Madden NFL 08
Electronic Arts - Electronic Arts
Nintendo DS
Release date: 2007-08-14
Video Game
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Madden NFL 08
Date undefinedFirst, I want to applaud EA for making real strides every year in their new versions of Madden for the DS. This game is a huge improvement over prior years (just the use of the old kicking system alone made it so that I wanted to finish a season) and it really is a fairly good football simulation.
Pros:
- This game had some very realistic player capabilities. I'm a Bears fan, and in the season I played the following realistic things happened: (1) Rex Grossman suffered a long-term injury!, (2) Devin Hester returned 4 kickoffs and 2 punts for TDs, and (3) the defense dominated, especially when employing a zone cover scheme.
- Passing is much easier in this game than in older Maddens for the DS. The window gives you a better view, players run their routes accurately, they will reach behind them to make a catch, and screen plays actually work.
- In franchise mode, the draft, free agent signings, create a player, etc., are all standard and solid Madden fun.
Cons:
- Bugs! The most annoying bug had to be a collision detection system that denied the wrong person credit for a sack way too many times. There were even times when I'd be the DE, get the sack, and the computer would credit the other team's OL for the sack!
- The physics of a player who just intercepted a pass are horrible. No matter what I did, if one of my guys made an INT, he would inevitably run 5 yards in the opposite direction before I could get him to move where I wanted.
- Weird bugs. I made it to the Super Bowl, and when I got there, I realized that the defense was blocking EVERY single extra point I attempted! At first I thought this was just cheap A.I. cheating its way to victory, but then I played close attention to who my kicker was on extra points and I realized the game had, BY ITSELF, made my QB my K on extra points! When I tried to change this, the game froze and I had to restart the entire Super Bowl (when I was winning, of course). It didn't happen again, but the game has lots of strange bugs like this.
Overall, it's a fun game. Visually the player models are more textured and realistic looking, especially in the limbs and uniforms than in previous Madden games. The play-by-play is WEAK (with every time you let the play clock go to 10 seconds, even when you're downing the ball at the end of the game, the announcer says "they better hurry"). EA decided to put entire songs onto the cartridge during off-season and intro segments of the game, I would have rather used the space for better play-by-play.
The best part of the game is that it is offensive friendly. You can pass and run the ball effectively and the size of the screen is no longer a barrier to moving the ball down the field.
Madden NFL 08
Date undefinedDaughter loves it. She got rid of her other two (05 & 06). Said the graphics were faster and more colorful. Action & players were up to date. Price was'nt bad either. All in all, GREAT PRODUCT!
Madden NFL 08
Date undefinedAnother year, another Madden game on the DS. This time around though, Madden NFL 08 ends up being the best installment of the long running series to hit the DS yet, with EA making some vast improvements over previous incarnations of the series. The first thing you'll notice is that the 3-D player models on the bottom screen of the DS are much improved this time around. That being said, they still might not be a whole lot to look at, but the game does look better in the graphics department this year overall. The control scheme has also seen some tweaks, as has the overall gameplay and various play modes as well. Not to mention that the Wi-Fi capability also ends up being one of the best features of Madden NFL 08, and is every bit as fun as it should be. What really hurts Madden NFL 08 though ends up being the small amount of glitches that plague the overall game. These glitches appear in the form of the game's graphics engine as well as the opponent AI (which is also quite forgiving at times, but then again, this is Madden after all) and are quite noticable as well. Not to mention that the play by play commentary is hardly as prolific as what it could be, so don't expect to hear a whole lot from the man himself while you play. Negatives aside, Madden NFL 08 ends up being the best Madden game to hit the DS yet, and for football fans that own a DS and are craving a more than solid NFL game (like you have any other choice), then look no further.
