There is no doubt that this iteration of Madden is the most full featured version for the PS3 and that there is enough league and player options to keep most detail-minded players happy. Now, how about the action on the field? In a couple of words: not bad. But I'm going to provide a few more words. On the good side the player animation is really very lifelike while the much hyped animation branching system is...well, not very noticeable to me. The deal is that the player is now able to switch moves in the middle of an animation without needing to wait for the previous move to complete. For example, a running back can start a spin but break into a stiff arm midway through the spin. I guess it was there, but I didn't really notice it helping all that much in gameplay. What I did notice was a lot more gang tackling, cool catches, and a lot of other animations.

Ahh, but there are issues that stop this from being a no-brainer purchase and while some may argue that I'm being picky, they're probably right. I mean really, a franchise that has been around as long as Madden should be just about perfect. First, the graphics are odd at times especially between plays when they are using what is supposed to be a field of depth view where one object is in sharp focus and the others are slightly out of focus. At least that's the way it works on the 360 version; here everything is out of focus and it is really bothersome and amazing that it shipped like that. The replay system doesn't always show the entire play. I had this cool interception in the end zone where I ran it back about 108 yards for a touchdown. The replay stopped when my man was about 10 yards away from scoring; not what I would expect from any football game and something else that shouldn't have been allowed to ship. As much as I like the animations there were things that happened that are impossible. For example, an interception hit the player in the back and then the ball spun around the back of the player to his front. Not a great play, but a great example of breaking the laws of physics. I also got frustrated with the Ask Madden feature in which you can have John Madden pick a play for you and then explain why he selected the play. Too many times the play that he selected on screen and the play he was commenting on where not the same play. He would often tell me something like "Use a 3 step drop and quickly release the ball" on running plays.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 77%. It's Madden and it's got the NFL license and plays a nice game of football. But it's not a great game because of too many mistakes and lame little problems throughout. I just expect better after this long.

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