First a review of the Game:

This is a fairly detailed simulation of NFL football. It will give players a real appreciation for all of the mental gymnastics that coaches and players in the NFL go through on every down. However, for a casual video game player, the number of options per second is overwhelming to the point of frustration. I have sat down 4 times to play the game and every time I have gotten up an hour or two later very upset at how difficult it is to have fun. I buy the Madden football approximately every other year: This is the worst Madden game I have played since 2001.



Pros

[] Lots of game modes and features

[] Nice animations and good graphics

[] Decent sound (if you turn off the stadium noise to get rid of the music)

[] Lots very precise options for controlling players



However...



Cons

[] The game is frustratingly difficult to pick up and play. Going through the training mode I see that there are dozens of combinations for how to throw the football, how to run, and how to make moves on defense. There are pre-snap options for every position and every situation. If you do not spend many hours mastering all of these things then you will not win games, you will not finish challenges, and you are unlikely to have fun.

[] To limit the number of options the game offers a "game flow" mode. This is where the AI makes the best guess as to what play to run next on defense or offense. Sounds good. However, I found it picked the same 5 - 10 plays repeatedly. This was not only dull, but also ineffective. Also, the "game flow" menu does not show the play with nice little Xs and Os so there is no way to determine if the play makes sense for the situation unless you already know the play by name.

[] The game menus are dynamic and slow to load. The icons seems to move around a bit. It takes a lot of reading and load time from the time the disc is put in to the time you are ready to play.

[] In previous Madden games it was easy to restart a game or practice when playing solo. In this version the only way to restart is to quit out to the menus and restart the game entirely from scratch. Given how slow the load times are (even with the game installed to the hard drive), the frustration level goes up fast.

[] If you do not buy the game new, then you will have to pay extra to get to all of the game's features.

[] The computer quarterbacks rarely miss passes. Colt McCoy should be in the hall of fame instead of being a backup for the 49ers based on his insane completion percentage.

[] A lot of time is wasted watching after each play. The game spends more time showing the coach talking into his clipboard than I thought possible. There are constant replays of the action. On broadcast TV that is great. When I am trying to play a quick game... stop it! Get on to the next play!



Sunday Ticket

It works on PC, iPhone, and Android phone just fine. On phones be sure to download the Sunday Ticket app, not the DirecTV ap.



It does not work on my internet capable TV because there is no way to install Adobe Flash on my TV. To get the games on the big screen will require streaming from a PC, as far as I can tell.



The number of games that are blacked out is frustratingly high. If a game is available as a broadcast in my market, then it will not be available with the Sunday Ticket. Also, so far, Thursday night and Monday night games have not been available despite not being broadcast. Pre-season games were not available either; moot point now. I expected that only games that were not sold out at the stadium would be blacked out, so my expectations were way too optimistic.



Total Package Summary

If I find one or two games per Sunday to watch instead of the local broadcast game(s) then I will get my money's worth with ease for the entire package. I plan to sell the game back ASAP - it is just not fun. All in all, if you have been a big fan of previous Madden games then you might be frustrated with this one, but you could get your money's worth if you use the Sunday ticket too. Good luck.