Madden NFL 09

The Best Yet, but Not Perfect

I'm a bit late with my Madden NFL 09 review for one reason: It's good. I can't stop playing the thing to review it, which is hard on the site. Anyone who's been here the last week or so has seen my Life as a Madden Superstar articles, which I'm enjoying doing. This is the best Madden I've ever played, and while it's not perfect, it's darn close (for a football game).

The first thing I want to point out is that I'm reviewing the 20th Anniversery Collectors Edition. It doesn't have any gameplay-changing features (aside from some extra playbooks and connection with the bundled NFL Head Coach 09), but I do want to say that I really like the 'cyberplayer' models that came with it. They're fun to play as, and hark back to one of my favorite EA Sports ad campaigns of the last decade. The graphics overall are spectacular. The animations are smooth and realistic as can be (aside from the ridiculous dunk animation in the endzone), the player models are much more acurately perportioned compared to last year, and the stadiums are great. The weather, on the other hand, leaves mixed impressions. It looks great, but it other then the snow it doesn't have any effect on the field. Last year, in the rain you'd see the field get torn up with puddles forming, and that's not the case this year. The field looks to be in pristine condition no matter what. On the other hand, uniform degridation is over the top, so much so that, aside from the helmets, you can't hardly tell who plays for who after halftime. I've been tackled trying to follow a blocker when I can't recognize the guy coming around the corner is on the other team. The helmets also stay way, way too shiny, and stand out like a sore thumb on rainy days.

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