10 Reasons I Regret My Madden 10 Purchase

1. They still haven't seemed to get it to where hitting the button to toggle to another defensive player gives you control of the defender nearest to the ball or with the best angle to the ball carrier. Despite knowing this, I continue to make moves as if I was given control of the player I expected to get...only to have my defender embarrassingly flop to the ground away from the play.
2. I really don't see an improved presentation. Voiceovers are still choppy when they announce matchups. Non-game animations are still very obviously on a static loop. They've added some guy in a suit to introduce the halftime stats from other games. Whoop. Dee. Doo.
3. The AI for presenting proper commentary during the game has actually regressed. The halftime show just said Baltimore leads New York 21 to 21. Collinsworth remarked how Mark Sanchez was playing just like he has for years in the league.
4. They've added terrible, frustrating, time-wasting referee huddles on that are triggered even by obvious plays. It loses any charm and dramatic value it may have had when Dustin Keller catches the ball on the 5, trudges three steps into the end zone before being tackled and triggers the refs discussing if he was in or not.
5. So far, hard counts by my QB are 10-for-10 on triggering a false start if they cause anything to happen. 7 of the 10 coming in one game. That's patently ridiculous.
6. The soundtrack is disgustingly censored. "Jim" isn't allowed to be followed with "Beam". If I remember correctly, the word "dead" or "died" was censored out of Public Enemy's "Shut Em Down". The Cypress Hill track seemed to have the last word of every line by Sen Dog censored. I mean, what the (what the) is the point including songs that you are going to butcher that badly?
   
7. The soundtrack seems to largely be a mish-mashed greatest hits collection of various acts. This is admittedly the most nitpicky of my problems, but I really grew to appreciate their use of newer acts. There have honestly been songs on a Madden soundtrack 1-2 years before they got solid radio rotation.
8. In this day and age of the Wildcat, you still can't insert another offensive skill player into the 3rd QB spot on the depth chart. Brad Smith, for instance, has been used as a gimmick QB by the NY Jets even before the Wildcat. Heck, he and Cotchery were college QBs. I really don't get the point of limiting who can be slotted into those spots. This, also, goes for the inability to put a tackle-eligible player out on the field. Alright, I haven't tried that one on 10 yet, but if they didn't fix one problem, doubt they got the other.
9. It appears to really be designed for people making the most of the PS3's HD capabilities. HDTVs are generally widescreen which, I'm guessing, would allow a presentation that lets you see all of your receivers on the screen at once so that you can see coverage for short sideline routes. Sorry if laying out $300+ for my PS3 didn't leave me with a lot of money to upgrade the rest of my A/V setup, fellas.
10. And the most disappointing factor in my purchase: that the only reason I bought this product was because EA Sports has the exclusive NFL license. My continuing as their customer rewards them for that move, encourages them to continue renewing the license and dooms me to only have more lazy updates of this franchise to buy in the future. Oh, how I miss the ESPN NFL 2K franchise...

On a separate note, I'm kinda disgusted by EA's move to micro-purchases for add-ons. Thankfully, they're mostly for cheats I can live without.

I believe it is part of their moves to take some of the allure out of pirated copies. With other products, they are requiring confirmation codes from a purchased copy to validate your game and receive bits of the game they intentionally left off the hard copy product sold in stores.

With The Sims 3, it is a whole new town added to the game plus access to the Sims Store to purchase furniture, clothing, etc. With Madden, it is activating the Online Franchise mode and cheats for your franchise games. So far, there haven't been successful pirated copies of PS3 games that I'm aware of, so the only function this has specifically on the platform is preventing renters from participating in Online Franchises unless they pay $9.99 to EA. I guess that separates the wheat from the chaff when it comes to renters who want to join your online league; if they spent $9.99, they most likely won't be returning the game and disappearing from your franchise any time soon.

There are some benefits to micro-purchasing when it is done right, but so far it appears that EA is just seeing it as a better way to bleed their customers that cuts out the retailer completely without necessarily providing a cost reduction to the consumer. That never sits well with me.

Oh and FYI for the next time you bitch at a comic book thread being closed...

EA closed a thread saying Madden 10 sucked with the following message:

Everyone's opinion is different. Closing thread.

And I can't even seem to find a way to get to the post that shows the 10 reasons the guy thinks Madden sucks...