Madden NFL 09

"Official Briankbl Review: 7.9/10"

I have posted some quickie-reviews for the past several Madden games on the boards, but I figured I would go ahead and make a "Briankbl Official Review". Before I even begin, let me point out like always: I started off as a Madden fanboy, with my first Madden game being '99. EA all the way in every sports genre up until 2003. I heard the buzz surrounding the Sega Sports series of games, and figured I would give them a shot. Both Madden and NFL2K3 were great that year, each having their own distinct feel to them that kept me going from one game to the other. And I've been a fan of both companies ever since. No bias, no b.s., this is just my opinion of this year's Madden. If anyone has a different opinion from mine, that is fine. I would be happy to hear everyone's thoughts on the game via the Boards.

</disclaimer>

Okay, and we're off!

*Sound*
We will start here. I'll break this down into sound effects, commentary, and music.

Sound FX - pretty basic stuff from last year's game. However, thunderstorms have new audio, QB's have new signals at the line of scrimmage, and the crowd even has new recordings that you'll notice throughout the course of a game. Everything else, though, is basically the same.

Commentary - Wow! Wait, what was that? Umm.....ok. Wait. Awesome!.............err, meh? This was my first reaction to the new commentary team of Cris Collinsworth and Tod Hammond. Cris' audio sounds amazing! he did an excellent job and is definitely a breath of fresh air. Tod, on the other hand...holy crap. Just.....................holy crap. And usually right after Cris talks, Tod will chime in with some monotone, straight-from-script dialogue that makes my ears bleed a little. So, it's a mixed bag. Still infinitely better than the radio announcer from years past. But I still would have been happy with just a one-man announce team this year :)

Music - Your usual rap, hip-hop, pop-rock, and NFL Films soundtracks. No custom/importable soundtracks. Not even the ability to play your own music via XMB...

*Graphics*
Finally! The frame rate has improved to 60 fps while still giving everything a more realistic look and feel. Stadiums were modeled inside and out this year, very accurately I might add. The new art director hired on to work on this year's Madden nailed every aspect of this game. The mood always feel right given the time of day and weather going on at the time. Player models don't seem to be as heavy on the polygon count as last year's, but everything else around the players was improved drastically. So now the players feel like they belong in the environment, instead of standing out from everything else and feeling almost out of place. Heavy Rain looks like a torrential downpour, Heavy Snow aka blizzard (with FOOTPRINTS!) *gets all giddy just THINKING about it*

The few complaints I have with the graphics are just some glitches that tend to rear their ugly heads from time to time. Everyone by now knows about the "No Ball Spin" glitch. While it doesn't happen anywhere near what it did in NCAA Football 09, it still exists...which boggles...my...mind. There are others, but not anything big enough to waste my time talking about them. Moving on.

*Presentation*
As stated earlier, it is nice to have play-by-play back. New stat/player overlays are back and look good. CPU vs CPU is FINALLY BACK THANK GOD - sorry, that really didn't have anything to do with presentation, lol. But it does lead me to this: there is still no TV Broadcast camera angle! They go all "BEYOND" Broadcast on us, and they leave out THIS of all things. Still no half-time or post-game reports/shows. Very poor use of the ESPN license. Menus are slick and not as laggy as last year. But in some instances you have to press "start" for the main/sub menus to pop up, which gets really annoying after a while.

*Gameplay*
With the improved FPS, the controls are silky smooth and super responsive. I love the new branching animation system used this time around. It gives you the ability to still interact with the ball carrier/tackler while going to the dirt. As the ball carrier, once the tackle animation begins, you can still try your hand at spinning out of it or stiff-arming the guy off you. The defender has the ability to try to strip the ball out of your arms and force a game changing fumble. New weather effects actually change the gameplay up a bit. Players can now slide/lose balance on a wet, slippery field. In cold weather, receivers will have harder times catching bullet passes. Pre-play audibles and hot routes are still available for offense and defense. Overall, pretty freakin' solid.

There are quite a few modes to play in. But the two main modes, Franchise and Superstar, remain untouched fro last year. *SIGH* Superstar mode has so much potential...but whatever. So, not ,much to talk about as far as game modes go.

Now, time to rip this thing a new..................well, I have some things to say.
A.I.
Artificial INTELLIGENCE.
Where do I even begin with this one? Um, I guess I could start off with how the cpu passes to receivers after they have already stepped out of bounds...NO, WAIT! Maybe I could begin with the how the cpu, after catching a pass, will either run directly out of bounds or run towards defenders instead of running straight up field where there is OPEN DAYLIGHT! ... Not a soul around! But no, let me cut to the right to the center of the field where there are a bunch of people waiting to hit-stick me. I mean...........come on. I will stop there because this review is getting too long. I could make five more posts regarding the horrible A.I.

Let me move along to "The First Sports Video Game That Adapts To You!" tagline, which by the way, is false. While the adaptive A.I. and Madden IQ features are kind of neat, you will probably just switch the game to the Pro difficulty. "PRO?! ZOMG! im no n00b im hardcore! ALL-PRO BABY, YEAH!" No. Many are in agreement. All-Pro is crazy hard this year, even for vets of the series. Pro actually has good balance this year.

*On-Line*
...*facepalm*...
As many of you have noticed, the lobbies freeze your game when you attempt to enter. Play Now games can be accessed, but you are just thrown in a match with a random person. You can also play against your friends. But the lobby is where most online matches are started...and you can't even access them. No word if a patch is in the works, as of this posting. Haven't tried a league yet.

Of the couple of Play Now games I have tried out, I can report that lag is much better here than in NCAA Football 09 or Madden 08. However, both players I played against abused the hell out of Vince Young. They would roll all the way out to the sideline, have all day to wait for a receiver to get open, and complete 15-yard passes all game long. And no, blitzing CB's/QB spies were of no use...

*Overall*
Score: 7.9 / 10

Madden NFL 09 is a decent game in my eyes. After having several masterpieces last-gen, and then not giving the consumer a worthwhile product for the next-gen(current-gen, whatever) consoles for 4 titles in a row...something just isn't right here. There is no excuse for the drop in AI. No excuse for the abundance of glitches. No excuse for leaving out the full-fledged owner mode from the last-gen titles. With all the money EA has, and all the manpower in their studios, with all the exclusive licenses EA carries, you would think that Madden would be the uberest of all sports games ever times infinity! But sadly, with it's "85 New and Enhanced Features", this game still falls short of some titles that came out almost 5 years ago, no I won't mention any names.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/14/08

Game Release: Madden NFL 09 (US, 08/12/08)