Madden 360 A Piece Of Cake?

A few entries ago I lamented about the missing Madden 360 features that were pushing me towards the direction of starting a franchise on current gen Madden 06. Last week the dam finally broke and I couldn't resist playing a franchise with imported draft classes and several of my other favorite features. But missing features aside, there was something else about Madden 360 that was bothering me as well from a franchise standpoint. The computer is just too damn easy to beat.

I'm not the best Madden player on the planet. On current gen I typically hand the computer a defeat while playing on All Madden, but my most recent next gen Madden games haven't been the least bit competitive. I had been running a franchise with the Titans, a team that has enough holes that I thought I'd be able to get a good game out of the computer. I went so far as to sign a sentimental free agent, Eddie George. I figuered it would be some kind of challenge winning games with a half back who is on the wrong side of 30. I was wrong.

With an aging running back and quarterback I was able to destroy my opponents, racking up about 150 yards a game with George on the ground and many more with Steve McNair. I checked the cover to make sure I wasn't playing Madden '99 and was disappointed to see that this was indeed Madden 06 that was humming inside my 360 console. To make matters worse, the computer was incapable of putting together any kind of decent offensive effort. It didn't matter that I had loaded my team with rookie defensive players at key positions. They were unstoppable.

One thing that people used to complain about a whole lot with the current gen Madden games is how they felt that a computer opponent would sometimes be unstoppable or that there was some sort of a mysterious "comeback mode" that would allow the computer to get back into a game where they were being slaughtered. Playing Madden 360 franchise mode has almost made me wish I'd get some sort of a tough break that would benefit my AI opponent.

Madden 360 plays a heck of a game of football, but for a veteran like myself it's just not enough of a challenge as far as the computer is concerned. Maybe I ought to hop online and get my butt kicked a few more times by players much more skilled than myself. In the mean time, I'm going to see what Vince Young can do with a Miami team that went 1-15 after a simmed season. That should be enough challenge to keep my interest.