Madden NFL 09

It’s impossible to imagine the NFL without the Super Bowl, and it’s just as impossible to imagine videogames without Madden. Since 1988, the franchise has blitzed umpteen home consoles and handhelds with all-out gridiron mayhem, delivering Xbox and Xbox 360 owners some goodies (2005, hail) and some, well, not-so-goodies (2006, fail). With the series celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, EA couldn’t go the shovelware roster-update way. Accordingly, we’re happy to report that Madden NFL 09 represents the pinnacle of the modern Madden era.

The game begins with the marquee senile pontificator himself walking you through the Madden Test (you can skip it, but don’t — you’d miss the awesome Tron-like holographic presentation). These tests drive a new adaptive difficulty setting, which is a brilliant improvement on the catch-all difficulty of yore: you can now set four offensive and defensive pass and rushing difficulties independently. This fine-tuning approach carries over into the playbook as well; you can still choose plays based on formation, but now you can also choose by type. Don’t know what a Singleback Tight Doubles Slot Corner is? Call a Run Right, QB Run, or Pass Left. Easy as pie.

As you’d expect, you get the usual Franchise and Superstar modes, plus Virtual Trainer, Madden Test, Madden Moments, Mini-games, and Practice. Whatever you choose, everything goes toward building up your coveted championship ring. Oh yeah, the ring temple is back, too, with five tiers — the fifth level demanding you earn 1,497,546 points to ascend to God of Madden status. Yeah, totally.

Gameplay-wise, the controls are tight, last year’s Weapons system returns (the icons are silver grey this time, not the annoying gold), as does the Hit Stick. Graphics-wise, this is just about the best-looking Madden yet. Gone are the slick, shiny model textures from last year, replaced by a grittier-looking field and more realistic player models (except for some of the arm modeling; does every NFL player have totally ripped triceps?). The reaction animations look sweet, sending the secondary cart wheeling end-over-end with big hits. There’s still a bit of bad collision and floatiness when players return to the line of scrimmage, but nothing horrible.

Online, Madden 09 really brings it; in our tests, the online play was as clean and fluid as any offline play, and with the long-awaited addition of 32-player leagues and online tournaments, this is the definitive online Madden experience. Add to all of that the top-notch commentary by Cris Collinsworth and Tom Hammond, a brand-new dynamic Fantasy Football mode, and the choice to upgrade to the chockfull-o’-goodness Collector’s Edition (see sidebar, left) for 30 bucks more, and you have yourself a winner in almost every respect.