The question that gamers have to ask themselves every 2nd Tuesday in August is as follows: Am I going to buy the new Madden? The rationale here is simple. Madden is always a good game. Is it better than last year’s is what the conundrum is. Outside of 3rd party knockoffs like Backbreaker and whatever the hell that John Elway game was a few years ago with all the retired players, Madden is all you have for NFL Football. Anywhere. Every year EA tries to sell us on a new concept, tweak, or mode. Some of them are great ( hit stick), and some are terrible (passing cone). 2011 brings us Gameflow. I don’t know what I ever did without it.

The game looks better than last year. The controls are tighter, and the camera angles for replays are vastly improved. That along will not bring you to pay $60. The new Gameflow tool really works. A lot people have been super critical of it and say it makes the game much too easy. I call bullshit. Here is why: Just because the play is called for you doesn’t mean the play is played for you. It speeds up the time of a game dramatically. One of the reasons I stopped playing Madden online is that it takes over an hour to play a game. A fucking hour. NHL 10 and FIFA WC 2010 take about a third of that. People spend far too much time scrolling through the playbook to select the same 20 plays they know work. I’ll let the game decide what I should run. If I don’t like it, I audible. Too many bad choices, turn the option off. It’s that easy.

Unlike NCAA, Madden did not remove the mini games. Mini Camp is still there and very fun for a quick fix. Franchise modes are basically unchanged, but another huge improvement is Online Team Play. It works and it is fun. You can have up to 3 guys on a team, one if always QB on offense, the other a RB. The other guy can play anywhere. Defense works in the same way. Are we at the 11 on 11 that FIFA boasts it can do? Well, no. Are we a few steps closer than last year. Absolutely.

I truly believe Madden stepped up its game this year. Besides the obvious aesthetic changes, the game is just better. People will complain that the game is geared far too much for the casual fan. Yes and no. It is easier to pick up and play than in year’s past, but the two points are not mutually exclusive. If Gameflow sucks for you and you want to call all your own shots, then simply disable the option or do not press A after the play. Press X. The. End. The first game I played was against my brother for the Super Bowl, which is its own game mode. After the dick move of going for 2 while down a point with 18 seconds left, I found myself watching my boy Eli Manning handing EA Obama a #44 Giants jersey. I would have rather handed it to John McCain, but lets not go there. Go buy Madden. Today.