Australian Gamer Review :: Madden NFL 09

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Madden NFL 09

Reviewed on: Xbox 360
Available on:

Simon oils up and takes to the football fields for the latest incarnation of the Madden series from EA

Players:
Genre: Sports
Release: 2008-08-14

Developer: Tiburon
Distributor: EA

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NFL, you know the game, it’s that one that shows up in some of the movies we watch. That sport where guys run around in Mad Max cosplay and a guy lays a large brown egg to be thrown and carried to a giant letter H, which I assume stands for home. Is that a home run, or perhaps a run home? You must know the game, where everyone must be really unfit because soon as something starts happening and people start running they all stop and line up to take a quick breather. It’s that game that seems like an excuse to pour sticky energy supplement drinks over each other and slap man arse. American Gridiron, NFL, Rollerball or whatever you want to call it, it’s a sport where large men crash into other large men and people get paid too much.

EA’s Madden is a big deal; it’s one of the largest game franchises ever, right up there with the Sims. To give you an idea, here are some of the NPD sales figures for August 2007.

1. Madden NFL 08 (Xbox 360) - Electronic Arts - 896,600

2. Madden NFL 08 (PlayStation 2) - Electronic Arts - 643,600

3. BioShock (Xbox 360) - Take-Two - 490,900

4. Madden NFL 08 (PlayStation 3) - Electronic Arts - 336,200

Peter Moore has also just stated that they estimate that Madden 09 made $US 133.5 million in sales. That aint no chump change!

I heard that John Madden bathes in liquid private jets and has a watch made from priceless new science theories. Every year a new Madden comes out that is basically the exact same game as the previous, granted they can’t really alter the actual sport of NFL, like they can’t add a new feature where all the players have jetpacks (though they should), but they could at least try to… I dunno do something more with it. I guess it’s like trying to tell the farmer to give his golden goose a cape— high goose fashion or not, it still squeezes out golden eggs.

Being an Australian who barely knows the rules of AFL or Rugby, you can imagine my confusion during a game that simulates the NFL rule set to a hardcore level. My previous knowledge of NFL had been collected from playing Madden years ago and watching inspiring American movies about an underdog team that ends up thwarting the Third Reich or something. Upon start up a terrifying hologram of John Madden appears who now looks like a deflated balloon full of porridge.

Has Madden died? Is this his ghost like in Star Wars? He rambles about a fishing trip or an old hat or something, then you’re taken into CYBER SPACE! This section is called the ‘Madden Test’ and it looks like the VR missions in Metal Gear Solid. There is no music, no grass or color, just this stagnant boring world where sound echoes. It’s like having a high fever. I want to play football, not Tron. I don’t have my right angle cyber bike on me. Here you go through a bunch of tests to calibrate a difficulty level for you and judge your skill. This mode goes ON and ON. It seriously takes about half an hour of the most repetitive and boring exercises, just you and these blue hologram men in a silent draining world. What is fantastic is how the game calibrates the difficulty for you, when you don’t know how to play the game or the complex control systems. It’s like going into test on physics and having to also learn physics as you take it. Great introduction to the game guys, I seriously wanted to give up and quit. I believe you can skip this mode but I was just so dumbfounded by this horrible design choice that I couldn’t tear myself away. So I got a Madden score of like, 0.

"This is the key to a new order. This code disk means freedom." - Obscure Tron quote

What makes me so mad is the presentation of this game. For some reason all the menus and text are like somebody’s visual interpretation of the Internet in the early 90s. All pulsing blue and black, welcome to the FUTURE. In the character creation screen, the guy you are customizing is in a small box with a filter over it to make it look like it’s on a big screen in the stadium. Thanks guys, this visual noise really helps. What is wrong with simple menus?! I don’t need to feel like I’m operating a spaceship in my sports game! This also carries through with selecting plays on the field, just to make the game feel that little bit more inaccessible.

If you are new to the franchise, the first few games you play you will LOSE. Trying to figure out the controls mixed with trying to figure out the sports rules equaled a mess of penalties and missed passes. I began to loathe the guy who blows his whistle and tells the crowd that I’m an idiot. For a new player this game seemed about as accessible as Eve Online. There is a harsh learning curve here. I guess this is the 20th in the series (seriously) so they assume people know it all by now. They just throw you in the deep end. Even with my lowest level Madden Score difficulty I was being absolutely thrashed. Before each run you need to pick a play from a huge play book, there is an option to ask Madden what the best would be, but I tried to avoid that because I was afraid he might ask if I was his nephew, give me some boiled sweets and tell me about postcards. That reminds me, with the launch of this game there was a video of Madden reminiscing about the franchise and talking about how great it was. He said that what makes Madden different is they don’t just keep putting the same content out, they re invent it. This is proof enough he has dementia.

Gameplay is the same as all previous Maddens—offence you throw the ball to a receiver and try and get a touchdown, defense you try and stop that from happening. There is a great depth here that I could never get into, for the hard core NFL fan this game is for you. I played a few games with my housemate, which ultimately ended up with us doing penalties out of boredom and entering the replay mode to rewind back and forwards in increments so it looked like the players were dancing.

There are so many game modes here, from being able to jump in and play a game to taking a team through an entire career with management features and training. The superstar mode is great in theory, controlling a single player through a career but it is ultimately boring. You have to manage media interviews and training mini games, which were overly complex and awkward. There was even a point where I had to take an IQ test! What the hell, I had to answer math problems, no thanks. I really appreciate it exists but again, not for me. There are the old create a player and create a team modes, but they are so clunky. To create a single player takes around 15 minutes. Imagine creating a TEAM! Horror!

Graphically the game is decent; it is exactly what you expect. The animations are all a bit robotic at times and not as fluid as they could be. One new improvement is the weather system, with great looking rain and snow that eventually muddies up the players uniforms. This game really needs a physics system for tackles, such as the upcoming Back Breaker NFL game. At times the players buggily slide around the ground or have their limbs stretch and tear. There are some neat video replay modes, such as the Backtrack feature that replays a play and explains what went right and wrong with it. The actual replay mode is fantastic, being able to go in and fly around to the best music ever, super cheesy and triumphant, I loved it. The menu music is another story, beyond horrible, I guess it’s what frat boys are into these days. Though I can’t complain, a housemate was playing David Bowie really loudly so I enjoyed myself.

As you can see, this game is huge. There is so much game here, you could spend a year playing around with it, playing online and creating teams. I am in no way the chosen market for this title. For the fans I’m sure this is the best game ever (since Madden 08 perhaps). But for the new player it is a giant ugly clunky beast of a thing, much like John Madden I suppose.

I'll stop making fun of John Madden when he stops being so old

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Final Verdict

if you are a big fan of NFL or the Madden franchise this is a no brainer, it is made for you. But for the new user this game is highly inaccessible and ultimately painful and boring.

Pros
Amazing Depth, great replay value, an upgrade over the last one.
Cons
Horrible presentation, inaccessible to the new user, unpolished, mind destroying training Tron mode, clunky and complex controls, old man Madden always sitting at bus stops with no intention of catching a bus as he rambles about the thickness of paper these days.