Madden NFL 09

"This Madden is the best it's been in years"

So another football season is upon us which means we get another Madden. Is Madden 09 just another EA Sports game with updated rosters and prettier graphics or is it actually good? Read on to find out!

Graphics: 8/10

In the past, EA usually does incremental upgrades to the graphics to the point where you wonder if they even actually upgraded. Well, this year the game is gorgeous. The player models all look detailed and realistic. Big 300 lb linemen are huge and slow, while fast Randy Moss type recievers are slim and fast. Playing on grass in the rain actually results in field degradation. Players get so dirty and muddy to the point where you can't recognize what color their jerseys are. When it's cold the field actually looks dewy and hard like one would see at a real game. Player's breath can be seen and actually blows if their is wind.

While there are good things about the graphics, there are also things that could be better. Why with the technology that developers have at hand do they still feel the need to have cardboard cutouts for fans? They could look a bit more realistic. And the refs look waxy and just plain creepy.

Gameplay & Presentation: 9/10

Never before has Madden felt like a real televised game. Players break out of tackles in realistic ways, they struggle for extra yards even when they're wrapped up and you can really hear the collisions. Players can't stop and turn on a dime. Running the ball is as hard as the real thing and you'll be lucky to get 100 yards with your halfback. A nice, subtle detail that I just love is when you break loose and scamper for the endzone, your player will continuously look behind himself to see where the opposing players are. Chris Collinsworth and his partner are eons better at broadcasting than Madden ever was. The broadcasters make insightful observations and are chatty. If you get sacked, throw an interception or just make any sort of big play they'll actually use Backtrack just like in real games, show a replay, pause the game and highlight all the players involved and explain what happened, how the play broke down etc. It does a great job of getting you involved and showing the mistakes you or your opponent made. The normal, non Backtrack replays are also very well done and are of high quality.

During halftime and at the end of the game (brought to us by Sprint which I find annoying) John Madden shows 5 replays of big plays that happened which you can switch between at any time. That 60 yard bomb you threw? It'll probably be an option to watch over and over again.

A few new features that were introduced this year include the Rewind ability and Madden test. Before each game you're given the option to have a limited, unlimited or no amount of Rewinds. Basically what this does is if you screw up on any plays you're given the option to rewind back to before the play starts and try again. While this is nice if you just gave up the game losing touchdown it starts becoming too easy to use it on every play you might feel you could have done better on. It feels kind of like cheating. After awhile I turned it off. Also, any time you score a touchdown you can bring your player to certain parts of the field, press a button and celebrate which not only unlocks Achievements but also brings about a few comments from the commentators.

The Madden test pits you in a holographic field and has you running the same play over and over again until you fail. This sets the difficulty during each game but you can also manually adjust what level you want to be at. If during the test you end up on all pro, you're probably going to have a much harder time than if you usually play on pro.

A few poor AI mistakes take you out of the game. For example, while playing the Jets, I had just given up a touchdown to make the score 31-28 with 1 minute and 1 timeout left. In a real game they would have gone for the onside kick but they chose to kick it off instead. Or they'll run the ball when they're behind and the score is close late in the game. Little things like these take you out of the experience.

Replay Value: 9/10

If you have Live, this game offers up limitless replay potential. If you don't have Live, it still has great replay value potential as games are usually fun and crazy things can happen. So pick Madden 09 up as it's one of the best Maddens EA has put out in years.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/25/08

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