Madden NFL Arcade debuts on Xbox LIVE Arcade this Wednesday, November 25th, and it’s really a breath of simplified air for the simulation-heavy franchise.
With Madden NFL Arcade there are no first downs, no referees, no field goals, no punting, and no clock. You’ve got four downs to score and four plays (run, short pass, medium pass, long pass) with which to get it done. It’s fast, it’s frantic, it’s five-on-five and its action is purposefully exaggerated, especially with the use of Gamechangers (e.g. Molasses, which slows down the action to half-speed).
Each match is quick as well. They’re over in five or ten minutes, making it a great game for quick breaks, or in my case when I was playing the title for “research” prior to the interview, many, many quick breaks taken in rapid succession.
I had the chance to sit down with Matt Read, the Lead Designer for Madden NFL Arcade, and ask him a couple of questions. First, I had to ask about the Gamechangers, which really help give the title its quirky identity.
“A Gamechanger is pretty much a power-up, so any time during the course of the game, on every play, both teams have a random chance of earning a Gamechanger. Then, they can use that Gamechanger any time on that drive. So, examples of some Gamechangers…there’s one called Frostbite. If you use it you’ll freeze a player on the other team. There’s one called Entourage, which is pretty awesome. It brings in the whole offensive line so can run the ball with so many extra guys blocking downfield for you.”
I’m always curious as well just what developers are most proud of during the development process.
“We brought in a lot of people that weren’t really comfortable with Madden just to make sure what we were doing was easy to get into. Seeing people that loved the sport, but who weren’t necessarily good at Madden get into it and play it really quick, that was awesome.”
Finally, with the game releasing the day before Thanksgiving, I had to ask if the timing was on purpose.
“Absolutely! And the reason this going to be a great Thanksgiving day download to get is because it’s the perfect half-time game, meaning the experiences are short…so let’s say you’re watching the big Thanksgiving day game and half-time comes. You get on Xbox LIVE, you get a couple of games in and you still make it back in time for the beginning of the third quarter.”
Thanks Matt for taking the time to talk with us!
Now, while I may have lost my matches to Matt, I learned a thing or two at the hands of the game’s Lead Designer. Watch out!
Will someone please explain to me what I need to buy to put my x-box 360 on-line
Dear microsoft I am one of your buyers of an xbox360 lately I been seeing sony playstation3 making more and more new games that are so bad ass and why am I not seeing any good bad ass story modes an games comeing out for the once kool game system xobx360 and there is no good updates ad I think yall should start working harder on the xbox360 befor yall fail and lose money. come on timez are changing yall need to pass up playstation3 with GAMES AND ONLINE PLAY. THIS MJM IM OUT......BOOOOOMM!!!!!!!
Nice work and you bring up a point that is/has been very important to me.
I'm a 58 year old gamer and have used all systems since intellevision and Madden has been my favorite.
The major feature that has been taken away is the ability to save a game in progress. When the First addition came out for xbox-360, I hoped the "rush to Market" was the reason and the save a game would come back "next year".
Is this feature a technical limitation? It doesn't seem that it should be such a big deal. The net effect for me has been playing fewer games, seasons and franchises. I play solo most of the time and while I know im in the minority, I would cheerfully pay a premium for the feature.
Thanks
i wanted to no because am tired of having to use the controller
This game would be soooo much better with some more complex player stats and quick pick-up style fantasy draft.