EA has been publishing their Madden series since 1988, and while the most recent iterations of the title are light years better then the original, the innovation has been slight ever since 2004 when EA secured the exclusive right to release NFL video games. When the competition disappeared, EA sat back on it’s laurels and started churning out editions of Madden that were nearly indistinguishable to the previous year. That’s all about to change with Madden ’12.
Only in a fantasy world does Tebow get the start.
Until very recently it seemed more then possible that the player lockout was going to cut a big chunk out of the regular NFL season, and might even kill it entirely. This left EA with a daunting challenge: They needed to get people interested in Madden ’12 even if there was no football season to speak of. For the first time since ’04, EA stepped up and is delivering more innovations in this year’s game then ever before!
The first change that caught my eye was a focus on vicious tackling. One of the most egregious new rules in real football is the insistence from the league that players stop hitting each other so hard. Forgive me if you disagree, but football is supposed to be violent. People are supposed to get hit. We’re supposed to hear the crash of pads echo through the stadium and bodies spinning through the air and hitting the ground with a dead thud. EA agrees, and as the NFL continues to try and convince us that we really want to watch touch football, the makers of Madden are going to make their game harder hitting then it’s been in years. Not only is the defense’s AI going to be stepped up, making it possible for your defensive backs to break formation if they spot something in the offensive, but they’re going to hit a hell of a lot harder too. Madden ’12 promises to be the most exciting defensive football game that has ever been put out, perhaps finally creating a game playing experience in which playing as the defense is as much fun as throwing the ball has been in past years.
Hurting Rodgers is my number one goal.
Another big change, and one that has been a long time coming, is the ability to customize your play book! HALLELUJAH! Why it took them this long to introduce this feature is a mystery to me, but I’m happy to finally have it. Being forced to stick to the plays laid out in the coach’s book from the team you pick has always been a frustrating experience. EA seems to have realized that creating a game that is more customizable then ever before is a good thing!
Following the trend of customizing your playbook, EA says that they are also stepping up the Superstar mode in which you get to customize a player and take them through their career, increasing their stats similar to an RPG throughout the seasons. By adding new, unique abilities for your player, EA seems intent on allowing you to craft a player that is tailored to your personal style of play.
Finally, my favorite new feature added this year is something called Dynamic Player Performance. This feature tracks the confidence level of your players and will affect their gameplay. Out of everything that has been announced about Madden ’12, this is the one that I think is going to do the most at making this game feel real. As a football fan, I am very aware of how important confidence is, and I have seen far too many games where a good player gets mired in a slump. I’ll be sitting on my couch, screaming at the QB to stop passing to that WR because they just don’t have it today. To see this same dynamic play out in a video game is going to help make this year’s Madden feel even more like watching real football then ever before.
All in all, it looks like EA might be releasing the first ‘must-buy’ edition of Madden in a long, long time. You might as well pick it up this year, since there’s a good chance the ones that are going to follow aren’t going to be much different.
