You can’t tell a whole lot from the new Madden 2012 that separates from last season, but after a quick 20-minute game, you can’t argue that the title is better than last year’s.
Better presentation and easier use of the tackle stick are the biggest changes noticeable. While Madden 2011 had a great look, this year’s version is simply amazing to look at. All the camera angles used during gameplay are reminiscent of a football telecast and help to provide a one of a kind gaming experience. The addition of authentic celebrations also adds more depth to the action.
To see Aaron Rodgers do his championship belt celebration on the demo was pretty damn awesome.
But looks and extra bells and whistles can only go so far. Luckily, the revamped tackle stick works much better than last season’s and makes defense actually fun to play. As a matter of fact, it might be fair to say that Madden’s defense in this year’s version might be as solid as the defensive gameplay in the old 2K series. Much like the hit stick in the NHL series, rather than dive at whoever has the ball, the AI adjusts the defenders body so he makes the most realistic looking tackle possible. Not only does this make the game more enjoyable to play on the other side of the ball, it eliminates many of the weaknesses the game had and provides a much better overall gameplay experience.
On top of that, the pass coverage game has also been fine-tuned. For the first time on the 360, it’s never been easier to take advantage of opposing quarterbacks who try to go deep on you. With a well-timed press of the Y button, you can jump for the ball and unlike previous games in the series, you won’t feel like your secondary have cement blocks glued to their hands. Through this, there’s less of a divide between offense and defense this year.
As a result, Madden 2012 is shaping to be one of the best games in the series on the 360.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
You can’t tell a whole lot from the new Madden 2012 that separates from last season, but after a quick 20-minute game, you can’t argue that the title is better than last year’s.
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