RaychelSnr's Blog
It's the curse of being held in a much higher regard by people, many of which will never be pleased with the game. The curse of Madden being Madden stems from the moment EA bought the exclusive NFL license and left about 20% of NFL video gamers sad, hurt, and bitter. The flames were fanned when EA released what might be the worst combination of hype and quality in an NFL Football game ever in Madden NFL 06 on the 360.
But now that the game is actually a quality title?
There is still a strong contingent of hold outs who will not be happy with nothing less than perfection, and while asking more as a consumer of a business is fine...sometimes the needs of a consumer become unrealistic. Compared to other top sports games, Madden NFL 10 not only held it's own, it also beat out several of the other top games on the market for many consumers and critics alike.
The thing is, it's not just Madden which has just struggled with meeting expectations this generation. Slowly, game by game, many of our favorite titles are starting to meet some of the expectations set forth by gamers when we saw awesome trailers for games in other genres. I'd like to propose that perhaps the small contingent of gamers who feel the need to bash Madden without pause should look at other games and see them suffering from similar problems.
Sure the true Madden curse won't end, it's an excellent scapegoat for those who might want to proclaim all that's wrong with sports gaming. But while many continue being bitter, several gamers are finding a good game underneath all of the hoopla.
The upwards trend in quality will continue in 2010, but don't expect the curse to ease.
# 2
Stikskillz @ Feb 5
I wonder if John Madden has any input anymore in a game that carries his namesake? It sure doesn't seem like it. I'm sure if he played the game for a short time he would see how it falls short of a quality football game. I've played Madden for 20 years and it's atrocious to play now. It disgusts me!
For starters, I'm not sure why they still can't get the controller configuration right or give us the option to have the PS2 controller config. This is such an annoyance, among many other things. No classic teams, no training camp, no field degradation, no progressive lighting, and no in season progression are just some others. At this point everything that was on PS2/XBOX should be on PS3/360. Those should be the basics with all of the other next-gen bells and whistles to go with it.
Madden doesn't even sniff NBA2K10 and definitely not MLB the Show. It is amazing what those companies have been able to accomplish in their respective sports. If only Madden or a NFL football title could be made with the same passion and care. Unfortunately, that day is nowhere in sight!
For starters, I'm not sure why they still can't get the controller configuration right or give us the option to have the PS2 controller config. This is such an annoyance, among many other things. No classic teams, no training camp, no field degradation, no progressive lighting, and no in season progression are just some others. At this point everything that was on PS2/XBOX should be on PS3/360. Those should be the basics with all of the other next-gen bells and whistles to go with it.
Madden doesn't even sniff NBA2K10 and definitely not MLB the Show. It is amazing what those companies have been able to accomplish in their respective sports. If only Madden or a NFL football title could be made with the same passion and care. Unfortunately, that day is nowhere in sight!
# 3
Valdarez @ Feb 5
One year of bug fixes does not a quality title make, though M10 is the best version of Madden on the current gen consoles. It still hasn't closed the gap with 2K5/APF2K8 in many gameplay areas, commentary, or presentation. Then again, it all depends on what you mean by quality.
When they acquired the exclusive NFL license, EA had a huge responsibility to deliver a high quality product. Instead, they chose to sit on the license and put out little more than a Roster update year after year after year. Even when they put out a new Madden title that appears headed in the right direction, the company still chooses to take advantage of their NFL exclusivity by charging for game codes (usually given away for FREE by companies), charging for online services (trying to get paid TWICE for one game), and horrible use of overlay Ads in the game. No way in !@#$ they'd being doing ANY of those things if they had competition. It's clear they didn't respect the NFL fans/gamers in 2005, and it's clear the company doesn't care about the fans/gamers in 2010. The only thing that matters to EA Sports is milking that cash cow and pumping as many teats as they can at once.
When they acquired the exclusive NFL license, EA had a huge responsibility to deliver a high quality product. Instead, they chose to sit on the license and put out little more than a Roster update year after year after year. Even when they put out a new Madden title that appears headed in the right direction, the company still chooses to take advantage of their NFL exclusivity by charging for game codes (usually given away for FREE by companies), charging for online services (trying to get paid TWICE for one game), and horrible use of overlay Ads in the game. No way in !@#$ they'd being doing ANY of those things if they had competition. It's clear they didn't respect the NFL fans/gamers in 2005, and it's clear the company doesn't care about the fans/gamers in 2010. The only thing that matters to EA Sports is milking that cash cow and pumping as many teats as they can at once.
# 4
sanders @ Feb 5
I will compare Madden10 to NHL10. Madden looks great and has a lot of good things in it. NHL10 is the same. The reason why I pick up NHL10 and play it constantly and my copy of Madden sits on the shelf collecting dust is this:
The problems that are in NHL10 don't keep me from enjoying the game.
With Madden the few problems it has are so frustrating and ruin the experience. When I call an outside run and my pulling guard, who is in line to run over the safety decides to turn around and block the guy two yards behind me is unforgivable. There are maybe 3-5 other examples of bugs that just ruin the game experience for me. The game doesn't have to be perfect. All I want is that when I run a play or worked hard to drive the ball down the field that the game doesn't continually ruin (I'll forgive every once is while) what I worked for in the game by doing something dumb.
The problems that are in NHL10 don't keep me from enjoying the game.
With Madden the few problems it has are so frustrating and ruin the experience. When I call an outside run and my pulling guard, who is in line to run over the safety decides to turn around and block the guy two yards behind me is unforgivable. There are maybe 3-5 other examples of bugs that just ruin the game experience for me. The game doesn't have to be perfect. All I want is that when I run a play or worked hard to drive the ball down the field that the game doesn't continually ruin (I'll forgive every once is while) what I worked for in the game by doing something dumb.
# 5
dannerparty @ Feb 8
typical fanboy article carrying Maddens jock. Look, all EA has to do is include features that were used during last gen, but at this point that's like pulling teeth. What about Madden 09? Franchise was broken out of the box and froze after a season or two, it took them like 4-5 months to fix that! Come on! This years aggravating jitter step when turning...not to mention the really bad sideline catches and sometimes even touchdown catches are wrong and unchallengeable..yes, M10 is best next gen football game but EA has set the bar so low that feat isn't worth celebrating! Here's to M11 being everything we all know a NFL licensed game should be.
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Hardcore Madden Gamers hate the fact that NFL 2K5 is consistently brought upm, but look what that game did for the genre....Look at what the gameplay of APF2K8 did....And measure that against Madden 10 (forget about the failure of 06'-09')....It doesn't measure up to those games even though it has all the resources. This alone is a reason why most people complain consistenly about Madden.
Madden 2011 will be a full 7years after NFL 2K5, NFL Gameday 2004 etc. Lets hope they can finally put together a FINISHED product that is complete in all the areas it needs to be complete in. I hope Ian and Co. succeed and I look forward to playing their game! (at least one more time this gen.)