Pros and Cons of Madden NFL 2011 Video Game for the Nintendo Wii: Franchise Mode

In my long video gaming career, I have played Madden football on a plethora of gaming consoles. I've played it on Nintendo (SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii), Sony Playstation (PS2) and Microsoft X-Box (X-Box, X-Box 360) platforms. I've written articles about Madden. It is probably my all-time favorite video game.

When EA Sports released Madden NFL 2011 for the Wii, they released a simplified version of the game I have come to know and love. I understand their motives. The Wii is a more family oriented gaming console. Therefore, the target audience is different. Madden for the Wii (like the Wii itself) is targeted at a more casual gamer. As such, it is a simplified version of the classic football game; however, I think they dumbed it down a little too much.

The vast majority of my play time is in franchise mode. As such, I will address franchise mode.

Cons of Madden NFL 2011 for the Nintendo Wii - Franchise Mode

There are many features of the franchise mode of the game that I'm used to that are nonexistent in the latest Wii version. Pre-season, training camp and coach's emails are a few features I miss with this version of Madden. No longer can you train and improve your players through offseason training camps. As a matter of fact, you can't even play pre-season games any more. Every aspect that went along with the pre-season is missing. Position battles that used to determine who would start the regular season are now nonexistent. Furthermore, one can no longer use the pre-season as a way to practice with certain players, plays or playbooks.

Removing coach's emails seems innocuous at first. However, there used to be some vital information that would flow through those emails. Now, the information just doesn't flow. When they simplified the game, they forgot to include a way to pass on this important information to the people playing the game. Now, if a player decides to be a holdout (won't play without a new and better contract), the game does not make this information readily available. Granted, "holdout" is displayed if you drill into the player details in the roster, but this requires searching through your entire roster at the beginning of each season, looking at each player to make sure they have not decided to holdout.

My other gripe is what I call "finger mashing." The directional control pad is used to throw the ball, in gesture based mode, to wide receivers. However, when pressing left, one could very easily press the down button as well, forcing a pass to be thrown to the wrong receiver. Because all the directional controls touch each other, it is quite easy for this error to occur.

Pros of Madden NFL 2011 for the Nintendo Wii - Franchise Mode

Like always, the game is a blast. There is an adjustment period when getting used to throwing the football with the Wii remote, but this should last less than a season, apart from finger mashing. In spite of the simplification of the game, I still enjoy playing it quite a bit. I suppose some people would find it helpful to use the new simplified, Gameflow, option of play calling; however, I'm a football fan in every regard and love calling plays with a full-fledged playbook, so I'm glad this option still exists.

Overall, I think Madden NFL 2011 can appeal to both casual gamers and die-hard Madden fans, just so long as you know what to expect going into it.

More Madden Football Articles from this Contributor:

Strategic Keys to Running a Solid Madden Football Video Game Franchise
Madden Tutorial: Using Motion Confuse the Defense