Wii Madden

[feilong801]

Been playing Madden for the Wii lately, and it is extremely well done. Give EA credit for going all out here; almost every thing on the football field can be done with the wii mote and nunchuk, from hiking the ball, passing, stiff arms, jukes, power tackling, kicking, etc.

 

And best of all, it is very intuitive and easy to learn. I was really getting into it, chucking deep bombs and knocking over defenders (the latter is done by shoving your arms forward in a shoving motion). It feels feels very cool to flick you arm forward and watch your QB throw a bomb to the receiver, and to strip fumbles by flicking the Wii mote down.

 

If you get a Wii and already have Madden, get this one anyway. It plays totally different and might be the best version of Madden this year.

 

-Rob

[Shawn]

I have played it and it is very good. But I do think they need to work on the kicking game for next year. Maybe it was me but I couldn't get the hang of it no matter how hard I tried. Good times though, especially against a bud.

[voor]

Consider this.  My brother is a adventure geek (Ico, Zeldas, etc.) and the closest thing to sports games he usually buys is Mario Kart.  But he informed me that next on his list is Madden.  I warned him about the depth of the game, thinking it would be too much for him (with all the plays, etc.), but he said he played it on the Wii and loved it.

 

Nintendo's on to something....

[feilong801]

I've read alot about the much maligned kicking controls, but I figured out how to get it to work really well. The problem is how EA tells you to use the remote. Instead of a wide, sweeping motion as the illustrations suggest, a short, upward flick of the wrist will get you to at least 90% power most of the time. The harder the wrist flick, the more slice it would have, which makes sense. After figuring that out I can make kicks with pretty much the same accuracy as regular Madden.

 

What I like about Madden is that it shows how a hardcore game can be made to be a new experience with the new controls. Other developers should note that and not just make crappy "Wii makes," which will be a problem with the system.

 

However, I feel that there is a decent chance that this isn't going to be a huge problem, since Nintendo doesn't really require the developers to relearn the wheel much (I would guess they can use similar tools and methods that they used for Gamecube games) they can, and should, spend most of the time working on the control functions. That's clearly what happened with Madden. The engine is obviously the 06 version of the game, but since that was already done, they spent all of their time on motion sensing stuff. Very smart.

 

-Rob

 

-Rob

[Paul Campbell]

[QUOTE=Shawn]

I have played it and it is very good. But I do think they need to work on the kicking game for next year. Maybe it was me but I couldn't get the hang of it no matter how hard I tried. Good times though, especially against a bud.

[/QUOTE]

I havn't played it, but every review I have read has said the same thing, that it's a great game except for the kicking part.  I'm curious to play it just to see how they could make such a good control scheme but muck up the kicking so bad.

[feilong801]

In my opinion, they didn't muck it up... they did muck up the tutorial, however, as you cannot use a long, sweeping motion upward, or you'll never get the power you need. Just flick the controller quickly upward and you'll do just fine with it.

 

-Rob

[JustLikeHeaven1]

I have Madden on the Wii and I found the learning curve to very steep.  Throwing away years of PS2 madden controls was not easy.  I still don't have the precise level of control that I'm used to, but the more I play it the better I get.

I think the kicking game is the easiest of all the new controls to learn.  I never had a problem with it. 

Graphically the game is decent and there seems to be some more lighting effects going on.  Also the textures on the field look nice too.  I have noticed some issues were players walk through other players...but this game isn't about graphics at all.  The gameplay is fun to learn all over again.  It's a real solid offering from EA and I have high hopes for next years version. 

[feilong801]

Well said, that's perfectly accurate.

 

-Rob

[Shawn]

[QUOTE=Paul Campbell][QUOTE=Shawn]

I have played it and it is very good. But I do think they need to work on the kicking game for next year. Maybe it was me but I couldn't get the hang of it no matter how hard I tried. Good times though, especially against a bud.

[/QUOTE]

I havn't played it, but every review I have read has said the same thing, that it's a great game except for the kicking part.  I'm curious to play it just to see how they could make such a good control scheme but muck up the kicking so bad.
[/QUOTE]

 

Like I said it was a ton of fun. If more games come out like this (really using the control well) then I will pick up a Wii. In fact, I don't even have a football game in my library right now which is unheard of. I am not sure what the game is like solo but it was a lot of fun getting my ass kicked by my buddy. Like the Lions would EVER beat the Giants 44-10! Well...maybe that is possible.

[a1]

[QUOTE=Shawn]

I have played it and it is very good. But I do think they need to work on the kicking game for next year. Maybe it was me but I couldn't get the hang of it no matter how hard I tried. Good times though, especially against a bud.

[/QUOTE]

Make sure to hold the remote down (so the buttons face away from you). Once you do that you'll be getting perfect kicks every time.