Madden NFL 08

"And so, we mourn the loss of our friend, ESPN Football..."

Sorry to disappoint the masses, but this Madden failed the course on Football. I see a laundry list of 9's, a few 10's, and only two scores of 6 or less, yet the message boards are FULL of complaints. What is it, shock or denial that makes so many people fanatics in defense of Madden? Come on, they've had over 2 years now as the only NFL brand on the market, and this is the best they can do? They've been putting out football games on consoles for decades, and this is the best that they can do? I am ashamed to say that I, like everyone else, rushed out to get the "new" Madden the day that it came out. Now I wish I had spent my money on three or four of the bargain bin titles instead.

GRAPHICS: 6/10 More of the same, still disturbingly unrealistic in comparison to the live video they show in the intro. Take a minute, watch the intro the whole way through, and compare them side-by-side for yourself. See the jerkiness and lack of smooth animation as compared to the real football players? Sure, the models are a far cry better than the old PS One Madden models, but how many times will they update sports games without looking over their shoulders at racing and other simulation games and realizing "Whoa, people get dirty, clothing, like cars, gets damaged, thrashed, changed, etc"? How many times will they update the same, boring animations without looking at their absolutely horrid sidelines? I mean, look at the sidelines for chrissakes! It looks like Tecmo Bowl! Have we really come this far to settle for such mediocrity in "Next Gen" gaming?

On the good side of the graphics, it does run fairly smoothly. I see very few animation glitches, and have yet to actually witness any of the animation bugs that are reported, such as phantom, floating balls, catches being sent into orbit and picked off with weird, gravitational pull catches, etc. Time will tell on that aspect, I guess.

SOUND: 5/10 Ok, the soundtrack is more of the same, really. One part Hip-Hop, one part Pop Rock, one part classic football and remixes. I still see absolutely no option from inside the game to allow one to add your own music into the playlist. Now, maybe it's really there and I can't find it. That seems to be a theme for this years Madden, ie. shoddy menu choices, but that will be a topic of later address. Look at Madden's only, truly top-end competitor, ESPN, from a few years ago, and you'll see all of the things that Madden does wrong redone correctly. Heck, I still play my XBOX ESPN to this day, and it is way outdated. Why? Because Madden's sound, graphics, everything is behind the times. Also, the commentary in-game gets worse each year. If I never hear the words "Player 1" in a commentary again, it will be too soon.

As far as good sound, sound effects are always good. they have always gotten at least that right. Overall, though, I see yet more mediocrity.

MENU/TECHNICAL: 2/10 Here's where Madden slips below even mediocrity. The purported "Front Office Mode", where you control the stadium sales, staffing, etc. is the worst I've ever seen. If you're a micromanager, Sim player, or in anyway enjoy fiscal reports or economical aspects of football, DO NOT expect much here. Some charts, a clunky interface, and default computer control of all aspects make this a horrific backstep in Madden's history. This Front Office is more akin to a 90's portrayal of "simulation" of the football management experience. The slim little book you get with your 60$ game is also quite lacking. The tutorials for first time players, non-existent. No, instead Madden's designers believe they will have absolutely NO NEW players this year. And if I had my way, they'd be right.

Seriously, the whole lack of tutorial/coaching/practice drills for new players deserves it's own paragraph. Now, usually I could be a bit elitist and snobbish in this direction, stating "how hard is it, really, to play a little football game?" But, after playing against my father-in-law last night (someone who has been a lifelong Packers fan, could tell you what formation was used in what play of every game for the last 5 years running, I am sure) and noticing that Madden is so complex that it took me almost 30 minutes to explain both sides of gameplay to him...and he still had delay-of-game calls left and right...well, after that I decided Madden had totally failed at Life when they decided all they needed to cover in the booklet and in the tutorial section was "Weapons". Seriously? It's that revolutionary to make little icons that tell me my 300 lb. lineman hits like, well, a 300 lb. lineman (Love the cute bulldozer, but really....)? Or that my quarterback can "read" the defense? No thank you, I think I can read a defense faster and better by myself. I've been doing it since Tecmo Bowl, which does date me a bit, yes? But I digress, the entire technical and menu side of things is appalling.

The only good note: I get to see trophies straight from the menu. Cute.

GAMEPLAY: 3/10 The elephant sitting in the corner is gameplay. Much like the technical issues, this is where Madden should shine, since it's had so long to get it right. Unlike sound quality, music choices, graphics quality, and graphical content, the way football is played hardly changes. Sure, a few penalty changes every year, but ultimately, you throw the ball, you run the ball, you block, you hit, you tackle. That's it. And they get it right in some places, but for the most part, they try too hard to make the game something it is not: cute. I don't like cute in football. I don't want icons. I want to look at endless strings of data and stats and say "yes, McNabb is awesome, I think I'll utilize his throwing arm and speed", rather than having the game itself tel me all I can do is rocket arm a ball. Madden took away my versatility, my ability to decide for myself, and, worst of all, my ability to read the defense or offense for myself. I hate to sound like a broken record here, but ESPN did it better.

As an example, look at defense aspects in the two games. Madden has always packaged your defensive line with your defensive coverage, so that you have to micromanage your linemen by selecting them and choosing a new blocking designation if you don't like the defensive package you have. ESPN, on the other hand, had you choosing first your D-lines blocking/entrance package (crash right, crash left, blast middle, hook outs, etc. etc.) THEN the coverage of your defense (including line coverages such as OLB blitz, DT middle zone, which would take the DT out of the crash/blast/etc. and put him back into a zone coverage package). So, no need to select all of my linemen and give them arbitrary "blitz" or "cover" buttonpresses as in Madden, and I also see a marked improvement of run coverage from the d-line while still maintaining pass coverage from the other Defenders. Like, *gasp*, a real football coach! Madden has NEVER admitted that this aspect of play is broken and too time consuming, and it makes them look like chumps next to an old ESPN game with that very principle.

Good gameplay aspects? It's a Madden game, it has new schedules, it has new players, it updates the rosters for your team. That's about it. Par for the course for Madden, but subpar for football gamers worldwide.

OVERALL: 4/10 Rent it. For God's sake! Rent it, play it, then get out your '07 or '06 version and play the exact same Madden as this year without paying for it. The update isn't worth it, unless you collect Madden coverart or are interested in helping the Madden Curse come along for this year's (un)lucky front cover player.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 08/19/07