• I had a copy of Madden reserved at the local GameStop, but I canceled it, because I thought I'd be getting a copy through other means. As it turns out, that didn't happen. But because I love you, I still felt like I owed you a review ... so I had to go out at midnight last night, Madden reservation-less, to try and score a copy somewhere.

• I thought I'd try GameStop, because I've become slightly friendly with a couple of the guys who work there (yes, I am just that cool) and I thought maybe they'd hook me up. But at about 11:45, the place is as packed as a nightclub on "Dress Like a Common Prostitute, and Drink Free" Night. It's wall-to-wall with people inside, and there are about 50 more people outside, waiting to get in.

• Change in plans: On to the 24-hour Wal-Mart. I head back to the electronics department, and dammit, there's a huge line here, too. Are they giving away free crack with this year's version? The line here's about 30 deep, so I decide to get a little shopping done in the meantime. I got 48 pairs of tube socks, a jar of grape jelly and a car battery for $11.75.

• The upside, though? Wal-Mart's giving away free t-shirts and miniature foam footballs with every Madden purchase. Score.

• While waiting, it dawns on me that people like me who stand in line to get Madden at midnight aren't much different than the people who camp out overnight for tickets to the new Star Wars movie. Really, the only difference is stormtrooper outfits vs. Ben Roethlisberger jerseys.

• My favorite guys in line? The ones who make their girlfriends come with them, just so the other people in line know that they have girlfriends. "Yeah, that's right, I'm in line to buy a video game when it comes out at midnight, but I'm not like you dorks." In essence, they've brought along a dork-beard.

Now, on to the actual game ...

Madden IQ:

• You pop the game in, and the first thing you see is a flickering image of John Madden explaining "Madden IQ" and looking like the Emperor talking to Darth Vader via the electronic Star Wars telecommuting thingie. It's a little unsettling. I'm going to have nightmares about John Madden shooting lightning bolts at me through this fingertips while Brett Favre throws red glowing footballs at me and tells me that he's my father.

• The Madden IQ test is a series of drills in a Tron-like environment, and they test and grade you in four different aspects of the game: rushing offense, passing offense, rushing defense, and passing defense. The drills themselves quite similar to other drills they've had in the game before, except this is done in a freaky, shiny-black-floored, neon-glowing environment.

• I'm a little embarrassed to share it with you, but my initial Madden IQ was a paltry 492. I absolutely whiffed on the rushing defense portion of the test. Didn't make one tackle. They give you these icons above your head that tell you the correct button to use to make the tackle, which is just annoying. I've been playing this thing for 20 years, I know how to tackle a guy. Stop telling me what to do, John Madden.

• The idea is that the game will take your performance in these events, grade it, and adjust the difficulty of different aspects of the game to suit you. For instance, if you're really bad at throwing the football, the game will recognize that, relax the coverage against you, throw less pressure at you, and make life easier for your virtual Jake Delhomme. By the same token, if you're really good at running the football, the game adapts, stiffens up the defense, and leaves fewer holes for your virtual Adrian Peterson. It sounds good in theory. Let's see how she plays.

Playing the Game:

• The first thing I notice in actual gameplay is how each different stadium brings a completely different feel to the game. I'm not sure how they did it, but they've really  managed to bring each unique environment to life. Playing at Heinz Field looks and feels completely different to playing in Qualcomm, for example, way more so than in any previous version of Madden.

• I'm not sure I want to be the kind of guy who says that the grass looks awesome in a video game, but, well ... the grass looks kind of awesome.

• I also love how the helmets are so shiny and glossy, while the jerseys have more of a matte finish. It just looks fantastic, even if noticing these things does little for my self-esteem.

• The commentary. I guess it's nice having different voices in Tom Hammond and Cris Collinsworth, but they're no better or worse than any game commentary that's ever existed. They still get quite a few things wrong, and you still get tired of hearing certain things very quickly. Tom Hammond said "decleated" four times in the first quarter of the first game I played. I'm not sure we've progressed very much at all from the days when Pat Summerall just gave us the occasional subdued "first down."

• Madden IQ in action: Again, I did pretty well in pass defense in the IQ test, but pretty poorly in the rush defense. As a result, the game has adjusted for me, and I've held DeAngelo Williams to -2 yards on 6 carries, but Jake Delhomme is carving me up like a Christmas ham.

• I'm not sure that the whole Madden IQ bit isn't unlike an NFL player's performance in the combine vs. an NFL player's performance in actual football games. Because you're good at the Madden IQ drills doesn't mean you'll be good at the game, and not being very good at the Madden IQ drills doesn't necessarily mean you won't be good at the game. I'm starting to think it's a feature I can live without. Fortunately, I have the option to do so.

• The Rewind feature. Before each game, you can set the number of "Rewinds" you have in a game, essentially giving you a do-over on any given play. Again, I think this one sounded promising in theory, but it wasn't long into my Madden experience that I decided that I'd never use it. "Rewinds" are for little girls. If you throw an interception, you threw an interception. Live with it, pal.

• Madden Moments. I was surprised to find how much I liked the Madden Moments. It's a series of moments from the '07 NFL season that you're asked to recreate. For example, the first one is the Dolphins lone win last year, where they beat the Ravens in overtime. The cool thing about it to me is that it takes you back to a moment from last year you may have forgotten about. I saw this and thought, "Oh yeah, the Greg Camarillo play. Sweet." Anything that makes Greg Camarillo a bigger part of my life, I'm all for.

• Franchise Mode. To me, this is really the end-all, be-all with a football game. It's where I'll be spending 95% of my Madden time. And I'm sorry to say that there isn't a ton that's different in the '09 version. You can "train" three different players before each game ... pretty blah. The off-season, draft, and free agent processes work pretty much the way they always have. To be honest, the recruiting process in NCAA Football '09 is far more entertaining than anything you do in the off-season process in Madden. Disappointing.

• Odd little note: My first simulated season in franchise mode has the Rams going 13-3 and losing to the Patriots in the Super Bowl. EA believes in the Rams.

• The in-season scouting of college players is a terrible, terrible thing. It might be a good idea, but I'm never going to know, because it takes forever to do anything in the scouting screen. If you want to look at a player, it'll take two seconds of load time. Press 'b' to go back one screen, it'll take two seconds of load time. It's infuriating, it makes me want to kick a dog, and I'm not doing it.

• Costing the game a few points in the realism category, Steve Smith was available to play the first game of the year, and Ken Lucas's face was intact.

Despite all this, Madden '09 is still a great game, and here's why:

• You can strip away all the hyped new features for this year's version, the Rewind, the Madden IQ, and everything else (and I likely will strip them away manually when I play) ... and it's still Madden, you know? There are enough visual improvements, new animations, and subtle little additions that make the game worth owning, if for no other reason than every time a new Madden is released, there's a new best football video game ever. It looks amazing and plays brilliantly, just as it always has.

• I'm not saying it's perfect. Some of the little foibles that have always plagued Madden are still there; for example, my offensive linemen still pull the "¡Olé!" routine with far too much frequency. But in the grand scheme of things, these are far outweighed by the game's overwhelming strengths.

If I have to give it a grade, I'm going with an A-. There were options on the table that could've pushed it to an A+, but they just didn't pan out. The fortunate thing is that just by building a little bit on what they've done for the last 20 years, EA can still turn out an A- while adding nothing revolutionary.

Related: Madden/Video Games