Why Madden is the Best Sports Video Game

I play a lot of video games. I mean A LOT. Throughout my life I have owned almost every system you can name: Atari, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega, Dreamcast, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Xbox, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and of course Gamegear and Gameboy (color and original).

One of my favorite genre of video games, as you can probably guess, is sports. I have always loved sports game for obvious reasons. They are always fun, the most realistic, and a great way to compete with your friends.

Over the past 10 years I have consistently owned at least 1 football, baseball, hockey, basketball, and soccer game. Of all of these sports the football game, which for as long as I can remember has been Madden, has always been the best and there is 1 reason why.

Madden is the only video game franchise where I play every single game.

Think about it and be honest with yourself. When was the last time you played 162 games of a season in any baseball game? I know I never have. That would take forever. I usually play about 10-20 and then simulate 10-20. You can call it cheating if you want but 162 games is way too repetitive.

NHL and NBA games have the same problem although not to the same extent. Each season requires you to play 82 games. Who plays all 82 games with the same team without getting wicked bored? I just can't do it.

But with Madden it is perfect. 16 games and then playoffs with the most games you play being 20. Well 21 if you play the Pro Bowl but even gamers don't wanna have anything to do with the Pro Bowl.

The reason this is so important is because one of the best parts about playing sports video games is seeing the progress you make with your players or in the cases of the newer EA games the Be a Pro mode. I like seeing my younger players get higher rated and become the superstars of the league rather than being dusters.

In the case of baseball, hockey, and basketball games it just takes way to long for this to happen. Take NBA Live 09 for example. I play as the Toronto Raptors and right off the bat I traded for Rajon Rondo. In 09 they have Rondo rated as a 78 I believe which is far too low. If you play 82 games and go through the off-season mode he goes up to roughly an 82. Now I can either play 82 games and let this happen or win 40 games and then simulate the rest knowing I will make the playoffs.

Now I may be the only one who finds this to be an issue but I think other people feel the same way. I like the managerial aspects of sports and like making trades, signing free agents and seeing players develop. What I don't like is playing 162 games with the exact same roster and using the same 9 guys to get hits game after game.

That is why Madden is the best sports video game out there because you can actually play every game and not get bored.

Additional Rant: One thing I always hated about Madden was the fact that I was a Jets fan. I love the Jets but they have never had a quarterback I like. Both Chad Pennington and Vinny Testaverde suck hard and whenever I started a new season I would use my 1st round pick to upgrade at quarterback.

I no longer have this problem since Mark Sanchez is the man but for a long time that frustrated me to no end. But is there anything worse than when your team has a dumpy quarterback in Madden?

Final Comment: Last week Josh Johnson started for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His Madden rating is 38. Worst Madden rating for a starting quarterback in NFL history? I gotta think so.

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