Madden 09 - X360 Review

[Originally Published in Forge Press:Issue 2]
By Brendan Allitt

Another year another Madden; the ever successful and sometimes controversial American football series is back for another rush into the end zone.

Madden is cited by some as an example of the problem with developers today; focusing on releasing sequels with little innovation in order to minimise risk, rather than bringing new intellectual properties into the marketplace. Madden NFL 09 does however add a few new features worthy of fan's hard earned cash.

New commentators Cris Collinsworth and Tom Hammond have been introduced, providing a surprisingly accurate critique of your plays. The campaign offers the usual selection of modes such as building up a single player or even an entire franchise, with graphs of team income and player stats reminiscent of Championship manager. Also new are the 'Madden Moments', which allow you to relive key events in games from NFL history, and an xboxlive fantasy football mini-game. Local multiplayer remains pretty much the same, however the online league system seen in Madden '08 has been improved.

While basic gameplay remains the same with a player able to run, throw and tackle in their various incarnations, the trends towards realism seen in recent years from the series has continued, further diverging from the arcade sense of the one man team. Games are stop, start with all out sprints for the end zone being rare, instead tactical decisions between each down are key. These along with snap pass judgements represent the core gameplay dynamic; as with its real world counterpart, in Madden '09 quarterbacks are king. This is obvious whenever you're doing anything but throwing or planning as the polish disappears.

Player movement seems unresponsive and the commands for different dodges and tackles seem to be mostly interchangeable, making you feel detached. Therefore it plays in some ways more like a manager sim than an action sport title. The enjoyment one experiences from pulling off a risky play however should not be underestimated, but this enthusiasm may be tough to grasp for someone with no prior knowledge of the series or the sport.

The new Madden IQ difficulty-level system, while slick and intuitive, only allows for the player's dexterity in pulling off all the key moves ingame and not the more cerebral parts of gameplay. Madden NFL 09 won't be everyone's cup of tea but I recommend giving it the time it deserves to find out if its yours.

[Out of Five]