[Madden Head]

I'll just throw in my 2 cents. I enjoyed 08 offline. Let me back up for a moment. I have been playing Madden for years now and I played Madden 04 and 2k5 more than any other single football game before or since it's a toss up which I played more. I really enjoyed the features Madden 05-08 on last gen added to the franchise but would bounce back and forth beteween them and 2k5 for obvious reasons.

08 on Next gen was my first next gen game and I hardly played online at all. Against the computer it was fun but lacking. I only played quick play games. Classic matchups like the Patriots hosting the Colts in the snow or the Colts hosting the Pats in the Dome "on the track" [as the Colts nick name it becasue of the artificial turf lets them run faster]; the Raiders and the Chiefs at Arrow Head; Bears and Packer games; Cowboys Giants; etc.

I enjoyed the spectacular catch animations like the one hand leap spin catch in the into to the game that Moss and T.O. would do. I enjoyed the radio guy. Even though he was vague, he wasn't as bad as other people made him out to be IMO. I stil lthink that if they went with a more Radio like presentation maybe as an alternative I would enjoy it. I normally listen ot the radio when watching a game and have the T.V. on mute.

08 had a lot of problems that online people could/would exploit, but I never did any of that against the computer and had a lot of good fun games with it. 09 was nice looking at first and the adition of last gen features like hot audibles with the right thumb stick and smart routes and so forth were nice, but after a short while the game got stale to me. Every team felt like one another with the exception of speed or QB. I won't even get into 10. 10 is the best next gen Madden, but we next gen madden still isn't as good as last gen games with the exception of graphics. I still play 2k5 but that is another topic. I'm waiting for Patch 2 to see if Franchise mode is worth playing.

P.S. In retrospect, and I have talked to friends about this, what was really fun for me was to play each game in fracnhise mode and feel like it was a real challenge and I could lose any given game [for the most part] and that winning the superbowl wasn't a forgone conclusion, but in Madden on next gen Franchise mode has been unplayable and only now is it less bad. I haven't hardly even played Madden 10 anymore and the game has onl been out a month and a half... how sad is that?