Dr Gadget - Madden NFL 09

	List Price: $59.99 Our Price: $47.00 Your Save: $ 12.99 ( 22% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Electronic Arts
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Batteries Included: 0 Binding: Video Game Brand: EA EAN: 0014633156003 ESRB Age Rating: Rating Pending Feature: Madden NFL 09 X360 Electronic Arts Label: Electronic Arts Manufacturer: Electronic Arts Platform: Xbox 360 Publisher: Electronic Arts Release Date: 2008-08-12 Studio: Electronic Arts
Features Madden NFL 09 X360 Electronic Arts
Accessories The Madden Phenomenon Madden NFL 09 Limited Edition Bundle: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides) Madden NFL 09: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides)
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Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: What a disappointment.... Comment: EA Sports is abusing their monopoly on NFL football right now, and it is very disappointing showing compared to past years of this title. My biggest gripe is that the on line play is buggy, and it is far less entertaining than the last seven years I have purchased it. Customer Rating: Summary: Freeze Frame Comment: Great graphics but again EA being the Monopoly that they are finds a way to ruin things and their cockiness won't accept the fact they messed up. My game freezes randomly. In franchise mode I know for sure if i play a second game it will freeze if the first game doesn't already. It has froze online and on the play selection menu sometime the instant replay will be all black and white (think like old tv static with no reception) They patched the game the first week becuase there were so many bugs. I called EA on Sunday and the Tech guy EVEN SAID "I have a 360 and it freezes on me too we have been receiving alot of calls about this...THE PATCH SHOULD BE OUT IN LIKE A MONTH" Isn't this why EA has game testers? to find bugs to find glitches..Like I said before the cockiness is too point where we are the BETA we test the games but we don't get paid we pay to test the game. I can understand bugs but a game that completely freezes or says unreadable disc (new game no scratches) is ridiculous. The one thing you can always say with a EA game good graphics as far as gameplay, controls, and overall enjoyment???? Customer Rating: Summary: Madden 09 finally gets its AI right!!!! Comment: Thanks to Madden IQ, I'm actually getting challenged by the AI. Games have been close and exciting for the most part. It's engine is definitely improved and the graphics are wow. The only thing missing is a "be quiet Collinsworth" switch. Backtrack is cool but his in game comments are repetitive beyond belief. If I hear about his special feelings for Tony Romo one more time... Customer Rating: Summary: Madden 09 walks with SuperBowl ring [because he can't run anymore] Comment: I have mixed feelings about this game, I thought last years version played better. This years version's presentation was much better though. The play by play is light years ahead of the awful guy last year. Gameplay wise I was a bit disappointed in the passing and return game. The players on kickoff return are way too slow, there is no way to get a touchdown return with Devin Hester the fastest player in the NFL. He is always and I mean always caught. He's just too slow, I think they were trying to make up for last year, where it was way too easy to get a kickoff return TD. Well they did it they made it impossible. Likewise the passing game has become impossible to get a deep pass down the field, where in years past it was way too easy to get a bomb everytime. Now the defense can get an interception on any deep pass pattern way too easy, the frequent tipped pass interceptions are totally out of whack. Plus having no velocity on touch passes means it takes forever for the ball to get to any pattern where your trying to put the ball over the defenders head. Again totally out of whack. You only have a bullet pass that either gets intercepted, or hits reciever in the head or defender. Then the slow over the top touch pass that will get knocked down or intercepted. there is absolutly no way to get the ball down field to an open reciever, it just never gets there. I had my reciever 5 to 8 yards down field for an easy touchdown, your QB can't get it to him. All this being said the game is still fun in the short passing and run game, and it looks beautiful. Still the game is broken, they failed this year. I'm still keeping mine in hopes of patch to fix some of this stuff but I won't hold my breath for EA. Disapponting. Of Course EA still wins the Superbowl, because ? You guessed it, it's the only game in town. I would say if you want this game, buy but don't pay full price. It's not worth it Half baked gameplay equals half price. I wish I had paid half. Customer Rating: Summary: A step up in just about every major way... Comment: I don't like reviews on a lot of those game sites - I'm convinced that they get paid off. (lol) So here's my honest and rather in-depth look at Madden '09. (minus the online leagues, which I haven't done much of, as I'm not a fan of the setup) Long, I know... this is for those that may be considering buying the game - owners probably already have their opinions on it. Madden-ites undoubtedly already love it. So... Madden '09. Basically, superior to '08 in every aspect, even if only a little bit. Still an improvement, which we haven't seen in this series from year to year in awhile. Definitely not the huge jump that '08 was from '07 - mainly because '07 was God-awful and '08 was rather good - Madden '09 is a game of more subtle improvements and tweaks than a complete overhaul. But after 20 years of this, I guess they figured they were better off leaving the core gameplay alone. Seems to work for the most part. Here's a breakdown (as I see it) of the main areas: Graphics, Sound/Presentation, Gameplay, and New Additions GRAPHICS - Outstanding. Again, more of the 'tweakings' are what gets noticed by myself when I'm playing. Take the players - many more body types. Distict body styles for the different players... everyone appears to mirror their real-life counterpart even more accurately than last year's version. The separate hand and head physics are very nice: they act independently from each other, so the reactions to the plays still plays very fluid, but much more realistic. The ball no longer magically goes from a yard away from your receiver to safely tucked in his hands in a matter of one frame (for the replay junkies). Everything is nice and smooth. When your player gets hit, watch as his neck snaps back or around as he gets smashed. It's a little touch, but one that adds a great degree of realism. The crowd looks great, and very energized - to the point that they will remain in the stadium cheering like it's kickoff time even when the home team is trailing by 49 points in the 4th. Oh well... And some of the player faces - notably those of the players on the sidelines and (surprisingly) your kicker when he's kicking off - they look kinda scary. Like those things from `I Am Legend'. If you get a chance, look at them. Freaks you out for a second... The biggest thing graphically for me this year is the field itself. Might not be a big thing to some, but the field looks absolutely great this year. It actually looks like you can feel the grass give way beneath your players... in inclement weather, watch as the field (and your uniforms - very nice) gets destroyed. See footprints actually being left in the mud and snow as you play. I love it. (though suprisingly, tackles and dives/slides seem to leave no evidence... hmmmm.) EA definitely took great strides with the weathering effect... maybe a tad too much for some. It can get pretty sloppy out there, almost to the point where it's difficult to tell the teams from one another. My only teeny gripe with the field - it's the same throughout... everywhere. Every field doesn't look the same. Especially in DOMES. (duh) But here, every field, whether it's Soldier Field or the RCA Dome, looks identical. But whatever, that's just picky. The stadiums for the most part look identical to their real-world counterparts... the lighting and textures are flawless. Very few issues noticed... an occasional jagged framerate during kickoffs is the one I've seen, not that frequently. SOUND/PRESENTATION - Outstanding. Or... Outstanding, compared to what they've offered in the past. However you want to look at it. One of the first things you'll notice when you put the game into the 360 is (drumroll please) Mr. John Madden himself. Wow... imagine that. After he introduces you to the Madden Skill Test, you only hear from him sporadically throughout the game - asking his advice for plays, viewing halftime highlights (the selection of highlights is sometimes retarded, just so you know...) and post-game. This is probably a good thing. The presentation is SO thorough this time, you may actually feel like it's a bit TOO much. There seems to be a menu or graphic flying across the screen at all times. Thankfully, a few (such as the audible and pre-snap menus) can be turned off. TV-quality graphics throughout, definitely. The broadcast duo of Cris Collinsworth and Tom Hammnod, while not as brilliant or fluid as the original duo from the NFL 2K series, are roughly a billion times better than the AM-Radio announcer Madden has had the past few years. Collinsworth is by far the better of the two. Though hardly filled with emotion and (often) believability, their commentary is pretty accurate, and they delve into specifics quite frequently. Occasionally they get it laughably wrong: One play, I returned a punt with Devin Hester and got about a 28 yard return. Collinsworth said: "This guy won't win too many foot races, but he sure made their special teams look slow." Not sure how many foot races he'd lose, with a 100 speed rating and a sub-4.3 40-yd dash time... Anyway. If the play is substantial enough, it'll get reviewed through the new "EA Sports BackTrack" - where the play will be broken down by C.C., complete with fancy graphics and animated arrows and zoom-ins on specific players. Very nice touch... not necessary, by any means, but it adds to the realism of the game. As far as the soundtrack - very Madden-esque. Rock, mixed with some Hip-Hop. Still no option to use your own music from your hard drive - that annoys me. GAMEPLAY - Tried and True. It's what you'd expect in Madden. And let's be honest, is there anyone out there that is really playing THIS Madden as their first? Some of the minor tweaks to this year's game: slightly smoother gameplay... you can more or less chain together jukes and other highlight-stick moves to avoid tackles, and it looks more fluid and lifelike than previous editions. One minor upgrade than has a huge impact is your QB having to actually slow down/stop to plant his feet to throw - a la real life. I mean, you can throw on the run and all, but you won't be nearly as accurate as you would be had your QB planted and then thrown that 40 yard bullet pass. And it actually takes a step or two (or several, depending on the weather) for your QB to stop after running - no more magical sprints-to-dead-stops. Takes less than a second usually, but that time in the pocket (as another reviewer mentioned) is precious and in limited supply, particularly on the harder difficulty settings. There are also "Rivalry Games" this year... (yawn) A slant on the Rivalry Games of NCAA, this is basically anytime your team plays a team in its own division. (If you listen to Collinsworth before every game, it seems that you have a rivalry with just about every team in the NFL.) The computer jacks up it's intensity a good bit for these games, so be prepared - doesn't matter who the home team is. Several new animations add to the overall feel of the game and add to the gameplay experience. Players celebrate with each other, help other players off the field, start little pushing matches, etc. FG missed short? You have a shot at running it back. You even have the ability to control your own endzone celebrations this year. Nice idea, but this is probably the weakest in action. After the TD, run to one of the glowing areas on the field and hit the appropriate button (usually Y) and your player will do some various celebration. Using the other buttons may net you some surprising results, or at least an achievement you weren't expecting. (hint hint) The glowing areas near the crowd usually involve jumping on the wall (Lambeau Leap) or doing some monkey-thing that is just dumb-looking. Incidentally, celebrate near that wall, but NOT on the glowing area, and your player will 9 times out of 10 celebrate right through the wall, disappearing completely off the screen. I'm sure EA didn't notice that. It's not a huge thing, but one that, when it happens, is COMPLETELY noticeable by everyone playing. And on a personal note, the `Slam Dunk' celebration was just done in a piss-poor fashion... come on EA, is that what we have to look forward to with NBA Live 09? I'll pass... Many of the other options you've come to love (or loathe) are here again as well: audibles, coverage audibles, bluffs, new smart routes (Have a route that puts your receiver just short of the 1st down marker? Adjust so that his route takes him a little deeper... YEARS overdue), etc. Some may complain about the game difficulty, mainly the run defense and the computer's insane QB accuracy on the higher difficulties. All I can say is: get better, or tweak those settings. It's how the game was made, and the kind folks over at EA obviously believe that EVERY professional QB has the ability to go 28 for 30 in the wind and snow. (?!?!) XBox Live Gold members can play in online "leagues" and obviously ranked/unranked matches, or chill/conversate in the lobby. The main catch with being a Gold member is this is the ONLY way you can get those roster updates many were desperate for. Giants fans wondering why Shockey is still there, Strahan too? Jets fans DYING to see Favre in that Green and White, with Pennington down in Miami? Get your Live account up and running. *And for you Achievement Hunters out there, this may be one of the easiest 1000 points that you've ever gotten. Aside from the team-specific ones, I got all of the achievements in ONE GAME. Come on EA... I'm not even into those, but at least have them difficult - like they have to be done on All-Madden or higher - or SOMETHING. Wow...* NEW STUFF - Ehhhhhhhhhhhh... Good in principle. I already talked about the BackTrack thing. Last year brought Madden the Weapons system, which I loved. Still here this year, but obviously not the focus. This year's game gives us the A.D.E (Adaptive Difficulty Engine) and the Rewind feature. A.D.E. - Okay, in theory, this is supposed to monitor your play throughout the game, and adjust the difficulty in the major areas, tailoring it specifically to your abilities. (or at least the abilities that you've shown thus far) So if you play and you get torched for 380 yards passing, but you manage to get 280 yards rushing, the AI will beef up your pass defense, while boosting the computers run-stop ability. (and when I say BOOST, I mean BOOST. They'll pull 20 people on the field, some with assault rifles, and the heaviest-set cheerleader on staff to stop your running game) My problem is that this engine evidently has problems telling the difference between times when you are very good and the when computer is just dumb. Since the engine takes the results into account, not HOW the results occurred, several drops by the computer, errant runs out of bounds and such all can lead to you looking (to the A.D.E.) like more of a Madden-God than you may actually be. Your Madden IQ score may jump, but the game difficulty will as well. So for those of you out there that are putting all this weight on that Madden IQ Test, remember it's "ON THE FIELD" that matters. My IQ Test was 771 the first time. Took it on the field, nosedive to 710 after the season-opener against the Colts. (NOT the team to face if your pass-D is a little shaky) I have it up to 768 now, after playing some more and getting used to the tackling a bit more. The My Skill difficultly level is cool for me, but the option is still there to tweak the settings - either All-Madden, All-Pro, Pro or Rookie... or turn the bars all the way up. That's right - past All-Madden. I generally play on All-Madden, with the Pass D turned up to full. Anything higher than that - for me - and the Rush D just gets to the point that it's not even fun, but I have to kick up the Pass D or I can still pick the CPU apart with too much ease. So find what works for you... don't get caught up in "Ego-playing" and end up not having fun. REWIND - This was the addition I was probably the most skeptical about, reading up on it on IGN. After seeing it in action, I can see how it can be useful... I can also see how it will rarely be used for it's intended purpose, and why it's not available online. Contrary to belief, this was SUPPOSED to be a way of letting you go back, see what you did wrong on a play, and giving you one chance to do it over, this time - obviously - LEARNING from your mistakes and hoping for better results. What I've been seeing though is that this has turned into a means of eliminating those "WTF?!" moments that we're all familiar with and sometimes upset us to the point of controller-throwing/pet kicking (Don't kick your pets): The defender makes a leaping grab to pick off your otherwise perfect evening passing the ball, or you fumble a punt return on your own 17 yard line and have it returned for a TD... REWIIIIIIIIINNNNNDDDD!!!!! That's basically what happens... the play does a mini-VCR rewind back to just prior to the snap, and you have a do-over. You can set it so you have one, three, five or an unlimited amount (that's just sad). I wish you could have two - one each half - but I generally play with one, unless it's a tougher game, then I'll set it for 3. Many times I won't use them, but with what I call "EA Football 4th Quarters" still in full effect, it's nice to know they're there if I so choose to use them. In the end, I think this is the best Madden yet, or at least as good as any previous Madden has been (not sure exactly what that's saying for the franchise) - DEFINITELY the best for the 360/PS3. Still not ready to hand over the title of favorite football game ever from NFL 2K4 and 2K5, but this is as close as they've come. With the advances of all this "Online Updates" and such, we may be getting to the point that it's no longer intelligent to pay $60 for minor tweaks and roster updates. Some would say we've BEEN at that point. (lol) This does feel more or less like an updated version of '08, and honestly I did pick it up since it was an `Anniversary' Year thing. But that doesn't stop this from being a pretty great game on it's own. People that love Madden will get this - most likely already have. If this is one of your first times at Madden, this is about as good a game as any to start with. Pretty user-friendly, and gorgeous to look at. A few more minor tweaks here and there and EA may be flirting with perfection. **Note** I have not had the 'freezing'/'glitching' issue that many have had, that apparently has people highly disappointed with this game, so I can't comment on that. I'm not a huge Madden fan at all, but have been playing them since 16-Bit days. (see my review of '07 and '08) But good is good. Overall I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. More Reviews
Editorial Reviews: Madden NFL 09 delivers the most complete NFL football package ever. Whether you're a seasoned veteran or picking up the game for the first time, you will enjoy a unique yet challenging experience, thanks to the innovative Adaptive Difficulty Engine, which tailors the game to match your playing style. Instantly improve your game with the all-new virtual Training Center or incorporate feedback with EA SPORTS BackTrack, allowing you to learn from your mistakes on the fly. With a new broadcast presentation and online leagues, plus more than 85 new features and enhancements, Madden NFL 09 is the most authentic and adaptable game in sports video game history. An all-new Adaptive Difficulty Engine assesses your proficiency in the core skills areas of football. An innovative, Virtual Training Center allows you to fine-tune your game in a holographic environment, while EA SPORTS BackTrack provides customized feedback, giving you a chance to learn from your mistakes. Take what you've learned and run the play again with EA SPORTS Rewind. Set your sights on the Vince Lombardi Trophy in an all-new network television-style broadcast as Cris Collinsworth and Tom Hammond call the action from the booth. A more immersive and visually stunning presentation package also includes a new Options OnDemand Picture-in-Picture playcall window giving you access to a wealth of stats, customized tips, and in-game options--all at your fingertips without having to pause the game. Make a run for the postseason for the first time online. Featuring trades and statistical tracking for Online Leagues, up to 32 teams can battle it out using all-new flex scheduling. With an enhanced graphics engine and new player models, linemen battle in the trenches with more bulky physiques while backs and receivers fly around the field with a more sleek and slimmer look. Featuring the most realistic-looking grass and field turf ever in a sports game, new weather and