Madden 08 Reviews

[Schadenfroh]

You guys might be interested in this:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2084283&enterthread=y

 

[LeiZaK]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
You guys might be interested in this:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2084283&enterthread=y

That's what I did... picked up Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree for 50% off since the current library of ps3 titles is a barren wasteland.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

i played two games on my ps3. the framerate issue wasn't really a problem and i honestly did not notice it since i've been player the last couple of years on the ps2. i'm sure the 360 version is smoother because of the higher frame rate, but the ps3 version isnt unplayable as some of these reviews make it seem. now on to the game itself.

first thing i noticed is that there a too many interceptions (in all-pro) in the game...first game had 5 ints b/w me and the cpu. for me though, the biggest problem was the change in control layouts. e.g. sprint is now r2, scramble is l2+r2 and some other weird stuff. i play a lot of madden 05 and i cant tell you the number of times i instinctively pressed O for speed boost after the snap to blitz. the pass coverage is tougher and i wasn't able to get anything going, but that might be just cause i need some time to get the feel of the game.

i'll post more thoughts when i get some time.

 

[Yreka]

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad


first thing i noticed is that there a too many interceptions (in all-pro) in the game...first game had 5 ints b/w me and the cpu. for me though, the biggest problem was the change in control layouts. e.g. sprint is now r2, scramble is l2+r2 and some other weird stuff. i play a lot of madden 05 and i cant tell you the number of times i instinctively pressed O for speed boost after the snap to blitz. the pass coverage is tougher and i wasn't able to get anything going, but that might be just cause i need some time to get the feel of the game.

Eww that sucks... I take it there is no option for "classic" button set ?

 

[Muadib]

I'm on the fence with this one. I got burned twice with 2006 & 2007.

 

[dbot]

Originally posted by: Yreka

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad


first thing i noticed is that there a too many interceptions (in all-pro) in the game...first game had 5 ints b/w me and the cpu. for me though, the biggest problem was the change in control layouts. e.g. sprint is now r2, scramble is l2+r2 and some other weird stuff. i play a lot of madden 05 and i cant tell you the number of times i instinctively pressed O for speed boost after the snap to blitz. the pass coverage is tougher and i wasn't able to get anything going, but that might be just cause i need some time to get the feel of the game.

Eww that sucks... I take it there is no option for "classic" button set ?

That's been my biggest problem. I played a couple games last night and the buttons got me all messed up on defense. I switched players when I was trying to speed burst and missed tackles.

I have the regular Xbox version, it is definitely smoother than last year and the defense is improved, a little harder to run the ball, and the DB's have better AI.

 

[Oyeve]

Picked up the PC version yesterday. Was torn between the 360 or PC but the $20 price dif made me go PC. Finally has WS but still no force feedback. Controls are dif than 07 and 06 and 05 and 04. Kickoffs are wierd as you have to use the right analog for power. Looks good. Will give a more intensive test tonight.

 

[Abel007]

Played a few games last night vs the CPU. The game is extremely smooth. Going into play menus and coming out of play menus give no hesitation and the graphics are gorgeous. I played as the Falcons and wanted to see Vick one last time playing football (before I put in Harrington to make it more realistic) and he threw 2 INTs but both were stupid throws on my part because I tried to force them into coverage. Being able to read all the routes is going to be key to bringing the INT totals down I think. The secondary is just smarter this go around so people starting off have thrown a ton.

Running the ball was very straight forward. Find the hole and nail it! Warrick Dunn is marked as "elusive" in the game and wasn't too difficult to tackle for some of the Bucs linemen. He did manage to slip a tackle or two though and gained a few extra yards.

On defense, Keith Brooking was the man at stopping the run. He is labeled as a good run blocker and it showed. He was everywhere the RB would be and generally never missed a tackle. Overall, the secondary for the Falcons was extremely weak and were picked apart by the almighty Jeff Garcia. I played mainly as a OLB and with my minuscule skill set I couldn't ever get to the QB. I did get a late hit on him once though! Leveled his ass. Bwa haha.

I did manage my first 360 achievement of a 60+ yard pass. Thanks Joe Horn for being open on that out route. It was fun watching the old man slowly outrunning the CBs.

Overall I had a great time playing this new version of Madden. Granted, I haven't played a Madden game since 04 (luckily I skipped 06 and 07) but I am pumped about this one and can't wait to have the time to start a season with my beloved Falcons.

 

[PricklyPete]

Originally posted by: Abel007
Played a few games last night vs the CPU. The game is extremely smooth. Going into play menus and coming out of play menus give no hesitation and the graphics are gorgeous. I played as the Falcons and wanted to see Vick one last time playing football (before I put in Harrington to make it more realistic) and he threw 2 INTs but both were stupid throws on my part because I tried to force them into coverage. Being able to read all the routes is going to be key to bringing the INT totals down I think. The secondary is just smarter this go around so people starting off have thrown a ton.

Running the ball was very straight forward. Find the hole and nail it! Warrick Dunn is marked as "elusive" in the game and wasn't too difficult to tackle for some of the Bucs linemen. He did manage to slip a tackle or two though and gained a few extra yards.

On defense, Keith Brooking was the man at stopping the run. He is labeled as a good run blocker and it showed. He was everywhere the RB would be and generally never missed a tackle. Overall, the secondary for the Falcons was extremely weak and were picked apart by the almighty Jeff Garcia. I played mainly as a OLB and with my minuscule skill set I couldn't ever get to the QB. I did get a late hit on him once though! Leveled his ass. Bwa haha.

I did manage my first 360 achievement of a 60+ yard pass. Thanks Joe Horn for being open on that out route. It was fun watching the old man slowly outrunning the CBs.

Overall I had a great time playing this new version of Madden. Granted, I haven't played a Madden game since 04 (luckily I skipped 06 and 07) but I am pumped about this one and can't wait to have the time to start a season with my beloved Falcons.

Nice! Now I'm really excited for the 360 version. Haven't had a chance to play yet...but will be playing all night tonight...very excited.

 

[TheAdvocate]

Last pro football game I purchased was ESPN NFL 2k5.

Bought Madden for my 360. Quick review:

1. Lack of commentators sucks hard. Way too generic overall presentation. Huge waste of ESPN license/affiliation.

Special gripe about presentation - Somehow the post game summary recorded the final score of my game as 16-15 for the cpu when I won the game 28-10. The final score overlay was correct, but the quarter by quarter summary was wrong - way wrong. What a completely weird bug.

2. Graphics are satisfactory (@1080i). They are not good enough to harp on.

3. It is too effin easy to run the ball. Cranked up the difficulty and was still breaking off 10+ yard runs with handoffs to a blocking fullback. he got hurt and my 3rd string TE ripped off a 15 yarder up the gut against a decent run defense.

4. FUMBLES. 15 of them in one 5min Quarters game. Nearly every kick/punt return by me ended in a fumble. I even fumbled the time I ran out of bounds to avoid fumbling.

5. Playbook controls are way too sensitive re: the control sticks, and too stiff/awkward to cycle through the book with the touchpad. I'm sure that hardcore players have all of their favorite plays shortcutted however possible, but for a casual player -> Please stop dumping me into the special teams playbook everytime I am trying to pick a play on 1st through 3rd downs. Really not a fan so far of the playbook play selection at all.

6. Boring as hell presentation & fumblitis are serious problems with this game. It's bad enough to deserve repeating in any review.

 

[krunchykrome]

I picked up the game yesterday afternoon for XBOX (regular xbox). I played a little bit last night, and I started my first season. I started by running the training camp and I played the first preseason game.

Here are my complaints with the game:

*The controls are different from last year, and there is no option to change controls at all. Im used to playing Madden with the 2005 controls, something that we were able to configure back to in previous Madden games.

*They replaced the L-trigger and the R-trigger receivers with the white and black button. This is completely throwing me off and it constantly gets me sacked.

*The rosters are inaccurate. For example, the Ravens, they have Terrell Suggs listed at an OLB position when in fact he is a DE. He's rated as an 88 as an OLB but if you switch him to a DE, his rating moves up to 99. Haloti Ngata is listed as a DE when he is really a DT. As a DE, he is rated as an 88, but move him to his true position at DT and he is an 80.

*Im not able to zoom out before the snap to look at my receivers without showing the play. Instead, a zoomed out screen appears showing player strength icons. This is stupid IMO; I already know who's fast and who's a good receiver, and who's a hard hitter. This is especially going to throw me off when playing against friends in person.

So, what do I like about the game? I dont notice significsant changes to the game that I really like. Im just a little irked because of all these ridiculous things in the game Im noticing.

 

[tdawg]

I picked this up yesterday for the 360. When I first loaded it up, it kept locking up my xbox at various points (I was jumping straight into a franchise). I was getting worried that my 360 was dying (it's been over a year since I bought it), so I threw in NCAA 07 and went thru a game in my dynasty with no problems whatsoever. After the game was over, I switched back to Madden and was able to play a quick game, start a franchise and play one game, and run thru the mini-camp drills, all with no problems. Not sure why it was locking up before, but it seems to be working as of 10:30 last night.

Anyway, I haven't bought an NFL game since NFL 2k5 for the original xbox. After reading all the initial impressions, I was worried about buying Madden 08, but finally gave in to temptation. These are my initial impressions:

1) Audio/ESPN Radio - First off, I have to admit that the opening video montage got me pumped. With that out of the way, it's odd to me that they don't have real announcers since every other EA sports game has what I feel are quality announcers, but the radio kind of grows on me, since it's like listening to the game in the car when you just can't get to a TV. The emotion by the commentator is helpful. I can't comment on Marshall Faulk's addition because I just skip past his pre- and post-game analyses.

2) My first game I played on Rookie because I haven't played a Madden game since like '93 for the Genesis. My experience with NCAA 07 seemed to do the trick as my Saints destroyed the Falcons 98-0. I picked off Vick like 8 times (at least 2 returned for TDs), while Brees threw 0 picks. No fumbles on either side.

3) I then began a franchise with the Seahawks (screw the Steelers and the zebras in bed with 'em!) on Pro and won my first preseason game 35-14, or something close to that. 2 fumbles by me and like 6 picks between the CPU and myself. I didn't think they were outlandish as the throws were into heavy coverage or a DB broke on the ball well.

4) I was originally worried about the ability/inability to sport an effective offense, but even on Pro, the secondary can be beaten with good routes and decent timing. Plus the User Catch controls (tap Y for a catch on the run, hold Y for a possession catch) are nice. Running was decent as well (Reggie Bush was fun to run with on Rookie setting). Overall, I'm satisfied with the AI on defense and offense.

5) I'm very satisfied with the onfield presentation and the huge hits on receivers over the middle or running backs getting stuffed are very satisfying. The crowd is decent from what I can remember, but I didn't pay much attention to them (they're just kinda white noise). I do like that you hear players talking and such on the field.

Overall, I'm satisfied to this point. I don't have a LIVE gold account, so I don't plan to play this online (I may upgrade to Gold once MOH: Airborne lands). Graphics are good, animations are well done and the overall atmosphere on the field make it feel pretty realistic to me. This is a nice improvement over NCAA 07 and I can't wait to get some more time with it.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

one neat feature is that espn radio plays in the background whenever its updated.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: Oyeve
Picked up the PC version yesterday. Was torn between the 360 or PC but the $20 price dif made me go PC. Finally has WS but still no force feedback. Controls are dif than 07 and 06 and 05 and 04. Kickoffs are wierd as you have to use the right analog for power. Looks good. Will give a more intensive test tonight.

how does the pc version look? up to par with the 360?

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad

Originally posted by: Oyeve
Picked up the PC version yesterday. Was torn between the 360 or PC but the $20 price dif made me go PC. Finally has WS but still no force feedback. Controls are dif than 07 and 06 and 05 and 04. Kickoffs are wierd as you have to use the right analog for power. Looks good. Will give a more intensive test tonight.

how does the pc version look? up to par with the 360?

PC version looks great to me. I havent seen the 360 version. It is MUCH smoother and faster than '07. Nothing phenominal but looks pretty damn good.

 

[lupi]

Tonight on Xplay is Madden 08 and other sport titles reviews.

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: lupi
Tonight on Xplay is Madden 08 and other sport titles reviews.

I'm all set to tivo it. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[UNCjigga]

Bought the Wii version--my first Madden game on the Wii. I'm still getting used to the advanced controls (I really, really suck at catching passes when controlling the receiver) but overall I like how it works with nunchuk + wiimote. The "pump up the crowd" gesture on D is cool!

 

[Kev]

ok this game is garbage online.

Kev's guide to winning online:

1) Choose the broncos
2) Get 12 interceptions
3) Win

Lame.

 

[coolred]

The controls, I can't get used to them. I have only played 2 games so far, but the controls are killing me. Kind of odd, since I haven't played '07 in many months, so I would think that I would have somewhat forgotten the exact controls. But nope. I remember how they were and with '08 being different it is screwing me up.

 

[lupi]

Finally watched my recording of the xplay madden episode. Found it interesting that they did a ps2 but no ps3 review.

 

[KentState]

I rented this for the 360 with a free coupon from Blockbuster. I've been playing since Wednesday and owned both NCAA and Madden last year for the 360.

Pros:

The game does feel smoother than last year and not as generic. Plays a lot closer to '05 for the regular Xbox.

The animations and group tackles are a nice feature, though it should have been there 5 years ago.

The weapon system helps sort out the play makers on the team, but almost gives it an arcade type feel. It's bad when you can rip apart the run defense with a back like Lewis for the Browns.

Cons:

Far too many turnovers. The passing system really needs a way for you to direct where the ball should be placed on the throw, not just bullet or lob. I would really like to be able to throw it short when the DB is 5 yards ahead of me down field. The fumbles are also high, especially when you only try to cover the ball.

Special teams is a joke. Every punt return has the deep blockers letting the tacklers walk on by. Cribbs for the Browns was fairly explosive last season when returning, but this game doesn't come close. Why is there only a punt return center and right? Do teams not return punts to the left side anymore? How about a reverse and any type of trick plays?

Play calling changed for the worse. I really do not like how the play book doesn't stay in the same formation and package after a play. If, for example, you select a 5 wide out package of the single back formation, after the play is run, it will go back to the normal package. The same thing on defense. I liked in previous versions how you could quickly go back to the same play. Also, the game goes directly to either punt or field goal on 4th instead of just highlighting the special teams formation. I just feel that I'm spending a lot of time digging through the playbook instead of calling plays.

Commentary/presentation are just about Madden for the Gennis. I understood it last year when they had ESPN radio, but it's about time to use the Monday Night crew. Didn't the old PS1 and 2 games have video or even something like 2k5.

Overall, I'm disappointed because it feels as if they make such slow progress. 2k sports was able to come so far in one season and I believe that if they still help an NFL license, Madden would feel 10 years behind at this point.

 

[Yreka]

The two things I dont like so far: The gap between Rookie and Pro is ridiculously large, and timeouts don't always get called when you press the <-..

Other than that, its a really great game.. I didn't want to like it, but I am having quite a bit of fun.. Achievements seems kinda tacked on too though.. Out of 1000 possible, I already have like 600 or so and I am only on my 4th game into the season.

 

[lupi]

Went to my local CC to pick up the weekly ad and stopped by the games where they had the wii ps3 and 360 all running madden. The wii version looked bad, probably was only using composite video feed. I wanted to try and conpare ps3 and 360 in action but I couldn't find how to have the 360 play cpu vs cpu.

 

[dbot]

Originally posted by: Yreka
The gap between Rookie and Pro is ridiculously large

You're kidding right? Try jumping up to all madden from all pro