Looks great, but does not match up to all the hype. It leaves you wondering what they have been doing at EA-Tiburon.
Then you dive deeper. I like to take advantage of all the modes the game has to offer. Online Franchise, a new mode that was a great idea, is a complete bust. NCAA 09's Online Dynasty was great, why can't they just mimic theirs?
Superstar remains the same (awful). It is still way too difficult to create a player better than a 50 overall, and each time you try you have to fill out the information every time, lest your player be named New Player. Then if you get a decent player, you always end up on the same team depending on what position you pick (if you're a WR you're on the Chiefs, no matter what). Then you get Brodie Croyle throwing 8 picks a game. Just stupid. The AI of the computer players is awful to the point of madness. For example, I'm on the Browns, and Anderson throws a dump pass to the fullback in the 4th quarter on a potential game-winning drive. Now, in this situation, you probably don't throw a dump pass to the fullback, but let's not touch that one. The fullback catches the ball, and you expect him to do two things: run as far as he can for yardage and then step out of bounds. Instead, Vickers catches the ball, runs two yards, and steps out, despite having 15 yards of open field in front of him. The computer-controlled kicker also has consistant trouble hitting a 30 yard field goal, and since you have no control of the playcalling (unless you're a QB), there's no way of going for it on 4th down to avoid the kicker. Also, every once in a while the camera will rotate so you can't see your player at all, usually when they receive a toss or a pass, and you pretty much run right into a defender or out of bounds. I've already lost at least 3 long touchdown runs due to this.
Franchise mode is also unchanged, and you have to wonder why this mode remains so lacking compared to PS2 versions. PS2 featured training camp, owner mode, the ability to take control of any team at the end of each season (and relocate all of them to Alaska if you wish). Franchise mode isn't much better than the first Franchise mode for Madden 02.
Online play seems to work, however there are some things that I just don't understand. Why, if the player you're playing quits after the first play, do I have to play a whole game against a computer (or quit without getting a win)? Someone forfiets, other team wins. That's sports. It's a waste of time, and if I'm beating someone I want credit for the win without wasting another half hour playing a computer.
The whole Madden IQ thing is the stupidest addition in the game's history. You take tests on Passing, Rushing, Tackling and Pass Defense. Passing is the only thing that actually acts like a real game; the others are unrealistic. It's impossible to do the pass defense one because you can only control one preset player, and the QB always throws to the other side, where the guy is wide open. Passing and Rushing is extremely easy. The defensive ones are quirky and don't work the way they should. As a result you get unrealistically high scores for passing and rushing and low scores for defense. If you take those settings into a real game and you're not ready for them, all your passes will be picked off and you won't be able to move the ball.
The game freezes at the worst moments. EA has said they're working on the problem, but it's a real buzzkill when you've played three franchise mode games and all of a sudden the game freezes on a loading screen and you stare at Madden's face for 5 minutes kicking yourself for not saving. These should be problems of the past.
The game menus and playbook screens are quirky and sometimes you find yourself picking a play that you didn't mean to pick or going into a game mode you didn't mean to play.
The game also has wayyy too many glitches for a game of its stature. The game has been around for 20 years, the modern version for 6, and the next-gen versions for 3. And yet, the game still has glaring glitches. For example, I'm losing a game by 13 in the waning seconds of the 3rd quarter, so I step out to save some time with 1 second left. Only as soon as I make it to the play calling screen, the game clock runs to 0:00 and I lose a play. I wasn't contested in going out of bounds and there was no question of my intent to step out. It may not seem like a big deal, but it lost be a play, a play I could have run without worrying about going out of bounds or throwing an incompletion.
A few other random complaints:
I was playing with the Jaguars against a friend online. He was the Patriots. I decide to expose the Pats' subpar secondary and throw a deep pass to Porter. He burns his single coverage and has the ball hit his hands before dropping it. OK, fine. Bound to happen every once in a while. I try again the next possession. Burns the coverage, drop. I try 5 different times, 5 dropped passes. I know Porter isn't that good, but he's an 84 catch, so you think he'd be able to catch a catchable ball at least 84% of the time, wouldn't you?
Another time I was playing online with a friend in my hometown. I'm up by a ridiculous margin, 31-7, 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter. I go to challenge a catch and instead of going back to the play screen, I get a message that says "The connection to the game has been lost." OK, fine, might be my internet or whatever. However, I am still able to talk to my friend over the headset. If I lost the connection to my friend, how am I talking to him??
How come sometimes, when a player gets hurt, a "timeout" is called but not deducted from the team whose player got hurt, but sometimes it does even though the clock is stopped anyway (for example, after a touchdown).
The more I play this game, the more it drives me nuts. This is what happens when EA has no competition, they spew out garbage every year. Bring back the 2k series, maybe EA will be forced to clean up its act.
If you have 08, there's no point in spending 60 bucks for this roster update.