Madden 12

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.