Ashwin Hary
Edward 1
Madden 07 Review (Xbox 360)
October 27th 2006 02:16
I’ve never really been a big fan of NFL football. Sure I’ve watched a few Superbowls in my time, but the lack of coverage of the sport in Australia has ensured my knowledge of the game is fairly slim. What I do know about the game, I have learnt from many hours spent playing Madden games over the years. I always found it to be somehow enjoyable to spend all day trying to get a touchdown. To run around on defence trying to hit everyone, leaving space open for opposition receivers, but not being able to resist. To try hail mary after hail mary instead of punting. The deeper aspects of play I always found too difficult to fathom, but I always had some pretty good fun just mucking around. So with the release of Madden NFL 07, the first non-launch Madden game for the 360, I was hoping for a real treat. In some ways, I have been satisfied, but in others, I’ve been left wanting.
The core gameplay is as fun as it was last year, and the year before that, albeit with some neat little additions here and there. The highlight stick, a complement to your offensive arsenal, is a great example, allowing you to spin off defenders and juke your way out of trouble using the right analogue stick. After a short amount of time using it, you’ll be busting moves with an ease and fluidity which is particularly satisfying. The myriad of plays, set-pieces and audibles are as confusing as ever, but super rewarding once you start figuring them all out. As always, fans who understand the nuances of NFL football and the relative strengths and weaknesses of the different teams and players will get infinitely more out of the experience.
Madden 07 is a good looking game too. The animations are fantastic. Sure there is some weird collision detection going on from time to time, and the crowd looks absolutely shocking, but there’s no mistaking it’s the best looking Madden game yet. Players’ faces are so close to lifelike it’s ridiculous, and when this is coupled with the excellent use of vocal sound, it brings the field to life. Players are always yapping away and smack talking at ground level, and it adds a real atmosphere for all the players to look and sound so believable. The sound department does have its drawbacks though. I found the commentary to be particularly stale, devoid of any real emotion, and the crowd noise is pretty disappointing. Sure there is constant input and a bit of cheering, but I wanted to be enveloped in the crowd. I wanted to be surrounded by the sounds of the stadium in every 5.1 speaker. But all I got was some lame announcer who gave me the impression he was trying not to sound bored, and that’s when he wasn’t mysteriously absent all together.
Franchise mode returns in all its glory, and is still one hell of a beast. You manage, coach and field your team through 30 NFL seasons, trying to build a lasting dynasty. Tough trading decisions, positional changes to get a tougher guy at half back, and injury difficulties. These must all be contended with. Only three games into my first season my star quarterback broke his ankle and was out for the season. I threw money at just about every decent QB in the league, but no-one was interested. Eventually I decided to develop my second string guys, and it was time to get them on the track. Actual training mini-games have been added to keep things fresh. Pick a player, decide which stats you want to increase and by how much, then get them out there doing the hard yards.
If superstar mode get s bit repetitive for you, it may be time to try out the new Superstar mode, which allows you to create, develop and play as one particular player, as opposed to the whole team. So that means no play calling, no coaching or managerial decisions, just career management for your main man. You must train him, sign him up, trade him if necessary, conduct interviews, keep his ego in check, and then on game day you control him and only him. Depending on which position your guys plays in, you’ll get a camera angle aimed at allowing you to maximize his input in the game. Although it takes a while to adjust to the different style of play, this is an excellent feature, which has been all too often overlooked in sports games of years past. Kudos must go to EA for this inclusion, as it’s the freshest thing that’s happened to Madden in years.
The hit stick is a new addition to Madden this year, and allows you to smack the living &#^* out of someone with a flick of the right stick. Whilst little additions like this have often been poorly thought out in other EA Sports games recently, in Madden 07 it works an absolute treat, and it is one of those rare opportunities to live out in a believable way those bone-crunching collisions that are so hard to reproduce in a sports video game. What’s more, you have never heard collisions till you’ve heard them in Madden 07. The sickening sounds of body on body are recreated in cringe inducing glory here.
As always seems to the case these days in EA Sports games, the presentation, options, and unlockables are top notch. The actual menu screens don’t work that well, unfortunately, and you’ll find yourself lost in there for a while stuck amongst the clutter and a silly tiered system, but once you know your way around it won’t be an issue. The solid licensed menu music is here too, which is pleasant.
The online side of this year’s Madden will be a disappointment for many Australian gamers though. Although the features are there, including the new ‘Live Opponent’ option, which allows you to find a human online to play as your opponent during franchise matches, the lag is juicy on your average connection. Hooking up a few locals to play with is the key, but the performance is still not going to be perfect.
Overall, Madden is a disappointment for me because I’ve been waiting for the next level of immersivity in football games. Where’s the stable net code? Where’s the online leagues? Nevertheless, it’s still as enjoyable as the best versions of years past and is a big improvement on last year’s shocking effort. The new superstar mode introduces a real fresh approach that you may just find to your liking. If you’re a fan, you’ll enjoy this title (but then you already know that don’t you?). If you’re not, be prepared for a steep learning curve, followed by a quick upswing toward enjoyable gaming, followed by a plateau that never really gets you inside the game, excited and enthused by what is happening on the field. All along though, you’re going to have a heck of a lot of fun smacking the crap out of everyone you can.
Score: 7.9/10
The core gameplay is as fun as it was last year, and the year before that, albeit with some neat little additions here and there. The highlight stick, a complement to your offensive arsenal, is a great example, allowing you to spin off defenders and juke your way out of trouble using the right analogue stick. After a short amount of time using it, you’ll be busting moves with an ease and fluidity which is particularly satisfying. The myriad of plays, set-pieces and audibles are as confusing as ever, but super rewarding once you start figuring them all out. As always, fans who understand the nuances of NFL football and the relative strengths and weaknesses of the different teams and players will get infinitely more out of the experience.
Madden 07 is a good looking game too. The animations are fantastic. Sure there is some weird collision detection going on from time to time, and the crowd looks absolutely shocking, but there’s no mistaking it’s the best looking Madden game yet. Players’ faces are so close to lifelike it’s ridiculous, and when this is coupled with the excellent use of vocal sound, it brings the field to life. Players are always yapping away and smack talking at ground level, and it adds a real atmosphere for all the players to look and sound so believable. The sound department does have its drawbacks though. I found the commentary to be particularly stale, devoid of any real emotion, and the crowd noise is pretty disappointing. Sure there is constant input and a bit of cheering, but I wanted to be enveloped in the crowd. I wanted to be surrounded by the sounds of the stadium in every 5.1 speaker. But all I got was some lame announcer who gave me the impression he was trying not to sound bored, and that’s when he wasn’t mysteriously absent all together.
Franchise mode returns in all its glory, and is still one hell of a beast. You manage, coach and field your team through 30 NFL seasons, trying to build a lasting dynasty. Tough trading decisions, positional changes to get a tougher guy at half back, and injury difficulties. These must all be contended with. Only three games into my first season my star quarterback broke his ankle and was out for the season. I threw money at just about every decent QB in the league, but no-one was interested. Eventually I decided to develop my second string guys, and it was time to get them on the track. Actual training mini-games have been added to keep things fresh. Pick a player, decide which stats you want to increase and by how much, then get them out there doing the hard yards.
If superstar mode get s bit repetitive for you, it may be time to try out the new Superstar mode, which allows you to create, develop and play as one particular player, as opposed to the whole team. So that means no play calling, no coaching or managerial decisions, just career management for your main man. You must train him, sign him up, trade him if necessary, conduct interviews, keep his ego in check, and then on game day you control him and only him. Depending on which position your guys plays in, you’ll get a camera angle aimed at allowing you to maximize his input in the game. Although it takes a while to adjust to the different style of play, this is an excellent feature, which has been all too often overlooked in sports games of years past. Kudos must go to EA for this inclusion, as it’s the freshest thing that’s happened to Madden in years.
The hit stick is a new addition to Madden this year, and allows you to smack the living &#^* out of someone with a flick of the right stick. Whilst little additions like this have often been poorly thought out in other EA Sports games recently, in Madden 07 it works an absolute treat, and it is one of those rare opportunities to live out in a believable way those bone-crunching collisions that are so hard to reproduce in a sports video game. What’s more, you have never heard collisions till you’ve heard them in Madden 07. The sickening sounds of body on body are recreated in cringe inducing glory here.
As always seems to the case these days in EA Sports games, the presentation, options, and unlockables are top notch. The actual menu screens don’t work that well, unfortunately, and you’ll find yourself lost in there for a while stuck amongst the clutter and a silly tiered system, but once you know your way around it won’t be an issue. The solid licensed menu music is here too, which is pleasant.
The online side of this year’s Madden will be a disappointment for many Australian gamers though. Although the features are there, including the new ‘Live Opponent’ option, which allows you to find a human online to play as your opponent during franchise matches, the lag is juicy on your average connection. Hooking up a few locals to play with is the key, but the performance is still not going to be perfect.
Overall, Madden is a disappointment for me because I’ve been waiting for the next level of immersivity in football games. Where’s the stable net code? Where’s the online leagues? Nevertheless, it’s still as enjoyable as the best versions of years past and is a big improvement on last year’s shocking effort. The new superstar mode introduces a real fresh approach that you may just find to your liking. If you’re a fan, you’ll enjoy this title (but then you already know that don’t you?). If you’re not, be prepared for a steep learning curve, followed by a quick upswing toward enjoyable gaming, followed by a plateau that never really gets you inside the game, excited and enthused by what is happening on the field. All along though, you’re going to have a heck of a lot of fun smacking the crap out of everyone you can.
Score: 7.9/10
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Comment by Justin
I played this one on the ps2 and had a great time despite mostly knowing nothing about the process of 'playing' the game. So much so that I bought '05 and while similar enough am having a ball (pardon the pun).
After you get past the details of play-making and the unusual 'stop/start' of it all, it gets to be really fun. What really opened up my eyes to the game was the mini-camp section that broke each play down into sub-sections which was informative and fun at the same time. EA have come up with the goods again.
Comment by Diresim