Do I hate Madden?

*SIGH*

I really didn't anticipate my first two blogs would be football related, but it is what it is, I suppose.

First off, I want to give a little shoutout to BlackBusterCritic (http://www.youtube.com/user/BLACKbusterCritic). His rant gave me a bit of inspiration to write about this, since it's been on my mind for a while now. Frankly, it's kind of hard to put this into words, and any of my friends that read this will probably look at me cross-eyed from now on. But hear me out:

I...I think...

I think I hate....

Madden....

No, not the man himself, John Madden. Although he seems to be getting more senile and predicable by the year, I have no major qualms with him. I'm referring to the annual video multi platform video game which carries his namesake. First off, let me give you a little history about football games and myself. I started out on 10 Yard Fight for the NES (now that's old skewl, baby), and it was mildly entertaining. It was only when a friend of mine let me borrow Tecmo Bowl that I took up a general interest in not only football video games, but football in general. Anyone who's played it, or played the superior sequel, the almighty Tecmo Super Bowl, needs no introduction to these masterpieces.

 Bo Jackson makin' it do what it do...plain and simple

So as I got older, my love for football grew steadily, and begin to overtake my love for basketball. During this time, I got a Super Nintendo and a Sega Genesis, so naturally I ended up playing John Madden Football, and the subsequent games thereafter. The 16-bit games were pretty fun, but as I started getting older, I kind of grew tired of the same ol' same ol' every year (certainly not foreshadowing or anything....). It was around this time when the Playstation came out, and my friend ended up getting one, as well as a little game called Gameday '97 (Warrick Dunn is a legend in my mind to this day because of that game). That game, along with AOL chat rooms and Goldeneye 007 for N64, took up many a weekend for me and my friends. 

Between 97 and about 2001-2002, I didn't mess with Madden that much. I guess the nostalgia from Gameday made Madden kind of boring to me at that time. It wasn't until Madden 03 came out where I finally got interested again. That was the year they overhauled the game engine, and it wasn't such a pain in the ass to run the ball anymore (indicative of Marshall Faulk being on the cover). I had just recently purchased an Xbox, so I figured I'll give the old girl (boy?) another go. Needless to say, I fell in love again. I couldn't put it down. What particularly hooked me was the Franchise mode (which I'm sure wasn't new, but like I said, I hadn't been playing it lately), involving contract negotiations, trades, and drafting rookies. I ate all that simulation stuff up. So for the next few years, it was a bit of an addiction for me, and I have lots of great memories to look back on (Madden 04: Me+Clinton Portis=trouble for your D). Now, I have to mention the Sega NFL franchise, because there was a great debate as to whether the last couple of games Sega Sports (now 2K sports) made were superior to Madden. In my opinion, that's a matter of preference in terms of presentation and control scheme. I preferred Madden's to the 2k series, but that didn't make them terrible games at all. The only thing I didn't like about the 2K games was that Randy Moss was effing unstoppable....

Anyway, in 2007 I bought Madden 08 for the 360, mainly because at the time, I didn't have another system. I also bought NCAA Football 08 (a game I got into in 03), but traded it in because everyone I played with never wanted to play that. They always wanted to play Madden. Now that I think about it, for the last few years, I've preferred playing NCAA over Madden, especially Dynasty mode. But I digress. I owned Madden for most of that year, but found myself never playing it. When I did, I wouldn't even finish games. Not even Franchise mode would hold my interest. But I kept it, mainly for the multiplayer factor in case someone came over (they usually didn't want to bother with any of my other games). Eventually it got traded in because I just couldn't stand looking at it on my shelf, knowing I wasn't going to play it. I kept this to myself primarily because it was weird (even to me) to not like Madden anymore. I guess you can say I was in denial. So 2008 rolls around, and with it, another Madden. This one sported a new look, and tightened play mechanics, all of which I was impressed with when I first got my hands on the game. I had numerous bouts with my friends when it first came out, and for the most part, enjoyed the game. Eventually I broke down and purchased it (though it was a couple of months after it came out), and, like the year before, I also own NCAA. So here I am, once again, with a game on my shelf, essentially collecting dust. Is it a bad or broken game? Far from it. It's probably one of (if not the) best Madden I've ever played. But for the life of me, I can't bring myself to play it. I've got about 10-14 games on my shelf I'd rather play, honest to God. What turns me off even further is that I know if I go and play my friends now, my skills will have probably withered into nothing, to the point where it won't even be competitive, and where's the fun in that?

So what happened? What was once an mini addiction has become an unfulfilling novelty. One assumption is that it's the same game every year, only with slight improvements in a few areas. While this year saw more drastic revisions, for the most part, that stands firm, at least in my opinion. Another reason why I think it has soured on me is because I'm a bit of a conclusive gamer. I can play games that don't have a definitive ending, but I have a thing for the progressionary aspect of a game. I just recently played through Resident Evil 5 (an outstanding game that I've actually beaten twice since it came out) and I FINALLY got around to playing through Bioshock (and was mad at myself for waiting this long to play it). Both had the kind of progression and narrative I look forward to in a game (particularly Bioshock; that had one of the best stories I've ever experienced in a game, period). I'm in the process of playing through Metal Gear Solid 4, and so far that story line and progression has yet to disappoint. The point is, the bulk of time I spend gaming is usually on a story/campaign level. I'm not a big multiplayer guy, particularly online, since most of the people online are kids that don't know how to shut the fuck up or at least say something that's not complete garbage. Which leads back to Madden. Outside of Franchise or Superstar mode, there's not really much in the ways of progression in the game. Sure, you have the draft to look forward to each off-season, but essentially it's the same song and dance with every year you progress in the game. If this was my first time ever owning Madden, it probably wouldn't be that bad. But the whole thing sounds kind of tired to me, quite frankly. I recently rented NBA 2K9, another excellent sports title, and found myself having similar issues with it. They are both fantastic sports games, but they just don't hold my interest very long. 

I wanted to see if I could sort this out in my head a bit by punching this out, and if I'm lucky, anyone who's reading this will give me their opinion on this matter and provide some clarification in the process. In the meantime, I'll attempt to give Madden another go in hopes to rekindling that love I once had for it. Doesn't look good, though....