PixlBit

Hey Pixlbit! Yesterday was Madden Day, and I didn’t buy it. I barely play Madden 25 and I bought that a month after it was released, and besides I’ve been on a mobile kick for the past couple of weeks so I was happy to see that the next version of Madden Mobile was released on Android and iOS, and it is free.

 

Since it is a mobile game there are in-app purchases and the little stamina feature where you can only play a couple of games at a time before waiting for your meter to refill. Sucks? Yeah, but that’s the nature of these types of games. Again I wouldn’t mind if these games were 2-3 dollars if I could play as much of it as I want.

I played the previous version on Android which I thought was ok, and which eventually led me to get the console version. This new version seems to feel different especially with an all-new presentation

You are immediately prompted with an option to connect your game to Facebook, and then you pick a user name and favorite team and you’re pushed into a tutorial

 

The tutorial covers everything in the game, and it becomes a mini game. The onscreen joystick isn’t bad, but it still feels odd for me to control the game on screen. On the opposite side of the screen is your “special” move, which is usually a juke, or stiff-arm on offense, and the swim move on defensive line.

Once you play through these mini games you get sent to the store screen where big shock you can either earn in game cash or buy currency to unlock better player cards. There is also an auction section where you can sell your unwanted cards. On the iPad I had a decent starter pack, which was nice but on Android since I was a returning player I received a special pack

 

This pack boosted my lineup and I had no problem beating down the 49ers

 

Games have one minute quarters are really quick. You can easily control the run game for two quarters forcing the other team into pass mode. I wish there was a quick on screen button for a time out instead of having to hit pause, and then timeout. Another thing that bothered me is that I can’t call a timeout on 4^th down. With such a low clock, I want to squeeze as many points out of the game as possible.

 

After every game you earn coins, which can be redeemed for new packs of players and experience points. The experience points can be earned from good defensive plays when there is an on screen prompt to swipe up to increase your chances of an interception (this feels kind of odd especially when you’re holding a full size tablet).

 

The actual gameplay is fun. It’s football and there is an option where the game selects a number of plays for you to choose from or you can look through the playbook to use which plays you have unlocked. This is just like in the older Madden games where you have the option for John Madden to pick your plays.

The graphics are on par with PS2 Madden games, with stylized character models, and decent stadiums. I’m not expecting much because this is a tablet game, but the one thing that bothers me is the color of the Dallas Cowboys helmet facemasks. In real life they are silver, just like the helmet, but in the game they are white. EA had this same problem with their NCAA franchise when the Iowa Hawkeyes had white facemasks as well. This is an easy fix EA!

Since I’ve only had this game for a little over 24 hours, my first impressions is still positive. I’m getting my football fix on a mobile device with only a few hiccups like the game not loading properly or crashing my iPad. In overall feel I like playing this game more on the Nexus 7 than on the iPad only because the Nexus 7 is 7” and is a lot more comfortable to hold.

If you like football on the go, give this game a try. I'll probably play through a full season on both tablets, just to see if a new season starts up.

 

That’s all for now, more later!

-Chris