Daily Joystick

By:  Chad Grischow

Nobody can really fault you for looking at each passing iteration of Madden with a skeptical eye at this point.  Too many years have gone by without much in the way of innovation or new features, or even graphics.  Trust us, 09 is different.  For the first time in the ‘new-gen’ console era, it does not feel like more of the same with a shiny new roster update.  They still slyly leave themselves some things to work on, however.  

If you have played Madden in the past, you know exactly what to expect when it comes to in-game performance.  The game delivers a solid simulation-style football performance that is as easy to pick up and play as it is to be hooked on learning all the little nuances of the plays.  Not much changed in the way of the actual gameplay, with some minor tweaking to tighten up blocking and running the ball.  Everything else feels just about the same, with the same nagging issues regarding field of vision stopping you from making smart passes to the flats and defenders occasionally making awkward swipes at passes and clumsy tackle attempts.  Despite the occasional gripes, Madden plays exceptionally well once again.  The playbooks seem a bit deeper this time around, which is both a blessing for those wanting more variety and a curse for those who stretched the play clock selecting plays as it was. 

Everything longtime Madden fans have come to expect makes a return in 09.  Superstar mode makes its third straight appearance, giving gamers the chance to play through a career with a real-life current rookie, import an NCAA 09 player, or create their own rookie from scratch.  There are not any real changes to the mode, but the improved blocking mechanics make it enjoyable to plow through plays even when your assignment is picking up the blitz as a running back.  The obvious goodies that will eat up most gamers’ time is the franchise mode, still including the addictive fantasy draft for players looking to see how well they can piece together a team from the bottom up.  The reason most gamers buy Madden each year is to get all the new rookies, while praying for at least one new feature.  This year’s version delivers on both fronts. 

The best new feature this year is the ‘Madden IQ’.  As soon as you fire up the game, John Madden himself offers to test your football acumen in the hopes of tailoring the gaming experience to your skills.  Those who give it a shot are whisked away to a VR training field to complete four different tests.  One test at a time, they gauge your skills at running and passing on offense, and stopping each on defense.  Things start out simple, with only a player or two on each side of the ball, and slowly adding players to the mix as you progress through the test levels.  It would probably work better if they forced you to play at least one half of a real game with generic players to gauge your skills, as running through a VR environment feels extremely easy.  The offensive running mini-game never ramps up to the full eleven-on-eleven clash you see on the field, making it too simple to slash your way to the touchdown with regularity on the wide-open field. 

Sure, you can dog it during the test and make the game much easier for yourself, but the game will quickly correct itself.  With each passing game you play at the ‘My Skill’ difficulty, they reassess your skills in each of the categories; even offering you an opportunity to head back to the VR field for additional training.  The flaw in the system is that it does not take into account the teams at hand.  Those playing with the Patriots against the Texans are going to look like superstars most times, and get a healthy boost in their difficulty going forward.  Still, the new difficulty setting does work well more often than not, and adds a way to track your performance from one game to the next.  Those who would rather stick to the tried and true difficulties of Madden’s past will find them here as well. 

The other major change to the core gameplay is the inclusion of an imaginary ‘do-over’ button, called ‘Rewind’.  Think of it as a coach’s challenge on steroids.  Rather than the opportunity to have a call on the field reversed via instant replay, ‘rewind’ gives you the chance to reverse your mistakes yourself.  Much like the use of instant replay, the rewind feature is limited to once per team for each game.  It also is prohibited during the final two minutes of the first half and end of the game.  If you throw a bad interception in the game, you have a few seconds after the play has ended to activate the rewind service.  It rewinds the game back to the line of scrimmage, just before the quarterback snaps the ball and starts the play.  At this point, you are free to call an audible or just run the same play again and pray for different results.  It is entirely possible to change a terrible interception into a touchdown with the press of a button. 

This might sound like blasphemy to football purists, but it is not nearly as intrusive as it sounds.  For starters, you can just play the game as usual without ever using the feature.  It will always be there tempting you at the end of every play you can use it for, good results or bad, whether on offense or defense.  The biggest issue with the rewind feature is the inability to go into game settings and turn off the option all together.  It seems to add an extra couple of seconds to the end of each play, tempting you further to use it just so it stops slowing down your game.  In addition, while playing through your dozens of franchises you will never take to the second season, you never have to worry about the computer hitting ‘rewind’ on your plays.  You have one rewind use, but the computer does not. 

In terms of presentation, Madden 09 has received some nice upgrades, mostly in the visual department.  The in-game graphics are markedly improved this time around, with crisper player models, more fluid animations, and more realistic-looking fields.  This also marks the first game in the franchise where the up-close looks at player faces does not reveal them to have that creepy ‘Polar Express’ zombie-stare.  Players finally look somewhat human.  Sonically, the game leaves John Madden in the background again this year in favor of the play-by-play team of Chris Collinsworth and Tom Hammond.  Hammond does well enough with the play calling, but Collinsworth will have you ready to listen to your music within three games.  His purposely-vague calls, “This receiver” and “This running back”, get old quickly, as does his overly repetitive commentary on situations.  It is hard to believe that twenty-years into the franchise, EA has not figured out how to deliver better in-game commentary. 

Those who want to jump online to test their skills against more than just the computer are rewarded with lobbies for quick matches and online leagues.  The quick match lobbies attempt to level the playing field by showing you online ‘level’ and rank of each player in the lobby, but the lag between when members enter the room versus when the info displays does leave you guessing sometimes as to what you are about to get yourself into when accepting a challenge.  As for the game itself, there is some lag in the play calling portion of the game, but most importantly, the gameplay itself seems smooth.  The online leagues get bonus points for allowing as few as two members, for those who just want to keep butting heads with a good friend repeatedly, and up to a full thirty-two team league; including the ability to run a fantasy daft for your league.  The only item missing seems to be the ability to track stats for each player, as only wins and losses are kept by EA.  How 2K managed to offer this in their leagues four years ago, but EA still has not, is a mystery. 

At this point, the constant two-steps-forward-one-step-back approach EA seems to take with Madden is a little frustrating.  Still, despite the obvious room for improvement they seem to build into each yearly release, this is the best football offering yet on the ‘new-gen’ consoles. 

8/10