The smell of hot dog’s and burger’s on the grill can only mean one thing, Football season. This years version has all the great features that you’ve come to know and love over the years, as well as some new additions to the game. The biggest addition to the game this year, is online co-op in both Franchise and Games. The online co-op is a little tricky. One person plays as the qb, while the other one plays a WR/RB. You can change roles, and let the other player play a different role, but I can see this being a huge issue online. EA says that the online franchise servers wont go online until next week. So I am unable to give you my thoughts on this addition to the game. Another new addition this year, is EA’s take on ESPN’s Sportcenter. Calling it The Extra Point Fran Charles and Alex Flanagan fron the NFL network, walk you through your franchise season. Giving you Game highlights, previous week breakdowns, upcoming week matches, players of the week(Both Offense and Defense), and half time reports. This addition is incredible. It makes you feel more attached to the game. It gives it more of an authentic feel to the game.

Another addition to this years Madden, is Gang tackles and fumble pile ups. Gang tackles include up to 9 players all ganging up on the ball carrier, in an effort to bring him down. The fumble pile ups are basically a mini game inside a football game. When a player fumbles and more then one player is there to recover the fumble, a pile up occurs. A series of buttons pop up that you need to hit in rapid succession to win the fumble. A problem I encountered with this new feature is the inaccuracy of the pile up itself. Numerous times I recovered a fumble all alone, to then have a gang of players jump on me well after the play should of ended. It’s a neat feature and a great new addition but it just needs to be tuned.

The games visuals continue to push the bar. The game looks incredible, from the individual player features, to the fans up in the stands. Each player has their own unique look to them that helps define them. Each QB has their on custom stance and throwing style. Players now have the ability to mix and match their uniforms. So if you want to suit a throwback jersey, but keep the new school helmet you can. A neat new feature that adds more customization to the game. Adding to the realism of the game, Referees make their field debut. The game camera has received an upgrade as well. Weather is now more detailed, with the addition of snow and rain collecting on the camera lenses, giving you a more authentic broadcast feel.

The game itself has been slowed down greatly, something that I thought that the game needed greatly. The new speed fits the game like a glove. There is a place in the options to further change the speed slower, or faster. But I feel that this new slower speed allows you the opportunity to break tackles more efficiently. Along with the slower speed, the players seemed to have gotten a little smarter. Now doing all they can to stay in bounds. Either when running down the sidelines, or catching a ball in the corner of the endzone. The player now balances with all their might to geat that extra yard or so. A great addition to the realistic touch of this years game.

The soundtrack for this game is amazing. Ranging from Pantera to 2Pac, the game has familiar tunes sure to be a hit with the fans. The crowd is now more vocal with the decisions on the field. Fans BOO on a bad play, and Cheer like crazy on a great play. The commentary seemed much of the same to me. I heard alot of the same lines, that I’ve heard in previous Madden’s, and was most disappointed when I heard the same line of commentary multiple times in the same game. The commentary was a major disappointment in this game to me. With all the great new additions to the game, that help improve its realism and greatness. They seemed to just leave it as it was.

Madden NFL 10 Soundtrack:

Iron Maiden – Aces High
Judas Priest – Painkiller
Black Sabbath – Paranoid
Beastie Boys – Sabotage
Public Enemy – Shut ‘Em Down
Rage Against the Machine – Guerrilla Radio
Nas featuring Puff Daddy – Hate Me Now
Nirvana – Breed
2Pac – Can’t C Me
Alice in Chains – Them bones
Korn – Blind
Cypress Hill – Get ‘Em Up
Kid Rock – I Am the Bullgod
Slipknot – Duality
System of a Down – Sugar
Helmet – Unsung
Pantera – Walk
Mastadon – Divinations
B.O.B. – Created A Monster
Airbourne – Heads Are Gonna Roll
Set Your Goals – Gaia Bleeds(Make Way for Man)
The Vanity Plan – Before I Die
Killswitch Engage – Reckoning
Young Dre the Truth – Cheah Beah
Bang Camaro – Revolution
David Robidoux – Reunion in Canton (Remix)
David Robidoux & The NFL Films Orchestra – The Madden Theme
Sam Spence – A Chilling Championship (Remix)
Sam Spence – A New Game (Remix)
Sam Spence – Magnificent Eleven
Sam Spence – Ramblin’ Man from Gramblin
Sam Spence – Round-Up (Remix)
Sam Spence – Salute to Courage
Sam Spence – The Equalizer

With all that said, the addition of online franchise play, gang tackles and pile ups, and EA’s Extra point, I believe this to be the best version of Madden to date. With EA continuing to push the bar even higher, I cannot wait to see what comes out of them next. The biggest issues with the game though are the commentary gets quickly repetitive, and EA has really put the screws to the gamer with a ton of small DLC downloads, including DLC for the hardest of gameplay modes. And don’t worry unlike years past the achievements are no walk in the park, so good luck and get ready to get tackled!