At the 20… 10… 5… oh! Down just short of the goal!

We won’t bother hitting you with a creative intro, because there will surely be enough sites out there filling your head with marketing mumbo jumbo. In other words, you won’t confuse our review with something you may find on the back of the Madden game itself, so let’s get on with it.

Improved control and animation with an occasional dose of constipation.
The best overall enhancement this year is the addition of breakaway animations. It is now much easier than last year to control the direction of your player. We intercepted a pass and ran down field noticing that the cornerback actually hugged the sideline. As we edged him close to it, his animation changed to reflect the careful toe placement required in order to stay in bounds.

There are new animations on both ends of the ball, plenty of new tackles, and a refined hit stick allowing you to hit an opponent both high and low. However, while they have added new running animations you will still notice your player running like he has a stick up his butt from time to time.

With great power comes … you’ve heard this one before.
The power of exclusive NFL license means that everyone from Atlanta’s DE John Abraham to Houston’s DT Jeff Zgonina will be at your disposal once again, and the very best of the best this year will be drawing more attention to themselves than Mike Vick at a PETA Conference. That is because EA Sports has created “weapons”, a new icon based system (appearing as a circle under the players on field) that screams “Hey Chad Johnson is a playmaker” which is useful in the event that his real life counterpart forgets to mention it at least fifty times when interviewed during the regular season. There are twenty-four weapon categories in all ranging from stiff arm and turbo to read the field and pancake block.

With an overall team rating of 97, the New England Patriots have so many playmakers that the field looks like it’s got a bad case of acne every time they step onto it. While you won’t see Tom Brady in the end zone very often himself, there will be plenty of opportunities to celebrate in Madden 08.

Superstar? You know you are.
A great idea that was introduced last year got better this year by simply changing the camera angles based on the position you selected, and if watching yourself get denied up the middle doesn’t sound appealing, you can also play this mode as an incoming rookie this year as well.

Exclusives can be elusive, but this is down right abusive.
Gang tackles are “in the game” for both consoles this year, and while there has been much discussion regarding frame rate discrepancies between the PS3 and Xbox 360, the only official comment we received from EA was that they strive to make the best game possible for each platform.

What we do is we make great games for all of our systems and all of our partners, and so we try and give people the best experiences that they can have. So what we focused on was gameplay this year, so as you see that you’ll see how good the animations are, you’ll see all the gameplay improvements on the PS3 and the Xbox 360. We think a lot of people will really enjoy both of them as they get the opportunity to play. - EA Senior Product Manager, Jerrold Smith

We are not sure that is going to fly with PS3 owners when they pop in the game only to experience choppy frame rate that pales in comparison to the 360 version. Is this fair? No, but neither was the addition of exclusive gang tackling last year on the PS3. We live in the age of exclusive content and features — sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you.

Solid in the trench or destined to ride the bench?
EA made it clear early on in a video interview conducted with IGN that they employed a programmer this year who also played a little O-line in his early days. They went on to say that they felt this year’s release would feature much improved play in the trenches.

Well, the overall line play is slightly better this year, however there are still way too many breakdowns. For example, we tried to run a simple toss play to the right and watched as the right guard, tackle, and tight end all ran down field to block one cornerback. We applaud their aggressive nature, however none of them thought to block the defensive end standing in front of them and instead allowed him to breeze right through and blow up the play.

The biggest improvement we noticed in the trenches had little to do with the line, instead it was the ability to bounce off the gentle giants on running plays. You now have the ability as a running back to firmly plant your hand on their backs, regain your balance, and change direction.

Look here! So I can throw over here…
Defensive AI has been improved this year as well. The interception mentioned above was the third that the defense made in the first half alone. Is the AI too difficult? No, it just requires that you actually learn how to read coverage better unlike previous versions of the game that allowed you to beat the secondary deep pretty much at will.

The defensive AI was one area really shined in this years All-Pro Football, and we are very happy to see that EA Tiburon took the time needed to improve this aspect of the Madden gameplay.

Real time weather, for worst or for better?
By now most fans have heard about the real time weather integration being added into Madden 08, and while we give them kudos for the concept, what we found even more interesting were the animations that now occur based a combination of player movement and on field conditions. Run into a patch of snow or a puddle of rain and you can potentially lose your footing — get hit while falling, and you’ll likely lose your lunch too.

Online League Play you say? The answer, no way.
While the consensus regarding online play seems to be that it is noticeably smoother with less lag, the addition of a revamped news ticker won’t offer much consolation for the online league lurkers. If you are looking for the complete online experience — the meat and potatoes of online gaming — then you will be disappointed to find out this dish is mostly starch.

Franchise, hold the fries.
The franchise feature is finally back in the game this year, but if you are looking for the same satisfaction you experienced in the previous gen versions of the game you would be better off trying to buy your way onto the board of directors for your local AFL team.

The fact the game finally has a franchise mode may be enough to make most gamers happy. However, in our experience franchise mode becomes less competitive as you work your way in year after year, therefore we were more upset with the lack of online leagues.

EA gave him the gig, now how much longer will they let him dig?
The decision to phase Madden out of the game for whatever reason was not only a bad one, the alternative solution that EA came up with is intolerable. We figured out why this guy is a one man show — it’s because no one on earth wants to call a game with him.

Yes, this means the bland in game commentary is back. Had this game not been named after a coach turned broadcaster, it probably wouldn’t have bothered us as much to see a change, but the Madden commentary in the game became larger than life, and it pains us to know that it may be gone for good. If it is, hopefully EA will find a better replacement soon.

The last word.
When a car manufacturer redesigns their top of the line vehicle, they don’t leave out options that their current customer base has grown accustomed to over the years. If new bells and whistles require an increased staff to build the car properly, they get the additional resources, because the car market is way too competitive for excuses. If a Lexus doesn’t have all of the features you seek, you can always look at a Mercedes, or a BMW — the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, as it currently stands, NFL Football in the world of pixels and control pads is a one trick pony.

That said, there is no doubt that this iteration of the game is an improvement over the past two next-gen releases, however once you get past the hype of the highlight-laden, rap music-filled, and well marketed commercials, it will be obvious that the game still lacks many features that Madden gamers have grown to love over the years.

So how does Madden 08 stack up next to All-Pro 2K8? While we believe All-Pro has the better overall gameplay experience and superior in game commentary, the roster handcuffs put on the game combined with its lack of depth in comparison to this years Madden, give EA Sports and Madden 08 a slightly higher score than 2K’s non licensed alternative which we scored an 8.5. Both versions scored lower on the PS3 due to frame rate issues.

If you need the NFL aspect, then the choice is simple, but maybe next year EA will be nice enough to release the exclusive NFL license and let us do this review thing over again in 09 — wouldn’t that be fun?

Tags: EA, EA-Sports, Madden-08, Tiburon

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