Full Madden 08′ Review

Sorry to have yet another post about Madden 08, but I’ve finally played it enough to give it a decent review. Keep in mind, I have this on the xbox 360, and I have a 120″ high def tv with 5.1 surrond sound, on the stadium setting. I think that’s worth mentioning, because it really enhances the game, and there are times when you honestly think you’re watching a real game.

Overview: Once again, I must say, I’m impressed. It looks like all the features of the old Madden games are back. There are still some frustrating follies and some annoying anomalies, but honestly, do you really think any game ever created will be exception free?

I’ve played the game for a week now. I’ve probably played 15-20 games, but unfortunately, they’ve all been with the Rams, in franchise mode. I did play superstar mode, but my created player was so terrible, I had to call it quits.

Gameplay: The gameplay is not too far off from, lets say, the 2007 version, as far as what you do during a typical play. However, it seems like the AI is much, much better, and the defense (whether it’s you, or the other guy) seems to be very sharp, and able to pop the ball out and able to jump in front of a pass and intercept the ball.

I DO think there were a few changes with some of the buttons though. The only one I can easily think of is the stiffarm. I’m pretty sure that used to be the LB button, but now it’s the A button. LB is now a fake pitch… Back to my first post, I asked why there was a fake pitch, when there wasn’t a real pitch… well, there IS a real pitch. I haven’t used it much, but yes, you can actually latteral the ball now. Something we haven’t been able to do in Madden since the PS1 days. There’s some kind of trick to it though. I think certain conditions must be met before you can just toss the ball away (like there has to be someone to toss it too).

Graphics: The graphics are simply amazing. The animations for tackling, blocking, jumping, deeking, kicking, everything… almost flawless. One of the great things in this edition is the physics engine for tackles. In the past, if you were in the process of being tackled, you would fall whatever way you started to fall, and that was that, no matter how many people hit you after that. And oh yeah, once you started to get tackled, you were essentially… tackled.

Now, when a cornerback is grabbing your legs and dragging you down… you start to fall forward, and then the big safety smashes you from the side, you start falling in that direction. Also, I’ve seen a few cases where someone is grabbing onto me, and the tackle animation starts, and I’m surely falling down, leaning further and further, and then the tackler can’t hold on and I get free and get a few more yards.

There are several pictures below the fold that you can check out the graphics. These were taken in the picth black basement from about 15 ft away. They definitely don’t do it justice, since the camera doesn’t seem to do well in the dark w/o the flash, but if nothing else, there are some good pics of the animations.

Difficulty: This always seems to be a grey area for me. The game is either too easy or too hard. I’m finding that again here. I played on Pro for about 10 games and I only lost 1. I scored 40+ in one game, which is usually the point I decide to bump it up to All-Pro. Since I’ve switched to All-Pro, I think I’m 1-4 or 1-5, and I STRUGGLE to get 250 yards total offense. However, I seem to still get several huuuge defensive plays every game, but then when I get tackled in the redzone and am forced to bring out the offense, I am lucky to get 3 points.

Who knows if this is because I’m using the team with the worst O-line ever or if it’s because the difficulty levels are that different. I usually only have 2-3 seconds before I get sacked and if I force it, it’s an interception. I’m lucky to get an incomplete.

Running seems to be hit or miss. I love taking control of the blocker and then switching to my back. This seems to work better than anything else, but there are still a lot of times when your back barely even gets the handoff before you’re nailed by two linebackers. One thing that was bugging me was that Steven Jackson was fumbling like CRAZY. Then I read the instructions and found out you could latteral and realized that sometimes when I really get into it, I squeese the left trigger, which picthes the ball

Features: Some of the cooler features on this game, other than the wonderful latteral, that I wanted to mention are as follows. They have live (almost live) audio and textual news updates while you’re on the main menu. They did this in FIFA 07, and I loved it. So, when you get done with a game and you’re on the main menu, you may get some updates on some NFL scores, Michael Vick stories, Baseball scores, whatever. Nice touch. If that’s not enough, you can actually go out and look for the news for almost any sport and can even choose to look for text, audio, or video news.

Also, there is a recap of the great moments of the game, and halftime and at the end. What makes it cool though, is that you can select them and actually watch the play. Now, of course, since thats all arbitrarily chosen by the computer, you might not get the BEST plays of the game, but you do get most of them. What’s even better though is that at any time during the game, you can view all the replays. Sorry, you can view ALL the replays. You can go to the play by play and watch every play as it happened. What I don’t know though, is if it allows you to save replays like it did in the past versions. I liked that feature to save the replays of, say, an interception, fumble, fumble, touchdown play.

The Weapons: I’ll let you read more on these yourself. They’re basically players on the team that are just better than most people at what they do. For instance, Leonard Little is one of the best ends at getting around the line. So he is in the game too, and it’s noted with a special icon, and he has a better chance than Joe Schmoe at getting around the linemen. Also, someone like Ocho Cinco is a spectacular ball-catcher, so there will be times when you see him catching the ball when he’s falling backwards, grabbing the ball with one hand, or jumping high above the corners to snag the ball. Not much different here, they are just better than most, but the players with an even better chance and doing what they do best are marked with special icons, so you can choose to play them in the right situations a little easier.

Game Types: Ok, we have the normal game types here. Exhibition, SuperStar, Franchise, and MiniGames (haven’t played online yet). I’ve played franchise the most, and I’ve loved it. SuperStar still seems like it could be very fun, but I’m not ready to commit. The “training” and practice and the predraft stuff is all really cool in concept, but damn, I just want to play sometimes. I am so terrible at the training (mini games) that I end up with a player that has like a 60 overall, that can’t throw the ball more than 20 yards.

This brings me to the mini games. Again, excellent concept, but I hate it. I SUCK at the 40 yard dash, I’m sucky to semi-decent at the Bench Press, I’m god-awful terrible at the WR drill and the CB drill, I’m decent with the RB drill and the linebacker drill, and I’m pretty back at the QB drill. Hate it.

Pros:

• Tackle animations. Outstanding
• Latterals. Finally, brought it back
• Graphics: Wow
• “Weapons”. Good idea.
• You can catch tipped balls. Finally.
• If the ball is thrown straight at a defender, they’ll probably catch it (what a concept)
• It’s HARD to throw bombs. Great News
• News Updates. Great Concept

Cons:

• I forgot what I had to do, but I hate it that I had to pick my favorite team at the beginning EVERY time I turned the game on. I always ended up picking the Bears because they were first on the alpha-list. Something finally happened though, and now it remembers it. My team is the Bears
• The Crowd is still lame. Better, but lame. There are times when you see 12 guys all dressed the same and doing the same animations at the same time. Can’t blame them though, I’d rather see memory and CPU’s going toward tackles.
• WR quick-cuts seem unnaturally fast
• Marshal Faulk has a terrible role. He talks about the one thing I don’t care about. Achievement points and profile stats. Just sucks because I thought there’d be more from him.
• The Rings. WTF. I do’t want to collect bling. Never have, never will.

Here’s a new kind of tackle. Wrong ball

These guys Blink!

…And they’re ugly.

Bonecrushing, whilpash-hit

Now, the Flying-Leap Tackle

Routine interception

Player introduction

Taking them out at the knees

Stiffarm, comin’ atcha

Low tackle

Body Slam

Swim move, around the line

Just another tackle