In Madden NFL 12, Franchise mode is the greatest beneficiary in the yearly cycle of improvements this year. The mode saw tons of new additions, which span across the entire spectrum of the mode, from the offseason, to roster sizes, to team management and more.

Simply put, for our more ADD readers, Franchise mode is now as deep as any of the greatest modes of this type in our genre. It's just that the User Interface is so poorly designed that I seriously think the Madden developers went out of their way to try to make the game be as frustrating as possible.

This is Not the Interface You Are Looking For

I want to spend the first part of my impressions really talking about the interface in Franchise mode before I get into the additions. Why? Because I feel that this is the biggest thing holding the mode back from being a truly amazing experience.

For instance, re-signing players is perhaps one of the clunkiest things I've ever seen. There is no interest meter, no feedback, no anything. You simply randomly give offers until your player eventually agrees. With enough time, you can get each player to agree to a contract extension -- you simply have to find what they want and offer it. Just don't count on getting any guidance.

You can find examples like this throughout Franchise mode, where the developers seemingly insisted on giving you as little info as possible or worse, force you to go through several different menus to get information that should be on a single menu. Those of you somewhat familiar with my blog here on OS probably will remember these same types of complaints stemming from my impressions about MLB: The Show's Franchise Mode. 

Madden's franchise mode is truly of the same ilk. It's incredibly deep, but the interface is so poorly designed that it really makes the whole experience more frustrating than anything. I personally do not mind having to bring a notebook to make notes of my free agent targets, my team needs, etc. But this is my answer to poor software design, and I'm critiquing how the mode is designed -- thus I think the additions are great, they are just poorly implemented.

Free Agent Bidding

I applaud the Madden team for trying something new. 

But just as with my thoughts on gameplay yesterday, the Free Agent Bidding really follows the same path. It cuts several corners on realism just to deliver something new and unique. If I were sitting in a design meeting of Madden, I would've asked a simple question: Why do we need to do that when realism dictates we simply add more personality to players and enahance the negotiations around that and their performance?

To me, this is taking the easy way out in the sense that it replaced a system that was more realistic for something that has an eBay feel to it. It's a new system and can be downright exciting to try to keep up with the bids coming in and whatnot. But if you do a little bit of planning, you will get your man every...single...time. 

So let's sum up the bidding for free agents as fun, not realistic and hopefully a one year abberation towards something that's both more realistic and fun next year.

Computer AI -- Not the Sharpest Knife in the Drawer

The AI does some pretty wonky things over the course of a few years in Franchise. The first thing you will notice (mainly because it's the first thing you do) is that the substitution system in Pre-Season games is pretty broken. Since the AI puts guys in down the depth chart that don't actually play the correct position, you can have Safeties playing WR and QB's playing kicker at the end of pre-season games. It's not a big deal until Calvin Johnson gets hurt playing Safety in the fourth quarter of a pre-season game.

The AI tends to manage it's roster decentely, but it doesn't get too active. There are no trades to speak of outside of the draft (and some of those made no sense to me), and there are some really terrible draft picks. For instance, I saw a kicker taken in the Top 10 one season. 

There are some bright spots thanks to player roles. The AI doesn't draft several QBs in a row and it doesn't typically get rid of franchise stalwarts (such as Peyton Manning) so easily. So it's not all bad in terms of AI, it's just not good either.

Given that you can basically out wheel and deal the AI at every turn, don't expect to be challenged to rise to the top of the NFL after a few seasons so long as you can manage your team's cap room.

Player Roles

The player roles feature adds a good bit of strategy to roster management. Deeming a QB the 'QB of the Future' results in you betting a fair amount of confidence on a draft pick. Ditto for any number of other potential roles. The consitency and confidence ratings tied in with Dynamic Player Performance also make the whole Madden Franchise universe feel much more alive than in prior years. 

You have to carefully consider where guys fit in your franchise puzzle, and a mistake in roster management could easily set you back. This is the type of thinking man's game that makes Franchise so darned appealing to me this year. Unfortunately, just as with the rest of the experience, a clunky interface can make the whole experience just as frustrating as it's appealing.

Rookie Scouting System to the Draft

The rookie scouting system is a mixture of good and bad. I like the effort EA has gone to here to try to bring some realism into the whole process. I think that, for casual users, the whole thing will be quite too overwhelming since the interface has nothing to help guide you along. For hardcore, more sim-based guys, I think the system will frustrate at times due to the arbitrary and hands-off nature of it.

I'm actually liking the system, but I found myself wishing I had a bit more control over what I wanted to scout and having a few more players to scout as well. On a realism scale, most NFL teams scout more than 20 players at the combine and attend more than 20 pro days. As a bit of wishing, how cool would it be to have individual player workouts and school workouts and have to choose from those? 

And from a pure user interface standpoint, how cool would it be to have your scouting agency actually recommend which one of those events you actually attend along with some rough estimates of each player in some way already. What kind of scouting agency doesn't already have that info?

The whole process of steadily uncovering ratings works though, and with some proper planning you can set up a good draft plan -- you just have to plan ahead and think about what players you want in the first round through the seventh and then scout appropriately. I like having to make that decision. I didn't like initially not knowing my draft position and having players be quite vague in their position only to reach draft day and find out who was expected to be Top 10 vs. Top 5, etc. 

I don't like the guy, but including Mel Kiper's stuff or something similar would seriously go a long way towards making the Madden draft so much more enjoyable. Speaking of the draft, it's bare bones. There's not much here if you want any glitz or glamour, as some text-sims in the past have handled the draft in more exciting ways. And while the interface does work, it mirrors the rest of the mode in not being the most user friendly I've ever seen.

Stats, Stats, Stats

One of the strengths of Franchise mode this year is that the simulation engine is quite good. I have simmed up to 10 seasons thus far and the stats that the engine produce are rarely out of control. There are some crazy abberations, such as Peyton Manning passing for 5,500 yds with 50 TDs and 6 INTs, but at the same time I'm a guy who believes saying stuff like that can't happen will only result in you being proven wrong with time. The biggest problem I have encountered with stats is that the passing percentages are way too low, as QBs going over 60% completion percentage are quite rare when in reality they're very common and thus, the passer ratings are also way too low.

For the most part, don't steer too far from what one would call historical norms, so you will see leading rushers at around 1600 yards most years and most field goal kickers top out with their longs in the low to mid 50s. If you really start breaking stuff down and get into yards per carry and whatnot you can find some distortions, still. I don't see anything that is so out of whack that Franchise suddenly has become unplayable, though.

Even more encouraging is that the dynamic gameplans touted actually do show up. Teams who change their personell over time also see their stats change. The Chiefs actually drafted a scrambler QB in year five and their stats changed from a more run-first offense to a more spread out wide open offense stats wise. 

Scores are fine too, unlike in a recent playoff simulation we did at OS -- you won't see any 79-38 scores coming out of this engine. Fans of stats (and you know who you are) will love Madden's results this season.

Progression

One of the biggest problems in EA Football over the years has been progression that was either too much or not enough. I've only gone through one long-term franchise, but it seems as if Madden is pretty close to finally getting it right. It still seems like ratings can get top heavy, but it's not nearly as bad as prior years. 

Cam Newton was an 88 ovr after a few years in my Franchise, as one example of how progression isn't out of control. Given the fluctuations you will see with Dynamic Player Performance, there is no telling how performance will work in each franchise -- but the best endorsement I can give it is that I have personally not seen anything too crazy just yet. I'll do another 10 year simulation before the final review just to make sure.

Bugs

I have encountered several freezes and a nasty bug where an imported draft class doesn't import into the game and you are left with a generated draft class as if you did not import a class. Some have had success with imported draft classes, so I'm not really sure what's going on here, but the lesson to be learned is that franchise experience does have some bugs. We will see, with time, whether these turn out to be detrimental or just an annoyance.

Wrapping it Up

Franchise has had so many additions that I'm really finding it hard to write on everything because there's just so much. Instead I've tried to focus on the issues OS'ers tend to care most about and also add my thoughts on how the mode plays.

To sum up franchise mode, it is like the prized draft prospect who is touted by everyone, but when the combine comes it's numbers aren't quite what you expect. The interface holds the whole experience back quite a bit. But if you have the patience and organizational mind to pull it off, the Madden franchise mode is easily the deepest and most engrossing experience yet for the Franchise.