Madden ‘08 Is Here!

From Visual Review 

Well, the day many of us have been waiting for has arrived – today officially marks the release of Madden ’08! Yes, we know we’re dorks for mentioning it here, but most NFL fans love this game. In fact, many people buy a game console strictly for this game.  

 As most of you probably already know, Vince Young graces the cover of this year’s Madden. This means his career is over. Ever since Eddie George was bestowed with the honor of first being on the game’s cover, there’s been talk of a Madden curse. I’m not superstitious, now, but it is odd that so many players have gotten injured the year they were on the cover or who were never the same afterwards. George, Ray Lewis, Daunte Culpepper, Marshall Faulk, Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb and Shaun Alexander all had poor years, were injured or were never the same. Maybe they just get big heads about it, I don’t know. 

 Anyhow, the reason for this post is to tell you about the game. The graphics are unreal – you can see the sweat on Vince Young’s perfectly imaged face. Everything looks nearly real, and it’s a visual pleasure to play it.   On 360, at least, the game feels much faster. The hit stick is much more reactive than the ’07 game, which is great, because new features include gang tackling and mid-air collisions, which make the hit stick even more fun. One cool feature I really enjoyed was the Player Weapon system, which shows a player’s strengths, such as big hitters and quick runners. It allows you to know exactly what you can do with certain players, and how to best utilize them.  

The game play is much more fluid, allowing better coverage, easier audibles and better overall control over what is happening. The familiar Superstar and Franchise modes are all there, with a little tweaking that creates some more depth.   All in all, this is definitely a much better game than ’07, which often felt clunky and awkward to me. There were too many holes in the game that created unrealistic gameplay and stretches of monotony in-game. This year’s version seems slimmed down and very efficient. A definite winner for EA Sports!

Madden NFL 08 – 360
Madden NFL 08 – PS3
Xbox 360 Console Includes 20GB Hard Drive (with HDMI)