I've never been a huge fan of Madden, not because of the game but more because of the topic. I'm just not that into watching sports and that translated, I think, into my not being that into playing video game versions of them either.

But I've always appreciated the technical aspects of the Electronic Arts game, the way the video game not only mimicked the real life version, but eventually influenced it.

So when I received Madden for the Wii I dumped it on my pile of games to play without much excitement.

When I finally gave it a try over the weekend it was to take on a neighbor's teenage son, who loves football.

Man, was I surprised but what a difference the Wii's motion controls make to the game. While I initially thought it was a sort of tacked on feature, much like what I found in the PS3 version of the game, it turns out it really changes the experience.

My favorite bit of control is passing. To snap the ball you need to whip the remote back to your shoulder as if cocking your arm back to throw a pass. Then you push a button on the remote to select which receiver you want to target and then snap the remote forward as if throwing the ball. The harder you snap the further it goes, you can even lob the ball.

When receiving you can just let your guy try to catch it or you can throw the remote and nunchuk up in the air and your receiver will stretch his arms up to catch the ball.

The controls also let you juke and move about while running and, my very favorite party, dance around after making a touchdown.

Defense isn't quite as fun, but it still offers you the opportunity to punch both controllers forward quickly to add some power behind your hits, essentially replacing the hit stick with real motion.

It might not sound it, but it makes the game tons of fun to play and really changes the dynamic of how you play Madden.

While the two player, one television version of multiplayer was a lot of fun, I'm still bummed there's no online gaming. Yes, I know there's no network to support it yet, but that doesn't make it suck any less.

The only motion control I didn't like in the game was kicking, mostly because I kept whipping the damn nunchuk cord into my eye. And that hurts like hell. Most this was because I was getting too much into the game. I don't think you really need to whip the remote up as hard as I was to get off a good kick, but it's more fun that way.

As surprising as this is to me, I think Madden is currently the best game I've played on the Wii, bar the inevitably good Zelda title.

Of course I still haven't played a ton of the release titles, so that might change. I have high, though perhaps unwarranted, hopes for Call of Duty 3. Brian Crecente

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