The Best Madden? A Look Back at Madden NFL 10

[TTD71]

The thing about EA that has just killed me is the lack of BUILDING on the foundation and constant need to tear out things that would have made M25 a definitive experience instead of another mish-mash slop fest. If they had married PRO-TAK and Infinity features - given us the pile-up animations as part of the game but removed the button mashing and truly randomized the results, or if they had kept all of the pre-game and post-game stuff and just kept adding more instead of adding a few new and taking out a few old animations every iteration (looks like they had ample disc space to do this judging by the file size thread) then we could have had a much better game.


Additionally, if the devs has swallowed some pride and EA had recognized the need to make a GREAT Madden game instead of maintaining the "differences" between two mediocre football titles, they could have taken a bit of the NCAA feature set - things like more replay options (or something as simple as being able to start viewing a replay in one angle AND THEN STOP to choose another without watching the whole thing), or maybe actually being able to save replays at all in Franchise (you CAN in Dynasty mode), or allowing custom stadium sounds for specific game situations (NCAA OWNS Madden on that count), or allowing people to save snapshots from in-game plays (again, NCAA = yes, Madden = no....FOR THE EXACT SAME ANIMATIONS in a lot of cases!!!)...

I could go on and on and on, but the fact is EA has got to rid itself of the philosophy that ALL things from previous titles or little brother title or defunct competitor's titles must be ignored or remvoed...they need a game that incorporates the accumulated hits and misses of the past into a growing title isntead of a Peter Pan game that never, ever grows up!

Other games and franchises have figured this out, yet Madden remains stuck in a paradigm from three generations ago...I'm an old timer (been playing Madden since the first days on Sega Genesis all the way through today), but I remember the single best thing that happened to Madden was Sony's NFL Gameday on PS1 completely annihilated Madden...it was not even a debate at the time, more like an NBA2k-vs. NBA Live curb stomping. THAT forced EA to redo the game completely and by the PS2 era they made what were some of the best games ever in the genre to that time between Madden NFL 2003-2006.

All I know is that I got my nice fat price fixing check from EA yesterday and thanks to their decisions and the settlement, I will getting an essentially free PS-Vita! We may never get back to the way the game used to build on itself, but at least I can play it while sitting on the can....which just may end up being the most appropriate thing to happen to Madden in years!!!

[icicle22]

This brings back such good memories! I do have to say that something about the lighting model or textures seems to make Madden 10-12 look better to my eyes. I personally found the graphic quality of 13 and 25 on CG to be lacking somewhat. Even though it looked good....it just looked more "cartoony" or something. When I fired up 12 recently I was stunned at the detailed textures on the field as well as the crispness of the Browns dark jerseys....not to mention the helmets seemed more detailed and reflective.

I did feel the game was sluggish though and the passing felt a little suspect as far a being able to put any real touch on the throws.

[Cletus]

I've played almost every Madden and can see how 10 stood out. It didn't have much competition to stand out to, though. 06-09 weren't memorable at all, except for the odd progression glitch where TE's would have 10 receptions a season and be 95 rated. 10 was better than all of them, but it wasn't stellar. It was kind of like comparing Ramen Noodles to Rice-a-Roni. Sure one's better, but I'd still rather have steak.

[therizing02]

Great timing on this article. I actually picked up Madden 10 last week for .99! Like others, I could go on and on, but Madden 10 was the first time that the game actually felt different to me. We were finally allowed to adjust the game speed! Madden was headed in a new direction and it felt right. But.....

[rtkiii]

1st one I bought for Next Gena few years back...because of the claim of an Online Dynasty. All it has a dumbed down Online Season...that you could advance many years. No Salary Cap, no Draft, etc....it was horrible another misleading feature...I forgot how much that pissed me off...thanks for stirring up old memories

[kingsofthevalley]

Yea, Madden 10 was cool. No where near better than 25 though.

[TheRealHST]

Quote: Originally Posted by Only1LT

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, so I won't even debate yours. The one thing I will say is that any praise for Pro-Tak is seriously undeserved. It was purely cosmetic and not real gang tackling by any stretch of the imagination. If I had a $1 for everytime Brandon Jacobs broke out of an 8 man hugging fest and turned a 2yd gain into a 70yd touchdown, I'd buy EA and make a real Football game. Pro-Tak was window dressing. It had no actual impact on the outcome of plays at all.

Thank you. Madden 10 is no where near the best lol If you all consider this the best one, then Madden as a whole is a failure

[WarlordZMaster]

This is right on, by far my favorite NFL game! (That said by a fan of 2K5.). Crisp graphics, halftime show, great gameplay, after M10 it was all downhill.