Madden 08

Microsoft XBOX 360

Click HERE for screenshots.

Madden 08 opens with the first memorable opening movie in many years for the Madden franchise.  Blending sounds and images from real-life NFL films footage with scenes from the game– all set to an epic sound track – this opening movie makes you want to strap on a helmet and hit somebody.  Can the game itself hold up to its great intro sequence? 

The answer is a qualified “I think so”.  The game is clearly a huge improvement over its immediate predecessor, Madden 07.  The graphics are crisper and brighter, and perhaps even more important- the animations are smooth as silk.  Madden 08 made me feel for the first time that I was TRULY playing a “next gen” Madden game that worked as it should- it also served as a jarring reminder as to how much choppier gameplay was in Madden 07.  My “initial reaction” notes are filled with the words “smoother” and “faster”, even in reference to the menu screens.

So what’s the problem?  Well, as I’ve written before, for the sake of consistency, I have been playing all of these Madden games with their default settings.  This means the “PRO” difficulty level, which for many years, meant “medium”.  However, for Madden 08 (and its predecessors on the XBOX 360), “PRO” seems to mean “easy”.  (Just a quick note, in spite of all my Madden playing, I consider myself to be an “average” player – any 10 year old could probably embarrass me on XBOX LIVE.)  Regardless, I found the “PRO” setting to be ridiculously easy and subsequently, none of the games I played were remotely competitive in Madden 08.  The graphics were sure pretty though. 

My first game featured the Pats hosting the Colts in the Divisional Playoff.  I was surprised to hear Marshall Faulk open the game with a prediction that the Pats would cream the Colts 20-9.  This was weird for a couple of reasons- first of all, I don’t recall seeing score predictions in any Madden game before this, and second, why Marshall Faulk?  Really?  As a Pats fan, he is pretty low on my list of favored announcers.  This said, I didn’t have to listen to him much, because once the game got underway, the game bounced back to the generic “radio announcer” that has been featured on the XBOX since Madden 06.  John Madden’s voice is sorely missed once again.

The game got started after some pretty slick player introductions that were cinematic and exciting.  Again, the animations were smooth and the graphics crisp as ever.  Complete with fireworks and the roar of the fans, I was fired up and ready to play. 

The controls in Madden 08 – in large part due to the very smooth animations – are fantastic.  I felt completely in control of my offense on my opening drive as Brady marched down the field, hooking up with Randy Moss and making it look good.  The first chink in the armor appeared at the end of the first half when the CPU started making bizarre play calls.  Rather than run out the clock to end the half, the CPU inexplicably punted the ball on 2^nd and 20.  I wasn’t expecting it and wasn’t able to turn it into additional points, but I’ve never seen that call in that situation (in reality or Madden).  The half ended with the Pats up 14-0.

At halftime, I was treated to highlights from the game- these were captured replays of big plays from the game.  I really liked this and the presentation was slick.  It has come a long way from the “halftime highlight shows” of Madden ‘91 through ’93. 

The second half allowed me to continue my dominance, but again, there were some funny quirks.  The Colts would jump offsides frequently when I called a hard count and faked the snap.  It happened so often, that it felt like a cheat (I think this had to do with my being a “LEVEL 1” player or something – see my Madden 07 review for a discussion of that).  This quirk was outweighed by the stunning presentation of the game though- the field quality degraded as the game went on, player uniforms got dirty- it all looked fantastic. 

All of this distracted me from the fact that the game itself was damned boring and I coasted to a 21-0 win.  My defense shut them down completely and the outcome of the game was never in question.

The AFC Championship game featured the Patriots hosting the Ravens.  Marshall Faulk predicted a 21-3 Patriots route before the game before he disappeared for the next hour. 

Again, I enjoyed watching the intro sequence and was bowled over by the great graphics and animations.  However, as far as gameplay was concerned, I began to feel like the game was rigged somewhat in my favor.  On every close play – a tight pass, a run close to the marker, whatever – the outcome would always be good for the Pats.  It was a bit like Pleasantville – just thread that needle, Brady will get it there!  He always does!

I knew things were a bit stacked when Lawrence Maroney broke an 80 yard run from scrimmage for a score – something that never happened in reality (except for one time in a freak snowstorm against the Titans).  While the Ravens had a few nice drives, they couldn’t put points up and I took a 14-3 lead into the half. 

The second half was pretty boring and after a 50 yard TD return on an interception, I won the game 28-9.  Marshall Faulk’s voice came back to tell me something about my “ring progress” (?) and the game was over.  The game wasn’t ever close, but I had fun because the controls, presentation and animation were so damned good. 

In reality, Super Bowl XLII was a devastating loss for the Patriots.  In Madden 08, it was simply another Patriots blowout victory.  For the third straight year, my Super Bowl matchup featured the Pats against the Seahawks.  Were the Seahawks ever really that good or was one of the Madden programmers a Seahawks fan? 

Regardless, the game got off to a slow start and the score was just 3-0 Pats midway through the second quarter.  For a brief moment I thought the game would be competitive, but I was quickly proven wrong.  The Seahawks appeared to be driving on me, but I managed a pick-six from Asante Samuel (a 90 yard TD return!).  On my next offensive drive, Brady threaded the needle (he always does) for a nice TD.  Suddenly I was up 17-0 at halftime and the route was on.

The second half was more or less a repeat of the first half.  I shut the Seahawk offense down completely, tacked on a FG and two more TDs (both long INT returns for TDs) and closed out the game 34-0.  There was a modest victory sequence (a couple of frames of players celebrating and Tom Brady raising his arms to the heavens). 

This Super Bowl game more or less summed up my experience with Madden 08.  The graphics and presentation were fantastic- without a doubt the best yet in a Madden game.  They got all the details right and the game ran perfectly.  However, the game was too damned easy on the default settings and there were too many “big plays” for TDs.