Madden NFL 09

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It truly is a sad day for NFL video game fans. Way back in the day we used to have options. Tecmo and Super Tecmo Bowl for a quick and fun arcade experience, and games like Madden on the Sega Genesis for a more realistic approach.

With Madden 09 the only licensed NFL game in the world, you no longer have those options. For someone looking for a realistic and fun experience, over the years Madden has mostly satisfied that itch.

The problem is, in 09 EA focused almost exclusively in it's new animation system (that started w/ FIFA). The producers and developers will often be seen online congratulating themselves on how amazing their animation system works.

While it is true that the animations are better than ever, the problem is how this affects gameplay. This "branching animation system" means that players are no longer "cylinders" that you move around on the field with animations attached to them. In the words of EA, now when you press a direction on the controller you input a command to the player and the dynamic animation will decide what happens next in order to be more natural looking and have less of that "floating" feel of the former maddens.

They are correct, it does indeed look more natural. Unfortunately all players share the same system. This will result in Peyton Manning shucking players to the ground in the same fashion that Lawrence Maroney stiff arms. (Despite Manning having a stiff arm rating that is 70 points lower than Maroney)

The problem is another player comes in to tackle, you press the stiff arm button, the new animation system decides on the fly which stiff arm animation is suitable for the interaction, and boom. Peyton Manning is doing hip throws like Reggie White tossing around weak offensive lineman.

This problem affects not just stiff arms but every animation in the game, tackling, passing, running. Every player animates the same way, negating their stats and turning Brett Farve into the next Marshall Faulk.

Inside linebackers will leap 42" into the air and intercept passes with their backs turned.

Essentially the only stat that matters is as usual the speed rating. To make matters worse there are dozens of freezing issues, crash bugs, franchise bugs, clipping issues etc...

Once I had to watch a replay 10x over because I was amazed that the football had literally passed right through the chest of my TE to appear on the other side, and get intercepted. A condescending Chris Collinsworth can not wait to do an "EA BACTRAX" on that play and explain what I did wrong.

The problem is I didn't do anything wrong, the football phased through the TE like Martian Manhunter.

Clearly EA recognized that the game is cheap and broken, so they included the ability to "rewind" and erase any play. You can of course turn this feature off but you have to wonder why would they make a feature that allows you to reverse time in a realistic sports game?

Clearly the answer is people realized that Madden 09 is no longer a fun game, its frustrating and cheap. The Offensive line can not block the CPU pass rush and even an All Pro Left Tackle will get beat for 3+ sacks per game on All pro or All madden.

There is nothing you can do about it either. If you hold in running backs or TEs to block, they will simply miss the blocking assignment about 60% of the time.

in the real NFL if you miss a blocking assignment even 2 times a game, chances are you will get cut. In madden 09 the best blocking RBs in the game will miss 2x PER DRIVE!

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Update one of the main producers of Madden has left the series. The new producers have OWNED UP to the myriad of flaws in the animation system and admitted that the reason it's broken is because they would speed up or slow down specific animations like the full back hand off, and after time everything became out of sync.

FB hand off became an exploit because it was so fast the defensive lineman would still be getting out of their stance and the FB would be 2 yards into his run. That is just one of the examples, QB drop back was broken as well, the Olineman did not have enough time to start a pocket.

So at least EA has admitted they had a broken pile of code that they had to throw away and start over with. Even tho 09 sold MILLIONS

Click Here to Read More Reviews >>

I'm reviewing this game knowing that they've been making Madden for 20 years. With that about of time and experience, some of what is on display here is inexcusable.

Graphics: I'm not sure what everyone's talking about, but this is the same engine we've seen for the last several years.

(A)The new weather effects are decent but nothing spectacular. You will not see field degredation beyond footprints, and the snow still seems fake to me.

(B) The grass is much different. On replays, though, it doesn't look nearly as good as it does from the default isometric angle. But if you buy games based on grass improvements, by all means spring for this one. It's certainly better looking than its competition like NFL blitz or All-pro 2k8.

Audio:

(A) The commentary is almost as awful as it has ever been in Madden in the last 10 years. Hammond, the play by play guy, sounds so fake it is hilarious. You will laugh at his comments, especially when he feigns emotion at a big tackle or says WHAT A HIT. Collinsworth, god bless him, tries his heart out to be natural, and he definitely puts in a great performance. The problem is that the designers didn't properly do the commentary system. Here, Collinsworth's comments -I think every single one of them, actually -is removed from the specifics of your game. He issues way too many general comments, such as, "That's really why the d-line is important" or whatever. It SOUNDS natural but it's so hollow and disconnected from your game. Also, there are prolonged periods (like 20 seconds) where Collinsworth won't say anything. He'll miss entire plays. The commentators will even not notice if you've kicked a dramatic OT winning field goal. They will simply say "The kick is up and good. And that's the end of our game." They then send you to John Madden to literally say "Well that was close! Thanks for joining us!"This kind of commentary does not belong in a next gen game with 20 years of experience.

(B) The backtrack feature, where Collinsworth uses a telestrator to point out play problems, is a bit broken. Sometimes on the PS3 it simply does not work (Collinsworth says nothing). Other times, he will recommend you do something worse than you did [e.g. throw into quadruple coverage instead of double coverage??]. However, usually, he's spot on. The most common backtracks will involve showing a defensive mismatch (e.g. playing the run when the offense is in passing formation) or showing a mistake by the QB in the event of sack or interception (involves pointing out an open receiver that should have been thrown to). I wish he could do more, but generally most backtracks will involve one of these two things. Still very cool.

Gameplay:

(A)Glaring issues: Why exactly do play actions still not work against the PC? Why are QB sneaks still money yards? Why is bootlegging so effective? Why are slant patterns so effective? Playing against another human makes most of these non issues and is a lot more fun.

(B) At least tackling is more fluid. Fewer canned animations. More freedom.

(C)Replay challenges are broken. Sometimes you cannot challenge plays. Sometimes the booth or you will review something, clearly it will be incomplete, but they will rule it a catch. It is remarkable, considering NFL 2k5 did this right three years ago on a smaller budget with less than 20 years of experience.

(D) No changes to superstar or franchise. $60 gets you new grass but no improvement to these critical modes?

(E) The much vaunted game that adapts to you is fundamentally a bad idea. People don't play games so that all their games are always close and hard to win. This is why Oblivion failed -the player loses incentive to get better if all it does is make the AI cheat more to counter him.

Problem #1 Madden test is broken. Pass defense drill is much harder than the others, which are very very easy.

Problem #2 you can't use sliders to adjust the difficulty with it. Big problem for those who like to customize the difficulty.

Problem #3 the game just cheats to 'adapt.' If you pass well, expect your wide outs to just drop balls for no reason. If you run well, expect your all star back to suddenly fumble a ton. It's not a feature, it's a problem, and it's comical that EA is advertising it as a big improvement.

(F) Online leagues are not good. It's more like an online round robin, not organized well at all. And there's even some lag to boot.

(G) Madden moments lets you relive key moments from last season...with 2008-2009 rosters and no special presentation. Snore.

(H) In multiplayer, on the couch, when you're trash talking and having fun, you can still have a really, really good time. But then again, you can do that with Madden 08. Or 07. Or 06. Or 05. I'd say pass on this one unless you're gunning for multiplayer, in which case you'll enjoy it -but realize this is nowhere near as good as it should be.

Buy Madden NFL 09 Now

I wrote a review of Madden 08 on here last year so I'd thought I'd follow it up with a review of this years edition. Or should I say Madden 2000.9?

Now before you pass this off as a Madden-bashing review let me give you my qualifications. I bought every version of Madden from the Genesis all the way to Madden 05 on the PS2 (which I happen to believe is still the best version of Madden ever made) and then Madden 08 last year on the PS3. I have been a Madden fan since the first day I could get my hands on a three button Genesis controller and threw a pass to an open receiver in the window based passing back then.

So first lets start off with some nitpicking and EA's famous saying, "If it's in the game, it's in the game."

Here is what is not in the game:

*Once again, EA bought up the ESPN license a few years ago and they have yet to implement any ESPN presentation into the game like 2KSports did so well before EA got the exclusive license. The absence of any ESPN presentation in EA's flagship game certainly solidifies that EA's agreement with ESPN was an anti-competitive move.

*No on-field referees or chain gang on the sidelines. Two staples of football once again ommitted from the game. Sure they added unnecessary security guards and even more players and non-player personell on the sidelines, but the most important staples of the game are not there, even though they were there in versions prior to the current gen systems.

*Instant Replay challenges of sideline catches are still ridiculous. Every year whenever I challenge a sideline catch and a receiver has one foot clearly out, the call goes against me.

*Sideline animations Yes there is a two feet in animation when you throw to a receiver near the sideline but if a WR's route takes him towards the sideline and you throw towards that receiver his animation more often than not will take him out of bounds and result in an incompletion. Unacceptable.

*Clock stopping on defensive penalties within 2 minutes of the half or 5 minutes at the end of game. I drove to my opponents 20 yard line with 20 seconds left, got an encroachment call on the defense, accepted the penalty and figuring the clock was stopped, I took my time selecting the next play, only to have the clock run out as I broke the huddle. Unless there is some new NFL rule regarding clock stoppage, this is a severe oversight.

*Stable playing surface. Where did EA get the playing surface model from? The old Veterans stadium? When viewing replays from the game, you can clearly see players feet sink below the playing surface on a dry gameday.

*NFL ice-capades. This is definitely still in the game, even with today's precision controllers. If you jump just a little with a DE pre-snap without encroaching, good luck getting him back even close to his original starting point. This is frustrating to say the least.

This so far might sound like petty griping but here is the thing, this Madden franchise has been around for 20 years now, it is the #1 selling football game and the only game on the market. These little details should have been long since addressed, yet they continue to resurface with every version of Madden.

EA is great at repackaging Madden every year with a new gimmick to make it look fresh. Anyone remember QB vision a few years ago? This year Madden IQ is the latest and greatest invention. What this IQ system does is evaluate your skill level and adjust the AI sliders accordingly to tailor the game for your set skill level. However this system completely replaces all the specific AI sliders that were available to players to adjust freely. There are some very general sliders that can still be adjusted but nothing like in years past.

I would be all for this IQ system if there was a way to turn it off and adjust multiple sliders to the specific way a player wants the game to run. Look, anyone who has played Madden for any extended amount of time knows exactly where they stand as far as skills in the game they don't need the game to tell them where they stand. Other human players will be sure to remind you of that.

What is the most irritating of this new system is you cannot adjust any sliders for an overcompensated AI. In the past I was able to tune down the AI QB accuracy and AI WR catching, especially when the AI's second string QB would complete 20 straight passes on me. The ability to adjust the sliders allowed for a more realistic simulation of the game.

Not anymore, unless you dumb down the generic sliders all the way, be prepared for the opposing AI QB to march down the field with Joe Montanaesque accuracy against every nickel and dime coverage you have in the playbook.

Now for the good:

The graphics are a nice improvement from last year. The stadium models are clean and the lighting effects are top notch. Though I think the player models seem a little more "stiff" from last year and it really often looks and feels like the players are running in mud compared to last year.

The branch animations have improved fairly well. Last year this feature was very impressive and this years crop of new animations improves on it. Well done!

The commentary is vastly improved. Gone is the radio announcer who I felt sounded like he was yelling into a tin can. And in his place is a new broadcast crew featuring Chris Collinsworth. As much as I despise Collinsworth on TV, he does an excellent job as color commentator in this years Madden.

The players models are properly proportioned for each postion.

There really is not a lot of good to report over last years version and that is unfortunately how little EA has went to inmprove the overall game experience. Madden 05 was the last year that EA truly innovated their game and brought a deeper experience to it's faithful fans. Is it any coincidence that was one the last years the 2K sports NFL game was around to push the EA team?

Next year, EA is going to have to show me something good in order for me to dole out any more money, paying for the same repackaged game. I've learned my lesson, 20 something years later....

Read Best Reviews of Madden NFL 09 Here

Each year EA releases a new iteration of Madden, building on the previous year's game. I don't mind buying the game each year if the game is solid and a couple new features are added. Madden 09 is a great example of how a monopoly and lack of competition leads to mediocrity. Some key features are completely gone from the game. The accel clock option is gone, so ball control offense or realistic stats are only possible if you are willing to sit and do nothing for 20 seconds on each play. When playing on grass in the rain player uniforms get very dirty, but the field looks pristine throughout the game, though on replays the field deterioration is visible. Franchise mode has regressed, with player progression completely broken. Online play again suffers from critical glitches, from disconnects on last second field goals to a bug that allows a direct snap to the wide receiver, and automatic 5 yards on each play. Smaller problems include terrible camera angles in certain situations (on field goals the ball is often obscured by the scoreboard) and odd AI strategy. Although EA has eliminated some of the problems with last year's game, they have also introduced enough bugs and missing features to make Madden 09 a complete waste of time and money.

Want Madden NFL 09 Discount?

I didn't buy Madden 08, so i don't know what kind of 'progression' can be seen from the last incarnation. But, i was a diehard Madden player for years before 08. I bought 09 on day one. My first reaction was "WTF?"

I really don't understand this. If one had never played a Madden game before, this one might be a reasonable game. But, the designers have a terribly flawed scheme: They Make Changes Simply for the Sake of Making Changes. The design does not Evolve or Progress. It's just different each time, just so that they can market a 'new experience.' But, hey, here are the fundamentals of good design:

If something works, continue it. REFINE IT. Don't scrap it and do something different, and likely ILLOGICAL. There was a point when the menu systems and playcalling scheme were ideal. A few years ago. Things WORKED. In 09, they just don't make sense. Design is convoluted and arbitrary. SIMPLICITY, folks.

Secondarily, i was shocked to see the game animations and graphics. I have not made a direct comparison to any previous edition. But, what i see in 09 simply seems like the same or a step BACK from what i expected or what i was used to. I'm sure there are some technical advantages in the current game, and perhaps the detail and resolution is enhanced. But, the animations don't look more realistic. They seem more cartoonish. I expected an evolution toward realism, but 09 is a terrible disappointment in that respect.

I have a new 58" 1080p plasma, and i was expecting to be blown away by the game image quality when i started up 09. My previous gaming experience was on a 360 and PS2, on a OLD rear projection tv. But, 09 does not impress in any aesthetic criteria. Maybe i'm expecting too much? Seriously, on the day i first ran 09, i was wishing i could go back to Madden 07. THAT is a significant indictment of 09.

I was so looking forward to 09, as i had skipped last year due to the framerate and other issues. And, with the new hi-def tv, i thought i'd be in gaming heaven with 09. But, i am totally disappointed. I believe this has put me off the franchise entirely. I certainly will not ever buy a game sight-unseen, based only on its heritage. I should have taken some time and read the reviews.....