It’s time to hit the gridiron again for EA Sports’ marquee video game franchise, and the NFL game once again fails to disappoint. The popular annual video game franchise features all 32 NFL teams and plays brilliantly.

The new additions to the game include a revolutionary new play call system called GameFlow, designed to cut average game times in half. GameFlow works by having your coordinator pick the best play for each situation designed from real NFL playbooks. Choosing your play the traditional way from previous Maddens is still available, pleasing casual and hardcore gamers alike. This new feature works like a charm and rarely gives you a bad play. GameFlow will revolutionize the way you play football video games for years to come.

Another change for this year’s game is the new Locomotion animations, first used in EA Sports’ college football franchise “NCAA Football 11.” Locomotion technology makes the players run, throwand catch more realistically than in the past, and it looks amazing. For the first time, players slip in the rain, run naturally, and make sideline catches. Locomotion makes Madden seem much more realistic than before. These new features make Madden more fun than ever.

These new features may be great, but the play calling of Chris Collinsworth and Gus Johnson are horrendous. Johnson yells for every play, making a three-yard run sound like a touchdown. Johnson obviously needs acting lessons because he makes the play-by-play sound like chopped liver. Collinsworth is better, but still makes a few mistakes every game. Madden needs better announcing soon or the game may lose some sales.

Franchise mode seems to be untouched from last year’s game. It is still great, but a few upgrades would be nice. Problems include when you play the Pro Bowl, the teams have helmets with their conference logos on it, when it should be the player’s own team’s helmet. For example, Peyton Manning should be wearing a Colts helmet and an AFC uniform, and Adrian Peterson needs to wear a Vikings helmet and an NFC uniform. The technology on the XBox 360 makes it easy for developers to be able to make a simple change; EA Sports is just being lazy.

NFL Superstar mode, which is career mode, also remains unaltered and has become a large disappointment. The career mode has been exactly the same over the past few years and is getting very tiring. EA needs to revamp this mode considerably to keep the mode fresh.

Despite many glaring flaws, Madden NFL 11 is a great game and it belongs in every football fan’s living room. Locomotion and GameFlow make any flaw in this game miniscule. Buy this game, it will give people hours of fun all football season long. E-mail Matt Barnthouse <[email protected]>