This is an evolution. It’s a release that attempts to fix the most glaring gameplay issues from last year while throwing in as many ancillary features as possible in order to appeal to the widest possible audience.

The question you need to ask yourself is whether the evolution is happening fast enough. What exactly do you want from Madden 11?

If you are looking for a more robust online or offline franchise mode, then you will undoubtedly be disappointed with this effort. While tweaks have been made, many of the core issues from last year remain unchanged. The biggest issue I have is player progression. Does anyone think it remotely possible that Peyton Manning will still be a 99 rated quarterback, at the very top of his game, at the start of the 2016 season? Or that Reggie Wayne will continue to be an elite receiver (rated a 96) at the start of 2016? These are just two examples but the fact is too many players are slow to age.

It just strikes me as silly that by 2015 the top ten rushers in the NFL are players who are currently in the league in 2010. It’s not that the rookies are bad – it’s just that the star players aren’t getting worse as time rolls on. Additionally, areas like Injured Reserve, Practice Squads, and other roster issues remain unchanged. So unless you really know what to look for, franchise mode is pretty much like franchise mode in Madden 10.

If you’re looking for Madden 11 to be a solid simulation right out of the box, you are also likely to get annoyed by its terribly heavy lean to the offense on the default All Pro game settings. Like last year, it requires changing the in-game “sliders” to make it play closer to what you see on Sunday. On the default settings this is more like Arena League Football than the NFL. It’s mystifying why this is the case. If EA Sports wants the game to play like football why not make the base settings the most realistic? If people want to play Tecmo Bowl where scores are 55-45 and long passes and breakaway runs are the name of the game—let them change the settings, because I’m growing weary of having to do it every year as are others who want the videogame to mimic the real thing.

However, if you want many of the gameplay issues from Madden 10 to be fixed then pull up a chair. It gets better.