Madden NFL 10


Madden NFL 10 is an American football video game based on the National Football League that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. The 21st installment of the Madden NFL series, it is the first game to feature two players on the cover: Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals, who played against each other the previous season in Super Bowl XLIII. It was released in August 2009 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox 360 and BlackBerry, and for the iOS on September 9 through the App Store.

New features

Gameplay

All of the features apply to the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game, unless otherwise noted below.
For the first time in the Madden NFL series, the cover features two players: Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals. Both players participated in Super Bowl XLIII. On the Wii version of the game, several Cardinals players can be noticed in the background.
In the NFL Kickoff game against the Tennessee Titans, Polamalu sprained his MCL while blocking a field goal attempt, causing him to miss a majority of the season. Polamalu's injury has been linked to the continuation of the popular Madden Curse that plagues players immediately after gracing the cover of Madden. Fitzgerald, however, had a strong season, posting a career-high 13 touchdowns and earning Pro Bowl honors.

Roster updates

Roster updates were released almost every week during the 2009 football season and are required to play online. They are basically changes to team depth charts and player statistical updates.
Players on Injured Reserve still can be used in ranked games.
Michael Vick and Brett Favre were originally not placed in the rosters for the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings, due to various reasons. In order to receive the characters, the user must have an internet connection and update their rosters online with their specific console, either Xbox Live or PlayStation Online Network. For Xbox users, it is not needed to have a paid online Gold account, one can still get the roster updates with the free online Silver account.

AFL Legacy Pack

In light of the 50th Anniversary celebration of the American Football League, on September 24 the AFL Legacy Pack became available as downloadable content on the Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Network.
The pack includes throwback uniforms for the Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans, San Diego Chargers, Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos, and New York Jets, In addition, games can be played in a classic AFL film grain broadcast camera, referee uniforms are AFL-style orange throwbacks and the team logos on field are old-school. The AFL Legacy Pack also provides a new set of AFL specific Madden Moments and AFL Legacy Pack specific achievements with a 150-point total gain. This "AFL mode" has been met with much approval.

Madden Ultimate Team

Madden Ultimate Team, also known as "MUT" is a game mode released on January 7, 2010. In this mode, users are able to build a team by purchasing player packs. These packs are purchased with coins that are earned by winning a game, scoring a touchdown etc. They can also be purchased with real money through the user's PlayStation Network or Xbox Live accounts. As the user gains more coins, they are able to buy better packs of players, eventually building their "Ultimate Team".
This mode has received negative feedback with regards to the 'Player Contracts' that are attached to each 'Player Card'. When purchased 'Player Cards' have a 10 match contract - this decreases by 1 every game. Replenishment of a contract on a 'Player Card' is done by a contract card that is purchased with coins. It is thus extremely difficult to keep a good team 'in contract' without spending real money. It is also possible to be in a position where you have a low amount of coins and not enough players to even play 'Madden Ultimate Team' - unless you wish to spend real money to buy contract cards to replenish your players contracts, or to buy new packs with - to try to fill the empty team positions that are stopping you from playing the mode.

''Madden NFL Arcade''

EA Sports released Madden NFL Arcade as a downloadable title through the PSN Store and Xbox Live Marketplace networks on November 24 respectively. The game is a five-on-five arcade style football game similar to Midway's NFL Blitz, featuring all 32 NFL teams and stadiums.
The game features "Game Changers", which are similar to NFL Street's "Game Breakers". There are 13 Game Changers, with players having the opportunity to gain a Game Breaker prior to every play, and are able to use it at that instant or retain for later use.

Reception

''Madden NFL 10''

Madden NFL 10 was met with positive to average reception. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 86.51% and 85 out of 100 for the Xbox 360 version; 85.55% and 85 out of 100 for the PlayStation 3 version; 81.88% for the iOS version; 79.50% and 80 out of 100 for the PSP version; 77.17% and 77 out of 100 for the Wii version; and 71.50% and 68 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version.

''Madden NFL Arcade''

Madden NFL Arcade was met with average to mixed reception upon release. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 71% and 66 out of 100 for the Xbox 360 version, and 65% and 60 out of 100 for the PlayStation 3 version.