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Madden NFL 08 Review (continued)
More User Submitted Madden NFL 08 Reviews
Date: 2007-08-17
NFL football in HD gaming glory.
I usually get Madden every year. The last few years have been unexciting in that respect. I got the games...played a few times and then the game collected dust only to be traded in a few months later. This time Madden is not following that trend.
I played a season already with a created team replacing my beloved Packers with a dark green and white fictitious team The White Demons. The computer made my team up of young and talented made up players. I dominated winning every game through the regular season and all the way to the Super-bowl. I had a lot of fun working with the players getting them improved in skills and abilities.
The graphics are amazing in this next-gen NFL experience on 360. The integration of the sports ticker from ESPN as well as ESPN Radio is pretty cool too. The online experience is good for playing head to head, but there still is no online season mode. Hopefully that will come next year. I don't understand why this has not been included. The injuries and referees are more realistic. The music is pretty good, but I am not happy that you cannot load your ripped songs from the hard drive into the game music system. You can only play your music from your play-lists by using the X button.
This Madden is getting back to the glory days of the game, but I think next year's version will fix all the complaints I have this year to really be the ultimate HD NFL gaming experience...
Date: 2007-08-17
Camera veiws
My only complaint is that I can't pull the camera back to be farther away from the field. I like to play cornerback, and it's hard when you can't see what you're doing until the ball is in the air. I hold the trigger back until the snap, but then the camera zooms back in automatically.
If anyone knows how to do this, i might just be stupid, so feel free to let me know.
Date: 2007-08-17
Why the hype? This is Madden 07.1
Off the top, yes, I am a huge fan of the 2K series of football. That said, I still own Madden 07 for the XBOX 360. I am new to the 360 and bought it mainly because 2K football was coming back with All Pro Football. While initially disappointed with the graphics in All Pro 2K8, its game play is simply awesome. I then found a good price on Madden 07 and it was better than expected and it gives me my NFL fix.
So, I decided to buy into the hype and try Madden 08. The result? I have already sold my copy. It is NOT worth the upgrade...it plays mainly like it could be Madden 07.1...the graphics actually look worse to me. This is Next Gen? I admit 2K8 isn't up to next gen standards either but this doesn't really look good. The players almost move too fast and not very smoothly...Madden 07 looks much better than this. Watch the D-Line go into their stance. They walk up and simply go down so fast that it doesn't look natural. And don't get me started on the fumbles. I've even encountered Brett Farve tiptoeing back and back and back and back for a 30 yard loss and it was counted as a no gain.
I am not a Madden hater...I want it to be great...but until they adopt the presentation and tightness of play as 2K can do, it will always be sub-par football.
Date: 2007-08-16
Gettin back on track? Ehhh,
Just got it, popped it in, and, ehhhh. Its Madden, not to much different than previous versions (the framerate has improved over the last 2 next gen versions, so it runs smoother) but they still got a long way to go. The icons are ok, there are different icons for different types of players, such as; cannon arm quaterback, precision qb, elusive rb, etc, etc, along with the number 0-100 ratings(which I prefer), I dont pay much attention to the icons, as a matter of fact I'm going to see if there is an option to have them not pop up at all.
The mini games to upgrade your players are enjoyable, although I have no idea what they were thinking with the reciever mini game. I can never track the ball, its like the screen jerks and throws me off, major improvement needed there, also playing the cornerback position is difficult. Now, this is just when you play as that specific player(legend mode). Its much easier to play the reciever/corner positions in regular game play mode by just switching to that player, and using them from that perspective, as the camera doesn't act all crazy on ya.
Game play runs pretty smooth, and the animations are pretty slick. Some clipping between players still occurs, but I've gotten so used to that it doesnt really bother me, and it doesnt effect the overall gameplay anyway, ( I'm not one of those folks who complain "WHAT, his big toe just went thru that guys heel, this game is crap!") Get over it already.
Presentation is what will take Madden over the top. For the life of me, I cant understand why they will not make any improvements to it. Whats the hold up on this? Sideline players still look retarded, I mean they have the coach over there walking around, and a bunch of generic sideline players all doing the same exact thing, and they have no detail about themselves either. Same thing with NCAA. Come on EA, step ya game up a little for once, please. Can we get real commentators, what the hell is this radio voice thing they have going on? NCAA 08s commetators are way better. 2ks commentary still trumps Maddens also. Crowd still needs major improvements also. These all seem like small improvements that're needed, I mean the gameplay is Madden, its pretty good. Just give us some action on the sidelines, crowd, ya know, the small details.
There's some kind of build your own super bowl ring that I'm not to interested in, so you can play around with that when you buy the game or read about it in another review or something.
Thats pretty much it, like I said, its Madden, not really downgraded, but could have been much better if they just crank the atmosphere/presentation up a little bit. You guys have the ESPN liscense, now USE IT!
By the way, NCAA 08 is a much better game. Madden, better step your game up son, ya losin the race with ya little brother.
Date: 2007-08-16
Better than some of what's being reported
I wish there was a 4.5 star rating, because that would be the pick. I'm a converted PS2 user who migrated over to the 360, and Madden represents %90% of what I play on the consoles. When I swithed during the last year, I couldn't believe how terrible Madden 07 was on the console. This year, the folks at EA have put out a FAR improved product.
If you've played on the PS2 in recent years, you'll know what I'm talking about-- essentially, the folks at Madden took much of what really worked well on the PS2 in terms of play-calling and responsiveness and ported that to the 360. The result is far better gameplay, wrapped in an amazing graphical package.
The weapons system is a nice touch, but it's the improved AI, particularly in the secondary, which really makes a difference. I think that it takes more skill to play this year, and I think that there is a bit of a learning curve that some players are going through.
That said, this game is head and shoulders over last year's version and is certainly worth serious consideration for anyone who likes football.
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