Online Leagues. Really that’s it? When online leagues were announced originally, I thought that was enough -- at least it’s something new that we haven’t had before with Madden. I’ve been conditioned by EA to just take my little additions they add, thank the company, and move on to be happy with saying, “it’s a step, maybe next year.” But I don’t think that I can do that when it comes to Madden this year.

After being spoiled by NCAA Football 09's full fledged assault into online leagues with an online Dynasty mode, and seeing how inventive NHL 09 and FIFA 09 can be with their Be A Pro modes; it’s hard to just sit by and say “oh well maybe next year.” Madden is supposed to be the flagship title for EA Sports, at least here in the U.S., and yet in the online department Madden is lagging far behind.

We’re supposed to be excited by the fact that Madden is coming around to grace us with online leagues, when this is something that we’ve seen not just from NFL 2K4 and 2K5 on Xbox, but even from a football title like NFL Fever. With EA and the NFL deciding to drop an exclusivity nuke on the other NFL titles, EA has seemingly dogged it in the online department. It’s five years later and what EA is giving us (the consumer) still doesn’t look to be on par with what we already saw a console ago on the Xbox.

Ugly uniform day continues at OS as Madden's online modes are as lackluster as these Eagles unis.

EA deserves credit for stepping up and being innovative with the online dynasty in NCAA 09, but should it have taken EA this long to get to that point with online play? With NHL 09 and FIFA 09 on the horizon, I can’t help but think that those games have innovative online modes because those games still have to compete against other titles releasing for those sports. In Madden where there is no competition, it has taken EA longer to do less.

The worst part of Madden’s inability to take leaps into online play is the fact that the one area the game does want to master online is the patch. It seems very contradictory for EA to have all but ignored online players for so long, showing no creativity or innovation in online play; yet now the company is beginning to just assume that everyone has the ability to get online and download patches to fix the wrongdoings within this year's title. But, if EA's mindset is that all consumers can get online, then why wouldn’t it be one of EA's top priorities to develop for those online gamers?

In this 20th anniversary addition, we’re finally seeing Madden add last-gen features like online leagues to its arsenal of features; but, the leagues aren't even as deep as the ones in the titles previously mentioned. There will be no web-enabled stats, instead you actually have to fire up your console and log on to look at your league stats. Hopefully we’ll see a patch to fix that, but at this point Madden NFL Football, a title that is seemingly at the forefront of competitive sports gaming, can't keep up with the aspect that drives the game forward even today.

Call me crazy, but it’s time for EA to step up and give us more online when it comes to Madden