Madden NFL 09 Review

[FutureVol]

"You have this game that looks like a Victoria’s Secret model, and then you notice she has a really messed up grill. "

i almost busted out laughing @ this..but o how true it is.. this is a good review and will go a long way to making my decision to either make the jump to Madden and NCAA or be forever stuck in college......my decision as well will be made friday when i am walking by my local gamestop.....

[Benzhiyi]

Good review, and I like Collinsworth, but the comms still don't come anywhere close to those in MLB 08: The Show.

[stateprop]

Well my friend told me its almost like playing madden 05 again which is good news to hear. Collinsworth is great in the booth but the otehr guy forgot his name i called him robot dude is horrible. Since this is finally going to be my first madden on the next gen era im am excited.

[colley_05]

I have heard that the 360 version runs in 1080, while the PS3 version only runs at 720p. Is this true? And why did they make them different?

[asu666]

Likes: Animations, some presentation elements, the feel of throwing a pass, Madden Moments

Dislikes:

The CPU has no sense of timing with the snap. It snaps the ball after a couple of seconds have run on the play clock even if you are trying to play 15 minute quarters. It should know the difference between someone playing a rushed 5 minute quarter and someone playing a sim like 15 minute quarter game and adjust the amount of time it takes at the line.

No rapid clock advancement. This option was in the last gen versions and helped eliminate the problem I mentioned above by rapidly runningly the play clock down to 20 seconds after a play is selected.

No Owner Mode. I know a lot of play just want to sit on the couch and mess around, but I like being able to run a franchise and its finances over multiple seasons.

Limit on how many players can be released to the Free Agent List. I try to cut extra players off the teams before I start my Franchise so they are not burdenened with extra Cap money on playiers that are barried so deep in the depth chart that they will never see the field. This gives the AI teams a better chance of giving me a run for my money because they can use the cap space to pick up good players in areas they are weak.

The lack of adjustable game style sliders. Let's face it, not every one enjoys playing the game the same way. Advances in a series should add options, not remove them.

Limited Edition:

Head Coach appears to be a waste of my money. Madden Classic is funny for about two seconds and then done.

[StormJH1]

Quote: Originally Posted by asu666

Likes: Animations, some presentation elements, the feel of throwing a pass, Madden Moments Dislikes: The CPU has no sense of timing with the snap. It snaps the ball after a couple of seconds have run on the play clock even if you are trying to play 15 minute quarters. It should know the difference between someone playing a rushed 5 minute quarter and someone playing a sim like 15 minute quarter game and adjust the amount of time it takes at the line.

I noticed this too! Experienced Madden players are always saying that if you suck at defense, it's probably because you don't make the right adjustments at the line. But how can you do that when you literally have 2 or 3 seconds to even see what the offense is doing? There's a bunch of cinematics where the camera sweeps down, they show the line briefly, then the ball is snapped.

[BlyGilmore]

Quote: Originally Posted by stateprop

Well my friend told me its almost like playing madden 05 again which is good news to hear. Collinsworth is great in the booth but the otehr guy forgot his name i called him robot dude is horrible. Since this is finally going to be my first madden on the next gen era im am excited.

I have heard more than a few people compare this year's game to Madden 05.

and yes. as good as collinsworth is, hammond is that bad. the guy just doesn't have the right kind of voice to be doing video game play by play.

there's a reason Summerall was the play by play master. he sounded the same whether he was saying "and there's a player down" or "touchdown ... giants." things would easily be pieced together.

hammond sounds choppy and unnatural.

[swanlee]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bahnzo

Terrible point of view, IMO. Because companies now have the ability to patch, they are more apt to release games with clear flaws in them because they would rather meet a deadline than release a quality game. I like they ability to patch, but it's become clear that developers rely on them rather than use them as a last resort. Madden is the perfect example of this..a patch was being planned as soon as the game went gold.

Before the internet lots of PC games were released with VERY critical bugs and flaws.

Back then you would have to call the company, they would take your name phone number and address and maybe you would get some floppy discs in the mail with a fix or a new build of the game 8-24 months after you bought the game.

Instant patches are a much better solution. Games were buggy and had issues long before game developers started deliving patches online.