Madden NFL 07

"Madden's Newest Game Comes To The Wii"

Madden NFL 07

-Madden 07 is the newest addition to the NFL game franchise that has been going on for quite a while now. While, I, personally, haven't played a Madden game in quite a while. I picked this one up and said, "This game is pretty good".

-Madden's new control scheme may seem gimmicky to some, it couldn't get any easier to control a football game. It feels natural when you do actions like throw and kick, and never tiring. You can sit down while playing in most parts, although I found it difficult to kick while sitting down, but I'm sure nobody is that lazy. Actions you can preform while running defensively and offensively are executed by single buttons or small hand movements, which, again, are never tiring. Some actions are really interesting actually, like drumming up and down with the Nunchuk to break tackles, or just making a small overhand movement to throw, or just snapping the ball, by jerking the Wii remote back (which I might add is rather satisfying).

-Madden Football always comes with a large selection of modes and features, and this is no exception. The Wii's gameplay style makes it easy to jump in and play a two minute drill, or play a Franchise mode. There is a bunch of create-a-modes, like being able to create your own fan that'll cheer for you during a game. If you're new to the Madden series, or have no clue how to control the Wii version, go to the "Learn Madden" mode, it will teach you how to do each move in good detail, then, you practice that move in a setting that basically turns into a mini-game that you can go back and beat your own highscores. There is all the usual Madden modes: Franchise mode, Play now, Practice, Situation mode. You aren't really losing anything great from any past games.

-Playing football is the same as it ever been, let's see, choose your play (Which is, by the way, much faster on the Wii), execute it nicely, and win. There hasn't really been any gimmicks added like on some other Madden games, which is nice, it's just football, and fun.

-Sadly, graphics haven't changed since last gen, and there are certainly better looking titles for the Wii than this. It looks identical to what an Xbox could produce, maybe a little less than that. Which isn't horribly bad, it's still a fun football game, and I don't think the slightly outdated graphics hurt it. Overall for sound, I'd say it pretty good. The background music has a nice big selection of tracks, so far, for the announcers, I haven't heard the same thing come out of their mouths twice, which is a really good thing. Crowd noises are okay, but not really that important.

-Replayability is of course, infinite Madden being a sports game, but it doesn't really get boring for a long time because of all the goals the game sets for you, or goals that you can set for yourself. The game sets off goals you can beat now, and goals that can be beat over a period of time. Plus, there is all those mini-games that unlock harder mini-games that you can play over and over.

-My final word on the game is that is remains mainly unchanged over this gen and last gen, although the new and fun control set-up makes a positive difference that never gets tiring. This game has several modes that will keep you playing for quite a while. In terms of graphics, that also remains almost unchanged through last gen.

Final Rating - 7

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/07