I’ve been a Madden fan for years. Even back in the days when the NFL 2K series was around and terrific, I always bought Madden as well. The game has been a staple in my late summer schedule for years. But after the debacle that was Madden 08, I vowed not to purchase this year’s installment of EA’s football series. The bad gameplay and serious lack of innovation finally got to me.

This marks the first time in over 10 years I haven’t bought Madden. But once I saw the terrific reviews pouring in (including our own), I knew I had to give it a shot. So instead of throwing down 60 bones, I dropped $8 at BlockBuster to rent the game for PS3. After intentionally sucking at the Madden IQ test so it would set the difficulty to my real skill level, I got down to starting a franchise with my beloved G-Men.

I can definitely say this: the game has improved in leaps and bounds from Madden 08. There aren’t insane amounts of fumbles and interceptions anymore, which is a huge plus. The running game is much improved and things seem very realistic, something that made me smile. Lots of other improvements and tweaks are there, making this the biggest leap in Madden year to year in a long ass time.

But it’s not without problems, either. Aside from the broken Madden IQ and bland commentary from Tom Hammond, there are some glaring issues that annoy me, the semi-casual semi-hardcore Madden player (if that makes any sense to you). Whenever you call an audible or hot route, the AI makes a switch to perfectly defend your change. It’s like it knows exactly what you’ve changed to and sets up to defend that exact play or route. Also, the AI quarterbacks are entirely too accurate, regardless of the level of difficulty you choose. I’m sorry, but Chad Pennington or whoever the game uses for the Dolphins QB will never have a 95% completion percentage against the Giants or any team with a decent defense.

My other gripe is with the Madden Moments, a cool new feature in this year’s game. The scenarios and concept is cool, but why are we using current rosters for these cool moments from the 2007 season? The game should be using the exact rosters that were used in those games. This should be something that EA can easily patch, but who knows if it’ll get done.

Overall, the pros do outweigh the cons, but it’s still not enough for me to warrant a purchase. I’m happy with my 5 days of rental time with the game, as I can’t really see myself playing it all that much after I need to return the game. Maybe next year I’ll pick Madden up again. Maybe next year.