Madden 10 Review (Xbox 360)
Category: Reviews Published Date Written by DerrickH
I should play football. That's what everyone said. In high school I heard the phrase enough times that I started to believe it. I should play football. Why not? I was a big, imposing guy. It was a small inconvenience that I never really paid much attention to the sport. I usually preferred the company of a Commodore 64 to a football.Tryouts had started before the semester even began and the team was already chosen, but the coaches told me to show up anyway. I went with my friend Gordon, a small red headed kid less than half my size. We joined a couple of other stragglers on the field as the team started the workout. Everyone else was suited up in the orange and white jerseys that were our schools colors, while I and the other also-rans donned the standard gym uniform of a red shirt and blue shorts. I quickly realized I didn't belong.
I was out of shape and untrained and each new exercise rotation just proved the point even more. When the push-ups started, my arms gave out early and often. It was little comfort that I was in the back of the squad where few could see me struggling to keep up. We ran from workout station to workout station. The coaches yelling the entire time. I didn't understand half of the jargon they were using. The only thing I really knew about football were the games of 'smear the queer' we used to play after school. I was exhausted and I had forgotten why I had even shown up.
When the coaches split the practice by telling the 'backs' to go to the field and the 'line' to hit the tires, I stood there, devoid of any knowledge of which direction to head in. One coach saw me,hunchedover and breathing hard, 'Hopkins, double time it to the tires 'cause you surely aint no 'Back'. I tried to sprint to the line of tires 50 yards away. My 'sprint' was more akin to a lumbering jog. I had never felt so tired before in my life. Compared to me, the other players looked barely winded and ready to go. Each player high stepped through the tires one by one. When it was my turn, I followed suit, and promptly fell on my face. I didn't belong here. I knew it was only a matter of seconds before they threw me off the field. When I got back to my feet, I was done. Instead of going to the back of the line for another round of humiliation, I headed for the locker room. I heard a couple of guys say 'Hey, come back' but I also heard the coach say 'Let him go'.
When Madden 2006 was released on the current generation of consoles. It looked better than any other football game on the market. But the game itself, to be blunt, was a joke. It was buggy, missing features that had been available for years on the PS2, and simply wasn't fun. To call it unplayable would be more praise than it deserves.
Madden 2007 was little more than a bug-fix for the previous game. But the 2008 version of the title began to show a lot of the promise that people had been yearning for during the previous years. And by the time Madden 2009 was released, there was no doubt that the franchise had regained its crown as the king of the field.
Madden 10 is still missing some of the flair that defined the earlier games. But added features like online leagues, more realistic game speeds, and extensive player stats ,have added enough game play options to last for years. Sure there are a few missteps like the 'Madden Shop' where you can buy game play perks that , at best, are superfluous and the audio commentary which gets repetitive way too fast. But that'snot enough to overshadow how far the game has come in the last few years.
The next day at school, I expected to see the other failed tryout partners walking the halls. But instead, I found out that they had all made the squad. Gordon found me and asked "Why'd you leave? The coaches said you were doing really good until you quit". I was staggered with the knowledge that if I had just stayed, I would've made it. I had spent the entire tryout convincing myself that I was failing instead of giving myself a chance to succeed. That hurt a lot more than my burning legs or weighted down arms ever did.
That's the one lesson that's shaped me more than anything else. I barely remember fighting for oxygen or struggling to pull myself off the ground during that tryout. What I remember clearly is the coach's voice saying 'Let him go'. Pain is temporary. What lingers is knowing that when things got tough, you quit. You beat yourself and walked off the field. The team behind Madden 10 struggled though the hard times but they never gave up. So aside from the roster updates, throwback jerseys, weather,holographic trainers, and all the other bells and whistles Madden 10 has to offer, more than anything it reminds me that its always possible to succeed, as long as you don't walk off the field.
Score 8/10