Madden NFL 10 Ratings, Updates, and Changes

Madden NFL 10 contains new features that help to create a more realistic NFL football experience for the gamer to enjoy. To this end EA has put together a revamped feature set, including some massive alterations to game play that improve the experience and make it more realistic. Let's take a look at the changes EA has made from last year's Madden and how they're going to affect your Madden-time.

Madden NFL over the years has added new player ratings, but only a handful of the ratings actually change the play on the field. In an effort to make this year's Madden a little more like a football simulation EA has accurately differentiating between players and stretched the ratings out a little. How does this affect the play on the field? They have used a wider range of ratings which results in a wider range of player skill. For example, man coverage ratings range from 0 - 99. If a cornerback has a rating of 59, he isn't going to cover the receiver well in man-to-man coverage, while a cornerback with a rating of 96 will be almost impossible to throw against in man-to-man.

When you first start up Madden NFL 10 you'll notice the game play has slowed down a bit from previous Madden editions. EA did this to make the speed of the game more in tune with human reflexes and the real game. The new speed of the game actually allows you to see the holes as they open when running the ball and allows you to see the play develop better when dropping back to throw a pass. The default speed of the game is set to slow when you start up the game, while the on line game play will be set to normal. You can alter the speed of the game to one that is better for you by going into the game options menu. There are five game speeds included with Madden NFL 10. Very slow, slow, normal, fast, and very fast.

A player's speed differential slider has also been added. This slider compresses the range of speeds between players. The value ranges 0 - 100 with 50 being the default setting, a lower speed differential means that faster players have a much faster speed than the slower runners, while a higher rating tightens things up a bit.

The locomotion and animations for players have been revamped for this season. One of the big changes is to the "turn rate" of a player and the distance it takes him to run in a complete circle at varying speeds. For instance, at full speed players take wider angles; conversely, players jogging will not take as wide an angle when they turn.

They have added new animations between receivers and defensive backs. Receivers with higher route running ratings will be able to get in and out of cuts quicker in man coverage. They have also added jostling between defensive backs and receivers which will allow slower defensive backs to cover faster receivers using proper technique.

Previous years players could abuse the AI in Madden NFL 10 once they learned which plays exposed the weaknesses of the artificial intelligence. This year the AI has been designed to adapt to you and counter any money plays that you have found in its defenses. In theory, this should mean that the AI will adapt to your money plays after you have used them a few times and force you to find another hole. Obviously, this isn't going to be a consideration in situations where you're playing a live human.