After a five year hiatus, I’m back
and ready to finally write about Madden 12.
In rereading my review of Madden 11 for the first time since I posted
it, I can confidently say that I did not have nearly as much fun playing Madden
12 as I did its predecessor. It is an
example of the franchise taking one step forward (graphics even better), but
two steps back (commentators worse, various features missing, awful
music). While the presentation was
generally pretty slick, with HD menus and fun screen wipes and transition
screens, I found the controls slightly laggy, the CPU AI inconsistent, and the
play calling forgettable.
Diving into my playoff run, the Wild
Card opener featured the Pats hosting the Baltimore Ravens. Things could not have started much better for
me, with an interception of Joe Flacco on the first play that set up a short TD
run by Benjarvus Green-Ellis, the Law Firm.
I was happy to take the 7-0 score right out the gate, but was
immediately struck by two key flaws in the game. First, there was no drive summary – a feature
that I always appreciate – and also by the stilted commentary from Gus Johnson
and Chris Collinsworth. They were quiet
for long stretches, and when they would chime in, often their analysis would be
off-base and laggy (more on that later).
The Ravens were able to recover and
respond with a field goal of their own early in the second quarter, but I
responded with a second TD run from the Law Firm. One incident that took place on the drive
that would become a recurring theme in my playing of Madden 12 was that Rob
Gronkowski was hurt on his only reception and knocked out for the rest of the
game. Getting Gronk the ball over the
middle and Gronk going down with an injury literally happened in all four games
that I played, which is a little bit silly.
He might have an injury history, but he does not get hurt every time he
touches the ball. Regardless, the Ravens
once again matched my TD with a FG, putting the score at 14-6 at the half
following an impressive 2 minute drill from Joe Flacco.
The halftime show, unlike in Madden
11, was simply lame. It only showed one “highlight”
from the first half, which was the final play of the half, a Tom Brady kneel
down with 2 seconds left. Thrilling
stuff.
The third quarter began with a flurry
of matching TDs, including a deep bomb from Flacco following a blown coverage
by me when I accidentally took control of my safety and took him out of the
play by undercutting the route. The
final quarter was largely a defensive struggle, although I did punch it in
while running out the clock late in the game for a garbage TD to put the final
at 28-13. While the game was never
really in doubt, it was fun to play through.
In moving to the divisional round in
Pittsburgh, I was immediately struck by the great likenesses in game of Ben
Roethlesburger and Mike Tomlin. These
models are much better than the one they use for Brady. Unlike the Ravens game, this one was never
really in doubt. My first possession
culminated with a 7 yard TD run from Law Firm, which I immediately added a FG
to following a Jerod Mayo Pick of Roethlesburger. While I made a few bad passing decisions and
threw a few balls directly to Pittsburgh corners and safeties, the game let me
off the hook with them dropping them rather than picking them off.
Although Gronk got hurt again on my
first pass to him, I still managed a 17-0 lead late into the third. My defense was also on fire, sacking
Roethlesburger four times through three quarters. Following a five minute drive to kill the
clock, I capped things off with a field goal before picking off Roethlesburger
a second time and sealing the game at 20-0.
This game was even less competitive than the first one, and more or less
forgettable.
The AFC Championship was at Kansas
City, and I liked the opening sequence, which included a depiction of the Chief’s
Mascot (K.C. Wolf). There was triumphant
music and even a helicopter flyover! I
was jacked and ready for an intense game.
At first it seemed like the game would be a tight one, with the Chiefs
pulling out some trick plays (including use of the Wildcat formation). The game was a defensive struggle resulting
in a tied game late into the second when suddenly things got wacky.
Following a Brady interception at the
KC goal line, Matt Cassel immediately threw a pick of his own. Brady responded with a bomb deep for Matthew
Slater, making it 7-0 with 0:49 left in the quarter. When Cassel got the ball back, he immediately
threw a second interception. This opened
things up for a second Brady bomb, this time to Julian Edelman. A short draw from the Law Firm put the score
at 14-0 going into the half. When the
third quarter opened with the Law Firm running 84 yards for a TD on a counter
play, the game was over. Green-Ellis
would finish with over 200 yards rushing in a 31-7 blowout. The only other noteworthy aspect of the
outing was Rob Gronkowski getting hurt again on his only reception.
As the final gun sounded, I geared up
for a victory animation at having won the AFC championship, especially given
the big opening sequence, but instead nothing at all happened. The game ended and it dumped me back to the
menu screen. In their analysis, neither
Collinsworth nor Johnson even mentioned the AFC Championship, they just said, “so
that Pats win.” Snooze.
The Super Bowl featured a rematch of
Super Bowl XXXI, with the Pats facing the Green Bay Packers. Once again, the opening fanfare was great,
but the analysts were even worse than before.
The game was in Lucas Oil stadium in Indianapolis, but they kept
referring to the game being in Green Bay Wisconsin. They kept prattling on about the importance
of the Packers’ home field advantage. What
happened next stunned me. I could not
make a single play on offense. Everything
I tried failed, be it running or passing.
I ultimately lost the game 7-6.
On the one hand, I suppose that it
was good to lose one, as the previous three games had been such cakewalks. It was proof that the CPU could compete! But on the other hand, I was deeply
frustrated by Tom Brady’s inability to throw accurate passes and by my offensive
line’s complete inability to block anything.
The loss felt a bit cheap, like the CPU just decided it would win
regardless of what I did as a player (as suddenly, nothing at all worked). It also seemed like a random fluke, which
proved to be the case when I played the rematch.
The second time around, it was
another blowout. After a long drive that
led to a FG, I opened up a 10-0 lead following a Vince Wilfork strip sack/TD
run. Aaron Rogers never knew what hit
him. The sight of big Vince rumbling
down the field before springing into the endzone was hands-down the greatest moment
of my Madden 12 experience. I was up
17-0 with 0:36 left in the half when the CPU behaved completely
inexplicably. It ran the ball three
straight times for no gain, but took time outs immediately after each
play. This gave me all the time I needed
to score one last time with a 53 yard FG to put me up 20-0 at the end of the
half.
As the third quarter got underway (Johnson:
“Welcome back to Green Bay!”), the Packers had a decent drive that led to a
missed field goal. From this point
onward, the CPU completely quit the game.
Whenever they got the ball, they just ran draw plays to run out the
clock. This makes no sense and is,
frankly, just inexcusable in the third quarter of a Super Bowl. I managed to score once more to make it a
27-0 final in a boring second half.
As was the case with Madden ’11,
winning the Super Bowl was followed by a pretty extensive celebration sequence,
including a parade in Boston and trip to the White House. This was nice to see, but hardly an
improvement from the previous year. By
the end of this game, I felt like I was finally getting a sense of Madden 12’s
laggy controls. I had a better
understanding of jukes, stiffarms and spin moves, for example. But ultimately, these games were rather
forgettable and uncompetitive. I was
generally able to cruise, except for the one time when the game locked me down
completely and nothing worked. This
all-or-nothing approach made me question how fair the game really was. In the end, I found Madden 12 to be just
another Madden in the ever expanding sea of Madden titles.
