Amazon.com: Madden NFL 09 20th Anniversary Collectors Edition: Playstation 3: Video Games

16 Reviews

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
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4.1 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3.5 stars!, August 17, 2008

By	GC "GRC" (Tampa Bay, FL United States) - See all my reviews

Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars

Madden 2009 could be the perfect game, but sadly it is still plagued by issues that've existed for the better part of a decade.

I have to begin by admitting that EA has done an admirable job with the overall gameplay and franchise mode despite the flaws. The commentary however stinks. Cris Collinsworth is terribly annoying and Tom Hammond is droll at best. I never thought I would desperately miss John Madden's syllogisms this badly.

As for the gameplay itself, running the ball is still too difficult with halfbacks and too easy with quarterbacks. Receivers can run way out of bounds and return to make the catch, with no penalty being called or issues. You can constantly convert on 4th down, literally 99% of the time if it's within 2-3 yds. Offensive Linemen frequently give up on blocks. Quarterbacks constantly fumble on QB sneaks. There is no long distance passing game either, no matter who your QB or WR is. TE's are still too good. The receiver spotlight feature almost never works. The CPU never seems to miss a field goal. Kicks are almost never blocked, I've only seen one in over 40 games. The volume of problems such as these turns what would be an easy 98 overall rating into a 75 or 80.

The new "fairness feature" is also very controversial. It essential puts a beginner with the Falcons on even footing with an expert player using the all-time 72 Dolphins. The expert player's teammates will randomly fumble, drop passes etc to compensate for the beginner's lack of skill. This is personally offensive to me and robs skilled players of a true advantage. The idea was obviously designed to get more beginners to purchase the game, marketing at its worst.

Franchise mode is apparently unchanged from 2008, but is still excellent. The graphics are good, but not revolutionary. Manual juking and catching is well done. The lead blocking option is also very functional and pretty easy to use. Special Teams are well handled but it's impossible to return kicks for touchdowns. One glaring issue is that kick power is diluted. Kickers with 99 kick power will often come up short on 50 yarders. Edit: I'm referring to ALL-MADDEN level of difficulty in this review.

Overall, this is a good game that falls short because of simple oversights. If enough patches are issued, it could become great.

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10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Set for Madden and NFL fans., August 13, 2008

By	Daimyo "White Jag" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

My review of Madden NFL 09 isn't very long, cuz I wanted to focus on this collector's set.
Some game play positives
Animations are incredibly realistic and varied. Like the throwing mechanics vary with the type of throw. The tackles take longer to animate. The guy won't just immediately fall down when hit. There are various ways a defender approaches a ball carrier for a tackle and u can react differently to it. The catches by receivers are fantastic as well.
The graphics look very good. U can easily notice when compared with game play graphics of NFL head Coach.
The player or your ball carrier isn't locked to the animation any more. IF the defender has his arms around u can still try to get out.
The players run very fluidly and look very realistic.
Madden IQ really helps with the difficulty. Some drills are easy, so it actually makes running the ball for instance a bit too hard; which forces u to try passing more, thus making u better at the game.
Rivalry games are noticeably harder. I played with the eagles against the giants and it was tough, I lost.
A few negatives:
Franchise mode is untouched pretty much.
Online league so far isn't very organized and is not all it was hyped up to be.
Superstar mode doesn't offer anything to make u wanna try again.

AS FOR THE COLLECTOR's EDITION ONLY:

I think the set is a great value if u love doing the off season in Franchise mode, cuz I love the strategy and depth of headcoach. U have to be very patient and into football management. But creating your own coach and trying to turn around a struggling team like the Falcons is real fun. I warn u that it is really slow, I played hours and I am still in my first off season.
Now for the type of stuff. For instance, if u invite a draft prospect for an interview, it will give u his potential rating which is crucial. Ur owner puts pressure on u to make sure u don't draft a bust. The GM wants to do things his way, but u also must demand the respect of ur staff. So it is alot of depth. If u just wanna sim most of the game, u can pre set over 100 different philosophies of ur organization. From running a cover 2, and option attack, value of future draft picks, the type of each player (speed back, mobile QB, etc.), to how much control u give up to new staff members.. It is deep I haven't looked at all of them yet. Also signing free agents is more fun cuz ur bidding with other teams, and the u must decide what to spend within a minute, and try to match the offer of other teams. Now that is the just the right to negotiate a contract. Then u must offer with incentive and the signing bonus. That's just the offseason.
As for coaching ingame, there is also alot of strategy. From letting ur coordinators call the plays to the way u respond after ur team makes a mistake, to the way u make a slight adjustment to the play at the line, ur team will respond. U can jump in and just coach a game, but that is very less in depth than in career mode. U have to work on plays in practice and then try to translate them to the field. Also when considering new players u also have take into account their ability to learn new plays or their performance will suffer. U also have to satisfy egos as well.
A good amount of video features
Madden 93 makes u laugh and appreciate how far technology has come.

Overall:
If u look at it this way, u get another game for $30. In my opinion, it is a very intuitive game that can get you hooked. I am already more into it than madden, cuz I haven't found the right league online yet. Plus if u get into headcoach u can log over a hundred hours, which is definitely worth the $30. The game gets very addicting if ur into football management which I am. If u haven't picked up madden this gen or in awhile but still are a fan of the series or just love the series this collectors set is a great item.(The case is pretty nice looking as well)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the extra money., December 6, 2008

By	Thang Nguyen (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars

The games don't come in separate cases for those looking for that feature. Madden 09 is a good game, but NFL Head Coach 09 is worthless. If you're just interested in Madden 09, get that instead. This Collector's Edition isn't worth the extra money.