Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, DS, PS2, Xbox
Genre: Sports
Release Date: August 12
Heard of it? The best-selling sports franchise ever keeps right on trucking with new modes, new features and new reasons to spend summer indoors.
Why It's Hot: It's as famous as Joe Montana, as dependable as Jim Brown and as unstoppable as LaDainian Tomlinson. This year's model includes some notable new revisions: Adaptive Difficulty keeps the game tight, a holographic Virtual Training Center lets you hone your skills, the new Backtrack and Rewind systems give each team a few do-overs, and a totally revamped broadcast presentation courtesy of ESPN makes it pretty as a picture. If that's all a bit much, consider the Wii version, which features the accessible, streamlined "All-Play" gameplay system. And thanks to EA's exclusive deal with the NFL, it's still the only licensed NFL game you'll get to play this year.
Why It's Not: Buying a Madden game is like buying a PC -- one year later, it's out of date. How many copies of Madden need one gamer own? One? Four? All 23? Unless you're some sort of obsessive collector or Madden relative, it's getting harder and harder to justify dropping 50 bones on new rosters and a few gameplay tweaks. Also, coverboy Brett Favre has retired, lowering the chances for another attack of the Madden Cover Curse.
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Madden NFL 09 Screenshots
Posted: 3 Jul 2008