Madden NFL 09

Pretty complicated game with so many buttons to press simultaneously but enjoyable and graphics are good.

I don't know where EA got the idea that getting sacked and intercepted is "fun". They really need to re-evaluate this franchise. I've been playing Madden since it came out on the Super Nintendo. There have been good versions and bad ones. This is one of the bad ones. The All-Pro mode is ridiculously hard. The "Adaptive Difficulty Engine" that it proudly trumpets just allows the game to beat you more easily. I have yet to win a game using the customized skill settings. Typically, you will get sacked numerous times a game, no matter how good your o-line is, and you will rarely sack the AI player. Magically, it always seems to happen on 3rd down. It's not like you are hanging in the pocket all day. When looking at the replays, you will often see your offensive linemen just step back and allow the defense to come through untouched. AI Linebackers will out jump wide receivers to make interceptions, even if their back is to the ball. The defensive linemen have the ability to bat down your passes while engaged, you wont. Your fastest wideouts will jog their routes while the AI defensive players will zoom to anywhere on the field as needed. Maybe it's just me, but I don't want to play defense for 80% of a game. It's just not fun watching the AI player run through gaping holes in your offense, catch passes in triple coverage, sack you with ease on third down, run a perfect 2 minute offense every time, and always able to out guess your play calling.
On the plus side, I think the graphics are decent. Playing against another human is decent fun. There are a lot of interesting extras. It's somewhat fun on Pro mode.
Overall though, I regret buying this game. I would recommend you rent before you buy.

Alright, first let me say this is a HUGE dissapointment for me. A lot of people have already pointed out the big drawbacks. Let me just add some more now after playing this title for a little bit.

One, I can't run against anybody in this game! Now maybe you think I'm bad at it and griping, but on pro level or higher, it is just impossible for me, and isn't fun at all. Using the pats, who for some reason have all of their lineman at 90 or higher, just don't block. Before the ball is handed off, their are two players already on me. It never fails. The AI cheats in this game so big. If I call a Run play, they will always knowingly have 8 in the box. If I call a pass play, they always have the perfect defense setup. If I audible from one to another in the same formation, you see the defense setup accordingly. For example, I'll come out with two wrs to the left, one to the right on a pass play. I Audible to a counter, no motion on my players. But suddenly they run around the field and are set up with the perfect stop. This is just ridiculous already!

Two, The way the menu is configured for this is bizarre. Sometimes, I get lost amongst all the options, and have no idea what the heck i'm doing, then the menu dissapears, and aaaaahhhhhhh.

Three, People have talked about the no refs, no chaing gang, broken instant replays not working- they look cheap. Well, something I haven't seen mentioned is while your playing a game in a season, YOUR the ONLY one playing a game! No updates from around the league, no AI games going on like in previous versions past. If you are on MNF, after the game is over, there are still the sunday games to simulate. It's dumb.

Four, the player movements at the snap and other gameplay features, I don't know, i try to be a defensive lineman, and it recommends a button to press to beat my current opponent off the line. Intead my guy just launches to god knows where, before he can recover. I can't play any one on defense, because this little random launch with a DB means blown coverage! Also some buttons were switched around like the jukes, so i'll still try to juke with L2 and for some reason the ball is laterralled ten yards downfield! The laterall shouldn't even be a button unless it's part of a called play where it wouldn't need a button. By the way, i've yet to come across any trick plays. Another gameplay option is sometimes the opponent AI will punt the ball with under a minute to go on first down, bizzare to say the least!

There are many other things to complain about, but my primary thing is I NEED A GAME WHERE I CAN RUN THE BALL! It's so frustrating, and I'm just dissapointed in this game right now. I'm getting rid of it, every time I pick it up, I think maybe i'm over reacting, and then twenty minutes in, AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Do the people that make this game actually enjoy playing football at all? I get the feeling the people who made this never touched a football on a playing field in their lifes, and always root for the winning team. This isn't something a fan of the game would enjoy playing!

I played Madden '05 on the Playstation 2, so naturally when I heard '09 was coming out for my brand new PS3 I went and bought it right away. Big mistake. This game regresses from the fabulous balance of control and complexity presented in Madden '05. The controls are poor, the AI seems to cheat, rather than simply get better, the in game QB controls are awful, the camera controls offer LESS than the PS2 version and in general the play feels sticky and awkward.

The various game modes are different too. Rather than capitalize on successes, the designers decided to re-invent the wheel, as a square.

For example, in Franchise mode, rather than fixing the balance that the previous training schedule offered, they re-implemented it as "practice drills" which include a bunch of different very difficult to control set of kludgey camera angle or just plain lame drills (a bench press drill which involves hitting seemingly random controls on the controller, for example). It is in training, testing and simulation that the game really grinds to a halt. You cannot change the perspective to view things from a defensive perspective, you cannot have a pass play zoomout, you cannot even SEE down the field when playing on defense, let alone have a reasonable chance to actually try to cover run or pass plays (better hope the simulation engine thinks your player can do it on his own, and just not touch anything).

Finally, seemingly for no reason, most of the "Madden Moments" (essentially historical mini-scenarios) have no "restart game" button, to allow you to retry when you mess up. Therefore instead of being able to quickly try again (and learn from the experience) you have to sit through the remaining game clock while you get walked all over, or quit, wait for the game to quit after prompting you, then re-enter and wait for the game to load, and wait, and wait, and wait.

This was a big let down.

If you liked previous Maddens, and are content to have more of the same, then Madden '09 will be a success. If you've never played a football game before, you'll like Madden.

However, if you're a Madden afficianado and wanted to see improvements and innovation...well, it's sorely lacking.


GRAPHICS

Considering this is on the most powerful console gaming platform out, the graphics are a huge let down. They're good, but not great - nothing impressive at all. I'm also sorely disappointed in the animations. While you're playing, just stop and watch the players run around. It's not even close to natural. It's terrible, actually - I find it reminiscient of an SNES game.


GAMEPLAY

For the most part, the gameplay is fairly good. There are some things that piss me off, though. I'm amazed how often I'll get a pick with a CB and then actually be tackled from behind as I run for the end zone. There's only a handful of guys in the whole NFL that are going to catch a CB from behind if he's gotten a 10 yard lead. In Madden, it happens routinely. Similar things will happen with my RBs or WRs - I'll get out into open space, but guys will catch me from behind. It's like the guys in pursuit get cheat speed or something. Very annoying and not realistic.

In general, the gameplay just doesn't feel "fluid" to me. The game feels too arcadey. I'm definietly not impressed.


COMMENTATORS

Hammond sounds canned and completely unnatural. Collinsworth, on the other hand, is fantastic. He genuinely sounds like he's there commentating live. The problem is, the things he actually says are as canned as tuna. He rarely names the player in question - in fact, they often won't even reference the team name. That's just unforgivable.

Collinsworth is a great voice talent in '09, but the script he was given to work with is disappointing. Hammond is just boring in general.


IMPROVEMENTS/INNOVATIONS

None really. The graphics were improved a bit, but are still well short of where they should be. None of the new features are really worth anything...they're little better than cheap gimmicks and are advertised as much more than they actually are. Madden IQ is a waste of time. The test is divided into four parts, but you can't choose to retake one individual section - for instance, you can't choose just to do the passing drills again. You have to retake the entire thing. Screw that. The "Rewind" thing that lets you re-try the last play is alright I guess - personally, I just disabled it and don't plan to use it again. It cheapens the competition.

I've also found the autosave feature difficult to work...or in other words, I haven't gotten it to work at all. I'm not sure if I should fault the game for this...it could just be user error. But so far, I haven't been able to figure out how to get the game to automatically load my profile each time I start the game, and to automatically save game results and stats. When I try to set autosave to on, it won't let me for some reason.


RESULT

Anyway, long story short...this game is more of the same. Nothing new or innovative, and nothing that's really going to impress you or make you say "wow." I really think EA's exclusive NFL contract is stifling creativity in the genre. They're not really even trying. This may be the last Madden game I buy. I love having that new update roster with updated stats...but sheesh, it ain't worth $60 anymore.