A huge thanks to EA Sports’ Will Kinsler who was nice enough to invite me to their football community day this past week at the Tiburon Studios in Orlando, Florida. In this third part of a three part series, I will go over my experiences with Madden NFL 2009.

Initial Reaction
Wow. As soon as you turn on the console be ready for everything EA Sports throws at you. Not just because it’s the latest edition of Madden (as EA Sports has had some some great Madden’s in the past), but because this is the best Madden I have ever played. I will go over some news and notes and bring you some of the cool features that EA Sports is throwing into this year’s game.
Sitting down with Associate Designer Cedric Carty
It was awesome to sit down with Cedric Carty last week, as he opened up a whole new world of the game I didn’t even know about. The first thing Carty talked about was the new touchdown celebrations feature. Gamers can score a TD and run to a specific part of the endzone. Celebrations include everything from dunking one through the goal posts to dancing with Chad Johnson. If you were wondering about creating your own celebration you might have to wait ’till next year to get your wish.

Carty said no new updates will be added to this year’s Superstar mode, but he did tell me about a new feature called Rewind. The feature will allow you to have a specific number of rewinds in the game. The feature was created and brought up during a recent brainstorming session among producers. Rewind gives players the option to completely wipe out plays you don’t want to happen. For example, if you throw an interception, using a rewind will simply take the user back to the line of scrimmage before the INT even happened. All in all, I think this will be a great feature to use while playing friends. If you’re not intrigued by the feature, you have the ability to turn it off before kickoff.

Carty also told me that the game usually takes 2-3 weeks to produce all the copies to be ready to shipped out all over the world. I thought it was a cool bit of information. He also said that the database for the 2010 Madden is also underway. Looks like Carty and company aren’t wasting any time.

Overall
I’m not going to sit here and tell you why you should buy Madden. Your pre-order should have already been made. However, I am going to mention that this game is spectacular in every fashion. EA Sports did it right. They made what the people wanted; a great football game.

Cool Features
-Madden IQ system: players train in a holographic environment, which grants them a “Madden IQ” based on their practice in 12 different drills. The game’s difficulty adjusts itself to the player’s Madden IQ.
-For everyone that loves to play online, Madden 2009 will have an in-depth online mode with full schedules including the playoffs and the Super Bowl as well as draft and trade support.
-Revamped graphics include Improved stadium models, a new weather particle system, new lighting models, new player models, field goal nets, improved sidelines, clear visors, and new facemask designs.
-EA Sports has also included a new a tackling engine on defense as well as a new running game engine.
-Weather will play a huge role in the game, affecting everything from gameplans to touchdown celebrations.
-Finally, Madden will try out a new first person mode that will let you inside the helmet of your favorite player.