Madden NFL 2009

Madden NFL 2009

Just as Electronic Arts continues to improve and refine their FIFA football games through yearly updates, so the twenty year-old Madden series matures in increments rather than redesigns.

For us Brits American Football can sometimes seem like an impenetrable knot of rules. 30 seconds of intense action and movements followed by yet another minute of huddles and standing around talking. To help ease us in, Madden 2009 is certainly the most user-friendly American Football game we’ve seen for a few years, new commentator Cris Collinsworth breaking down each and every mistake you make in play to explain both what went wrong as well as what you should have done right. This critique is remarkably accurate and helpful but sadly triggers at random – there’s no way to call up his breakdown of a play manually.

The first time you switch the game on a virtual holographic John Madden sets you a number of different running, passing, tackling and pass-coverage tests to ascertain your ability. From these results the game tweaks its difficulty, a neat idea but one which, thanks to the relative ease of the tests, will see newcomers entered for the punishing all-pro and all-Madden difficulties even when not appropriate.

The steep learning curve is eased by a new feature which allows you to rewind plays and try them again, a little like recent racing game GRID’s system that allows you to rewind a race for another chance at making a difficult corner. Arguably, the ability to rewind each and every play that goes wrong for you does upset the challenge somewhat, even if it is nice to learn from your mistakes and have another go when things go down the pan.

The game’s comfortably the best-looking Madden released so far, with a range of different dynamic camera angles and excellent touchdown celebration animations. A raft of different modes from the Madden Challenge mode (which lets you relive some of the 2007 NFL seasons more dramatic moments) through to more familiar Franchise and Superstar modes are present and EA’s slick and reliably professional sheen rounds the game off. For fans of American football, or newcomers wanting to find out what all the fuss is about, Madden 09 continues to offer a near-comprehensive recreation of the sport.

4 out of 5