All-Play, as applied to this year’s annual release of Madden NFL, is a completely apropos title. All-Play means exactly what you may think it means, that all can play football, and I mean all. EA Sports has designed a game that attempts to be everything to everyone, and for the most part, succeeds. Even my team can win!

The All-Play mode is EA’s attempt to make sports games for the Wii that are accessible to all types of players, without sacrificing deep and exciting gameplay. The All-Play mode is set-up so that most of the action is handled by the system, with certain set actions available for the players. Players can choose whether or not to use All-Play controls in their games.

The All-Play mode may sound like it takes all the fun away by doing all the work, but that is not the case. It probably wouldn’t be as much fun on the other systems, but it works very well on the Wii with the interactive controls. Players who are not hard-core football sim experts can play this mode on the easier levels and have time to think about the moves they want to make, while not having to worry about every movement of every player. There’s enough action with the passes and other events to keep players busy.

For the non-sissy among us, the harder levels without the use of All-Play help is definitely challenging enough. To turn off the All-Play mode, players can hit the “1” button on the Wii-mote when choosing teams. The players can direct all and every action and play with the nunchuk and Wii-mote. The options menu allows players to choose various settings and controls for just that game, or for a custom game. Settings can also be saved to profiles.

Keeping up with the motion down the field is simple with the use of red and green icons for open and covered receivers, while blue circles float around your guy in action. The camera view is optimized to see everything that is going on, and the large players make it easy to differentiate between each team member.

The new “Call Your Shots” is the best new feature of Madden, and it elevates simulated football to a whole new level. Players can hit the “A” button before the ball is snapped in passing plays, and choose to use the Call Your Shots method of initiating a player-designed play. Press the “A” button, pick the receiver, and then draw lines down the field by choosing set points. Then watch the play! This is absolutely the coolest part of the game. One thing this feature is missing is the ability to save these designer plays for use later. And, it would have been nice to use this feature for other plays besides passes.

The controls on the Wii work just as expected. All the controls are tight and do what they are supposed to do. Each control is explained and demonstrated in several areas of the game, so players have multiple opportunities to practice and learn these controls. Most of them are logical and intuitive in nature and won’t take long to master. If not using All-Play mode, players will use both the nunchuk and the Wii-mote for play controls.

Another new feature is the 5-on-5 mode, which is a type of friendly pickup game with five players on each team. The game is fast and furious, with four plays to choose each time, four downs and then the ball is turned over. These players all have very large heads and the mode seems more cartoony, which is probably on purpose and meant to appeal to younger players. Also new is the Play Calling feature, which allows players to pick from three different types of playbooks, ranging from easy plays to more complicated and varied types of plays. The Madden’s Pick option will choose a play and explain the reason for the choice.

The Celebration mode is new, but it’s really lame. This mode requires players to wave their arms in the air like they just don’t care (we don’t) to supposedly simulate a victory dance for a goal. If there was a guy actually dancing in tune with the player’s movements, that would be a hoot, but there isn’t.  The picture of the guy celebrating looks pretty much the same each time, and it soon becomes clear players can simply stay seated and shake their controls up and down and achieve the same effect. The amount of celebrating boosts the player’s ratings.

Much of the old content is present, too, such as SuperStar and Franchise mode. SuperStar lets players take a football player from training camp all the way to the top. Franchise mode has the same premise, for an entire team. Franchise mode is a deep and satisfying campaign mode, but the training camps are designed a little oddly. If a player does badly with a specific skill in the camps, he/she cannot try the skill again. If the player does well, the skill can be attempted again at a higher level. So, if I stink, I can’t learn the skill. If I master the skill, I can waste time learning it more?

There are mini-games included, but they aren’t all that fun and not worth saying a whole lot about. Suffice it to say that players can take a break from managing the team and play a few short mini-games for something to do.

As this is our family’s first Madden game experience on the Wii, I can’t personally compare the more recent games to each other.  However, some of the features that are also present in recent editions appear to be dated, like having players assigned to the wrong teams, and some of the comments aren’t true anymore. This would seem to signify that not much tweaking has been done with the original content.

This game has a lot of content to navigate and controls to learn. Getting around the main menu and learning all the different moves can be a bit challenging at first. The menus and options are not very clear or logically laid out in the interface. A good and informative manual would have helped in this area, but unfortunately, the manual that comes with the game is only a few pages; it’s one of the slimmest manuals for this type of game I’ve ever seen. It’s truly pitiful. The controls are listed with descriptions, but the game modes are not organized in any type of logical order or explained hardly at all.

For instance, in the manual, the main mode of “Play Now” isn’t even listed as such. There is no explanation of when and how players can use the “All-Play” in the different sections. There is no explanation on how to set-up the controls without using All-Play and using the more advanced controls. Players new to the series will just have to try out all the new modes and figure it out themselves, before seriously beginning a franchise, or building skills.

Online play is the place to demonstrate prowess on the field, with an improved online experience over that of many games on the Wii. For one thing, friend codes can be used or players can bypass the codes and use the EA account. It’s super easy to either choose to meet a friend on the friend list, or to pick up someone in the lobby. There are casual and competitive lobbies, and players can choose to be ranked or not.

This edition of Madden for the Wii is an innovative and well-designed addition to the series. On the surface, it may appear that there is not enough new content to justify getting the game if players already have other Maddens in their game libraries, but the All-Play and Call Your Shots modes really add to the overall game experience on the Wii. The Call Your Shots feature especially has the potential to change how players approach the game. The All-Play allows the kids to play the game and have fun, just like the adults. The controls of the Wii are optimally utilized for passing and running the ball, and switching between players. And, the pros can still choose to play like the pros. A great way to enjoy playing football during football season!

Gameplay: 8.0
An accessible game of football. There is a lot of varied content to choose, and players of all skills can play. Depending on taste, players can play quick pick-up games or stay the course over many seasons of play in the Franchise mode. The controls are designed well, and the bright colors of the game are attractive. The designers have done a good job of incorporating the unique capabilities of the Wii for Madden. The modes of play and the interface could have been much better detailed in the manual or in the game, but players already familiar with Madden won’t have too much difficulty figuring everything out. Everyone else will just have to experiment with different options to learn the game.

Graphics: 7.0
The graphics are pretty average for the Wii, although the large and brightly colored characters are attractive overall. The game’s detail is not very high, and the backgrounds do not have much personality. Environmental effects are minimal.

Sound: 7.0
The music is probably great for some, but I didn’t like the music choices all that much, as there isn’t a lot of variety in genres. The voices of the commentators are as expected. The sound effects during play are present, but not much effort was put into them.

Difficulty:  Medium
The level of difficulty is whatever players want it to be. For Madden novices, the learning curve can be a little steep at first, but once the interface and options are learned, the rest of the game flows evenly.

Concept: 8.0
The All-Play and Call Your Shots features are innovative additions for the Wii. The designers succeeded in making the game what they wanted it to be, and the way sports games should be played on the Wii.

Multiplayer:  8.0
The online experience is great fun and easy to access. Be as casual or competitive as desired.

Overall: 8.0
A really fun sports game for the Wii! And one that everyone in the family can access, which is a plus. Discovering which control system works for each player can be a little difficult at first, mainly due to a lack of information on choosing the advanced controls over the easier All-Play methods, but there are choices and people of all skill levels will enjoy playing a game of football on the Wii.