Madden 08 (XBOX 360 & PS3) Review
Posted by Sean Garmer on 08.29.2007
It's the game you've all been waiting for.
Unless you live under a rock, you know how much importance the name Madden holds on American culture. It is continually the top selling game in the United States, and the release date of Madden becomes an event every year. The problem is, that since they’ve taken the exclusive NFL license, they were able to rely on the power of the PS2 to carry them, and did not have to strive to make a true next-gen Madden. After two years of waiting, there was intense pressure on EA to finally deliver this year, and that they did. Does EA do anything marvelous on the XBOX 360 or PS3? Not really, but they have finally given the systems a full game to enjoy, and that’s more important than anything. Then again, when you are the highest selling game in your region, just keep giving fans what they want, and EA will keep seeing results. Is this Madden worth your time? If you are a fan of the NFL, it has to be.
Graphics: Madden has not changed much graphically from last year, in the way that it looks on paper. In reality though, Madden has always done that, it does the graphical overhaul when it first moves to a new system, and then just does some touches every year. What is different this year is the animations have been improved. You can now do a juke move and go instantly into another move such as a spin, without having to wait until the first animation finishes to go into the other. That’s something that has been a problem in previous versions, it’s good to see it fixed here. Other than that, there’s some details added here and there to the players and stadiums, but overall its similar graphics as last year.
Gameplay: The major change to this year’s game is the introduction of a skill weapons system. Very similar to NBA Live, there are icons under the players that are considered stars. They are divided into what skill they seem to exhibit most in their arsenal. For example, Roy Williams is a big hitter, because he’s known for some rather vicious hits, and Peyton Manning is a smart QB that can read defenses like the back of his hand. However, things are not one sided, there is a counter to every weapon. Shutdown corners will take away flashy receivers. Elusive, tricky running backs will fall victim to big hitting defenders. Then at some point, when the meter gets full defenders can read the field to snipe out a play, and the QB’s on the other side can do the same. Due to these counters and weapons working out well, it’s automatically better than the badly instituted ones in NBA Live, because they don’t try to overkill the fact that there are stars on the field. They play different enough, to distinguish them from regular players, and the weapons let novices to Madden, know who’s good just by seeing the icons.
Another new feature is the ability to control the wide receiver on the pre-snap by pressing B to switch through players, and then the LB button to use that receiver. Then once the receiver is chosen, the player can attempt to follow the route set on the play, or make your own route and press A to call for the ball. This seems to work better if you follow the route on the play as the receiver will have a better tendency to have the ball thrown to him, than if you make up your own run because the A.I. won’t understand what your doing. It’s a nice little feature that many will find useful, but honestly it’s similar to the lead block feature included last year, it’s a cool novelty thing.
A good update that works well in conjunction with the weapons system is the “hit stick 2.0.” Now instead of just pushing the stick and causing a big hit, there’s an actual point to pushing the right analog stick in a certain direction. If it’s pressed up there’s a high tackle and pressing it down causes a low tackle. So there’s some strategy to the stick now, not only with that, but if you use a big hitter along with that, the chance of causing fumbles goes through the roof. Fumbles do seem to happen much more in this game, than in previous versions of Madden, but I think it has to do more with the Weapons system, and the A.I. tending to use the hit stick more, than because the game having issues. I did have Reggie Bush fumble on me about four times in one game, and averaged almost two a game for me in a season. However, because he’s able to do so many moves his weakness of fumbling the ball becomes very exposed when you think about it.
Finally, we have the inclusion of the defensive playmaker controls that have been absent in the last two iterations. They work a little differently than they have in the PS2 or XBOX version of the game, instead of just using the right analog stick, as you would on offense, you have to press A, and then go through a menu of pressing buttons, similar to calling an audible. Some may like this option, but I find it confusing and it takes too long to do, many times I couldn’t complete the change before the ball was snapped. However, it’s nice to see it in the game, as it was something that saved my butt many times in online play in previous versions of the older game.
In a small side note, the create-a-team feature has been added to this year’s game, it’s always a cool feature to have, for people that like to create their own teams and use them in franchise mode.
There have been some updates made to franchise mode. Firstly, you can choose to work with the city that your controlled team resides in, or even move the team to another city to build a new stadium. Showing the folks out there what it’s like to go through some of the process it takes to get a new building through the taxpayers. Another thing is that scouting takes place throughout the season. You can scout five players at a time and it comes back and tells you what their strengths and weaknesses are. Finally, is the ability to train any member of your team through the play of a mini-game to get them points to build up their key stats, so that they can gain another weapon. This seems like a tacked-on thing, as unless you are really good at the mini-games, you probably won’t see any great advancement in the players stats unless you play through the franchise multiple times, although, it is still nice to feel, like you can put them through some practice before playing the actual game. Other than that, there is still no owner mode, the game allows you to see the financial successes and failures of the team, but you cannot adjust anything, which at this point should be included. Especially, when you consider that you are telling people that there’s a new “Front Office Mode” and a feature that has been in older games for years, has still not made it into the next-gen versions hurts it a little bit.
As far as the rest of the things go, the highlight stick is still the same as always, the mini-games are also the same, except with Merril Hodge giving good explanations of what to do. Superstar mode, for the most part is unchanged, except that they moved the camera farther back, so that, you can see the field more, which is a good thing. The game itself as I mentioned is a lot smoother on the field and the intelligence of the CPU has been upgraded big time. There’s a challenge even on the Pro level, especially on defense where you’ll see your team through quite a few interceptions along with the fumbles. Not to mention, the pass rush is going to come, and at times unblocked, so you have to be watching everything on the field, and not just your receivers. Overall, if you are buying Madden solely for how it plays on the field, you can’t go wrong here with what it does.
Sound The sound effects of the bone crunching tackles and anguish of the players is very distinguishable. The crowds seem to be lively and you can hear player chatter as the players try to communicate the plays and reads to each other.
The music is just new rap and rock tracks mixed in with the always great NFL Films stuff. Of course, that’s not really a problem anymore, as you can play your own stuff instead of hearing the EA Trax. The commentary is again without John Madden and Al Michaels, instead we get the local radio guy that at times can be a mixed bag. Most of the time I forget he’s even there, which isn’t bad, in fact the announcer seems like he’s genuine and not feeding us the same lines that Madden and Michaels seem to be giving year after year. This game let’s you experience the game as if you were there at the stadium, instead of making it an overbearing experience with someone talking all the time. I tend to do my own commentary as it is, but I kinda like this hands off approach to the commentary. Most people playing this game know football as it is, this isn’t television, they don’t need everything explained to them, or restating the obvious. The game has Marshall Faulk doing a pre-game preview, which is usually pretty boring and just makes me hit the skip button. However, I do like the special player introductions it gets you amped for the game, and lets the player know some of the other team’s key players.
Lasting Appeal: Madden is one of those games, that because it’s so huge in American culture almost everyone buys it. So, the key here is the online play, which just as was said at E3 is pretty smooth. There’s the occasional lag, but never a big pause time, unless the person your playing has a bad connection. There’s still no online season or league, it’s still just head to head match-ups, but it should still make people play Madden for a long time. Not to mention there’s up to four player head to head or co-op play. The game itself plays great, and I really don’t use many of the new features, that’s something that’s always separated Madden from the rest, at it’s core it’s a great game. It’s just not always worth the purchase because they don’t do enough new things with it. Regardless, as always people will be playing this till the next one comes out.
Fun Factor: Madden is a fun game, and as always more enjoyable playing against other people. The fact that next-gen fans, finally have a full-game to enjoy makes this one worth the purchase. The company does online roster updates and with all the challenges and tournaments around the states. The difficulty of the A.I. helps people train to be better than ever, bottom line, if you ever had fun with Madden, this will be no exception.
On a sidenote, anyone interested in buying this for the PS3, there are two differences from the 360 version. One is that obviously, online will be a different experience. The second, is because the PS3 version of Madden is slower than the 360 version. The slowdown is noticeable, but unless you have a friend that has the 360 version, you won’t really notice the problem, it is never a big enough issue to conflict with the gameplay. I just thought it deserved a passing mention.
The 411: Madden at it’s core is always a great game of Football. XBOX 360 Madden players will be pleased to know that this game is pretty close to the older generations, as EA has ever made. Franchise has made a step-up, Superstar is easier to use, Online mode is great, and the game plays smoothly. Not to mention the weapons system combines well to provide more realism, tie that in to the improved A.I. and there is a lot to enjoy here. Madden is still the only game with the NFL license, but you can really tell they tried this year.
Graphics
9.0
The animations are a ton smoother this year, the game is fast, and the players look as great as always.
Gameplay
8.5
Madden virtually plays the same, but the weapons system, upgraded hit stick, and better A.I. all help to make this Madden the one to buy.
Sound
8.0
The trax are meh but you can fix that. However, the commentary without Madden is actually a good thing.
Lasting Appeal
10.0
Madden always finds a way to stay in systems till the next one comes out, and this one will be no different.
Fun Factor
10.0
Great online play, 4 player co-op and head to head, updated franchise, and a better superstar mode. You can fun with this one for days.
