Well after having madden 09 for two days and playing a good 7-8 hours already I am still undecided about the quality of the game. Right off of the bat the madden skill tests are horrible and do not accurately read what your skill in the game is. I scored all-madden on both rushing offense and passing, and the game has been incredibly hard due to that. The really good thing about the madden IQ and skill is that it adjusts after every game so after sticking through 5-7 frustrating games the skill levels have dropped to a mark i am almost comfortable with, but im finding the game still hard with running the ball the hardest part. I can feel and see a difference after my skill iq dropped a little. I am going to stick with using that as the difficulty for now, but I can always just go back to the traditional difficulty settings and not use the IQ test. Ok now that that is taking care of the game is very solid. The game still has been semi-fun even with the extreme difficulty I am having playing it. I just started up a franchise with the packers and i lost my first game 21-7. Overall I have been scoring about 21 points per game and allowing 17 points per game. The gameplay is great once the difficulty goes away, and the game is fun, and isn't that the main point?

The main reason I bought madden was to have a good football game to play online. So far I have played 1 game online to try it and lost 38-14. I will admit i need to practice a lot more to be successful online, but im hopping I can have a good time playing online.

The graphics are probably the best yet out of any sports game, and the soundtrack is perfect for my musical tastes.

Right Now I give Madden 09 a 8.0/10 or 4/5 stars...this score could go up or down but in the end i think it could be near a 9.0