I have a confession to make. I’m one of the sixty-quadrillion people who flock to midnight Madden launches in August every year. I’m the guy who used to call out of work the next day so I could be good at the game before all my roommates (you know, before playing Madden was part of my job). Working here at Gamervision has afforded me many opportunities in the ten months or so that I’ve been here, and most recently I had a chance to get an early look at this year’s incarnation of Madden NFL, or as the kids are calling it, Madden 10. I guess you could say I was pretty stoked. While my time with the game wasn’t hands-on (though it supposedly will be come E3), I did learn quite a bit about what we can expect to see in the final product this summer.

Madden 10’s senior producer Phil Frazier guided me through several of the new features junkies like myself will be salivating over for the next few months. Since the most obvious difference is in the look of the game, I’ll cover that first. On-field authenticity and gamer immersion is a big part of EA’s plans for Madden. It all starts in the menu. Gone is the Trophy Room, and in its place come some interesting highlight-type photos similar to those you’d find in the opening pages of Sports Illustrated or ESPN The Magazine. Seeing Larry Fitzgerald leap into the endzone while reaching the ball over the pylon is not only eye catching, but also sets the precedent that this game is about the action on the field not user profiles. There will be a slew of different athletes highlighted on these menu screens, and I for one look forward to seeing some of the defensive ones.

Once we got into the game, it was apparent that those screenshots we’ve been seeing aren’t bullshots at all. I thought last year’s version of the game was pretty damn impressive, but Madden 10’s graphics somehow take it up another notch. Player models are much more varied, and have an insane amount of detail. Frazier told me that this year they really tried to have the uniforms be as close to 100% authentic as they could. If that means your favorite team’s helmets have a certain sticker layout, it’s going to be reproduced nearly identically. I’ve already pointed out some of the other big changes this year’s game is making to uniforms when that first screenshot arrived, so I won’t dwell on being able to see the mesh of the jerseys too long. I will say that those of you who saw the screens and worried that the entire game was going to have a ridiculous amount of depth of field have nothing to fear. The amount of things in or out of focus is strictly a feature for replays and screenshots, and even though not too much was said about highlight making, it appears as if gamers will have much more control over their created highlights this year.



EA’s goal for incredible on-field accuracy doesn’t stop at the players. There will now be a full set of referees, as well as the chain gang, on the turf for the whole game. The refs won't be able to interract with players, so don't worry about glitchers running crossing routes trying to make you collide with the umpire. Now I know everyone will be screaming about collision detection and clipping, but honestly, do you really want to run into a line judge every couple of plays? Besides, once you see how much better the collision detection is between the actual football players like offensive/defensive linemen, not being able to have a referee set you a pick will be an afterthought. Besides, you really can’t afford to throw another controller against the wall in frustration. Team sidelines have also been improved, adding team colors to the paint scheme. While it would have been nice to see an improvement in the players on the sideline, I’d rather see improvements to the action on the field, which is exactly what we’re getting.



Let me tell you about a new innovation EA is calling Pro-Tak. Basically, if there was ever an animation you had a problem with in previous incarnations of the franchise, you can now forget about them. Pro-Tak’s most noticeable strength is in the new 9-man tackles. Prior to Madden 10, at best you’d see a total five players in a tacking animation. This year, that number gets bumped up to nine, including the ball carrier, as well as offensive and defensive players trying to push the pile to their advantage. This will not happen every tackle, but when it does, man does it get your heart pumping. When Peter Moore said we’d be fighting for every yard, this is what he was talking about. Occasionally, you’ll be able to break free, but don’t count on doing it often. The other big difference in the game Pro-Tak hopes to make is in the pocket.

Not only have the developers reworked the offensive line, they’ve also taken great strides in quarterback control. Everyone always drops back for 15 yards when taking a snap in Madden. It’s not realistic, but because the offensive line never provided you with enough protection, it was a necessity. Frazier promises this year that your O-line will create a true pocket. From what I saw, this was mostly true. New animations for tackles and guards lead to them actually continually pushing defensive players away from the five or six yard bubble around the quarterback. There were some lapses in assignments, but those happen in real life too, so you won’t see me complaining too much. Especially since they’ve given the QB a new maneuver to shed a tackler by flicking the R-stick. Of course it’s not going to work every time, but depending on how good your team’s QB is at avoiding the rush in real life (Big Ben anyone?), you may be able to duck out of a fair amount of first attempts. Add to that the all-new “throwing while getting sacked” animations, which finally, FINALLY, allow your QB to chuck the ball when getting hit instead of the old tuck vacuum, and I’d say that we’re all in store for a much more true to life experience when in the pocket.

The one feature we were shown that I’m not too terribly excited about is the new fumble mini-game. Now, not every fumble is going to result in there being a huge pile-up, so you’ll still be able to just fall on it, or pick it up and run. However, should several players attempt to recover a fumble, a pile will form. Once that pile starts up, so does a button-mashing mini-game. In trying to emulate the fight for the ball at the bottom of a pile, EA may have actually taken it a bit to literally. To me, it just seemed a bit strange that so much of the next-gen Madden experience is being tailored to be a simulated game, and this arcade-style game infusion rubs me the wrong way. I may end up loving the feature once I actually get to play the game, but as of right now, this is one addition I can live without.

EA left much to the imagination when questioned about everything else but the features I just described. They’ve promised to reveal plenty more by E3, and I can’t wait to see what else they have in the works. If the on-field action has been given this much of an overhaul, I would hope other game modes like Franchise and online play have been given some more polish as well. I was already going to be buying this game (I have a problem, I know), but after seeing the new things they have planned, I’m actually really excited for Madden 10. Call me a Maddenite, but August just can’t get here fast enough.