PlayStation 3
Released in 2011 by EA Sports
Grade: A-
For once in its PS3 lifecycle, Madden’s most noticeable changes are on the field. The gameplay is enhanced with more intense AI and fiercer action than the year before. It’s a high-quality game, but has some blemishes too.
Where it falls in the series
It’s the sixth of 11 Madden games on PS3.
Praises and gripes
It seems like this game is faster than Madden 11. Actually, I know it’s faster, because in the settings, the game speed is set to “normal,” whereas last year it was set to “slow.” So, yeah, the game is faster. This makes it more difficult.
In addition, there are a bunch of other changes that make it a more ruthless, unforgiving brand of football.
This is the type of game that if you play in a hurry, you’re doomed. You need to know the play design, read the defense, send a man in motion, read the defense again, make a few adjustments, execute the play perfectly, and hope that your quarterback doesn’t get mauled by a lineman immediately. It’s a football junkie’s video game.
Defensive players are smarter and tougher this year. Defensive backs seem to teleport into the ideal position. Linebackers are famously adept at snagging interceptions out of the air (and by famously, I mean I read a thread online where a bunch of dorks cried about this mercilessly). Linemen rush the QB faster. Everyone tackles better.
On top of that, QBs are less accurate, especially when you don’t stop gracefully before firing away. Passing to the sidelines is particularly troublesome. (This feels like a last-minute fix, like the game testers were finding certain patterns too easy to complete, and with no time to program defenders to stop it, they just made QBs overshoot their targets.)
This is precisely the type of game that makes a bunch of football nerds on the Internet post their lists of the “perfect” settings to use. That’s because (a) there are many settings to tweak, and (b) the game seems uneven on the default settings.
Of course, when I say the game is difficult, that’s also an adjustable setting. If it’s too hard, just dial down the difficulty, right?
But Madden 12 is inherently more challenging. Not because it’s tough to control, or I don’t know how the plays work, or the ball doesn’t fly fast enough … it’s more challenging because it’s more like real NFL football, with tricky tactics and tenacious players.
In some ways, it’s actually easier. This game finally fixes the problem of running backs on a swing route who run out of bounds before the pass gets to them. The control is tweaked slightly tighter, so you can move your guy however you want. The camera is higher, giving pass plays a better view of the field. And on defense before the snap (in a subtle but overdue change), you can toggle to a specific defender by pointing toward them while pressing Circle, which is helpful if you make a lot of adjustments before the snap.
The overhauled graphics look good. There are a ton of new animations, but honestly I preferred the look of Madden 11. This year, there are jumpy moments that don’t look right. And guess what, in the next year’s game, EA went and totally remade the graphics again! (People complain that this series didn’t change enough through the PS3 era. I’m finding that in some ways it changed too much!)
This is the first year with actual 3D blades of grass on the field. It looks quite impressive in the close-up replays, but it’s much taller than the grass on a real NFL field. Whatever, I’m certainly not one of those maniacs crying, “Why does the grass in Madden look so flat?! How pathetic! Life stinks!” So I won’t cry if the 3D grass isn’t perfect either.
The sound is an issue, with annoying commentary from Gus Johnson and Cris Collinsworth. I turned them off (which I usually do with commentators), and I heard glitchy pops here and there. Flipping through pages of the playbooks makes an odd sound, and by the way, why the hell does my controller vibrate before every single play? Is that the offense clapping their hands and yelling “Break”? Can I turn it off?
Enough complaining. This game is a doozy. The action is intense. The control is crisp. The AI is challenging. The football logic is deep. I’m still getting through the rest of the PS3 Maddens, and perhaps I even prefer Madden 11 over this, but it’s a good game that can really get you hooked.