Does this year's Madden finally make a touchdown with players or does it fumble the ball?

It’s another year and of course that means another Madden NFL football game. People wonder why these games sell ridiculously well despite being pretty much the same thing year in and year and out, well kids, it’s the atmosphere. Preseason has gotten underway and the latest dramas in the league are either beginning to unfold or just now wrapping up. Of course, the latest primetime drama to unfold is that of one legendary quarterback, the gunslinger – Brett Favre. The quarterback who we all thought was retired has made the cover of this year’s Madden in honor of his career achievements… except he’s not done yet. Seems the “Madden Curse” has pulled Favre out of retirement and stuck him on the New York Jets. After so long seeing him in the green and gold, it just doesn’t look right seeing him in the gang green and white.

But alas, EA Sports has yet to put in a drama mechanic into the series, but they have added just enough to make purchasing this year’s iteration worth it. For starters, gone is the annoying radio announcer and in his place are the welcomed additions of Chris Collinsworth and Tom Hammond. Both announcers have a natural feel to their voices but are unfortunately plagued by not enough lines.



The visuals also received a boost in this iteration with new detailed player physiques and better weather effects. No more of those lightly dusted jerseys from past games, now jerseys become so caked in mud that it’s easy to lose track of who’s who when the action starts. You wanted your mud and ice bowls and now you got them. For those concerned about it, turf and grass textures have been upgraded significantly as well. One more thing PS3 owners can happy about, the game runs at the level of its 360 counterpart.

The presentation of the games has also changed with our first look at in-game advertising. It’s not a heavy dose by any means but seeing a Snickers logo in one of the presentation boxes or seeing the Sprint Half-Time report added a bit of realism to the game. If this is all in-game advertising is, then gamers have nothing to worry about. Presenting rivalry games has become a more dramatic feature this around with different lighting and more pronounced opponent. In a game like the Patriots vs. Jets, the Jets are not going to just roll over, no, they are going to bring their “A game”… unless you specify the option for them not to.



Speaking of options, the biggest addition to this game is how it can be played. By using a series of tests, the game will gauge how well you do and adjust the difficulty to match, though if you would rather just play straight out you can. On field performance also has been tweaked so that spectacular catches are no longer common, fumbles can be recovered by the fumbler, and tackles are no longer instantaneous. The newest on-field feature is the Rewind option. Should you make a mistake, you can opt to rewind the play as though it never happened. To limit the abuse, EA has set one rewind as the default, but players can opt for unlimited if they desire. Celebrations have also been brought back somewhat, with three designated celebration “zones” in the end zone.

However, with all Madden NFL 09 gets right, there are still a few bruises. Game A.I. has a tendency to run out of bounds for no apparent reason. With 3:00 minutes to go and 21-17 lead in favor of me, Tomlinson should be running for daylight and not to his sideline. Futhermore, online leagues still have some work left to be done on them with the absence of a championship game. The servers did seem stable enough to play out an entire game, provided you play someone who will stick through it.