Arcade games are usually fun, and the Madden NFL series has a fantastic reputation as the most enjoyable american football game series out there – but this arcade interpretation from EA simply hits the ground crawling and never manages to get upright!

Not everything about Madden NFL Arcade is bad, not by any means, but unfortunately it does not live upto the expectations it had – and these high expectations should have been spotted a mile off by developers EA Tiburon given the prestigious status of the Madden NFL series. If they put in the effort the game deserved, then something has simply gone horribly wrong. 

MADDEN NFL ARCADE TRAILER

If you are looking for a quickly accessible american football game then we can not argue with the fact that Madden NFL Arcade is quite possibly just what you need. It’s simple, stripped off the complicated game modes you get in the full Madden NFL titles and takes itself far less seriously in every department.

However it somehow just does not feel “Madden” at all. You are limited to a few offensive and defensive plays, most of which are rather basic and the game’s pace is not quite what you would expect from an arcade orientated title of any kind and ends up feeling slow, if not lagged.

Madden NFL Arcade could have been brilliant, perhaps with the addition of some of those addictive little mini-games that we see in Virtua Tennis titles? We’re no experts on game development, but we have a long list of things which could have improved Madden NFL Arcade. Save your money.