Pleasantly Surprised

[davidandjordan]

I did the SI Madden deal, but I wanted to get started on my franchise since I've been playing NCAA for a couple weeks, so I just rented Madden to hold me over until I receive my own copy. I have been an avid Madden player for years and have been thorougly disgusted by the next-gen games... until now.

The only thing I play is franchise mode... I dabbled in some online games last year and did pretty well. One of the main problems I've had with Madden is the complete lack of franchise depth since it hit next-gen. I only recently stopped playing Madden '07 for regular XBox... I had even made a save point where I had created all of the new rookies after years 1 and 2 and put them into the game. I love to make the game feel real.

That being said, I think this year's game is a HUGE improvement over the previous next-gen games. The presentation within franchise mode is so vastly improved from last year that it doesn't even seem like a Madden game. I think Madden might finally be going in the right direction. The addition of the Extra Point (if ONLY it had highlights...) and the ability to keep players from retiring (with the XBox Live add-on) is something I have wanted for years. What is better than having your 40 year old Hall of Fame QB come back for another grueling season?

I think the game could still use a lot of improvements. I don't like how progression is hardly performance based at all. I was looking through the free agent market for a QB and saw Kyle Orton (rated 75) and thought, "I guess he didn't have a great season with Denver." Then I looked at his stats... 30 TD's and 6 INT's! That is a TREMENDOUS season! His QB rating was over 100! Yet he only went up 2 points. He's now a backup again on another team. If that was really the case with real life progression, Kurt Warner would still be stocking groceries after winning the MVP award in '99. Progression still needs to be fixed in that regard. I am so glad they finally brought back older player regression, though. I was utterly shocked that the previous games did not have this (except on regular XBox) because it is a key to professional football. I was tired of seeing 30-something year old RB's still tearing up the league.

Those are some thoughts about the current Madden. I still don't rank the franchise options above some of the previous games (alot of it has to do with progression issues), but I think the game might FINALLY be headed in the right direction. I've been very critical of Madden, especially after last year's freezing debacle. But I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised by this year's game.

[fjccommish]

"What is better than having your 40 year old Hall of Fame QB come back for another grueling season?"

Not having to pay extra for it after you already paid $60 for the game.

[davidandjordan]

Yeah.. that part does suck. But really though, you just shelled out $60 bucks... Each of those options costs barely any Microsoft points to add. I had a few hundred points left that I had bought forever ago and forgot about, so I was able to add those other options in.

That part is kind of stupid, but still, EA is a company and companies find every way possible to nickel and dime their way to more money. Until this monopoly on NFL games runs out, we'll see this again.

The point of my post was just to say that as a serious Madden player and someone who is very critical of the way the developers have haphazardly gone about building Madden games for the past few years, I was pleasantly surprised by this year's game. I didn't say I would recommend it to an average gamer or anything like that. It still has a long way to go even to get back to previous-gen versions.