I’ve said it before here at 61 Frames Per Second, but the Madden series baffles me. The game’s massive popularity here in the states — three Madden titles are among the ten all-time best selling titles in America — makes sense. Football is awesome and people love it. It’s the game’s popularity in spite of monumental difficulty that makes my brain itchy. Sometimes, you just need a different perspective on things. Hooksexup’s own Joseph Lazauskas is an old school Madden-ite. In this 61FPS guest spot, he gives us some insight into why Madden ’06–’08 are three of the best selling games ever made and why the just released Madden ’09 represents not just the future of the franchise, but the future of mainstream competitive gaming. – JC
Written by Joseph Lazauskas
There once was a time when John Madden’s illustrious football video game was my crack; I’d be in a sleepless fit the week before it’s release, and oh yes, I was a proud participant in the midnight-Madden release “parties” at the Wayne, New Jersey Gamestop for years. I’d run home and play all-night with the other Madden junkies in online “sim” leagues. From 2003 to 2006, Madden catered to us obsessives, and we were eternally grateful for the increasingly complex control. I played enough to be ranked in the top 100 online at one point (a stellar feat, if I say so myself).
But Madden’s switch to the current console generation found the game significantly dumbed-down, and my interest in it dropped as a result. Starting college, embracing substance abuse and entering a relationship didn’t help. I go to a very liberal arts school outside NYC, with a 3:1 girl to guy ratio. No one there, as you can imagine, really wants to play Madden. Even when I found someone that would play, the difference in our skill levels was too great for the game to be any fun.
That’s why, unlike a lot of hardcore Madden-ers, I think the mainstream-focused — but re-balanced — Madden 2009 is fantastic, and it might be the future of head-to-head games thanks to the Madden IQ. Each player creates a profile that tracks their IQ which is then determined by a Madden Virtual Trainer test. As you continue to play, the game updates your IQ based on your performance in proper games, versus or single player. So, even if your friend is awful, the game will compensate for him, and good old John will even pick the right plays for him. It’s the perfect handicap and the future of sports games. It adjusts so precisely to your strengths and weaknesses that it makes playing against the CPU in franchise mode a fun and challenging prospect again. Record-smashing seasons become much harder as the game weights against you with each triumph, and the days of a strong-rusher, poor-passer player rushing for 3,500 yards and throwing 40 interceptions are over. Look for NBA Live to follow suit next, and the rest of the sports-gaming world to evolve soon.
Thing is, the Madden IQ concept could be applied to other head-to-head matches. For example, I’m awful at shooters, but I’d still enjoy them if the game was handicapped and my friends weren’t killing me every seven seconds. So what if your friend sucks at Mario Kart and Smash Bros — why not program all games to level the playing field?
Related links:
Brett Favrerererer Wins: The Inexplicable Popularity of Madden
Guns and Football: The Ten Best Selling Games in America
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