The only thing I'm not really a fan of is when the two referees talk at the goal line to decide if it was a touchdown or if it fell short. I had my HB fall into the endzone, ball was clearly in, and they overturn it most of the time.

Ok...I just played 2 games in franchise mode on my XBOX 360, and I found some pretty big bugs.

1. Where the heck is STEVE YOUNG on your Hall of Fame list? How could your quality control people not spot such a glaring omission? I mean, not only do you give our current quarterbacks horrible ratings, but you also just forget about our last great quarterback being in the Hall of Fame? For myself and fellow 49er fans, this is a real slap in the face. FIX IT!

2. When you make a really great pass for a touchdown, the quarterback for the other team gets a phone call. Again, are you paying your testers in marijuana, or what? How could they miss such a glaring programming mistake when A) I noticed it time after time and I've only played 2 games, and B) How could you have not been on your guard against this sort of programming error when just a couple of years ago there was a similar mistake when the wrong coaches got mad after a bad play. This is ridiculous, and hopefully a game update can fix it.

3. After scoring a game tying touchdown (the 6 points tied the game, not the extra point), the game sort of hiccuped for a second on a black screen, and then suddenly my hometown fans cheering were raiders fans (the other team), and not 49ers fans.

I mean, I never really bought into the whole "The EA monopoly on football games has driven down quality and innovation" argument espoused by so many gamers (especially those who were partial to the 2k series), but after seeing these glaring errors I seriously have to question whether or not EA really gives a crap about testing and quality control.

Also, I mean these are just general gripes and not programming errors, but I was really disappointed with the following:

1. The commentary is absolutely horrible! It's so minimal, I mean it's ridiculous. Not only is the play by play and color commentary so integral to the real football experience on sundays, and not only has the great sportscasting been a chief contributor to the popularity of the league over the years, BUT ALSO THE GAME IS NAMED AFTER A SPORTCASER! HOW'S THAT FOR IRONY! I mean is the play by play guy going "Brady back to pass, fakes to Maroney, he goes for it all downfield to Moss, the jump, what a catch, he's still going, to the twenty, to the ten, TOUCHDOWN, RANDY MOSS. I MEAN IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK? The sportscasting is so much more important than you evidently think it is, EA. I know it's possible because NBA 2k9 has a wonderful continuous sportscast that does a great job with commentary and play by play. You're really missing the boat here, and if you don't get on the ball I'll be one more gamer praying the NFL doesn't extend your monopoly.

2. Why do you have to remove things that people like? Why remove the practice opportunity from Franchise mode? I mean for those of us who like a quasi-roleplaying factor within our Franchise, you really just watered it down big time.

3. I'm going to have to speak up about the ridiculousness that is the Head Coach franchise. I mean, it's not perfect itself by any means, but alot of the elements in the Head Coach series could make our Madden franchise experience so much more immersive. I mean, I want newspapers! I want radio shows, sportcenter, public holdouts, real negotiations with agents that could be modeled after the way you recruit on the phone in NCAA football. It's like you've got a basic set of everything you need to have to provide a truly immersive franchise experience, but they're all spread out over 3 different games! It's crazyness, again give us the immersive franchise we want, or let SEGA do it if you're not interested.

Disappointed again...

Chris

just played my first game. was up by 5 with 2 seconds left kickid off to other team , and watched him run around in my endzone for 2 minutes before he ran passed my entire team, and ran down the field for a td. all with no time left. what the hell. i thought the game was suppose to get better for everyone not just for the cheaters. way to go EA sports. this crap is definitly in the game.

Things I like about Madden NFL 10:

The graphics, the throws, the catches, tackles, blocks, Pro-tak, the speed of the game. Looks and feels like NFL. I like a lot of the new stuff. All the NFL Network stuff. The fumble pile and so on. Using the stick to do moves on D-line - it works and doesn't interfere with DBs. Unnecessary roughness penalties when you hit someone just outside the sidelines.

Things I think can be improved:

Cut scenes can be skipped by pressing x (PS3) chain gang, goalline decisions etc.

After a touchdown the cut scenes focus on the kicker who kicked the XP and not on the QB/reciever or RB who scored/threw the TD. Also the fans in the stands wears the kickers jersey after an XP scored. Hello?

A thing i miss in Franchise Mode is position battles during Pre-Season. It has been in Madden series before, why isn't it in Madden 10? Being able to take coaching decisions like which positions are open for battle. Being able to take decisions on how much action my starters will have in have in each Pre-Season game, especially for those who are competing for starter jobs.

The run game in-game is still a problem. Too often both player and CPU abandon run game and go passing crazy. Not that it doesn't happen i real life (Arizona Cards last year). But not every single played game.

People still like in 09 catch a pass and go out of bounce uncontested, whereas in real life they would go forward and gain extra yards.

More crushing blocks (hit stick) on special-teams and (post) turnovers from (CPU) teammates.

General notes about the game:

All in all I like the new features, and with some minor tweaks it would be a perfect game. But still by far the most realistic Madden up to date.

Just an addition. With accelerated clock on you should be able to end the game when you call kneel down and the game clock is lower than the play-clock. They coaches and players should run on to the field or it should switch to a cut scene just as in real life. When they start to enter the field just as the QB kneels down.

Overall package of Madden 10 is strikingly wonderful.
overall:
+ Love the graphics, animations, players faces, celebrations
+ Love the default game speed
+ Love the tackles, they look incredible
+ Stadiums look amazing
+ Weather effects look great as usual
+ Passing game feels tight
+ Computer A.I. is tought and intelligent
+ Defense is stronger

Bad:
- Commentary needs a rehaul. These two guys have to go.
- Full replays please
- I do not like the accelerated clock at all
- Crowd reaction still needs work. I can be getting blown out at home near the end of the game and the crowd is still roaring.
- Where are the sexy cheerleaders?

How IN THE WORLD,did Mark Sanchez go down 2 pts overall and the game just came out.He was supposed to be at 78 overall and now he's 76 ALREADY.HERE'S ANOTHER...Jim Leonard!!How does a guy have his best year and EA puts him down 7 Points overall??Lito Sheppard speed DOWN to 83 WHEN HE WAS 94 AT THE END OD MADDEN 09!!I WOULD JUST LOVE TO HEAR SOMEONE's EXPLAINATION FOR THIS TRAGEDY YOU GUYS CALL MADDEN 10!!

I love it. It's by far the best version in a long time.

I'm particularly happy with the Extra Point show. It gets me more involved in the game.

Also, it has a fantastic soundtrack this year.

Gang tackling is excellent, although I did let 85 get in for a TD in Ohio after a 6 man wrap up.

Played Madden 10 on PS3 PAL version for 7 straight hours.

Heres what i like

- pre/post game presentation
- graphics and animations
- menus
- lots of modes

what i didnt like

- online lags a bit when you kick/punt
- i want online to be on "slow" not "normal"
- game froze on me several times (while in menus, while connecting to an Oline match)
- lag in online causes protak glitches. like i know my oponenets RB is gonna fall, but he magially gets up from the ground and picks more yards

most of all

I DONT HAVE AN ONLINE FRANCHISE CODE ON THE BACK OF MY MANUAL!!!

Oh and the vibration when the pressure is on the QB, is total genius.

Madden looks very very good, I can't wait to get my hands on it.

This is the best Madden in years, but online play is a little disapointing. Besides the crappy EA servers, some of the players have to much speed for online play. The HB screens with a fast starting or subbed HB is crazy. When you combine the very speedy players, small framerate issues and minnor lag it becomes almost a nightmare.

oh also. didnt like the soundtrack that much but thats why u can turn crapy songs off.

All I can say is wow!!! This game is amazing. i knew it was going to be good, but it defintely exceeded my expectatioins. This is one of the best maddens ever. Graphics are great, pro tak is good some inconsistencies or issues however you want to put it like breaking a 6-man tackle it only happend once though for me so I guess that is not so bad cuz it can happen. The cutscenes are great, the presentation minus the commentary is great, I have come to expect bad commentary. The whole game has a feel of realism, really need to think out your plays and actions and I love it. I even like the accelerator clock, I get sort of bored in online games from time to time and the acc clock helps fight that, i hope they dont allow us to turn it off for ranked matches.

My real only complaint is minor.Too many of those lame duck throw froms getting hit at the last second. Some blocking issues are there, but lets be real its a game and those kind of issues are going to be there.

Oh yeah big complaint- Madden shop. Admittingly I did purchase the elite status and the keep a player out of retirement options, but I'm disappointed that we had to pay that lil extra to get things that shouldve already been included. The game cost sixty bucks already.

For all you whiners who complain EVERY YEAR heres a simple solution...DONT PLAY IT!!! I personally think this is the best Madden in years but of course some people are always going to complain. Get over it, its a GAME! THANKS FOR A GREAT GAME EA!