Madden NFL 10 [PS3]

For years, Madden veterans on older systems have gotten accustomed to acquiring Madden Cards, those performance enhancing extras that would allow for player stat boosts or arcade-style bonuses. But if you didn't want the arcade play, you simply collected these items like virtual trading cards without any additional use whatsoever. Well, this limited feature will soon be over thanks to a new game mode, Madden Ultimate Team, that will be added to Madden NFL 10. I recently had a chance to see what will be included when the mode becomes available to 360 and PS3 in the next few months totally free of charge.

Now, earning cards can be handled in one of two ways. The first is by playing an exhibition, season or franchise game, earning coins that can be used to purchase packs of cards from the game. Setting or breaking records during play will result in bonus cards as well. The second way is to purchase coins from Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network. Regardless of how you acquire your coins, you'll use them to "purchase" card packs from the game, which can include players, coaches, stadiums, playbooks and jerseys. Each one of these cards can further be rated along bronze, silver, gold and legendary rankings, providing an additional value to the pack and the card itself. In addition, the in-game card store will have weekly deals and limited event sales of special cards that players can acquire, strengthening their deck. Players can only hold 100 cards in their possession at any one particular time, and if you go over for any reason, you'll have to discard these extras before you can play a game.

Fortunately, you aren't simply throwing away your investment; you can instantly sell back the cards and receive a set amount for a card based on their classification. For example, below average players or bronze cards will probably earn you between ten and fifteen coins. If you'd like to try to get more for your cards, you can place them on the selling block at an in-game auction house, where you can set a buy now price and baseline auction price to see if other players will agree to your terms or start a bidding war. Each card will have a suggested value associated with the cards as well to assist players with their trades. To prevent players from simply flooding the auction house and card market with cards they don't want, each posting will cost a player one coin, meaning that you have to be willing to invest something for a card to potentially be purchased. There's a good chance that whatever you post won't be taken, meaning you'll lose coins in the entire deal. Every time you log into the mode, you'll receive an update on cards that you've placed on the auction block, as well as what cards have sold so you constantly are kept aware of what will affect your overall deck of cards and coin amounts.

Once you've removed any cards you no longer want, you build a roster of 55 players from the deck of cards they have in their possession. You also select specific coaches to coach them on the field, a playbook for offense and defense, jersey for the team and a stadium to play in. Once you've completed your team, Madden Ultimates will evaluate your roster and provide you with an overall number, representing the team chemistry and skill level, among other factors. This can be further augmented by a few factors. For example, if you assign teammates that played in college together, have played in a similar offensive or defensive system or play for a particular coach, you can get bonuses that strengthen how your team plays. From there, you take on either a computer opponent or another player online to see how well your squad does. Again, your play will provide you with additional coins, which can be used for further cards.

There is one caveat that players should be aware of, however: each card has a limited number of games, or contract points, that they can be used for before you lose the card entirely. These contract points are governed by the level of the card, and can be further renewed by contract cards that you can potentially acquire in decks or the in-game card store. For example, you could have a golden Drew Brees card, which could let you play with him for ten games. If you get down to one or two games left for Brees, you'd have to use a further contract card to restore the card to its original limit. This contract point system is also extended to trades: cards that are posted with limited games left on their contract are cheaper in value regardless of their level because they're almost used up. The plus side with this system is that it prevents players from constantly stacking the deck and having a team of superstars.

Madden Ultimate Team simply takes a feature that had long been included in previous Madden games and makes an intuitive game mode out of it. Currently scheduled for a January release and free for Madden owners, it would appear that there will be plenty of other games for Madden fans to fight for bragging rights when the mode is finally released.

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