Madden NFL 08

""Hey! Let's put the SAME game in a DIFFERENT case and call it Madden 08!""

Introduction:

Hello and welcome, fellow Maddenites and thank you for taking the time to read this review. Let me first start by saying that I, along with millions of other people around the world, have been an avid supporter of EA Sports' John Madden Football series for many, many years. Every August brought a new version of the game, usually introducing more and more features each year. EA Sports took whatever they had the year before and improved upon it; turning the bad into the good, the negatives into the positives. Although the number of features dwindled as the years have gone on, I always bought it anyway and I had a good time, which was the most important thing to me. I always felt that I got my money's worth and never in a million years would I have imagined EA to fail me in bringing a fresh, new Madden experience...until this year. What went wrong? Read on.

Presentation: 2/10

So I start the game up to see the traditional EA Sports logo flash onto the screen, followed by the token "IT'S IN THE GAME!" slogan. Cool. Moving on, Vince Young's the cover boy this year as he graces the main title screen. Neat. I hit the A button to continue and I'm prompted by a question asking me what my favorite team is; I select the San Francisco 49ers and we move onto the main menu, where the SF logo pops up. I'm watching the SF logo pulse around against this boring blue background, waiting...hoping...praying to God something interesting happens. I mean, last year's PS2 version had pictures of your favorite team's players flash up onto the screen, and that's the current-generation version, so why wouldn't the Wii version have something better? Or even something similar? Rather, the developers decided to just slap your favorite team's logo onto the background, making it move around on occasion. Alright. Kinda stupid, but really, it's no big deal.

Next, I decide to check out the newly updated rosters and see the new rookie players. I scroll down to Patrick Willis, the 49ers linebacker, and I click on his "Appearance". I'm waiting for the in-game player model to pop up like it normally would. Seconds pass. Many more seconds pass. Wait a minute. What's the deal? The in-game player model never does show up, yet the entire right half of the screen, where the in-game model used to be, is completely empty. Alright. Kinda stupid, but really, it's no big deal.

Alright, enough of this stuff, let's get to starting up a real game. I pick, yeah, you guessed it, the 49ers, and I'm playing against the Rams. First play of the game, Frank Gore rushes to the left for a gain of 12 yards! Awesome! I wanna check it out in Instant Replay. I check out the play that I just ran in slow-motion, as Frank Gore runs right between the two offensive linemen. Wait a minute, something looks really off. Why is Frank Gore, who is 5'9'' in real life, as tall as Jonas Jennings and Larry Allen, who are both 6'3''? Wait a minute! Why is EVERYONE the same height? Yes. It's true. After further inspection, I find that every in-game character model is the same height (which completely defeats the purpose of having small, speedy receivers and tall, towering red-zone threat receivers). Whether it be Santana Moss or Terrell Owens, Maurice Jones Drew or Adrian Peterson, Drew Brees or Tom Brady, EVERYONE is the same height. Alright. Kinda stupid, but really, it's no big deal...

...or is it?

It's little details like these, among many others, that add up and ultimately spell "LAZY DEVELOPER". Every one of these faults are minor and are easily fixable. How do I know this? Because they all USED to be in the game! Is it really that difficult to make tall receivers tall and small receivers small, EA? And why aren't character models shown in the 'View Rosters' section anymore? Because you were hoping we wouldn't notice the fact that every player is the same height? These small mistakes are inexcusable, due to the fact that they are SMALL mistakes. There's no reason why they should be there, other than EA deciding to be lazy.

Graphics: 5/10

Let's not kid ourselves. The Wii version's graphics are nowhere near the level of the Xbox 360 or PS3 versions. And you know what? I have NO problem with that. We are all well-aware of the fact that the Wii is not as powerful as the other two consoles, but at the same time, we know that the Wii is definitely more capable than the PS2. And honestly, with Madden 08, the Wii version's graphics aren't much better than the PS2 version, and THAT is inexcusable. It's a real shame because EA, as a developer, isn't even trying to reach the Wii's potential in the graphics department. How do I know this? Because it looks like crap. There's no reason why a next-gen console version of Madden should resemble the PS2 version. The Nintendo Wii CAN and SHOULD pump out better visuals than this.

Audio: 7/10

I don't have much to say about the audio department. Plus, it really depends on the type equipment/speakers you have. If you have a good surround sound system set up, in-game audio sounds immersing and rich. If you have any other run-of-the-mill audio system, it sounds 'okay'. The soundtrack this year is the same type of mix you'd expect from a Madden game. There's some rap and there's some rock; really nothing special. It would've been a lot better if you could upload your own custom soundtracks.

Also, I should add that during the game, before the snap, the QB makes any pre-snap audibles ("SEEEETTT!", "BLUE! 42!", etc. etc.) through the Wii-mote. Unfortunately, the sound quality of the Wii-mote speakers are really poor, therefore anything coming out sounds really muffled and really annoying. Thankfully, you can just turn off the Wii-mote speakers by just going to the Wii's main menu.

Gameplay: 3/10

Play Now Mode, Franchise Mode, Superstar Mode, Mini-Camp drills, Practice Mode, Multiplayer Mode: all of them are back and nothing has changed. Seriously. Nothing. I mean, the menus have changed colors and the interface has received a small face-lift, but any game mode in Madden 08 can be found in Madden 07, with the exception of one: Online Mode.

Where do I start? Online Mode, in one word, just feels broken. Honest to God, it's barely playable. First off, there's horrible lag, adding sometimes up to a full-second delay. And no, it definitely isn't my connection, or my opponents, because both of us have full bars. I really didn't want to let it bother me, I really TRIED to play it. I played one game and it lagged. I played another game and it lagged. I turned off the system for awhile, then I came back to it later that night, booted it up again and played a couple more games. All of them had lag. And it might not sound that bad on paper, but really, it DOES hinder your gameplay. I would consider myself to be a seasoned Madden veteran, but I probably looked like a drunken fool trying to play online due to the awful slow-down in gameplay.

Conclusion:

I spent $50 on a brand new copy of Madden 08 the day it came out. I really tried to find reasons to make my purchase justifiable, but in the end, I just could not. I rarely ever return games that I buy, but I returned my copy of Madden 08 after spending 2 days with it (for in-store credit that I put towards Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, which is going to be freakin' amazing, by the way). All I know is next year, I won't be buying a new Madden on release day for the first time in my gaming career. I'm going to wait it out, read some reviews, and hopefully, EA will get it right, because quite frankly, Madden 08 is a flop.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 08/19/07