The expert reviews on Madden 16 have been predominantly positive. A Metacritic score of an 83 is solid. It proves EA Sports has produced one of its strongest versions of the iconic series to date. Of the games Metacritic considers "current," Madden 16 is tied for the sixth-highest review score.Here's a look at seven of the review scores listed by Metacritic:Madden 16 Review RoundupPublicationAuthorScorePlayStation LifestyleLouis Edwards9PolygonOwen S. Good9Game InformerMatthew Kato8.75GameTrailersunlisted8.8GameSpotMiguel Concepcion8Hardcore GamerSteven Hannley4 out of 5DestructoidSteven Hansen6.5The highest Madden 16 review scores on Metacritic currently come from Polygon.com's Owen S. Good and PlayStationLifestyle.net's Louis Edwards. Both men scored Madden 16 a nine out of 10. Like most of the reviewers who gave the game high marks, Good and Edwards praised the new gameplay mechanics.At the root of the major improvements are the changes to the passing game. The new initiative is called Air Supremacy. What exactly is it designed to do' On EASports.com,Madden 16 creative director, Rex Dickson told us:"Air Supremacy revolutionizes passing and catching on both sides of the ball with new user and AI mechanics. There is also a new multiplayer catch interaction system with more than 400 new two-player catch animations with a wide variety of outcomes."The question then is: Does Air Supremacy deliver' The answer is a resounding: yes.This new way to play the pass on both sides of the ball joins the juke, truck stick and hit stick as some of the most effective and fun gameplay mechanics the developers have introduced. Those examples were pretty simplistic, but AS is layered.It begins with the quarterback's ability to put touch on certain passes. For years, Madden QBs could choose to throw a bullet pass or a lob. This year, you can throw touch passes by double tapping the receiver's icon button.It adds a whole new dimension to throwing the ball over the top of a zone and in-between defenders. You can also hold the LB/L1 buttons to throw a pass high, or the LT/L2 buttons to throw a pass low. Those wrinkles just speak to the new tools at the QB's disposal, but wide receivers also have new weaponry.If you take control of a receiver when the ball is in the air, you can choose to try anRAC (run-after-the-catch), a possession catch or an aggressive grab. Success depends on the receiver's skill ratings, ball placement and the defender.Yes, the defender has a say in this thing as well.Defensive players in pass coverage can choose to play the ball or the man. DB's can punch the ball out of receivers' hands if they are in position. They can simply bat the ball down, go for the pick, or position themselves between the pass and the receiver.It works great and there are more realistic deflections than in past versions. The deflections sometimes lead to some awesome tipped interceptions. If there is an issue with the passing system, it's the frequency in which you see spectacular catches.Odell Beckham Jr. is on the cover, and he's known for his amazing catches, but EA Sports might have made it a little too easy to make once-in-a-lifetime grabs. Good seemingly agrees. He wrote:On one hand, it's good to see a player's "spectacular catch" rating acquire some meaning in standard gameplay. On the other,Madden 16overconditions players to throw deep balls and lay on the triangle/Y button to lay out like Odell Beckham Jr. and try foroften makingthe impossible grab. This could have bad consequences in online gamer behavior. Pulling off a one-handed catch with one of the NFL's elite receivers is fine; when I do it with Denver's 73-rated Cody Latimer, covered by two defenders, it feels cheap and forced.Primarily, Madden 16 plays a great game of virtual football. It's not a perfect game as there are some omissions from Connected Franchise such as the ability to customize draft classes, and no create-a-team option, but the positives far outweigh the negatives.EA Sports got it right this year. Without concession, we can say, Madden 16 is a really good game.Follow Brian Mazique on Twitter.
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