Madden 09 Community Day Impressions - Part 1

by VG Sports Kobra

Last year I felt the game improved on the NG, but not as much as I would have hoped. As many of you know there were several features, glitches, and other problems within inside the game. This year EA SPORTS has made a concerted effort to add features that the causal and hard core community will enjoy. They also have made the effort to remove past glitches and problems that have the plagued the game.

Now I am not going to tell you that they corrected everything, but they did get rid some of the more well know problems like the 3 Man Pass Rush and Double Pass. They also toned down the rocket and spectacular catch, and fixed flipping plays to break down the pass coverages.

When I got my hands on the game, I went to straight to play now, turned off the play clock, and starting digging into the game play.

User Catch Offense

The first thing I tried was to rocket catch. When I played NCAA 09 the day before, my nickname around the rest of the community leaders was “Rocket Man”. I figured I’ll try it in Madden and see what happens. I was not able to perform the same rocket animations I was able to get on NCAA, nor was I was able to get the high spectacular catch like 08.

Even when I did get high up in the air, the defensive backs were jumping just as high. I tried Moss, Johnson, Edwards and Buress. Against 2 Man Deep coverage, I didn’t have a lot of success. When I was able to go up to make the catch either the defensive backs were knocking the ball down or they were laying out my receiver. It was down right nasty to watch as the strong safety blasted the receiver over and over.

Now I will admit I did have more success with the mini jet pack against zone coverage. As far as pulling off the rocket catch, I can still get it, but not on short and intermediate pass routes, I was only able to turn the receiver around on deeper routes. As I already mentioned early, even when I was able to be in position to make the catch, the defenders were all over me. When I tried to undercut the defenders in coverage, they would have none of that. They were able to keep position to knock the pass down or pick it off. Remember how defenders would turn away when the receiver was going up for the catch in the past. That’s not the case in the version of the game I played today. The CPU defenders were like vultures circling their prey. Now I am sure as we all play the game, we are going to find creative ways to catch the ball manually, but I will tell you for now if you were one of those who abused user catching in 08, you will find it a lot more difficult in 09.

User Catch Defense

In my opinion playing defense in Madden 09 should be fun because now the defenders can get up in the air with the right animation trigger. Heck even if you don’t want to take control of the defenders, the CPU does a nice job at defending the pass. To me playing defense feels smoother than any version so far on the NG. It should make those switching from CG to NG a a little more comfortable.

Underneath Passing Game

I’ve gone into a lot of detail already about the deep passing game, now I want to give some thoughts on the underneath passing game. One of things I have felt I have always been good at is the dink and dunk offense. In Madden 09, the underneath passing game may be the best way to move the ball through the air. Slants, curls, drags, hitches, flats, and crossing routes are all effective to name a just a few.

Now I am not saying they are money because against the right defense it’s not going to be there. For instance zones tend to defend the crossing routes better than what man coverage provides. One of the reasons I say this is because of the way the receivers tend to get separation as the ball is just about to be caught. For instance I threw a pass to T.O. It looked like he wasn’t going to be able to get it even if I took control of him, but at the last second, he got a little speed burst and separated from the defender and made the catch.

I also make several user catches on what I like to call corner routes with an inside release (also known as backward C routes). I used the sprint button and was able to get the same separation. I believe this game play feature may separate the players who take control of receivers and defenders once the ball is thrown. For instance if I play against a human who doesn’t take control of his receivers, I will be able to take control of the defender in coverage, and use the speed burst button to negate the speed burst that the CPU uses.

I will be able to jump the route for a pick or at the very least use the swat button to knock the pass away. Now if my opponent takes control of the receiver, he can use the speed burst button to get the catch. It should be nice battle for players who like to control their receivers and defenders.