What more can be said about the
Madden franchise, its been around for 20 years, gone through constant upgrades
and new features. It has a huge fan base so large that even commmercials were
made about how many people get "sick" the day after the game is released. And
there are competitions that are played on ESPN that follow the travels of
several professional Madden players all working towards the $100,000 prize. It’s
crazy I tell ya, crazy. So, it is only natural that games of this caliber are
becoming more readily available to Spanish-speaking players. This is the second
incarnation of the Madden game in Spanish.
OK, I have to tell you, I really
have no idea how to speak Spanish; fortunately, I happen to be friends with some
people who can, and I had them over this past weekend (and Monday and Tuesday)
so they could play the game with me and I could get a good idea if the game
loses any character in the Spanish translations. Translation, the first several
games my friends wouldn’t tell me anything about the commentary, making me think
I was missing out on something important. Unfortunately for them, I know my
football, and Spanish or not, I still ended up winning the games.
"I’m gonna rip your head off and bury you
in the ground, but first I would like to ask the lord for his blessing…"
Now in the English version of the
game, Cris Collinsworth calls the plays and makes suggestions in the game
analysis play-by-play. In this version, EA managed to get Alvaro Martin, a
top-notch sportscaster straight out of ESPN. Now when I say, I don’t know
Spanish, I pretty much don’t, I can order some food and say some curse words,
but I have no real idea what the commentators were saying, for this I leaned
heavily on my friends who informed me that they enjoyed the play by play,
pointing out certain catch phrases that followed the spirit of the game, they
reminded me that soccer is still the world’s most popular sport, but they
appreciated how football has a special place in the U.S. and that they too enjoy
watching the Seahawks (we live in Puget Sound). Alvaro, it turns out, is a great
color commentator in his native Spanish and keeps the game brisk and lively to
add to the action happening on the field.
The plays are all in Spanish and
with the exception of some key positions, I could only pick out a few
descriptive words. The game even has several songs from Spanish musicians that
keep things hard chargin’ and sounding good. As far as the in game crunches and
other sound effects, pretty much the exact same as the other versions, no
surprise here, but you do hear players and other personnel yelling in Spanish in
keeping with the spirit of the game.
Graphically, this is an exact port
of the English version. I may sound redundant here, but it has great looking
graphics, players are easily identifiable and the bitmapping of players faces is
simply awesome. The whole game is a smattering of what a top-publishing house
can do with a product they know how to produce. The game has Chicago Bear
offensive player Roberto Garza on the cover and tries to really key in on the
Spanish players currently playing in the league. And the loads of production
value put into the game itself is really top notch. Players move very
authentically and have touchdown celebrations that are a new and somewhat
pleasant surprise.
"Dude, you really need to do something
about your breath."
Gameplay allows players to play a
skills challenge that helps set the tone of the game by dialing in on your
Madden playing ability. Tweaking the AI will allow you to play the game in a
manner that is fair and enjoyable. Having not have played a Madden game before,
my one friend, Alex, thought that this was a pretty cool idea and helped him in
his initial run for the Super Bowl. Additionally, there is a sort of rewind
function that is also available, that features commentator Alvaro, detailing how
the play was run and what worked and what didn’t, helping you learn the game
significantly better. Preparing you to be a better player by identifying
weaknesses in the defense and exploiting those weaknesses. There is the other
rewind function in the game that allows players to replay previous plays if
things did not work out so well; I personally dislike this option for play and
always disable it, bad ref calls and all.
The rumored awesome online league is
still not all that it should be. Players have called for a serious online Madden
game for years and I hate to say even the PS3 online experience/version is not
anywhere near what it needs to be. Lacking many glaring features and the
opportunity to just play a game straight up with whatever team you want in a
one-on-one, single-game matchup is not where it needs to be, the online portion
of the game is the real weak point in this year’s game. But for those who must
know, there are several other modes of play available including a last year
option that allows you to try and change the outcome of past big games. The same
core modes are still available for those who like everything from last year and
then some.
|
Review Scoring Details for Madden 09 En Espanol |
Gameplay: 9.0
Still a winner, I ran for 100-plus yards in every game I played against my
friends and I am used to the 360 controller; using the PS3 controller was cake.
Graphics: 9.0
A great job of player models, stadiums, attention to detail, clean lines,
bright, eye-popping graphics; it’s a great looking game, especially in high-def.
Sound: 8.5
I thought the game made good use of the Spanish-speaking commentator, the
play-by-play was done well and the clashes of the gridiron melee were great.
Difficulty: Medium
With the option to set and test your skills, the game makes it a fairly balanced
game. You can and will find yourself on the receiving end a whoopin if you
aren’t careful.
Concept: 8.5
If you have played Madden, then you know what you are getting into and what to
expect. They introduced some new things that are all relatively minor, but don’t
think for a minute that you can’t not have the most current version of the game.
Multiplayer: 8.0
To me this game is best played with friends all sitting on the couch and poking
fun at one another. The online game is getting better, but it needs some more
work.
Overall: 8.7
Madden is and will probably be the football game to have if you like to play
them on a video-game system. This version does a good job of making things easy
for newcomers so they can really get into and enjoy playing football. The fact
that they translated it over into Spanish is only going to increase revenue and
help bring more fans to the sport. Good job.
