Cert: 3+
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii,
Genre: Sport Sim
Much like EA Sports other yearly sporting titles, Madden NFL 2011, the latest simulated incarnation of America's most cherished game, returns, as always, with just enough added new features to warrant a new title, but the more experienced Madden Veterans would do worse then to rent before committing to this year's entry.
The reason for this? Well with the Madden games of yesteryear, EA sports primarily focused on making the most accurate representation of the sport they could, incorporating every possible play, route and blitz imaginable, which is perfectly acceptable to those who ply their trade on American shores, but for those outside this bracket and who had less an understanding of the often complicated sport, these endless selection of plays often proved a bit daunting and as such degraded the game into two players not entirely sure of what they just instructed their team to do and just simply went with the flow and enjoyed the always impeccable presentation we've seen from the title going all the way back to the original Nintendo.
But now, EA seem to have shifted the focus, albeit slightly, onto the more casual NFL fan, and in doing so may have opened up the series to a whole new audience of gamers. The main reason for this is the new Gameflow function, a tool that automatically selects the best possible play for you in a given situation, thus eliminating the endless searching and instead focuses on the action. Not something for the more experienced player, but a godsend for the more inexperienced.
Both analogue sticks control the action and are easy to get to grips with, and with slightly more forgiving AI, means this is definitely the time for the sceptics of the series to take to the field.
Rent or Buy: Buy
Graphics: 4/5
Gamplay: 4/5
Replay Value: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
Reviewed By: Simon Rubbathan
