A great game that yet again is plagued by issues that remove most of the fun
First off, the good: Visually the game is as good as it's ever been. All the different audibles that I loved in the Xbox series are finally back after their mysterious disappearance in the 360 07 and 08 versions. Lastly, due to the overall slowing down of play, this version feels more like football than any versions before (less arcade-like, more like a real simulation....take that for what you will).
Now for the bad: First off, what the HELL happened to QB vision? That was one of the best ideas EA ever had in my humble opinion, as it actually made people to go through a progression....anyways enough of that.
Picking plays is still unintuitive, controlling a defensive back is just about impossible, the halftime report is god-awful, commentary in general is awful (and often wrong, as a direct quote from the game "Green Bay *pause* is leading *pause* Chicago *pause* 3-3 at the half". I realize voice acting is expensive......but c'mon guys! If there's been one problem over the last 10 years it's been the commentary...and that still has yet to be addressed.
Speaking of glitchy, why does every player run in the exact same style (long hulking strides)? Devin Hester and Brandon Jacobs should not run the exact same way....try taking a page out of uncharted's book and come up with some unique run sequences.
Now for my final complaint which single-handedly resulted in the low score for this game. While the game is playable and overall a pretty enjoyable experience offline, that's not what I purchased it for. I got it for the ONLINE play, which I'm assuming about half of all consumers buy madden for. If you want a fun, enjoyable, streamlined experience online DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. In my first run, I entered 5 different online scrimmages, and got disconnected in every single one before the first quarter was even over. This is with the same online connection that can play virtually any other game online without any difficulties. Could my connection be better? Sure. But when EA consistently sets record sales with this series on a yearly basis, you'd expect their online services to be the BEST, i.e. flawless, rather than being unplayable.
In short, this game has alot of things going for it, but the unplayable online play simply ruins all the fun.