Fewer Fumbles

Every summer, gamers ask me their best question of the year: Do they really have to buy the new "Madden NFL" football game? After all, each year's "Madden" looks and plays pretty much like the previous year's model. So why spend $60 on the same new thing?

I haven't reviewed "Madden NFL '09" yet, because it doesn't come out until Tuesday. But I've played its annual precursor, the new "NCAA Football '09." You see, "Madden" and "NCAA" are crafted around the same computer model by EA Sports, so they always play a lot like each other.

Therefore, if "Madden NFL '09" is like "NCAA Football '09," then yes, there is one good reason to buy either game this year: There are far fewer fumbles and interceptions than before.

Last year's "Madden" and "NCAA" were such turnover machines, they transformed me into a lunatic of vile rage for hours at a time. It was routine in those 2008 titles to suffer eight interceptions in a game of five-minute quarters.

But in the new "NCAA Football '09," fumbles and turnovers have been scaled back and thus are more realistic annoyances. That's a relief.

Perhaps as a result, some gamers are complaining online that the new offense in "NCAA" is too easy. I know what they're getting at. In my first game as the Georgia Bulldogs, I scored 110 points in a 20-minute game against some terrible team called FCS Southeast.

On the other hand, my Bulldogs barely beat little Central Michigan by 31-21. In fact, it seems that playing defense can be challenging enough on a casual level, as long as you don't cheat the system (by realigning linebackers and offensive linemen in crafty ways to confuse the computer).

I would even proclaim this may be the year "NCAA Football" finally has gotten its act together on every front. You can play as the same team for many seasons in the "Franchise" mode. You can challenge other gamers online. And little improvements abound; it's especially easy to page through your playbook.

"NCAA" also looks better than ever. It is astonishing to watch the high-definition, realistic movements of quarterbacks, running backs, safeties and linebackers as they hobble, hold their legs and pump their fists. Someday in the future, I'm sure, the images in sports games will be video holograms. But for now, this artistic re-creation should blow you away.

If you can deal with less realism in the computer graphics of a sports game, you can pick up "Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2" for the PSP. All the characters look like little anime bobble heads, with squatty bodies and pointy faces. They're pretty stupid looking, in a good way.

But games don't need to approach photorealism to be good. They just need to play fun. And that's what "Open Tee 2" offers, a surprisingly full and entertaining golf outing that is easier to control and win than "Tiger Woods" games.

("NCAA Football '09" by EA Sports retails for $60 for PS 3 and Xbox 360; $50 for Wii; $40 for PSP and PS 2 -- Plays quite fun. Looks great. Moderately challenging. Rated "E." Four stars.)

("Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2" by Sony retails for $30 for PSP -- Plays fun. Looks good. Moderately challenging. Rated "E" for mild suggestive themes. Three stars out of four.)