When players first fire up the game, a holographic projection of John Madden – who resembles a certain holographic projection of a galactic emperor in a galaxy far, far away – appears on screen. He invites you to take the Madden Test to gauge your current level of skill referred to as your Madden IQ. Based on your performance in drills covering the core areas of passing offense, rushing offense, rushing defense, and passing defense, your results are rated in terms of the standard difficulty settings in Madden (ie, Rookie, Pro, All Pro, and All Madden). Admittedly, the test results were flattering. I always fancied myself as an All Pro level guy. But in my heart of hearts I secretly know that on my best days I am little more than a scrappy, above average Pro. So to find myself rated as an All Madden rated was surprising.
Other than inflating egos, the Madden Test also serves as the gauge used in the new adaptive difficulty system. Once you complete the test, a custom difficulty setting listed as ‘My Skill’ is generated. So anytime you take to the digital grid iron, you can play a game that is theoretically tailored to match your strengths and challenge your weaknesses. I test drove this setting in an exhibition in which I played against the Houston Texans with the significantly superior Jacksonville Jaguars. The game played out mostly as expected, with the difficulty of rushing noticeably intensified. I could see the game challenging me to develop my relatively weaker passing attack.
What I did not expect, however, was that instead of a close game that would hinge on a few keys plays, I would trudge through a field goal snore fest. Dear readers, my Madden credentials are in order. Super Bowls have been won. Friendships damaged beyond repair. And furniture destroyed as the aforementioned friendships were being irreparably damaged. Playing as any team ranked 20 more points higher than the CPU, I would expect to stumble into a touchdown, let alone come by one through smart play calling. In other words, we would expect a blind squirrel in an ocean of nuts to feast on at least one nut. So I found further reason to suspect the Madden Test is not the most accurate gauge of skill level.
When not playing on ‘My Skill,’ gamers can expect to find Madden 09 plays as well as ever. This year’s edition further empowers rushing focused players like myself by expanding the depth of the running controls. Using the right thumbstick, players can effortlessly perform all the classic evasive jukes and power moves to evade tackle. They work so well, in fact, that at times it feels a smidge too easy to roll out of what should have been a take down. I also noticed the CPU makes great use of these same maneuvers, at times almost cartoonishly swatting off tacklers. In effect, when employed well, the rushing controls give what should have been meager gains the additional few yards needed to keep your rushing average between 5-7 yards per attempt.
But in the event you blow a crucial play even with the super new rushing system, the Rewind option gives players a chance to take another crack at a failed play. Essentially, this is a ‘do over’ option you can select when you would normally throw your controller. The events that took place will quickly reverse, as though you were watching them on rewind with a VCR. All players are quickly returned to the line of scrimmage in the formation you called previously, giving you a chance to run the play again, audible, take a time out, etc. It’s a handy feature that will likely extend the lives of controllers owned by the more intense Maddenites. By default you get one Rewind per game but can add more from the settings menu.
Should the Rewind system fail to educate you as to what you need to improve next time, the BackTrack replay narrated by Chris Collinsworth is there to provide a fuller, more detailed explanation of what went right or wrong in a play. I did not expect much from this feature and prepared myself to be treated to Collinsworth rattling off a lot of obvious, no brainer explanations such as, ‘That pass was intercepted because the defender caught the ball.’ Instead, I watched as crucial components of the play were highlighted and analyzed in sequence. For each step, Collinsworth gives detailed, situation specific pointers that are actually helpful. Now if only Collinsworth exhibited that same insight in Super Bowl XVI, Bengals fans like myself would likely have been able to cheer Collinsworth and the rest of the guys on that roster as Super Bowl Champions. Instead, we watched him fumble our dreams away so that the legend of Joe Montana could blossom.
Another new feature this year is the ‘Madden Moments’ game mode. Those familiar with Acclaim’s Allstar Baseball franchise will recognize the ‘Madden Moments’ as EA’s version of Acclaim’s ‘This Week in Baseball’ mode from Allstar Baseball 2005. Players get an opportunity to replay a crucial event in football history and potentially change the outcome. For example, you can take control of that other team facing perfection last season, the Miami Dolphins, and help them avoid going 0-16. I enjoyed this mode quite a bit and really liked the range of moments available to unlock from the history of the NFL.
Unfortunately, the much touted ‘Online Leagues’ option fails to live up to the hype. It is a feature-thin mode that does little more than give players the chance to join up with 31 friends and play for a championship. I had hoped for a greater degree of interactivity supported amongst teams in the league as well as a deeper degree of customization. I hope to see this concept fleshed out in Madden 2010.
On the other end of the spectrum, Madden 2009 finally unites two glorious ways of celebrating football: videogames and fantasy sports. That’s right, players can now sign up for fantasy leagues via EA Sports’ website and then download their rosters to their Xbox. This allows players to download their fantasy rosters and actually play as their fantasy teams. As an open and proud fantasy sports dork, I cherish this mode and pray a thousand blessings on the house of Electronic Arts. Now if I happen to get blown out in a weekly match-up in my league, I can simply pull down the roster and, if the manager who vanquished me is also part of the program, invite him to do the same to challenge his team. Thanks again, EA, for giving me another weapon to protect my fragile, fantasy sports based sense of self worth.
Before closing, I want to quickly touch on the presentation. As with each edition in the series, Madden 09 features a highly stylized, well polished visual and aural cornucopia of delight. The in-game graphics are sharp and well placed. The new combo of Chris Collinsworth and Tom Hammond provide serviceable commentary that compliments the gameplay nicely.