Madden 09 All-Play Releases Today

I’ve always been a huge football fan, specifically a Green Bay Packers fan. As dramatic as these last few weeks have been (just watch ESPN), I’m surprised I haven’t mentioned the Brett Favre fiasco. I’ll try to keep football commentary to a minimum and talk about Madden 09 All-Play. I was a huge fan of Madden 07, but something went wrong with EA’s outing last year during Madden 08.

So, could Madden 09 bring the series back to glory? And hopefully they brought back the double juke.

So far IGN is the only site to have posted a review, but it’s good so far. The most apparent feature to be mentioned by the review is the new ‘All-Play’ mode. As a veteran of Madden I really could care less about this, although I’m glad to see it will offer something for newcomers. Here are a few excerpts from IGN’s Madden Review, which is the only site that has one up (I’ll be adding more as the day goes on).

“All-Play is the next evolution of EA’s family play, so you’ll get the same Wii-mote only mode, and the same “waggle does the move” control, but it goes deeper than that this time around.”

“Play calling has been changed up again, taking pieces from the first Wii Madden (IR control to call plays) and mixing them with a “best of both worlds” system that works for the hardcore, and for All-Play rookies; we really do believe that. In fact, it really isn’t all that different from something like the 360’s play calling system, though you’re getting a more “everybody friendly” view of it all.”


“The real issue is that, while EA worked hard on making All-Play, refining online, adding 5-on-5, and upping the overall on-field look of Madden, all the modes you remember from 08 and 07 are left almost identical to what they were previously.”

“Characters look better in-game, now with more grit and uniform detail, the arenas look better, and the optional add-on visual effects (which I personally like, since they’re a mix of arcade and classic Madden visuals) really give All-Play it’s own attitude

*Updated Review*
IGN Score - 8.6/10
Nintendo Power - 9/10 - There are no excerpts from the magazine online.

With IGN’s review I’m not sure what to think. Like I stated previous, I was a huge fan of Madden 07 on the Wii. I think it was one of the first games to fully integrate motion controls into every aspect of its controls and pull them all off solidly. When Madden 08 hit, it seemed like the game went backwards (they freakin took out the double juke move, that was a blast to pull off). There were gameplay issues, and the game actually looked worse than the 07 version. IGN’s review has me believing in the series again, although they seemed to talk more about the features that are for the newcomer to Madden.

As more reviews come in today and tomorrow I’ll be putting them up. Hopefully I’ll be able to get the game myself today and put my 2 cents on it later.

*Updated* - I went to purchase Madden 09 All-Play at lunch and it looks like the double-juke is still a no show. I don’t understand why they would have taken out such a fun maneuver to pull off.

On a side note, Aaron Rodgers had a good outing for the Packers’ first pre-season game: 9/15 117 yds - 1 TD/ 1 INT