Madden NFL Football Hands-on Preview - Hands-on Preview

3DS

Madden NFL Football

by Josh Max - February 18, 2011, 2:12 pm EST
Total comments: 10

Madden comes back and delivers a huge hit.

Madden NFL Football has been absent from Nintendo's handheld systems for two and a half years, and with this new 3DS launch title Madden intends to make its comeback. At the recent EA expo I was able to play the final version of the game and was pleasantly surprised.

From the first snap to the final touchdown of my game I was impressed. I’m not a big Madden guy, but I had a lot of fun playing this game. The controls were easy to pick up on, which made the game a lot of fun from the get go. When I was on the offense, I took the place of the quarterback at first. I could move around with the Circle Pad and use the various buttons (A, B, etc.) to decide who I was throwing to and when. Any other time (either when catching the ball or when I was on defense) I controlled the player’s movements with the Circle Pad and could use the A button to push harder. The game really takes advantage of GameFlow, an automatic play calling system that allows the game to go from play to play as smoothly as ever.

The camera angles are fixed and a bit awkward at times, but it’s all for the 3D. Although the 3D took some getting used to, once I got through a play or two I was in the game.

I was told there is no franchise mode or multiplayer which bummed me out. Aside from that though, it looks like a pretty polished and fun game.

Talkback

TurdFurgyFebruary 18, 2011

No multiplayer? Booo!

LittleIrvesFebruary 18, 2011

I don't understand how a football game, or any sports game for that matter, can even remotely think about shipping without a basic 2-player option. Or am I missing something? Is this really only a 1-player game? And why haven't people been more miffed about this, again?.

TJ SpykeFebruary 18, 2011

I don't really care, I usually play sports games by myself anyways.

LittleIrvesFebruary 18, 2011

Also: After watching the lifeless touchdown during the embedded gameplay video, I realize what I so desperately want for 3DSware: a new Tecmo Super Bowl. And screw you, Madden, for never letting me have it with real players ever again.

TJ SpykeFebruary 18, 2011

They could do it with real players, they would just have to strike up deals with retired players (like 2K Sports did for All-Pro Football 2K8). The problem with that is you have to make deals with every single player (wheras you don't need player permission if you have the NFL license).

NWR_NealNeal Ronaghan, Owner/Reviews EditorFebruary 18, 2011

The only time I ever played multiplayer Madden was in Madden 10 and 11 on Wii, and even that was just the 5-on-5 mode.

The big loss is no franchise mode. The likelihood I'd ever play multiplayer Madden on a handheld is slim to none.

xcwarriorFebruary 18, 2011

"I was told there is no franchise mode or multiplayer which bummed me out. Aside from that though, it looks like a pretty polished and fun game."

So the game is completely worthless. EA making sure shovelware is on the system day 1 I see.

TJ SpykeFebruary 18, 2011

It's a good game from what we have seen, so I don't get why you are calling it shovelware. It would be nice if there were more options, but it still looks like it will be a good football game.

ShayminDonald Theriault, News EditorFebruary 18, 2011

It's a first release for a system, Madden games in that boat historically have been crippled in some fashion. As I recall, it took the 360/PS3 versions about 3 years to get back to the feature sets of the PS2/Xbox versions when they launched.