One liner: A much more time-effective and inviting Madden.

With basketball wrapping up, that leaves a little more time to focus on good old American football. And the Madden series is seemingly becoming more and more of an American tradition. But some traditions have to adapt to the times. Gameflow is the latest feature that makes its debut in Madden 11. Its goal is to cut play time in half and to simplify the process of choosing plays. And it goes the ultimate distance of simplifying play calling: it takes takes it out.

 

Now, don’t go thinking it completely takes away the ability to call a play. You’ll still have an incredibly in-depth playbook to call from if you want that much control. But for the more casual Madden fan and those who like a more fast-paced style, you may start to dig this Gameflow thing. The system is tailored to each coach’s style. For our demo, we used the San Fransico 49ers, a very run-oriented team on offense. So while we used Gameflow, Madden 11 consistently chose running plays for us to run with a few pass plays here and there. How it works is relatively simple for both offense and defense. If you choose the Gameflow option before the snap, your team will immediately line up on the ball and you’ll be told on-screen what the strategy is and pros and cons of it. The game will automatically show you the routes of all your players but you’ll be able to call audibles and send players in motion much easier than before. The D-pad now acts as the Strategy Pad for you to spice up your play.

 

But what may work best for the new system is the fact that it won’t alienate the die-hards. It doesn’t feel cheesy or cheap, nor does it feel like cheating. There are those who understand football incredibly well and others who now the generals but may not be so specifics-oriented. Gameflow appears to be striking a great balance between those two and may very well teach some people a thing or two about how run a football team, albeit on a rudimentary level. Just don’t expect to be the next Bill Walsh, Vince Lombardi or Tom Landry. And if it doesn’t exactly fit in with your style of Madden, simply select the playbook option and you’re back to normal.

 

Gameflow was the highlight addition to the Madden series that we saw in our demo. Other than that, the graphics have been a bit more refined and the pre-game involves a little more animations of players arriving to the stadium and other such actions. And of course, Gus Johnson makes his Madden debut in the virtual booth. If you’re not familiar with he of “RISE AND FIRE!” fame, a quick YouTube search will expose you to the excitement of Johnson. We recommend his call of Brandon Stokley’s 87-yard game-winning catch for the Denver Broncos last September.

 

Madden 11 releases August 10 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSP, and Nintendo Wii. And considering all the contract disputes going on, the virtual players may hit the field long before their real life counter parts do.