I’m going to start this out by going out on a limb with a prediction.  Madden NFL 09 for XBOX 360 and PS3 will be the most critically acclaimed version of the game in the last decade.    

Yes, it’s that good, and there’s that much polish to it. 

I am also going to say that this is the year that both the casuals and the hardcore players can rejoice, because there’s settings that accommodate both types of gamer…but more on that later.

When you first start out the game, you have the option to be “tested” by what is called the “Madden Test”.  At first, it sounds kind of contrived, but what you need to realize is that by using this “test”, the results will determine custom crafted “settings” based on your skill level.   First, you’ll enter into this “virtual arena” with computer generated players, and you start off with ball-carrier move drills where you are prompted to use certain moves against a given defender.  The defenders will increase with frequency and number as the drill continues.  What’s going on “under the hood” is that the game is using these tests to determine the settings for the AI’s run defense based on your skills.  The first time out, my score set the AI’s run defense to “All Madden” level.

Then you move onto the passing drills.  You’ll be asked to complete passes to various receivers against various coverages. The difficulty increases with each snap.  As you might suspect, the game is calculating the AI’s pass defense to your skills (or lack thereof).   As you can imagine, it was a slight shock to my ego to see that I had enough incompletions and bad-reads during my drills that the game set the AI’s pass defense to “Pro” level based on the “skills” I showed.

After that, your run defense skills are tested, followed by your pass defense skills.  After it is all said and done, the game rates your skills, and sets your “skill” level for each of the four facets of the game based on those results.  For me, the game set the AI run defense to “Madden”, the AI pass defense to “Pro”, the AI running game to All Pro, and the AI passing game to All Pro.  This “Madden IQ” test might seem like nothing to us vets who’s pride will make us set our settings to All Madden across the board, but it will give the option to customize the entire experience to new and casual players who are just jumping in to EA’s football game.   You can also always opt to be re-tested, or not tested at all.  Personally, I think it’s a fantastic idea that EA found a way to let the game adapt itself to casuals and players of varying skill levels without “dumbing it down” as many of us feared. The “Madden IQ” tests are a clever and innovative way to craft an experience around the varying skills of the player with the controls.

And, again, you can opt to skip the whole Madden I.Q. test if you are more interested in jumping in and playing and setting the standard “across the board” settings of Rookie, Pro, All Pro, and All Madden. 

Okay- so now you know about the I.Q. test.

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