In the gaming industry, EA Games is the kid in high school who’s so afraid of becoming unpopular that they’ll say or do anything thing to fit in. With no identity or goal in mind other than ensuring they’ll win the popularity contest, more and more craptacular titles keep getting produced. Their soundtracks are laughable at best which means they’ve either hired Michael Bolton as their musical consultant or they refer to MTV’s top 20 list on a weekly basis. Now of all the abominations EA has created the one that puzzles me the most is the infamous Madden series.

First of all this is John Madden we’re talking about. The man could sneeze on a toilet seat in a public restroom and it would sell for no less than five grand on Ebay. So of course NFL fans shell out fifty plus dollars annually for a game with his seal of approval. My best friend happens to be one of those fans and would gladly take a bullet for Sir Madden. I’ve got to admit he’s quite talented at the game. So talented in fact that it’s the only video game he’s able to beat me in. Being the hardcore fan that he is he claims that Madden is the pinnacle of the football experience and here’s where he and I differ.

Let me just say that although I’m a hardcore gamer, sports games are not my cup of tea. In my opinion sports games should honestly be played on the court or field as nature intended (with the exception of Top Spin 2 because the game rocks). I can land six consecutive fierce dragon punches but I’ll be damned if I can run the ball upfield six yards. Compared to the the ESPN football games Madden is sub-par and not only in price range. The players move like members of a marching band so obviously there wasn’t a lot of time or effort put into the animation process. I especially love how the wide recievers are capable of pulling off six no look catches per game. Awareness equals ninety-nine almost every play in this game. To add even more realism to Madden sometimes the ball passes right through their helmet to score the winning touchdown. Show me the money!

Since I’ve already used John Madden’s name a number of times I probably owe him about five thousand dollars purely from royalties. I’m so glad we have an authority in sports who isn’t just out to make a dollar.