Captain America and the NFL. I've Got Patriotism Running Through My Veins

Been too long since I last got my blog on. Been playing a fair amount of games lately and I'm going to do a few updates over the course of the next week or so to catch up. This update will be dedicated to two things every blue blooded American patriot should love. Captain America and NFL Football.

So I'll start with Madden 2012. Before I talk about it, let me just say that Madden and I have a history. I've been buying and playing Madden football since 1994, the first year it was on the SNES. I still remember the infamous error where the New York Giants and New York Jets had their entire rosters switched. I was there for the switch from pixels to polygons, when the hit stick was added, hot routes, blah blah blah. All of the changes. I've watched the game take big steps forward and then take big steps backward. I've bought the new version and been immediately disappointed by the lack of change some years.

Now that all of that is out of the way and I've been confirmed as a "Madden expert" let's talk about 2012(not the mediocre John Cusack film).

The game looks good. Not a huge graphical overhaul from 2011 but it's noticeable. There hasn't really been a leap forward in terms of graphics for some time. It's alright though, the game looks good as is and doesn't really need to be tweaked right now.

There are substantial gameplay changes. For the first time the blocking and tackling in this year's Madden is not magnetic. Meaning that in the old versions when a tackler or blocker got close, the players would be magnetically drawn in to the tackle or blocking animations. It makes for a much more realistic game. Running the ball is fantastic with the new blocking. You can watch which direction players will be forced and wait for holes to open up in the line. It's the most realistic running game Madden has ever offered.

The passing game hasn't changed much, but the passing defense has. You really need to read the defense and know football on the harder difficulties or you will throw a lot of interceptions. The middle linebacker is freaking Superman though. He will knock down a ton of passes over the middle and make impossible reads. It's not very realistic in that regard. It's awesome though to make the correct read and fire an accurate pass into the hands of your receiver as he cuts in front of the defender for a split second. It's realistic and tough and fulfilling.

The biggest leap this season are the changes to franchise mode. You can finally trade future draft picks (though only one year ahead), free agent signing have become more like a race. As soon as a player is offered a deal, a clock starts ticking. When it runs to zero whichever team has put up the best offer gets the player. It isn't necessarily realistic, but it works well for a video game and it is an improvement over the old system. Scouting rookies has been improved as well. You can scout a number of players ahead of time and get an idea of how good they are before the draft. Again, not perfect, but better. Rosters are handled better, allowing 75 players when preseason starts. Cut downs are made weekly until brought back to the regular season roster size. It allows you to keep rookies and free agents that you are unsure of. You'll be given a question marked rating (which is often way off) with the actual rating being shown after you decide whether to keep them or not. Once yet again, not perfect, but better.

And that's the theme of Madden 2012...not perfect, but better. A step in the right direction with some solid bulding blocks for the future.

Now to discuss everyone's favorite super soldier, Captain America. I rented the game based on very little but it looked good enough, and I'm a pretty big fan of the Captain. My first impression of the game was "Batman: Arkham Asylum Lite" The gameplay borrows heavily from Arkham Asylum but is never quite as good. You fight with basic combos, when an enemy attacks, he glows and you can press a button to dodge or counter then continue your combat. It's never as flowing as Arkham Asylum but it still works pretty well. Hell, Captain America even has a sort of "Detective Mode" where you can make ledges and pipes glow, showing you possible pathways you can take.

I haven't seen the movie so I don't know if it follows the plot line but the plot in the game is pretty basic. Captain America thwarting some nazi plans with his fists and vibranium shield. There is some stuff about a giant robot and whatever, I didn't really pay attention. It wasn't honestly that interesting.

The biggest issue I had with the game is the mass of collectibles. Virginal statuettes, cowl and gloves, Prussian helmets, blah blah blah. So many things to collect. CERAMIC EGGS. 50 ceramic eggs, hidden throughout the battlefield for Captain America to find and store...in his magic pouch I guess. I think more impressive then Captain America single handedly fighting and defeating an army of nazis is his ability to carry 50 ceramic eggs unbroken while doing it. The military should be proud. None of the collectibles are particularly hard to find and they all show up on the map, but it takes you out of the game and you have to walk to every nook and cranny while nazis are advancing their plans around you.

For a movie licensed game, Captain America is a solid effort. Better than most of them, that's for sure. The graphics aren't going to impress anyone, and the frame rate often drops making the action choppy at time, but the overall package is worth the time. It's not a long game, I had it done with 1000 gamerscore in less then 10 hours, but it's long enough. Any longer and it would have been too long though. It's not a good enough game to compel you to play it for any longer then you have to.

That's it for this edition. Hopefully another will be along soon. I've still got Driver: San Francisco, Deus Ex, NBA Jam, Lego: Pirates of the Caribbean, Brink, The Maw, Test Drive Unlimited 2, The Saboteur, and other games to talk about. Not to mention Gears of War 3 and Resident Evil 4 HD coming on Tuesday. I'll be bearding a lot about these games so look forward to a lot of updates in the future.