MADDEN NFL 09

I must admit that although I am a huge fan of the Madden NFL series, over the past few years I haven't really noticed any differences, other than graphics and rosters, when I have purchased the new game each year, leaving me feel a little ripped-off for trading in last year's edition for less than a tenner to fork out £40 or more for the new one, but with Madden 09 it is completely worth it.

There are now so many more updates than previous years (as well as updated graphics and rosters) including the" My Skill" difficulty setting which assesses you while you play to give you a personalised difficulty, so when playing either on single player or online, it gives you opponents at a similar skill level as yourself. There is also the Virtual Training which is good for practicing plays and the better play help whilst in-game, which will break down the number of plays to the best ones to use for rookies and intermediates to the game. There is also a Fantasy Football league for real fans of the sport which is played online against the rest of the Madden community on EA. The Rewind feature is great if you are new to Madden games as you can rewind the last play you made if you did a mistake. This is good if you are practicing against a computer opponent but I strongly recommend turning this off if you are against a human player as it may cause all sorts of arguments! The Backtrack feature is probably my favourite as it shows you where you have gone wrong in the last play if you make a mistake and gives advice on what you should have done. I've been playing these games for about 15 years (since the Megadrive days) and I still am learning a lot of helpful tips thanks to this!

The graphics are probably the best I have seen in a sports game ever with so much detail in everything from the players, the stadiums, even the grass! The sound is good too with fluent commentary (which can become annoying at times) and the music is not bad.

Online play is very fluid with no lag that I've experienced yet. The servers seem full of other players (mainly Americans) so there is never a problem on setting up a new game.

Overall this is definitely the best sports game I have played for a long time and is extremely addictive once you get into it with plenty of game modes to get stuck into. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a decent sports game, whether you watch American Football or not.

I have been playing the madden games from the start and if you have played any of the other years games you will feel right at home. The core game play is the same as the other years on Madden 09 but then that could be said of all the EA sports range, BUT there are a lot of changes over last years that make it a much better game, the frame rate is up over last years PS3 version, the game is very fast and the animations are excellent (only in the replays that you control does it slow sometimes) they have added a load of new animations and this cuts down on the ball Jumping into the hands of receivers, or leaving the kickers foot with a missed animation. The D line is better and the control that you have over linemen/backs and Offence players is excellent, maybe too much for an average player. The IQ test is ok but the running is far too easy in the test so it will set it at All Madden, its better to use the sliders to find a custom level. The stadiums and the grass look amazing and the weather is excellent, the players uniforms dirty as they play in the rain and mud which adds to the realism. I have noticed players pick up more injures during games which is good as well not major ones but ones that will keep them out for a few plays, meaning your back-ups matter more. The player Pictures, stats, Finance screens and the end of game screens are better as well. There are still a few problems with the IA like on punts the computer running out of bounds when they could cut up field and the occasional cheating by the computer on some plays exits but it's not enough to ruin the game. If you like madden then this is an improvement over last years, it's not a massive leap forward but they never are, but some of this years touches make this the best in a long time, you feel like your getting some real updates that improve the game for your money. One other sore point was the patch wasn't available over here when I received my game, so no Farve at the jets and Taylor is still at the fins amongst others, but I'm sure it will be out soon if it isn't already. See you online maybe?

Having owned the game for 2 weeks now and having played it extensively, I am quite surprised to read the overwhelming amount of positive reviews this game has been receiving on Amazon.

Having been a regular Madden fan and player since the PS1 days, I must say that the recent drastic 'menu' and 'game play' interface changes do not work for me at all. A comparison can be drawn to LMA Manger 2006, who also transformed its presentation to a more 'slick and structured' presentation but which did hurt the game and made it loose its followers. The same can be argued with Madden 09.

Accessing roster breakdowns, player information or sorting the depth chart has become a riddle of multiple buttons needing to be pushed before I can execute a command or gather the info. When playing the actual game, your offensive and defensive formation options have been jammed into a little box on the left side of the screen - Changing formations and making play-by-play decisions has become an increasing pain and takes away the fun of the game - Last but not least, instead of listening to Madden's 'Boooms' and 'Whaacks', I now need to accept the commentary of Chris Collinsworth. If the game did not feature Madden as a hologram at the beginning of the game introduction, you would think this is NFL 2K9 (just because the 'look and feel' has been completely changed).

Sorry EA, just like Microsoft jamming Vista and Office 2007 down people's throats, you too have ignored a crucial step in the product roll-out phase namely: Providing Change Management - Those loyal to the Madden franchise will think twice before buying your annual release - One disappointed Madden fan signing off!