Madden NFL 11

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• Experience Madden NFL redefined online as well as a new level of excitement with revamped audio presentation, from the booth and the field
• All-new GameFlow playcall system puts you inside the helmet of an NFL quarterback like never before, allowing you to execute authentic NFL game plans one play at a time
• Play games in half the time with an all-new playcall system, as you experience the drama and excitement of a full game in less than 30 minutes
• All-new Dual Stick Control drastically reduces button dependency for the ball carrier by mapping key moves to the right and left sticks
• New Coaching Tips automatically pause the game at critical points to help explain each situation as it unfolds

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002I0J4FW
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches ; 4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: August 10, 2010
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (173 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #549 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #3 in Video Games > PlayStation 3 > Sports > Football

Product Description

Platform: PLAYSTATION 3

Amazon.com Product Description

Madden NFL 11 is the 22nd version of EA Sports' classic video game football franchise. Featuring cover athlete Drew Brees, Super Bowl XLIV MVP and quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, Madden NFL 11 incorporates a blend of simpler, quicker and deeper new features with time-tested classic features expected from a game in the Madden franchise. Features included in the PlayStation 3 version include Franchise mode, All-new GameFlow playcall system, dual stick control, extensive online functionality and more. The Madden NFL franchise regenerated for PS3. View larger. A Simpler, Quicker and Deeper Madden Madden NFL 11 redefines the way you experience the game of football. Simpler: from 350 plays down to 1, the all-new GameFlow system puts you in the helmet of an NFL quarterback, to execute an authentic, situational game plan, one play at a time. Quicker: with 60-minute game times reduced to 30, spend more time on the field and less in the playbook. Same drama, half the time. Deeper: Madden NFL 11 is feature-rich, with improved animations and control options, enhanced online functionality, and new broadcast and audio presentation that delivers the NFL experience fans have come to expect. Key Game Features From 350 Plays Down to 1 – The all-new GameFlow playcall system puts you inside the helmet of an NFL quarterback like never before, allowing you to execute authentic NFL game plans one play at a time. Add a new level of strategy by customizing your own offensive and defensive game plans, or have plays based on your favorite team’s real-life tendencies called for you. Play Games in Half the Time – With an all-new playcall system, spend less time in the huddle and more time on the field as you experience the drama and excitement of a full game in less than 30 minutes. Don’t Just Play, Feel It – All-new Dual Stick Control drastically reduces button dependency for the ball carrier by mapping key moves to the right and left sticks. Run through holes, break tackles, and explode in the open field with a more fluid, intuitive, and responsive running system. All-new locomotion provides true acceleration and deceleration, plus natural planting and cutting, while delivering the authentic-feeling Madden NFL to date. Play, Learn, Win – Rookies can enjoy success quicker than ever before. New Coaching Tips automatically pause the game at critical points to help explain each situation as it unfolds. A revamped playcall system draws player routes on the field as in-game coach’s audio provides helpful hints to better execute the play. Redefining Madden NFL Online – Last year we gave you Online Franchise and Online Co-op, now Madden NFL 11 delivers an all-new game mode that will change the online experience yet again. See It. Hear It. Feel It. – Experience a new level of excitement with revamped audio presentation. From the booth to the field, Madden NFL 11 brings gameday to your living room like never before. Additional Screenshots: Customized playcalling. View larger. See it, hear it, feel it. View larger. Action on-field and off-field View larger. Play, learn, and win. View larger.

Product Description

Electronic Arts Inc. Madden NFL 11 19356 PC Games

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

129 of 143 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Madden 11: First Impressions and Important Info, August 10, 2010

By 

spirestar - See all my reviews

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Madden NFL 11 (Video Game)

This review was created a few hours after I got Madden 11 for the sake of getting crucial info out to consumers as quickly as possible. It will be edited and maintained as the game changes and more information becomes clear as I increase my familiarity with the product.



****ORIGINAL REVIEW BEGINS HERE: As a professional software tester and avid (read: hardcore) Madden gamer, I feel that there are some things that Amazon customers should be aware of before making the purchase. This will focus only on gameplay (especially as pertains to online), not commentary or other add-ons that can enhance or take away from the experience.

This edition of Madden is great for new players, but it will leave the old-timers like myself somewhat confused and angry that our old controls are gone. The new Gameflow playcalling is utterly useless to experienced Madden players (it is optional, thankfully), but casual gamers will find the game immediately more accessible.

The biggest difference is the Strategy Pad. Hot routes, audibles, defensive assignments, etc are now accessed through a top level menu by hitting the cross pad. This is a huge problem for hardcore Maddenites because it means that we have to press more buttons to do the same amount of adjustments that we did in Madden 10. More time spent adjusting means less ability for preplay setup, and those precious fractions of a second mean the difference between running a complicated scheme and a vanilla defense.

The good news is that the old controls are being patched in, hopefully by September, to appease those of us carrying pitchforks and torches.

The turbo button has been taken away (default setting, can be changed) in favor of encouraging a two-stick control method for runners. The right stick controls the upper body, the left stick controls the lower body. It isn't as intuitive as EA would have you think, but it isn't terrible, either. The old button controls also exist. The runner is easier to control now and running is very smooth.

OFFENSE:
The offense has a lot of power in comparison to last year's installation. Defenses, due to less adjustment time and a few tweaks to offensive performance (that needed to be made -- more on this in a second), are on their heels from the get-go. There is an exception to this, and that will be mentioned later as well in the DEFENSE section of this review. In any case, Wide Receiver performance is greatly improved. No longer does the wideout run uncontrollably in the wrong direction after catching a comeback or screen pass. Rocket Catches are also laughably easy (casual gamer note -- Rocket Catches are when the receiver spins, jumps, and catches the ball in an earlier point of its trajectory than he would by default). The running game is also harder to defend, it seems, especially against "stud" backs like Peterson and Johnson.

DEFENSE:
Harder to play, softer coverages in every way than Madden 10 (especially zone), unless the following is taken advantage of. This is a glitch, and will almost certainly be patched because it is a gaping hole in the AI. The offensive line does not "see" spies. If the defense manually puts someone on QB spy and blitzes with them, interior linemen do not pick them up. Executed properly, QBs cannot get out of their auto-drop before being slammed to the ground. Even max-protect with RBs does not work to counter this if the defensive player knows a certain trick (that will remain unmentioned here -- I don't want to contribute to more abuse of the glitch). This version of Madden is made to shift the balance of power to the offense, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is comparatively harder to play great defense in 11 than it was in 10.


Overall: Once the game is patched, I think it will be good for everyone and may earn another star or even two. As-is, there are some severe issues that remove some of the depth that hardcore Madden fans enjoy. Madden 11 is checkers instead of chess, but I do hold out some hope that the desired depth will be added via patch.

EDITS:

(8/26 note: Edits will be posted at the top of the EDITS section now to keep the relevant information closer to the top. In addition, if anyone does not find this review helpful, please leave me a quick note in the comments section and I will address the issue ASAP).

***9/27***
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm done. I've played enough after patch 1.03 to make me think that this will never be fixed or even equal M10. I strongly suggest you stay away from this game if you are interested in improved gameplay over M10. It ain't there, and probably never will be. Zones are busted and defense is just generally broken. I'm trading in to get $ toward Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Best of luck to those of you who decide to stick it out.

***9/23***
A quick note about 1.03. This patch seems to have increased the efficiency of the defense. In my first game after the patch playing the same defense (mainly 4-6 speed package cover 2 man as a base using a safety and both DE's in a variety of different ways) I forced 6 turnovers against someone with a .600 win pct online. The big difference was that interceptions weren't almost always dropped. Zone still seemed unplayable, though. I haven't seen any other differences yet, but I'll post back here when I do.

***9/9***
Patch 1.02 was released a couple of days ago, patching in Madden 10 preplay controls in addition to some unidentified gameplay "tweaks". The addition of the preplay controls is nice, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that defense in the game is broken. The hit stick is worse than useless -- if you use it, you will miss the tackle at least 70% of the time (remember, I'm a hardcore Madden fan -- it's not like I'm just bad at using it). Man coverage gets beaten badly by many routes, and zone gets beaten worse. Deep passes are a 50/50 prospect (far too offensively powered). Receivers often drop the easiest passes when wide open unless user-caught. Rocket Catching, which I originally reviewed as laughably easy, is only laughably easy with certain receivers on certain routes (outs and C-routes). Unlike Madden 10, lesser teams (like the Raiders) are not really playable unless the user is ready to have silly, uncontrollable things happen (like dropping multiple passes, having the QB inexplicably throw 20 yards off-target, etc). Maybe the second patch with fix things, but I hesitate to suggest that anyone buy this product due to the severe play imbalances that exist. I'm strongly considering trading in. I've given it a month, and I'm at the end of my rope. As someone with a better than .800 win pct online who is saying this, I implore you to consider the average Madden gamer. The frustration just simply is not worth it. In Madden 10, two people who knew what they were doing could adjust and stop the other person. There was an answer for everything. In M11, an excellent defender will always be beaten by a pretty good offense.

***8/26 Edit 3***
Run blocking, especially out of I, Strong, and Weak formations, needs to be patched but has not been addressed in any press release by EA. The lead blocker (a fullback, usually) will often get through the first level of defenders on interior running plays and simply stop without attempting to block anyone. As a note to players, interior runs are far more effective unless your opponent has no idea how to stop sweeps, and this is probably as it should be.

***Second Edit***
EA has released an announcement that they will be patching the QB spy glitch, tweaking pass defense to make it stronger, and improving Play Action blocking. If they do this, the game will be significantly improved (8/23/2010)

***FIRST EDIT***
Another major issue is the required auto-dropback for QB's in Shotgun formations. You cannot control the QB for about one second after he has the ball in his hands. I assume this is to discourage what may have been considered (by EA) "abuse of QB scrambling." It's very difficult to see how this adds to the gameplay, however, as it severely limits quick throws/WR screen effectiveness and causes the QB to be a sitting duck.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not perfect, still fun, August 16, 2010

By 

Bill G. - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Madden NFL 11 (Video Game)

Against what appears to be the tide of public opinion among users (as opposed to yes-men reviewers) I paid full price for the new iteration.I am not a hard core gamer, so little glitches that irritate some do not bother me all that much, but I felt compelled to share some thoughts. I am playing exclusively Franchise vs. CPU, so I can't speak to online issues.

The appearance of the game is nicely done, although I don't see any significant improvement there from Madden 10.I do like the two-stick running. Once I got used to it, I did feel like I had more control, and the running is more realistic. Unlike one reviewer I read, once you get the hang of it I do find it to be somewhat intuitive. Overall, I think the running is much more lifelike and a big improvement from last year. The other thing I noticed about the game (and NCAA 11) which I kinda like is that when you are tackling you had better be in position or the guy is gone.I played several games where the RB just runs through the line and goes--once for 98 yards on 3rd down. That made me a little cranky. It seems like the RB's will break a lot more tackles than in the last version, which I found hugely frustrating as I am still getting used to play. I am a big Rams fan, and granted they suck, but I mean I played against Adrian Peterson and he was tossing would be tacklers aside like Superman. I get that he's Adrian Peterson, but I also got abused by some third string RB for Tampa in a pre-season game. I didn't bring anyone down until the third contact.It was as frustrating as it is to be a Rams fan in real life.

The "Strategy Pad" is abysmally stupid and inefficient. It makes me really wonder what the people at EA are thinking about when they make these totally unnecessary changes. This thing adds nothing to gameplay. It's kind of a huge FU to those of us who have been supporting the game over the years. I am not that great on the controls, but in my opinion it takes twice as long to make adjustments. I was playing Jets v. Pats the other day against the CPU and was getting torched by Wes Welker. I went to double team him and could literally not get it done before the ball was snapped, like, 8 plays in a row, and EVERY play was a pass to a wide open Welker--I kid you not, every play until they scored. I almost threw the six-axis thru the screen.Pretty infuriating. Which brings me to my next criticism. Gameflow, IMO, is useless for anyone who has played the game before. I was trying it out in this game, and it never occurred to my brilliant coaching staff to double team Welker. I couldnt tell who my personnel were, and on offense they call the same plays over and over again. At first I thought it was a cool idea to "be in the helmet" and have the coaches talking to you. But, oh my, the stupid things they say. "OK, lets run it up the middle and hopefully the blocking will be there...Ok, take a five-step drop and hit your receiver"--you know, stuff the coaches really say. Once, on defense the coach tells me to watch out that I don't get torched long down the sideline, and guess what happened? Anyway I played the Jets/Pats over without Gameflow, and found it to be pretty enjoyable. The other thing I noticed is that offense is way too easy and defense way to hard. I played all weekend and every game was 38-35, 42-30, etc. And I echo what someone else said about the CPU making superhuman comebacks in the third quarter.

And who the heck is Gus Johnson? I never heard of him, but what a dork. He sounds on some of the play by play like he's trying to be a cross between John Wayne and Rod Serling. And great commentary. My QB drops back, and Gus says (in this really excited voice) "IT's A PASS!!!". Like, no S#@% Sherlock. I dont know why something so simple as reasonably intelligent commentary just seems to elude EA.

Having said all that,I must admit I find these failings do not really significantly diminish my enjoyment of the game play. If you can get past some of this stuff, it is highly entertaining. It should come with a gift card for anger management class though.

EDIT-have played a number of games and I have discovered that with a little slider tweaking, you can make the gameplay not so heavily offense-oriented and much, much more enjoyable. Check out the forums at [...]

42 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Exclusivity Stinks!, August 24, 2010

By 

N. Daniels "Nate" (Syracuse, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Madden NFL 11 (Video Game)

Where to begin... This game has taken a MAJOR step backward AGAIN this year. The Franchise mode is terrible (scouting is weak, signing players is time consuming and irritating, less tracking of statistics, interface is cumbersome, etc.). The AI is incredibly dumb, Games are typically 40-50 points per team on All-Pro. All-Madden is just as rediculous, yet even more frustrating with AI doing anything to stay "competitive..."

I rarely write such a poor review, and can chalk up a poor purchase without complaining about it. However, it just infuriates me that as soon as EA got NFL exclusivity, the Madden games have consistently gotten more and more unrealistic and downright less enjoyable to play. As a long time Madden buyer, I've dedicated some significant time to the Madden franchise over the years. However, post NFL exclusivity I find myself playing less and less. This was the first time I've purchased the game in three years. After a week of playing it, I wish I had waited another three. I should note, I'm no "fanboy" of one particular game or developer. I just feel paying $60+ for a game should result in some sort of improvement and satisfaction. I doubt anyone would be willing to pay $60 for some graphic improvements, updated (sort of) rosters and the addition of useless "gameplay" (which can't be turned off in Online play, actually making it more frustrating).

I've heard rumors that EA may be completely overhauling Madden 12, and I sincerely hope they do. As a child I would have cost my parents $60 for this trash. As an adult, I feel ripped off and taken advantage of. I just want to play "Madden." It may be titled Madden, but this isn't "Madden." My recommendation is you save your money and play Madden 2002, as it's seriously better than this years joke...

Edit: After owning this game for a few months, it has proven quite effective in preventing dust from getting on a small sliver of space in my dvd rack. Now priced at $40 it is a much more affordable "dust guard." On a serious note, why I haven't traded this game in is beyond me. Actually, maybe its because of the ridiculously low values u get for used sports games... sigh. And I love (sarcasm) how EA found one more way of screwing their customers by assigning codes to force 2nd hand owners to purchase online play. Ugh...

Maybe if we all start refusing to pay $60 for updated rosters we can send a message. Needless to say I will be doing my part in 2011.

2115|R3117W9USQDAR9;2115|RTB3M8YV5K6JS;2115|R2M4MG7O4TT0S6;