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(More customer reviews)It truly is a sad day for NFL video game fans. Way back in the day we used to have options. Tecmo and Super Tecmo Bowl for a quick and fun arcade experience, and games like Madden on the Sega Genesis for a more realistic approach.
With Madden 09 the only licensed NFL game in the world, you no longer have those options. For someone looking for a realistic and fun experience, over the years Madden has mostly satisfied that itch.
The problem is, in 09 EA focused almost exclusively in it's new animation system (that started w/ FIFA). The producers and developers will often be seen online congratulating themselves on how amazing their animation system works.
While it is true that the animations are better than ever, the problem is how this affects gameplay. This "branching animation system" means that players are no longer "cylinders" that you move around on the field with animations attached to them. In the words of EA, now when you press a direction on the controller you input a command to the player and the dynamic animation will decide what happens next in order to be more natural looking and have less of that "floating" feel of the former maddens.
They are correct, it does indeed look more natural. Unfortunately all players share the same system. This will result in Peyton Manning shucking players to the ground in the same fashion that Lawrence Maroney stiff arms. (Despite Manning having a stiff arm rating that is 70 points lower than Maroney)
The problem is another player comes in to tackle, you press the stiff arm button, the new animation system decides on the fly which stiff arm animation is suitable for the interaction, and boom. Peyton Manning is doing hip throws like Reggie White tossing around weak offensive lineman.
This problem affects not just stiff arms but every animation in the game, tackling, passing, running. Every player animates the same way, negating their stats and turning Brett Farve into the next Marshall Faulk.
Inside linebackers will leap 42" into the air and intercept passes with their backs turned.
Essentially the only stat that matters is as usual the speed rating. To make matters worse there are dozens of freezing issues, crash bugs, franchise bugs, clipping issues etc...
Once I had to watch a replay 10x over because I was amazed that the football had literally passed right through the chest of my TE to appear on the other side, and get intercepted. A condescending Chris Collinsworth can not wait to do an "EA BACTRAX" on that play and explain what I did wrong.
The problem is I didn't do anything wrong, the football phased through the TE like Martian Manhunter.
Clearly EA recognized that the game is cheap and broken, so they included the ability to "rewind" and erase any play. You can of course turn this feature off but you have to wonder why would they make a feature that allows you to reverse time in a realistic sports game?
Clearly the answer is people realized that Madden 09 is no longer a fun game, its frustrating and cheap. The Offensive line can not block the CPU pass rush and even an All Pro Left Tackle will get beat for 3+ sacks per game on All pro or All madden.
There is nothing you can do about it either. If you hold in running backs or TEs to block, they will simply miss the blocking assignment about 60% of the time.
in the real NFL if you miss a blocking assignment even 2 times a game, chances are you will get cut. In madden 09 the best blocking RBs in the game will miss 2x PER DRIVE!
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Update one of the main producers of Madden has left the series. The new producers have OWNED UP to the myriad of flaws in the animation system and admitted that the reason it's broken is because they would speed up or slow down specific animations like the full back hand off, and after time everything became out of sync.
FB hand off became an exploit because it was so fast the defensive lineman would still be getting out of their stance and the FB would be 2 yards into his run. That is just one of the examples, QB drop back was broken as well, the Olineman did not have enough time to start a pocket.
So at least EA has admitted they had a broken pile of code that they had to throw away and start over with. Even tho 09 sold MILLIONS
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