Xbox 360 Fanboy

While We Have Your Attention...

There are a few other points to know about the latest Madden offerings. Here's some of the best and worst of Madden NFL 09.

Thumbs Up!
The ability to bluff plays from the line allows you to check your current play then display a number of false routes to cover your tracks when playing against a friend. Ensuring your receivers are in suitable position for a first-down, players can now tell individual receivers to run smart routes on 3rd-down whereas in years past they would sometimes end their route short of the line. Players can now call quick audibles without changing their formation which, in previous releases, ordinarily led to revealing tactics to your opponents.

Thumbs Down!
Although Madden NFL 09 seems like a stacked package some of the features found in previous releases have gone relatively untouched. The Superstar and Franchise modes have seen little to no change whatsoever. While the Franchise mode in Madden NFL 08 was solid, the Superstar mode required some tweaking and balance adjusting. Unfortunately EA Sports skipped over these sections while adding more to the annual release.

In GameSpot's review they mentioned that slants and crossing routes are, "exceedingly difficult to defend against." Other gripes mentioned is the QB's tendency to overthrow the ball in the flat and the "utter lack of effectiveness" of play-actions against the CPU.

12/08/08