Madden NFL Football 10

"...the Madden to own no matter who you are.  Brian Peterson, Gaming Age
"...buying this year's Madden is a no-brainer.  Destructoid.com
"A fantastic addition to the series, and quite possibly the best football game ever created.  ZTGameDomain.com
"I'm pleased to say that this year's Madden is one of the best entries into the franchise in several years.  Brad Hilderbrand, WorthPlaying.com
"...the Madden to own no matter who you are.  Brian Peterson, GamingAge.com

GameDaily.com 8 of 10
For many of you -- a lot of you -- there is nothing we can say that will make you rethink a purchase of this year's Madden game. You're going to buy it; you're going to love it, because ... that's just what you do every August. You'd be the proud owner of a polished turd as long as it came from the rear cavern of one John Madden. That leaves us talking to the average gamer, or the "squishy middle," so to speak. Did EA pack enough into their 21st football game to warrant another purchase, or should you hold out for the season?...Unlike last year's single-season format, the point of the online franchise is to build up your team into a perennial contender and, eventually, a dynasty. So, it may serve you well to pick a bottom-of-the-barrel team and get first dibs in the draft at the end of Season One, for example. (Hello, Lions!) The offline version is pretty much the same thing, save for the ability to play 30 seasons and The Extra Point, a nifty weekly wrap-up show hosted by the NFL Network's Fran Charles and Alex Flanagan...We did notice that the announcers, Cris Collinsworth and Tom Hammond, fell silent during the end of especially tight games. We're not sure if that was a bug or a feature allowing you to concentrate on playcalling late in the fourth quarter, but it definitely was welcome. (Anything that shuts those two up is A-OK in our book.) Lastly, if you're confident enough in your skills as a QB, you can jump online with a friend and play co-op, meaning you will both be controlling individual players on a team and attempting to jell on pass/run plays...The final verdict? If you're a football fan and you don't have fun playing this game, well, guess what? You're not a football fan. Go try the Hannah Montana game instead. - Gerasimos Manolatos

GameShark.com 9 of 10
There is no denying the staggering popularity of EA Sports' Madden franchise. This is a game that year in and year out sells millions of units worldwide. It's a game that the mainstream media mentions by name when released; as big as videogames are today -- that's still rare...So it may strike some as odd (I prefer the term interesting) that EA Sports would decide to shake things up a bit. To change the overall direction of the franchise from one that has always been about gamepad skill more than it has football knowledge. To take this supremely popular arcade game and attempt to meld it with serious simulation aspects. Let's be clear: this is still Madden. This is not a complete reboot of the franchise, but you can easily see and feel the changes that were made to the gameplay and in a larger sense to the player ratings, and how the players interact with one another on the field...The result is that, while still flawed in a few key areas, Madden 10 is far and away the best Madden game ever released. Of course that should be the goal every year for a yearly sports update but this version reaches out not only to the gamepad skilled Maddenite but also to serious football fans who have always wanted a bit more from their Madden experience...Finally, one last gripe -- and it's something that I have wanted to see in Madden for years: the way the ratings matter now is a big, big deal -- so why is it so tedious to find the ratings you need for the position you are viewing? The interface designers at EA need to make it so that when I look at, say, a defensive back I should immediately see every relative rating for a DB. I don't care what his Throwing Accuracy is or how well he kicks. I want to see speed, awareness, tackling, coverage abilities, etc. And it needs to all be immediately visible...On the presentation side, the game looks great the animations and gang tackling and even the physics are all vastly improved. The play by play grates after a few games, but the crowd is clearly into it this year and if you have surround sound you'll be treated with a lot of banter from fans...In the end Madden 10 is the kind of game that I am willing to look past the shortcomings because what's good is really, really good. It's worth putting up with the faults in order to experience what works. It's a landmark game for the folks at EA because even though Madden 10 is a very enjoyable game on its own it gives you a glimpse of how good this series can be further down the development road. - William Abner

IGN.com 8 of 10
Madden NFL 10 comes with new modes, gameplay tweaks and broadcast-style presentation changes that most football fans will appreciate. There are issues with some of the new aspects that have worked their way into Madden (and things that have been taken out), but there's no denying that this is the best pure football experience in videogame history...Let's start on a positive note. This is the best looking Madden game yet. From the look of players on the field to new presentational elements, you've never seen a football game like this before. EA Sports has gone to great lengths to make the experience of playing a standard game of Madden as close to the real thing as possible and it shows. You'll see players getting yelled at on the sidelines, refs debating touchdown calls, and pre-game warm ups on the field with a bit of insight from Tom Hammond and Chris Colinsworth. It's all very conducive to convincing you that you're totally in control of a standard NFL football broadcast on Sunday. Yes, I'm even talking about the constant Snickers and Sprint sponsorships that pop up at certain times during a contest...The gameplay package is hefty and is without question the most refined on-field experience I've seen from the Madden franchise. Everything looks and plays wonderfully, even if there are a few faults with the presentation set pieces. I would have really liked to see more added to the franchise mode and Superstar could've been pulled off with more substance. Thankfully Online Franchise is fantastic, it's just disappointing that co-op doesn't work as well as it should. Despite the flaws and absences in the feature set, the football is undoubtedly the best I've ever seen from a videogame...Madden NFL 10 packs a lot of football under its 60 dollar price tag, especially if you have both the PS3 version and the PSP version. While some of the modes don't perform as well as I'd like, every football fan will still be able to latch on to something for months of fun. The graphics have taken a nice step forward from Madden 09 and the presentation does a wonderful job of emulating the experience of watching a game on Sunday. Commentary and general voiceover work is pretty bad, but it doesn't overly dampen the gameplay. Madden NFL 10 doesn't redefine the series or innovate in any monumental way, but that doesn't stop it from being a truly great football game. - Nate Ahearn