Madden. Remember Madden?

With the awesomeness of Head Coach dominating my time right now, Madden took a back seat for a few days.

While you guys know that I'm not a fan of the game vs the AI for various reasons, the head to head game fairs much better. The majority of Madden's issues are with the AI -- no CPU sliders, sky high QB Accuracy, poor clock management, that sort of thing. That goes away when playing against a buddy.

Playing head to head on the same machine with a long time football cohort of mine, to me, showcased the way Madden is meant to be played -- against another person. Seeing as the sliders only affect the human player, it makes for a much, much better game.

The DB coverage is nowhere near as lax as it is in a game like NCAA and combined with the more realistic pass rush, it was impossible to just throw those 7 yard crossing routes all game long and move at will. In NCAA, which I still play online with my Navy buddy as we wait for the patch, we only fail to score when we throw an INT. It's just so easy to move the ball in that game. Madden head to head isn't like that.

And, maybe it was just that one game but the lower QB accuracy slider for the human players was evident in our game. Derek Anderson missed an open man. I was floored. I ended up 13/25 for the game-- which would never happen vs the AI.

As I sit back and take everything in re: Madden it seems as if this was the basic idea. The solo game appears to be tuned for new players, the Madden IQ feature coming off as an entry level type of design idea. The game for serious players might be online in the new league feature.

I haven't tried that yet of course but if the multiplayer side of the game holds up as well as our first game did, it might be by far the best way to enjoy Madden this year.