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Xbox 360 | Sports | Madden NFL 09

Boxart for Madden NFL 09
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Preview: Madden NFL 09

Preview by George Jones | 05/09/2008 | 12:45:53 PM PST

EA Sports unveiled a strong 2009 lineup at its Editors Day this week, and the roster of games included a few surprises that will leave college, pro, and International football fans intrigued and excited.

EA Sports President Peter Moore set up the types of gameplay experiences the international assembly of gaming press would experience at the onset of EA Sports annual kick-off meetings at the company's Vancouver offices. A staunch advocate for pushing sports gaming to the masses beyond the traditional hardcore sports gamer, Moore emphasized the company's newfound push to publish sports games that are more approachable and playable than ever before. "We're no different than Nike," he told GamePro in a private interview. "We have to sell games not just to the high-end enthusiasts, but to everyone."

Madden 2009: 20 year anniversary...and Real Football Intelligence

The first thing gamers will see when they begin playing Madden 2009 is a new feature called the Virtual Trainer. Staged as a holographic simulator that challenges the player with a series of 12 mini-games spanning both offensive and defensive play, this trainer allows Madden to quickly gauge players' Madden IQ. The game uses this information to automatically adjust the settings and difficulty levels of play. As you play, this "Real Football Intelligence" will continuously adjust to your play style as well as your strengths and weaknesses.

Madden will be released in August for all gaming platforms. Other new features include:

New play-calling screen: In an effort to reduce the players' need to pause the game in order to make strategic decisions, Madden 09's new interface allows you to call up instant replays, make substitutions, and check stats and info directly from the right-hand side of the playcalling screen.

EA Sports Backtrack: After critical broken plays or missed opportunities, you can call up the Backtrack replay feature, which will run you through the just-run play and analyze the missed opportunities as well as the defensive and offensive plays. Chris Collinsworth, who announces the game along with Tom Hammon, will offer up expert analysis as well as a surprisingly deep layer of statistical analysis. In a fantastical indulgence, players will even be able to mulligan the play and replay it.

Madden Moments: NFL fans can relive big moments in NFL history by playing through a series of Madden Moments that replay historical plays, quarters, and games.

Improved graphics and animations: One of the most impressive improvements in this year's version is a significant boost in the game's visual quality. Grass, weather, and player animations all look dramatically better than last year's version. The game's animations particularly shine. For the first time, players can interrupt canned animations with secondary and tertiary football actions. As an example, while sacking the quarterback, you can press the strip-ball button and your defensive player will attempt to force the quarterback to fumble while simultaneously executing the sack animation sequence.

20th Anniversary awesomeness: This year, Madden hits its 20th anniversary, which came as a surprise to this reporter, who clearly remembers playing the first version of the game in 1989. To celebrate the game' s longevity, EA Sports will release a collector's edition of the game that includes the following extras: A bundled copy of NFL Head Coach 2009 (described below); an emulated version of the Sega Genesis 1993 version of the game; classic playbooks and plays from previous versions of the game; lots of video content from the NFL archives and more.


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