Madden 09 is going to be the greatest Madden ever with the help of DigitalSportsMania. Why? Because we are going subject by subject and trying to fix what is wrong with EASports' football title. So far we have gone through everything from the basics of how to conduct business with us the consumer to the presentation and playbooks. Today I want to tackle Franchise mode, a sore spot this year among Madden gamers..at least if you were in year 3.

Franchise Mode- So this year we had a ton of things wrong with the Madden franchise mode...most notably the fact that you could not play more than a handful of seasons without the file becoming corrupt out of the box. This absolutely cannot happen ever again! Why did this game ever shipped with a completely broken franchise mode? I've called for a lot of people's jobs and I'm calling for whomever's job that was as well. As far as my individual beefs with Franchise mode...well I've got a few.

• Give the Players More Personality-Am I the only one that thinks this?  The players in Madden always have seemed to just be artificial and you never really developed some sort of a bond with em as strange as that sounds.  Likewise, you never get punished for putting too many quality players together or too many off the field troublemakers.  Team chemistry and unity is very important in the NFL and it should finally be reflected in the game more than it has before.  Likewise, when negotiating with a player why not incorporate agents or at least player specific negotiating traits so you have guys who drive hard bargains and others who are just happy to play.  I get the feeling something like this is in the game already but it's not in plain site for all to see.  Perhaps doing that would be a good thing.

• Give the Player the Options-I have always preached this and I won't stop now, good game design lies in giving the player the options to do with your game whatever he likes by not restricting him to play the game a certain way.  In that sense I say start adding in a lot of advanced features that the higher end text-sims offer as far as gameplanning and such but at the same time give the player the ability to play with features turned on or off. I think guys who just want to play the games and win Super Bowls should be able to do that and guys who want to micro manage an NFL Franchise should be able to do that too.  In that case you get more sales, turn out a better product and you find yourself feeling better in the end.

• Player Relationships-So with that said, I would like to see player personalities, relationships, etc. possibly come into play and start giving you better or worse teams.  If T.O. and Tony Romo aren't clicking for some reason there needs to be a hit in your ratings as a team.  On the same hand, if your QB is taking the offense out for steaks each week and everyone is one big happy family your team should get some sort of a boost out of this.

• Ability to Create a Coach-I know after reading this headline you basically thought to yourself (what a maroon, you can already do this!)  Well...yeah.  But can you set attributes that'll help your team's gameday performance?  How cool would it be to see your team perform better if your defensive coaching rating was high?  And how much emphasis sans training would you then need to put on your coordinators?  I think incorporating some NFL Head Coachesque things into this would not be a bad idea, although creating another NFL Head Coach is a bad idea.

• Better Progression...Still-This is now the ninth or tenth straight year we've probably asked for this it seems.  In all reality it's probably been five but why are we still struggling with getting the right progression each year?  I'm sorry but this is just frustrating, I want to see guys progress like they are supposed to.  Little by little, game by game, practice by practice.  That sort of thing.

• Better draft...still-First off, the whole process needs to be revamped to make it more interactive..more lifelike.  Like I said in my Game Design 101 rant you should make this as complex as possible but give the user the options to skip certain aspects of the draft or even the whole thing altogether.  But I would start adding in tons of options now to start making the draft a bigger focal point of the offseason much like it is in the NFL today.  Really, I could write a whole article on what is wrong with the draft and I just might.
  
  However the key thing to remember here is that the computer teams need to draft better and we need better transactions on draft day.  Why not give teams owner and GM personalities and such that give them certain tendencies as well as the coaches?  Better yet, why not start incorporating that aspect of the draft into the game.  All three need to be on the same page on draft day and that aspect of the draft is completely ignored.  Either way, this leads me to my next topic...

• Trades that Actually Make Sense-Need I say more?  The trading logic in most sports games sucks and sucks badly.  The flagship title of Sports games needs to take the lead here in the market and actually do something about the epidemic we are living through.  The trades in Madden, especially around draft time, need serious attention.  They also need to actually happen just an FYI.

• Why not make owners mode relevant or leave it out altogether? We can't get em to make up their mind about whether owners mode should be relevant or not in this game.  Well how about we start offering more in-depth stuff in this realm such as getting local sponsors, price levels, etc. to help the bottom line and then turn around and try to make that sort of thing a success on the field.  Why not give the player some sort of a personality as well as the coaches and players in the game so we can see the players actually come alive.  I'm not against giving a player certain bonuses for having "Just win Baby!" or "Defense wins Championships" sort of attributes or personality types.  

• And when it comes to teams relocating..just say no.  If anything this should be a user controlled option at best.  But some previous years the Monterrey Packers against the Cheyenne Chiefs just wasn't cool.

• And one final thing....I don't profess to be the biggest Madden franchiser out there so as always you guys, our readers can help make a difference.  Be sure to leave comments with your ideas because I can guaruntee that your comments will get read by someone 'important'.  

And yes, I know this is stuff that a lot of folks who just play on the field could care less about but for the folks who love their franchise mode this stuff may or may not be found interesting.  I just hope people see what could be done with the franchise mode with the proper amount of work and execution.  I will be returning soon with Part IV of this series, as always leave plenty of comments and feedback!