A belated trial of Madden All Play

I still haven’t replaced my 360, mainly because I haven’t seen Jasper versions of the 360 in the Best Buy near me. So, to soothe my football jones, I decided to try Madden 09 All Play, a game that has gotten mixed, though not terrible, reviews. 

The graphics are definitely far behind the ps360. And some of the presentation is borderline annoying–I can’t say that I care for using Miis in the game, which is still a clash of styles. Yet, when I got past the presentation, and learned the Wii controls, I found myself enjoying the game in a much different way than on with the 360 or earlier PS2 football games. 

• The kick and pass gestures add a level of immersion that I enjoy more than I thought I would. It actually required a little more physical control than mashing buttons requires because, for example, I have to keep the Wii remote level when I ‘kick,’ a much more natural control than pushing up on a joystick. Also, I found myself mastering lob/bullet passing much more quickly on the Wii than I did when I first played on the 360. On the 360, the difference between tapping and holding down on a button was sometimes whimsical. But the throwing gesture seemed more natural and more intuitive.
• Similarly, I find the gesture for hard hits much easier than pressing the joystick on the 360. I had far more such hits on the Wii, thus getting more fumbles. (I also had a few more penalties for early hits, too, but I would expect that.)
• I also find that the receiver selection scheme much easier. I can pre-select a receiver, but selecting another receiving is generally defined by a direction on the d pad and the A button. This scheme is easier in my opinion to the use of buttons and triggers on the 360 controller, mainly because I use only my right thumb to select a receiver.