Amazon.com: Madden NFL 09: Xbox 360: Video Games

86 Reviews

5 star:		(23)
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3.3 out of 5 stars (86 customer reviews)

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars MADDEN "FREEZE PATCH" 09 - DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!, October 2, 2008

By	Virtualj0e "Virtualj0e" (USA) - See all my reviews

Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars

A class action law suit should be filed against EA Sports for releasing this seriously flawed product for sale.

Instead of calling the game Madden 09, they should have called it Madden "Freeze Patch" 09.

It is bad enough that all of your game data is lost when Madden 09 invariably freezes, but in order to "fix" these problems, you have to download a patch, and once the patch is loaded, you have to start a brand new franchise in order for the patch to work. By the way, if you do not have a way to run these patchs... Sorry... You are out of luck!

EA has taken away some old bells like the General Manager feature, which was a personal favorite, and added a new whistle like the Trainer Mode, which is apparently supposed to help you learn how to play the game, but it seems to me that once you get proficient at the game, this feature would be useless. However, I wouldn't know this for sure because the game froze when I tried to use this feature, and EA Sports answer for this was "Say no when you the game asks you if you want to go to the training mode."

Really? I just put down $60.00 for a game, and I am instructed by the company not to use the features they programmed into the game, because they know it causes the game to crash.

Unbelievable!!!

Do yourself a big favor, if you are considering purchasing Madden 09, go to www.easports.com and read the blogs before you buy. It is truly astonishing the number of problems that people are having with this game, and EA Sports take on all this seems to be... We realize there are problems, and we are working on the issues, but if we implement all the fixes, we will not have anything new for Madden 10.

What?

This year is the twentieth anniversary for the Madden football series (and I have owned most of them), you would have thought that EA Sports would have gotten right by now, but this is far and away the worse Madden game they have ever released, and what is EA Sports concern... If they fix all the problems this year, what is going to motivate us into wasting our hard earned money next year?

But hey... I guess EA Sports doesn't call it MADDEN for nothing... The more the game freezes the MADDER you get!

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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Freeze Frame, August 27, 2008

By	Richard Cox "Dusty Records" (Los Angeles,Ca) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars

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????

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31 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Madden-Defective-Trash 09 (FREEZE), August 25, 2008

By	H. Pericles "TZ" (Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews

Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars

This game is seriously horrible, which is why EA is now on its "second patch." I few reasons will be stated.

LOS LIMIT
The line of scrimmage (LOS) limit is useless during gameplay. The quarterback can scramble from the backfield while being pressured, pass the line of scrimmage and complete a pass to his receiver without any penalty. More devastating to the defense is this: the defensive back (DB) breaks coverage and leave the receiver wide open, causing the QB to complete a deep pass.

To combat this glitch, Senior Designer Cummings states: "We addressed this by making sure the DB will no longer break on the ball when the QB crosses the line while throwing."

This means that the QB crossing the line of scrimmage (even though it is a violation/penalty) will remain in the gameplay, while the defensive back stay with his man and not break coverage.

USELESS PLAYER RATINGS
This glitch is perhaps the most disheartening glitch during gameplay. Players' ratings are put in the game for a reason and expected to have an impact and mean something, but they do not mean anything. EA developers added the ratings for the hell of it and for show - knowing they will be useless on the field and hoping gamers would not realize its uselessness. There have been many instances where QBs run over defenders and dishrag them around as if the defenders are Barbie Dolls. During a game against the New York Jets, QB Chad Pennington trucks DE Jason Taylor and then MLB Channing Crowder, and was later gang tackled. Such nonsense like this does not happen in real life and never would; it's impossible, especially against DE Taylor.

To show how useless and unrealistic the players' ratings are, three of these players will be evaluated. Because there are so many attributes, only the important ones will be mentioned: Overall, Strength, Trucking, and Tackle.

QB Chad Pennington's (6'3"/255 LBS) ratings: Overall: 81; Strength: 49; Trucking: 40; Tackle: 14.

DE Jason Taylor's (6'6"/260 LBS) ratings: Overall: 98; Strength: 77; Trucking 10; Tackle: 80.

MLB Channing Crowder's (6'2"/242 LBS) ratings: Overall: 85; Strength: 77; Trucking: 10; Tackle: 89.

The disparity in Jason's and Crowder's trucking compared to Pennington's is fickle and quite funny. How can a QB have a better trucking attribute than defensive players? Moreover, how could the strength of both Taylor and Crowder have no ability to render a tackle when their strengths are higher? Quarterbacks are not known for their trucking ability because they don't truck. When QBs break the line of scrimmage, they run for yards and slide on the ground or run out-of-bounds to avoid a hit (that's common), so for Pennington to have a trucking ability is fantasy; he doesn't even have the strength to truck.

Although he rarely did, it would be believable if a former QB like Michael Vick trunks and abuses a defender because he has the speed, agility, power, elusiveness, and more. In fact, he was known for making players look silly on the gridiron, but Pennington and other present QBs? Get out of here! It's foolish.

Strangely, there are even punters/kickers who have better trucking ratings than defensive players, which makes this glitch even more absurd: Dolphins' B. Fields, 45; Eagles' S. Rocca, 74; Jaguars' A. Podlesh, 35, etc. Never have a punter truck anybody in the NFL; it if occurred, it was rare. Basically, anyone can truck and throw aside any player in this game; the difficulty levels (even on All Madden) and ratings mean nothing. The physics is severely broken and means nothing. What a con.

POOR TACKLING
The tackling ability is poor at best. There is no other way to say it, because the tackling EA implemented this year is not authentic. Everyone (especially CPU) in this game seems to have the ability to breakaway and spin away from unexplainable easy tackles like never before, even when tackled by two players simultaneously. All the players on the field appear to be on superman mode. A player such as a RB can actually get hit by a defender, fall back and lose leverage, and without even putting his hand on the ground to gain his balance, he breaks the tackle(s) and continues running. The Laws of Physics demonstrate that such occurrence can not happen. This kind of absurdity can happen with any player, from a QB to a WR, from a DB to a PR. Don't weight, force, leverage, power, motion, and other physical mechanics matter anymore?

Hall of Fame RB Barry Sanders (the best RB in NFL's history) defied the laws of physics by doing some incredible things - and simply murdering and making his defenders look stupid: breaking 3 to 4 tackles at the same time; leaving his feet and landing on his feet; losing leverage and mysteriously rebounding; breaking heel tackles; trucking defenders; sniff-arming defenders with ease; escaping from two defenders while wrapped up; making defenders embarrassingly jump one way as he gained more yards or scored a touchdown; dragging defenders forward as he ran, etc. It wouldn't be problematic if a few players had some of these abilities, but everyone on the field? Not only do players embody the Sanders' motif, but their uniform seems to be drenched with Vaseline, which makes tackling a chore.

USER CATCH/SPIN-CATCH
In Madden NFL 08, the user catch was good and not so irritating. This year's Madden version is a different story. Under user control, a WR can run down the field open and have a clean bomb, but once the ball is about to be caught, the WR jumps up and does a strange spin-catch, allowing defenders to gain ground and make a tackle. There is no way a WR can be running down field alone at full speed and mysteriously turn around and do a spin-catch, when he could have easily continue his stride and catch the ball by turning his head around. (At times, the WR doesn't even react to the ball, even if it's at arm reach, when he is guided by the user.) Maybe this happens because the QB leads the WR poorly by throwing a bad pass, which is a common problem too, but it still shouldn't happen because receivers don't do such a thing.

The spin-catch affects the offense tremendously and seems to be an often occurrence. Spin-catches are done in real life, but the way EA executed this feature is unrealistic. When a receiver lines up and does a slant route, he does not jump and spin, showing his back when the ball is in the air, to catch it. In a slant route, a WR runs to the ball and reach out for a catch; if the ball is thrown high (beyond his ability to catch it), then he jumps for the ball with his face focused on the position of the ball in order to catch it. A receiver never turns his back, losing the sight of the football, and catches it in slant routes. It's not possible nor is it logical.

Moreover, there have been times when a simple screen play is done, and for some reason the RB spins and jumps and catches the ball by turning around for no reason. There is no way to explain why stuff like this occurs, and why EA implemented a dismal/impractical spin-catch feature when the game is marketed as a "real" football simulation.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?
By definition, artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of a computer to execute functions that usually require human intelligence. No one expects the AI to be perfect, because humans are not perfect. However, people don't expect AI to lack the intelligence of common sense, and that's what they lack in this latest installment. They don't block nor do they care to block; they stand around and investigate the scene as if they are FBI agents; they miss easy interceptions by not putting up their hands, and more. These unresponsive issues are a headache. The user can only control one player at a time instead of his entire team, so he expects computer backup. Sometimes they act on impulse, and most of the time they don't. When the latter occurs, it is simply a mess.

For example, when a RB play is called, an offensive lineman (OL) could be directly in front of him as he runs and for some strange reason, the OL moves out the way and just stands there, leaving his own teammate defenseless while defenders are converging. Why would an OL abandon a block and simply stand there or aid another OL hold off a defender that is irrelevant to the play, allowing his RB to be tackled? This lack of common sense is mind-boggling, and would never happen in a real life football game. This is not AI; this is what I call PD, Pure Dumbness.

In Madden NFL 04 and 05, EA added a great feature that allowed anyone running with the ball to facilitate a lead block by pointing his hand, which was great for RBs (unlike the pointless OL Lead Blocking feature). Strangely, this feature was gone in the later installment. This is what EA is known for; developers put a feature in one year and it vanishes the following year.

The AI flaws occur in every aspect of the game. For example, on offense, a WR could be the intended target and when the ball is in the air, he doesn't even try to catch it. He doesn't even react to the ball. Many times, the ball hits him directly in the back. Every WR knows that when the ball is in the air, he needs to react and attempt to catch it, or knock it down if the defender is in position for an interception. Therefore, why is this realism not in the game?

Another case in point occurs on defense when the DB has a clear-cut interception and doesn't even put his hands up to catch the ball. Because of such stupidity and lack of common sense, the ball hits him directly in the face or chest. This is what... Read more ›