I would like to say that I haven’t written anything in the last two weeks because I have been so overwhelmingly busy with important things, but unfortunately that has not been the case. Other than helping my old roommate move into his new apartment, I’ve been as lazy as a stoner on Zoloft. Every day consists of me waking up to sit in front of the television, watch Sportscenter for a couple hours, eat breakfast, and watch some more television. I might have gone for the occasional run and hang out with my friends a few times, sure, but most days, I wouldn’t shower until 4 in the afternoon and even then, it was only because I had gotten sick of smelling like toxic waste. In order for me to be able to write at the mediocre level that I do, I have to be in a certain state of mind. I don’t just want to write every day just to say that I got a few hundred words out. I’d rather never write again than be one of those people who blogs like they tweet, just spewing out random personal bullshit that nobody should hear or care about. I want those words to feel like they came from a somewhat elaborate thought process that led to a piece that contained some interesting points and ultimately made me feel better for writing them. Of course, I’m committing that very sin as I’m writing this, but it’s to illustrate a point, specifically that when I write about pop culture, I want it to come from the heart instead of it having to feel like I’m filling a quota. So today, after a two week hibernation, I have finally found something that has impassioned me enough to write about it, even though it has heavily contributed to my lack of productiveness over these last two weeks. Of course, I’m talking about the new Madden video game.
First, a little personal history: I have been playing Madden for the last fifteen years for four different game consoles (N64, Xbox, Gamecube, Xbox 360). I’ve played it for so long that I played it before they had cover athletes and the subsequent jinx that went with being one of these athletes. To me, playing Madden is second nature at this point, so for me to be thoroughly impressed with a new Madden game is like Leonardo DiCaprio trying to be impressed by his newest girlfriend (Side note: I am very impressed with Mr. DiCaprio’s new girlfriend, the lovely Blake Lively). I’m so used to playing a high-quality video game that the next one always feels the same as the previous model. Sure, each year, the makers of the game tout new improvements to the game that are supposed to contribute to a more realistic gaming experience, but they are never major enough for me to take notice. Until this year.
The most striking change that Madden has made this year is to its Franchise mode. It had admittedly gotten stale over the years, having remained mostly the same since its inception, but this year, the experience is much deeper and truer to the real-life experience of compiling a championship-caliber team. The most noticeable of these new changes is the rookie scouting system. Previously, I never needed to scout rookies in order to draft well, but this year, it’s essential in order to know the caliber of playing you are drafting. But perhaps an even cooler element to the game is the incorporation of undrafted free agents, which is something that had always been missing from the game. Franchise owners can now go through every week of the pre-season and cut down their rosters week by week from 75 players to the final 53 man roster.
Another major difference this year is Dynamic Player Performance, which reflects how players perform in games. For example, if Adrian Peterson has a bad game, in the next game, it will be more difficult for him to have a great game because he is affected by his previous performance. All players have hot and cold streaks which directly reflect on how well they are playing.
But this version of Madden is not the best one yet because of all these big changes. I love it as much as I do because of the subtle details that have made playing Madden so much more enjoyable. From the epic title sequence scored to “Mind Heist,” that famous song from the Inception trailer, to the authenticity of the player introductions for every team, this version of Madden gets almost all of the little details just right so that the player feels like he or she is completely immersed in the game as they would be if they were watching it on television. Over the years, I’ve had people much older and less game-savvy than me walk by while I was playing Madden and mistake what they saw for an actual football game, and I scoffed at them for being so oblivious to the obvious differences between the two. But now, I would completely understand if someone confused the two, because the way the camera moves around the players on Madden in the pre-game warm-ups uncannily mimics real-life camera footage one would see on Fox or CBS. This also applies to touchdowns and their aftermath. Cameras always attempt to get in on the celebration after a player scores a touchdown, and in this incarnation of Madden, the creators aim for the same immersive quality of a real football broadcast.
While these improved details are all well and good, there are still some flaws in the game itself, mainly with the gameplay itself. While the makers of Madden fixed the running game, which had been annoyingly difficult in the past, they compensated for it by making the passing game incredibly difficult. I cannot begin to count how many times in the week that I have been playing the game how many times I have had balls knocked down by defenders because I could not throw a touch pass to a receiver, even if I tap the button to throw. In order for a receiver to catch the ball, he has to be open by at least five yards on all sides. This complaint is not from someone who plays the game on the highest difficulty setting, either. Passing is a problem no matter what difficulty setting is being utilized, and this is the one thing that takes away from the fun of the game. I want to be able to chuck it forty times a game and get 400 yards passing, but the AI in the game is almost too good to the point where it becomes detrimental to player enjoyment.
I will still most likely play Madden for many months to come, and I will continue to buy the game for many years to come, I do not think that I will find it so addictive that it will make me a less productive member of society. It will instead provide a wonderful diversion from the harsh reality that I still don’t have a job while not preventing me from finding one.
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