With Madden sales not increasing to EA’s liking over the past couple of years, whether due to lack of quality or accessibility, the publisher has decided to make a few notable changes to the football franchise.
First, according to Kotaku, EA has implemented a new optional playcalling system that will basically call the plays for you if you would like. While one can still choose any different play they’d like, EA has implented the GameFlow feature to make the game easier for people just jumping into the game. If you’ve never played Madden before or paid attention to football but would like to join your friends, GameFlow is for you. It basically justs takes out the most hardcore elements and lets one involve themselves in just the gameplay. It likely won’t be a hit with the hardcore crowd, but the fact of the matter is that it isn’t made for them, just for casual, new players.
Operation Sports reports that EA is taking a page out of the hockey book. Following the lead of EA’s highest quality series, NHL, the Madden developers have decided to remove the sprint option. This means that the players will be going full bore every chance they can get unless, like in the NHL series, one just holds the button about halfway down. There is an option to turn the sprint button back on, but again this seems to cater itself to people who have never played before, giving them one less control to learn.
The last major new addition announced was the revamping of the kicking game. Field goals had gotten ridiculously easy in recent years, with 65 yarders possible, so EA finally decided, after years of community frustration, to change a broken system. According to Gamespot:” After aiming your direction arrow, you press a button to set a cursor in motion on the meter, hit the button once the cursor is on the right side of the meter to gauge power, and hit the button a final time once the cursor returns to gauge accuracy.”
So there you have it: the newest additions to Madden: one to increase difficulty in kicking, one to reduce it for new players with Game Flow and one that’s had success in another well known game. EA seems to be making the right moves so far but let’s wait for the next round of reveals to make sure.
Madden 11 First Hands On: Gamespot
Next Madden May Solve Game’s Notorious Difficulty Problem: Kotaku
Madden 11 Preview (Xbox 360): Operation Sports
