The controls seem overly complicated, the Xbox Controllers has like eight buttons (excluding the start and select buttons), and that apparently was enough for the game’s developers. While the controls aren’t terrible once you get used to them, it just feels like 2K Sports was trying to do too much.
In order to execute a dunk or layup with the “shot stick”, you have point the right thumbstick while holding turbo in a specific combination. It may not sound overly complicated, but there are 15 possible combinations for various dunks, layups and other miscellaneous shots. Once you get it all down, it’s not that bad, but when you first pick up the game is extremely tedious. Just stick to the default controls.
Also, if stealing is part of your defensive strategy, be patient as you often either miss like a poorly-timed hit stick in madden or you’ll foul the opposing player. The one thing you won’t do, unless the timing is perfect, is actually hit the ball loose. Also, hitting ‘Y’ executes a hopstep, just avoid this as if you’re close to an opposing player its going to stop your momentum and you’re going to get called for a traveling violation.
My favorite aspect of gameplay is the ability to quit, save and return to a game later. Some Madden titles on the original XBOX boasted this feature and its fantastic if you're in the middle of an epic game and something else comes up.
As expected, the graphics are phenomenal, the players, coaches, fans and arenas all look superb. Interestingly enough, the cheerleaders are poorly animated when compared to everything else, but that doesn’t come close to detracting from the graphics.
The presentation is realistic and well-done. Typically, such as in Madden, commentary is usually the one caveat of the broadcast-like presentation of a sports title. However, here the commentary, is actually pretty decent.
The menus are weird and oftentimes you’ll figure merely pressing ‘start’ or ‘A’ will allow you to proceed to the next logical option, typically a game, however, more often than not, you’ll need to bring up a menu via the right stick which provides with more choices than you typically want or need.