[ThatFatKid]

(once again, sorry for the late review, had to take the laptop out behind the shed and put it down)

Another year, another Madden. At least this time around on the 360 its a lot more functional than last years fumble of an attempt. Thanks to the massive uproar of fans EA programmers pulled their heads out of their asses and decided that 360 users deserved somewhat of a full featured game with the inclusion of superstar mode sans fancy apartment found on the current gen games. MUch like a Mel Kiper Jr. sportscenter bit, lets get to the breakdown of Madden.

Visuals are stunning to say the least. Player movement is fluid and flawless and they act like their realworld counterparts. You wont see Reggie Bush bowl over a linebacker like Jamal Lewis would, but you will see his elusiveness in his trademark spin move and jukes. Player face models are excellent and player recognition is easy. Trademark taunts from Dante Culpeppers "rolling punches" to Lamont Jordan's "air guitar" have also been put in to give it that real world feel. Only problem i could find is the always present "dissappearing hair" bug with all the players that don the braids or mullet. Since this is always present it really shouldnt be seen as an issue.

Playability is right on par with other Madden games. The control scheme has been tweaked a little to incorprate the trigger buttons into gameplay. The right stick makes a return as the Superstar Stick where pulling in any direction will direct a certain special move in the player you are controlling on offense. On defense it returns as the hit stick same as last year. Passing and running are soild and dont fall victim to dumb AI too much however one major gripe i have stems from dumb offensive linemen. Often times on a blitz there will be no adjustment to pick up the rushing back and all too often i saw my linemen simply stand there and let theguy go right past them and plant my ass into the turf. This gets especially aggravating in superstar mode. The new lead blocker control option helps eleviate this some by allowing the player to play as either an OL or the lead fullback to put on blocks in front of your back(you can switch back to your RB by hitting the B button) but i often found myself not even using it that much. Some will find this new feature as innovating but for old-schooler like myself it just seems like added fluff.

Superstar Mode can be summed up like this, great idea just bad execution. The ability to play any position on the field besides the punter or the kicker (wtf?) is awesome but the camera system used during gameplay in this mode is completely broken. The camera is placed behind your player (think resident evil 4) and there is no way to turn it back to the normal skycam. This gives you the sort of claustrophobic feel that say a runningback or quarterback would have on the field but it leaves you with shit for a view on whats to your left and right and further down the field. Because of this an outside blitz will almost always blow you up and forget about rushing outside the tackels because of shoddy blocking (see above) and the inability to see whats to that side often leaves your player either just reaching the line of scrimage or losing yardage all together. You are almost forced to go inside all the time. The other positions suffer greatly from this too. Quick rundown: QB, cant see downfield. WR, not so bad but no guarantee the QB will ever throw you the ball. OL, fun for about five minutes then you are ready to retire. DL, only two moves to use on an OL and they dont even work that well, WTF? LB, fun for a little while but dont expect to be in on a lot of tackles due to the speed of the gameplay. DB, like playing battleship its all guesswork and most of the time you will just get burned.

Franchise Mode is reletively the same as it has been for the last few years. Nothing really new to write about here. Just play last years madden and you know all you need to.

Intangibles and oddities: The music fo rthis years game is once again a hodgepodge of hip hop and hardcore. which makes sense seeing as thats apparently whats in this year. Decent tracks but not much to write home about. There was something quite shocking i noticed in the game. No Madden. none, nowhere, not a single friggin "boom" anywhere. Now i do realise everyone bitched about his playcalling in the game for years (myself included) but now that he's not in it, im left kind of sad and lonely. I hate to admit it but i kinda miss the old guy, he's a hell of alot better then random AM radio voice guy thats in it now.

All in all a good effort from the folks AT EA but they still have some ground to cover to make this a truly hall of fame worthy game.

P.S. From one member of the raider nation to the man himself, congrats John for making the Hall, its been a long time coming.

[Senor Burrito Tosser]

Cool Review Fat Kid it was about time I have been waiting ! J/K
Good job and thanks for the info on Madden.

[Metallicorphan is an Ass]

sports games from EA kinda piss me off,as with FIFA they just bring out the same game but with new team line ups

so wont be getting this...and also the fact that i have no idea how to play american football......all i know is that its like rugby where you have to get a touchdown


i think EA should screw the sports games off and stick to games like battlefield or burnout.....or even harry potter,LOL

[ThatFatKid]

FIFA isnt all that great. when it comes to European football the best franchise is the Winning Eleven series. Great gameplay and more teams than a die hard soccer nut would know what to do with.

[Metallicorphan is an Ass]

in england,for some reason the winning eleven series are called pro eveoultion soccer1,2,3,etc

[Beeble Bobble]

I know that my dad has played Madden every year it has came out since way back in the SEGA Genensis days. I've played it since I could pick up a video game controller. I'm glad to see that EA has leaned toward a more Rock soundtrack rather than rap in the latest edition of Madden. I know I'd rather hear music than a beat and a sentences every 10 seconds because they have to edit the music. So if they see this, I appreciate them saving the EA Soundtrack. :D

[Aayla Secura]

I would rather be driving a car.