After last year's display, it's no wonder that this year's Madden is all about running the football. This is exemplified by cover athlete Shaun Alexander, who broke the single-season record for rushing touchdowns during last year's explosive offensive display in Seattle. The running game is being enhanced in two significant ways. For one, you have the highlight stick. It works like the truck stick in previous games, where you'd lay a big hit while trying to break tackles. Only this time around, the back will perform one of forty new broken tackle animations -- if things work out, of course, as a broken tackle isn't guaranteed.
The rushing attack mode is a great way to practice handling the new running controls in one-on-one situations, which on a well-run play can be all that keeps you from breaking a big one for a monster gain. In a race against the clock, your running back and a single blocker have to break through a couple of defensive players and score as many touchdowns as possible. Consecutive touchdown runs score more points, while getting hit in the backfield will deduct from your total. It's the same mode as the ground attack in mini-camp, but in a round-by-round, timed format suitable for some quick smash mouth football satisfaction when you don't have enough time to really delve into your franchise.
To try the highlight stick feature out, I decided to take on the rushing attack mini-game mode with my favorite player to watch, Larry Johnson of the Kansas City Chiefs. He's a bruising back with good speed, plenty of tenacity and a mountain-sized chip on his shoulder. Expect him on the cover of Madden in the next few years. Relating a story from Larry Johnson's days with the Nittany Lions, Penn State coach Joe Paterno recalled a run where LJ broke into the secondary, then slowed down, waiting for the safety to close on him so that he could lower his shoulder and take him on, even though he could have outrun him. That's the kind of head-on collision that this year's Madden is trying to bring to the game. I found that while barreling downfield as LJ, I would alternate between sprinting to cover lots of ground, then slowing up and using the highlight stick to deliver big hits on anyone closing in -- and to great effect, as evidenced by the amount of time defenders would spend on their backs after trying to tackle me.
