For those turned away by the intense realism and depth of the standard Madden NFL titles, EA Sports is drawing up a casual alternative in its playbook just for you. Madden NFL Arcade, ready to punt, pass and kick on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade in December for $15/1200 MS Points, is a more accessible game of pigskin with a streamlined 5-on-5 play style, and an exaggerated art style rendering your favorite NFL stars in larger than life fashion.
In the game, which is being developed by EA Tiburon, you will pick your favorite NFL team — all 32 will be represented, of course — complete with the five best players on both sides of the ball, and proceed to drive the ball 60 yards for a touchdown in only four downs — no first downs, no field goals, no penalties. Enhancing the arcade approach to the gameplay, Madden NFL Arcade will also feature 13 different “Game Changer” power-ups enabling you to do things like freeze an opposing player in place or turn off your opponent’s passing icons. As for multiplayer, the game will support 4-player local co-op play and head-to-head online play with leaderboards.
Sounds a lot like NFL Street crossed with NFL Tour to me — hopefully it’s more Street than Tour in terms of quality, though, as Tour was just lousy. Eye the screenshots below for a look at the cartoony style.
Matt Litten is the full-time editor and owner of VGBlogger.com. He is responsible for maintaining the day to day operation of the site, editing all staff content before it is published, and contributing regular news, reviews, previews and other articles.
Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
