The only true #1 football franchise in sports history with over 20 years of solid experience behind it, EA’s Madden NFL 10 promises to deliver yet again on the iPhone platform. In keeping with their motto, “It’s in the game,” we just had to try it out for ourselves.

Review
Those familiar with the Madden series will certainly appreciate that Madden NFL 10 also features commentary from John Madden himself. The game includes all of the NFL players, teams, and stadiums. More than Gameloft’s NFL 2010 offering, it comes with complete lineups in every team, over 200 offensive and 100 defensive plays, and clearly distinguishes itself from the rest of the pack. Madden NFL 10 offers both a quick game and for you hardcore players, a season mode, so you can really keep an eye on the stats and closely monitor the performance of your players and your team.

The best part of this game is how easily the controls are implemented on the iPhone. The Madden franchise has become such a deep, complicated sports simulation series that one might get a bit intimidated by the game title alone. The folks at EA wanted to keep it as simple as possible so that not only the hardcore gamers are drawn in, but also those unfamiliar with the sports franchise.

Selection of teams and plays are chosen by just a flick of the finger. The best feature in Madden NFL 10 however is its action control time. By tapping a stopwatch button on the screen, it completely places the game in slow motion. With the players moving at half the speed, you have the chance to take a better look at the field and see who is open, what your best chances for passes are and where your defense is missing. When using this option, you can select from other actions, too. If you are on defense, using active control time, you can easily choose between attempting an interception, tackling, or lunging at the receiver, as I’ll explain later.

Active control time (turtle speed) is entirely up to you. You never have to use it, but it’s a great tool for us, casual gamers who simply want to play Madden but have found it too complicated on the 360. Long-time Madden players can also use it as a way to familiarize themselves with playing their favorite franchise on the iPhone.

Games are judged not simply by looks alone, but ultimately by how well the controls are applied. Let’s take an indepth look at Madden NFL 10′s controls.

Offense
You control your active player with a virtual analog stick on the left side of the screen and three buttons to your right allows you to throw the ball away, run/pass and the action control button. Tapping anywhere on the screen snaps the ball into play. Passes are controlled by tapping on the icons that appear above the receivers’ heads that change color from red, yellow or green, depending on how open they are. Controlling the receiver once they’ve caught the ball is also done using the virtual analog stick. The buttons that appear to the right allows you to sprint or perform a spin move.

In addition to the multitude of plays already offered in your playbook, you can also custom draw your own routes for the receivers to follow by tapping on the hot route button to the right side of the screen. Another great feature in the game!

Pressing the action control button enters you into the action control mode which gives you access to juke left or right and to plow your way through your defenders. Shaking the iPhone will set off the hurry up offense and run the same play over again and tapping the screen will allow you to skip any post play or celebratory cut-scenes.

Defense
The virtual analog stick is also used to control your defender. You can tap on any defender to select them or cycle through the players by pressing the cycle button on your right. Once the ball is snapped into play, you simply move your defender towards the ball carrier to tackle them. Your options as a defender appear on the right side of the screen, one button to sprint and the other to switch to another defender.

Pressing the action control button in the defensive mode will bring up options to dive, do a power tackle, jump/swat to deflect passes and to jump for an interception.

Kicking
The direction of the kicks is performed by moving your finger across the screen by adjusting the arrow and dragging the football down and then up the meter, which appears on the right side of the screen will determine the distance the ball travels. The further down you drag the ball, the harder you’ll kick it and be sure to stay on a straight path.

Madden NFL 10 looks great on the iPhone, but not perfect. It offers players of all shapes and sizes, but animations look a bit strange during gameplay. It is mostly noticeable when tackling another player, appearing as if gravity had disappeared and the ground suddenly turned into ice right from under his feet.

Observations
Commentary on Madden sounds great. It is very much in keeping with previous Madden games, so all you die-hards won’t be disappointed. If you particularly don’t care for the in-game background music, you also have the choice of listening to your iPod collection. So get that playlist ready!

Sadly, just as in Gameloft’s football offering, Madden NFL 10 does not offer a multiplayer option either. At least, not with yesterday’s release. This has become one of my pet peeves. EA, however, has announced that it is working on bringing on the multiplayer option to a future update and “authentic jerseys” via an in-app purchasing. Hooray for the multiplayer option, but I don’t know about spending more money to outfit my team.

Recommendation
Madden NFL 10 is clearly the best football simulation on the market today for the iPhone. Hands down, its active control time and hot route features places this game way ahead of the pack. Madden NFL 10 is the total football package and undoubtedly “…in the game.” For $7.99 now at the iTunes App Store, this game is an absolutely must buy. It simply is a no brainer!

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