The 20 year old Madden series is known for its realistic simulation style NFL football, TV broadcast presentation, and the musings from now-retired ‘tough actin’ Tinactin pitchman John Madden‘s about things like “the team with the most points usually wins the game.” EA Tiburon has decided to forgo those staples in favor of an arcadey pick-up-and-play approach with this upcoming downloadable release, aptly titled Madden NFL Arcade. While not the first foray into the arcade football space for Tiburon (they’ve got NFL Street and NFL Tour under their belts), it is the first to use the mighty Madden name.
Madden NFL Arcade has you playing with five of the ‘best’ players from each of the 32 teams in the league in matches that are intended to take no more than 10 minutes; clocks have been thrown out entirely, as the game embraces a backyard ‘first one to score X number of points wins’ pace. Also, shortening the field to 60 yards, completely eliminating first downs to make way for 4-plays-to-score possessions, turning field goals into free points, and doing away with penalties and injuries round out the major changes to the pigskin action here. This is a Madden game, though, so some elements of pro football are still present — though these are mostly cosmetic.
