Madden 09'

[dickay]

OK...I for one have grown tired of the Madden series. I mean I still buy it and of course play it but I've seen no updates in recent years that tickled my fancy. The whole create a player whatever you call it thing was cool..but I'm more referring to the game play and franchise modes.

EA Sports in general sucks. They haven't had a good baseball or basketball game in years and Tiger Woods also struggled last year IMO.

This year however I understand Madden 09 is going to have online leagues & seasons. I'm curious to see how they work it out..I imagine each team would have a week to work out a time and play an 'official' game against their opponent. What i'm not sure is, if one is online for a game how will they award victory if the other is not? Pretty cool...twilight zone stuff but imagine a 'fantasy football league' based off your online madden 09 league? Probably would/could never happen but it's interesting to think about.

Anyhow, that aside is a pretty cool wrinkle i'm excited to see. I only really play sports games and have been THOROUGHLY disappointed in recent years. Curious what everyone else thinks about it/this.

BTW...although I only play sports games I'm thinkin I will buy this new Metal Gear Solid when it comes out this week.

[Coach Owens]

Excuse me? MVP Baseball 2005? Greatest sports video game of all time?

[dickay]

Excuse me? MVP Baseball 2005? Greatest sports video game of all time?

that was what, 4 years ago practically? You're excused.

[etothep]

EA Sports in general sucks

ea sports is the espn of sports games...nothing more than a big name that leaves everyone asking, how are they #1 in their field again?

[dickay]

ea sports is the espn of sports games...nothing more than a big name that leaves everyone asking, how are they #1 in their field again?

agreed.....they revolutionalized sports gaming just as ESPN did to broadcasting. Then they went stale and raked in profits instead of staying ahead of the curve.

[Alloutwar]

If you're looking for a good baseball console game, I always urge people to try MLB Power Pros (http://www.mlbppworld.com/portal.php?sid=072874bf66248e5cf31b511526b4a328) for the Wii/PS2. All the fun of the old baseball games, like RBI baseball, combined with the simming of BBM, combined with some silly, kid-like anime players, and creating your own team from scratch. It's kind of silly when you first see the players, but once you get into the game...well, they've got it down pretty good. Pitch types, speeds, realistic physics, swing speed and outcome, player improvement and arcs, salary issues, defined player roles, complete roster rules, etc.

I bought MLB The Bigs when I first got my Wii, but was heartily disappointed. This game changed things around.

[Coach Owens]

that was what, 4 years ago practically? You're excused.

I also liked Madden '08. The dynasty mode is always awesome.


ea sports is the espn of sports games...nothing more than a big name that leaves everyone asking, how are they #1 in their field again?

Because most of their competitors are horrible? And EA is actually good?

[AndrewOsborn]

I agree with AllOutWar. If you have not gotten MLB PowerPros, do yourself a favor and at least rent it. You'll soon realize that you need to buy it. It has more stats and game modes than I have ever seen. Very good baseball game. The first game that has made me able to put MVP 2005 in the game cupboard. Read the reviews too. Very positive.

Also, I would like to say damnn you EA for making sucky sports titles just because you know people will buy it. I don't. I haven't bought an EA game since Madden 06. And also, damnn you 2K sports for taking away the last game that EA did right. MVP.

That's all. I'm done venting.

[Arctic Blast]

Actually, NHL 08 is the best EA Sports game I have played...possibly ever. It plays exactly how a hockey game SHOULD. Madden, on the other hand.

How is it that they are just now finally getting all the features back in on the PS3 and 360 that we had on the PS2 and Xbox FIVE YEARS AGO?! How is it that defensive backs STILL react not to what they SEE, but to what button you press as a quarterback, so it appears they have eyes in the backs of their heads, and just 'know' where the ball is going? How is it that every year, Tiburon adds a bunch of stuff they never quite finish, like Superstar mode, and just never get around to polishing it off? And who was crying for that mode, anyway? And then we have last year...they kept talking in interviews about the new scouting model...except it wasn't necessary. You could avoid wasting an hour of time, not scout at all, and STILL do just as well as a team that DID when draft time rolled around. And you still get ridiculous **** like players holding out, only to re-up with you when you give them a 'whopping' hundred grand more on their contract.

Madden 08 should have been aborted in the first trimester. I hadn't bought it for several years, but with all the great reviews it was getting, I went out and did. I'm thinking none of those reviewers have ever actually SEEN a game of football, much like Tiburon's programmers. It was like playing in a void! Nothingness had more atmosphere than that game! There were no stat popups...nothing! Last I checked, EA, stuff like that WAS IN THE GAME! Give me my info! Every running back seemed to have coated his hands in butter before the game, because they were fumbling 6 times a half. The AI quarterbacks might possibly have been some sort of Bizarro World retarded versions of their real selves "Oh, look, that guy's wide open...nah, let's gun it in to triple coverage AGAIN for my 5th pick of the game" (Of course, this did create realism if it's Rex Grossman we're discussing). EA eventually admitted that, yeah, the turnover rate WAS a bug in the game.

Then there was the franchise bug. As you went through seasons, at a certain point, the game started erasing undrafted punters, kickers, fullbacks, and centers from the game. This meant that, eventually, there wouldn't be enough of them to fill the rosters, at which point it's bye bye franchise, because it's now frozen solid. Very nice, EA.

Add all this to the fact that they seemed to be unsure of whether to go for realism, or some long bombs away NFL Blitz hybrid, and the game was just a steaming pile of turd. Awful. (I could go on and on, but frankly, I'm already bored :D). And for me, that's it. My one last try in 5 years was THAT bad? Yeah, I'm done. The only hope for this franchise is to give it to someone OTHER than Tiburon, who seems to have lost their minds, sort of like Eidos did, taking Tomb Raider away from Core, and giving it to a new studio, and resurrecting the game. Aside from that, I'm done caring about this overhyped garbage.

[etothep]

I also liked Madden '08. The dynasty mode is always awesome.



Because most of their competitors are horrible? And EA is actually good?

you like madden 08?

no wonder you like ea, you have no taste :p

[Reade]

EA has sucked for a long time now. I haven't bought a EA title since MVP Baseball 2005 and don't see that changing in the near future.

[Alloutwar]

Yah, they were great back in...I dunno...'98? their SNES/Sega reign, with NHL and some basketball games. Nowadays, they are not a company I am looking to buy from (although I was considering working for them while in Orlando).

[Arctic Blast]

Yah, they were great back in...I dunno...'98? their SNES/Sega reign, with NHL and some basketball games. Nowadays, they are not a company I am looking to buy from (although I was considering working for them while in Orlando).

Really, take a look at NHL 08, if you like hockey games. I was REALLY impressed with it. Defensemen who play defense, and if you keep trying the same thing every time, you WILL be rather physically separated from the puck.

[bwburke94]

I won't buy Madden 09 for a simple reason... THE A$$HOLES (sorry...) TOOK IT OFF THE PC!

[MichelleWie]

I agree EA sports is getting by on just name alone. Their products have continually gone down hill. Madden has really fallen off since they became the only one with an NFL liscense. I was disappointed in the FIFA game, while it was enjoyable to try an qualify for the world cup once you did, the game lost all replayability. Their was never any franchise mode or anything. I haven't bought any Tiger Woods since '04 and Madden since '06. NBA live has become a terrible game and I believe the y2K games are alot better. I might buy '09 only because Favre is on the cover, but at a price tag at around $60 i'll have to think long and hard about it.

[RedsoxRockies]

MLB 08 is a good game, as is this years NHL. But, I feel 2k is the ESPN of sports gaming, since they use Joe Morgan. Why, I dont know...

[gen1400]

Man EA sports I really don't know where to start. I can only comment on the titles I play so here it goes.

Madden: What a serious fall from grace. This franchise went from amazing to almost unplayable. The PS3 versions of Madden are worse than the PS1 versions. As it is defense isn't all that fun to play and Madden on the PS3 made it dreadful. It takes guys about 10 minutes to turn and go in the other direction. I bought two Madden 08s, 1 for the PS3 and one for the PSP. The PSP versions was 1 million times better. They need to step up their Madden program because it is down right terrible. This will be the first time since Madden came out that I am going to rent the game before I buy it.

Nascar: My entire life I always hated racing. Then I tried Nascar 04 by EA sports and now I am a Nascar fan. The game was awesome. You create your own card with your own colors and then sign teammates and sponsors. One of the greatest career modes in a game out there. To even add to the game you could play a 4 player season with split screen. They would throw a total of 9 drivers in a season. 4 human and 5 computer. Heck we still play Nascar 04. All of a sudden some idiot took everything away from the Nascar game that was good and added a bunch of stuff we don't need. If I wanted to race trucks or open wheel cars I would buy those type racing games. The career mode is so terrible that the only way you can race in the nextel series was by working your way up...that sucks. Nascar has gone down hill so fast it isn't even funny. Nascar 08 was literally unplayable. You would have had an easier time riding a bicycle with no legs than you would of driving that car. Not only has the Nascar series taken away the 4 player modes and the nextel career mode, now they have decided to ruin the online modes as well. In last years game you couldn't setup a private room and invite just your friends. Worse than that, they allowed anyone to join at any time during the race...are you kidding me? And now Nascar 09 is out which was supposed to have online season modes, but apparently EA felt making more money by getting the game out faster was better than taking the time to make the game right. I haven't bought the new Nascar game and I refuse to even rent the garbage until they bring back the things that actually made the game playable.

I used to love EA games altogether and especially their sports titles. Now whenever we hear rumors about EA possibly taking over a company or game, we dread for what is to come. EA has gone from an awesome company to company that gets ahold of games and ruins them.

Anyone remember the Time Splitters games? The original Time Splitters was one of the first titles available for PS2. What a great game. The 2nd one was also solid but not as good as the first. When we heard that EA had gotten ahold of the 3rd one we knew what would happen...Time Splitters 3 was at least online but the worst of the three games.

[Arctic Blast]

I got burnt on last year's horrific Madden. As far as I'm concerned, that was the last straw. I will continue to buy the NHL series, as long as it remains as good as it was for the 360 last year, and other EA titles, but I'm done with Madden. Front Office Football is my thing, and I'm keeping an eye on Draft Day Sports Football, as well.

[gen1400]

Ok based on the comments from this thread I purchased a copy of MLB Power Pros last night for a whopping 15 bucks brand new. It's too bad they don't make it for the PS3.

Overall I am definitely impressed with this game. Easily worth the 15 bucks. I wanted to get this edition because if I liked it I was going to purchase MLB Power Pros 2008 which comes out at the end of July.

The success mode could use alot of work. You get to do everything except actually play baseball. But the season mode is awesome and the game play is terrific. I would definitely recommend this game to anyone.

I just have one question...is it possible to turn the music off? I can't find it in the options.