Mac|Life - December 2009

MADDEN NFL 10
TOUCH FOOTBALL
THAT 10 IS MISSING A DECIMAL POINT.

How do you distill the most complicated, true-to-life video game sports series into an iPhone game? Seems like it’d be harder than cramming the Raiders’ entire starting offensive line into a Mini Cooper. Instead of clearly aiming for either the casual football gamer or the simulation nut, Madden NFL 10 tries to reach both players. It’s fun overall, but each side of its audience will find faults.

Football fans still get a lot in the iPhone game. All of the NFL teams, stadiums, and players are represented, with EA promising downloadable updates to rosters (through in-app purchasing) as the real season continues. You can dive into a single game or play through a full season, and you can even trade players to craft an only-in-the-game super-team. Dozens of plays are available, letting you call the right moves on offense and defense.

Casual players will appreciate the smaller touches. Instead of calling an offensive audible, you can re-route receivers by drawing a path with your finger, and you tap an open player to throw passes. While the game clock counts down with NFL rules, there’s no play clock or delay-of-game penalties, letting you pick up and put down an in-progress game.

That said, players from casual to hardcore will be let down by the controls, which entail pushing an onscreen joystick and tapping virtual, overlaid buttons. Ball carriers feel sloppy, unable to nimbly change direction. And there’s no tutorial mode to let you

practice passing, kicking, and tackling either.

Plays unfold too quickly to feel like you’re in command of the action. You’ll constantly poke for the stopwatch button to slow down time and execute fake-outs, interception attempts, and other precise moves. The time manipulation only barely works—we wanted the whole game to feel more responsive versus slowing it down when needed.

The graphics and animation look good at

first, but lose their luster after you’ve been playing a while. You can clearly see what’s happening, but the ball rarely looks like it’s caught or handled—it teleports from flight into possession. Players rarely tackle, and instead just run into each other and fall down.

The bottom line. Casual and fanatic gamers will enjoy aspects of Madden, but sloppy controls keep it from fully winning either group.—Zack Stern

That mess of buttons changes in context, but you’ll mostly scramble for the stopwatch icon.

Requirements: iPhone or iPod touch with iPhone OS 2. 2. 1 or later

Good player animations (away from the ball in play). Effective controls for choosing and re-routing receivers. Authentic players, teams, and stadiums.

Most controls feel sloppy. No in-game tutorial or training camp modes. Clunky opponent AI mismanages the game clock and makes other basic mistakes. Spoken play commentary repeats almost immediately. Direc TV text ads appear at the beginning, halftime, and end of games.