For over a decade, the Madden franchise has dominated the way we play simulation football. EA Sports has managed to be the only major publisher to acquire the rights to the NFL and the NCAA. There are some exceptions to this, but for the most part it remains to be true. Much like a tyrant in power, EA continues to produce its notoriously similar product. In this iteration of Madden, EA has acted more shamefully than it ever has. Does that mean that you shouldn't still pick up a copy to play in your friend's online franchise?

Finally, Madden fans are getting a fully fledged online franchise mode! This year's franchise mode is full and complete (other than a pre-season schedule) unlike last year's. It is very similar to NCAA 10's Dynasty mode. My biggest complaints are that some will have to pay to use this feature (see below) and that the trade system is broken. You will be given the ability to trade with the CPU controlled teams, and they are prone to making bad decisions.

The bad news is that you can't actually play the online franchise if you buy a used copy of Madden 10, or if you want to play in All-Madden mode. On the back of the instruction book there is a code which you input to activate your online franchise mode. If this code has already been activated by the previous user, then EA offers it to you for the price of 800 Microsoft points, or ~$10. You can achieve "Elite" status on Madden buy purchasing it for 400 Microsoft (~$5). Elite status unlocks All-Madden difficulty, and exclusive VIP multiplayer rooms. That's right; EA is charging $5 to play the hardest difficulty. This is only the beginning of the shame that is EA's DLC for Madden. Follow this link for full details: http://alturl.com/cdde.

As far as graphics go, this game is truly beautiful. These are by far the best graphics in the franchise. Take this with a grain of salt, however, because along with the upgraded engine and upgraded graphics is a plethora of upgraded bugs. Graphically, the referees will "morph" through a player on the field to give a call. Players on the field the "morph" through each other between plays or after a touchdown. During the play, if you set a man in motion, he is prone to get hung on a tight end or receiver, and the play will never start.

When running the ball, the back will glitch back into a defensive lineman or linebacker, simply because the computer dictates it, not because he was close to the player. A less frequent, yet more frustrating bug has to do with challenging the call on the field. The replay function will only go back a few seconds. Let's say the quarterback fumbles the ball right behind the line of scrimmage, and a defensive lineman picks it up and runs it back. If that run is slow, or he turns the ball back over there is no chance that the computer will have that much replay footage to look at for the challenge. The ball spots are unforgiving. Worse, the chain gang will come out on the field if you are within 2 yards of the first down. This is ok once in a while, but it becomes very annoying.

To be honest, Madden is an impressive game. It hosts impressive visuals when they work and boasts an upgraded engine that helps the game flow well. It is not acceptable for the same bugs to be in the game that have been there since the franchise went 3 dimensional, no matter who makes it. EA Sports knows this, yet continues to exploit gamers by selling cheat codes as downloadable content, and intentionally leaving out features to sell the game the next year. Buy this game with caution.