Madden NFL 09 Review (PSP)

Madden NFL 09 PSP is a slimmed down version of this year's pigskin classic, a great game on the road, but not nearly as feature packed as the console editions.

by Chris Buffa on Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Madden NFL 09 just strong armed its way onto consoles, and whereas the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 editions have the Madden Test, Madden IQ, EA Sports Backtrack and the EA Rewind, the simplified PSP version has none of these things. What you get is a stripped down football experience that bears more resemblance to last year's portable game that, while not necessarily a bad thing, does little to advance the sports genre.

If you haven't purchased a PSP Madden game, then 09 is a lot of fun. EA Sports did a nice job translating the series' enjoyable play to Sony's platform, allowing you to select your favorite team and toss the football around the accurate stadiums, scoring touchdowns and racking up big yardage. In addition, this year's game features two control schemes, Rookie and Advanced. Rookie is for newcomers and casual players that don't feel like worrying about pressing lots of buttons. In fact, X is your one stop shop for all things Madden, including passing (the game automatically finds the most wide open receiver) and tackling. It's a fun scheme that works, but we're much more interested in Advanced because it gives us greater control over our team. That said, not being able to utilize the Hit Stick (since the PSP lacks a second analog stick) is the only blemish on this otherwise solid playing football game.

In addition, you also have Superstar Challenge, a mode that tests your football prowess by letting you complete a series of memorable games from last year, including Brett Favre's impressive overtime victory against the Broncos and Miami's win over the Ravens. While not impossible to complete, these mini games somewhat extend the game's value.

Past that, there's Franchise Mode, where you select a team and attempt to build a dynasty (it's deep and should keep you busy for weeks), Mini-Camp (where you complete a series of challenges against the computer or other players offline) and multiplayer modes for both Ad Hoc and Infrastructure. No matter where you are, you should be able to get yourself a game of Madden, providing others play the game, but therein lies the problem. We're not sure whether enough players will bother with the PSP edition, mostly because it feels too similar to last year's game. Sure, you've got updated rosters and a simplified control scheme, but given all the features in the console versions, it's hard recommending this one. It's Barbie with a hat we've seen before.

In its defense, however, portable versions of Madden have never been as big as the console ones, likely because lack of storage and other hardware limitations. That being said, Madden NFL 09 can be a lot of fun and is a good way to get your football fix on the road. Just don't expect much from it.