Madden NFL 10 (PS3)
Review by Dan Smith
LIGHTS, action, shoulder pads, spandex... are Spinal Tap back on tour?
Nope, it's the latest in EA's long-running American football series.
It's been a long time since I've played Madden but I'm the token Yank on the Mercury staff and was, as a youth, a Houston Oilers fan (before they upped sticks and moved to Tennessee or somewhere), so I was looking forward to the first punt.
Take a moment to admire the usual sumptuous EA presentation ÃÂbefore throwing yourself right into the action and, if you're me, panicking!
One of the problems Madden will always have is you really need to know the sport well.
And if you don't, you're quickly reduced to choosing any old tactic, banging buttons and hoping for the best.
But EA have at least slowed the action down a tad to give you half a chance of picking out a pass or running out of bounds like a little girl.
There's no doubt American football is perfect for gaming - a satisfying mixture of RPG and hard-hitting - but the uninitiated will need to spend some serious time with the tutorial - the Madden Test - first. Luckily, this remains enjoyable although seeing your Madden IQ score fall after making another ÃÂstupid play is a little disheartening!
New for this year is the fancy Pro-Tak system which offers even more realism than before, meaning you can stretch for that extra yard or hold on to a runner while help ÃÂarrives.
Online franchises is the other big draw, and will be met with much cheer from long-standing fans. The online leagues are done brilliantly, which each have a webpage where players can view standings and compare stats.
But whether you're playing against human or computer, there's no doubt Madden is a great title on top of its game.
You'll just have to put some effort in to get a whole lot of enjoyment out of it.
Authors
Steve Wollaston - Sunday Mercury games reviewer Steve has been writing about video games for donkey's years. In fact he is probably far too old for it now which is why you will see a lot of reviews been done by kids... He has been nominated three times for Regional Games Journalist Of The Year at the Games Media Awards, but never wins. His major love is sports games and rates Sensible World of Soccer circa 90's as the greatest game ever made - closely followed by Championship Manager 2. Skyrim has currently taken over his life.
