I agree 05 was bad.
07 was stripped down? You're talking about the Next Gen (Xbox 360) version right? Keep in mind it was a totally new game versus another iteration on the game that started in 2002.
08 I don't think was awful. At final, I thought it was pretty good.... but after playing it for a while I changed my mind. We made huge strides there (video highlights, deep recruiting, 60 fps on xbox), but it just didn't "come together" to make it a great game.
