Customer Reviews

Madden NFL 07

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I got this game the day it came out and I had to wait about 3 months to get a ps3 to play it and I got the 60GB. The first thing you are going to notice when you play the game is the shift from ps2 to ps3! Like the gameplay is slower than the lightning fast ps2 version and also the controls are different, like R2 is to sprint instead of X, but you'll get use to it. Also, the menus are hard to navigate and they sometimes freeze, like you'll be trying to view a teams roster and it won't let you go back to the menus. Second, the graphics are so cool but some of the players faces don't look like themselves and reggie bush's face, oh my gosh!, but he's fast with the cool highlight stick, also there are no referees or the chain people on the field and there is no net behind the field goal post and when you kick the ball and it is good it goes through like there is a net, now that is weird! But I recommend this game if you don't have this year's madden on a another platform or your new to video games and you like pro football. Well its just another year for us madden fans, but we are definitely hoping that madden 08 is going to way better.

I have been playing Madden since the genesis days and this is by far the worst disappointment i have ever felt with a football game period. I think that the game should have remained the same from the PS2 version just adding the motion sensitivity and better graphics.
Just to be fair lets start with the good,
1) Great graphics-
2) Smooth control
and now the bad-
1) NO MADDEN!!!!!!!!!
2) The play calling feature sucks and hard to see
3) cant make defensive formation changes
4) the commentary sucks
5) button configurations are horrible and when you try to change them it never comes out right.
6) no huddles have a video attached to them that kinda defeats the purpose of HURRY UP offense.
I think that i am so dissatisfied because i was so excited about the PS3 and the Madden, but EA put absolutely no thought into making this game. I think EA should stick to the formula of maddens of 'ol and if they dont at least put JOHN MADDEN commentary on it. REFUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are my biggest gripes:

What Disappoints me the most:
1. THERE ARE NO QUICK AUDIBLES ANYMORE! I thought that quick audibles (and the right stick individual player playmaker controls on defense) were the greatest...plus I loved being able to hold x and use the analog stick to change defensive player, now thats gone too ...and last, wheres the newly made slide protection that i love so much?
2. WHY DO THE CONTROLS KEEP CHANGING?! It took my a while to adapt to using X to sprint for both Defense and Offense..now its R2? Personally, after getting used to it, i loved being able to interchange sprint/pass with my QB just by pressing X...EA, please keep something constant for once!
3. THE PLAYBOOK LAYOUT I like that you can see more at once, but when playing offline vs. a real opponent, its a pain in the butt when they can see the play you're choosing
4. WHATS IS WITH THE NO HUDDLE MOVIE SCENE? Unless I'm wrong, the point of the no huddle is that your in a rush...someone please correct me if this isnt the case
5. IF I MISSED ANYTHING, OR YOU AGREE... Post after this, support the cause of Madden Gamers who have spent year after year playing basically the same game, and are now really ticked with the biggest overhaul EVER

I have never experienced such a betrayal by an individual title in all of my gaming experiences from back in the Atari days. I owned a PS2 and owned the Madden 07 title for that console, (5 stars by the way) but this has been most disappointing of all experiences.
Madden and the usual announcers are not there. Instead you get some crazy guy that sounds like a radio announcer. The game play is totally different, the franchise mode has lost over half of the cool functions of the game. Oh, did I mention that it has the same title as the PS2 version, but doesn't even come close to the quality of game play? The only thing that gives the game any credit is the graphics, and they look as if someone slapped it together in the 720 format hoping that the increase in definition would make up for the shortcomings. DO NOT purchase this title if you have owned previous Madden titles. I have owned them all for the series and this one is dead last in terms of game play and overall enjoyment.

I'll start by stating that I was a big fan of the Madden games until I played Sega's NFL 2K5 on the PS2. After EA bought the exclusive rights to the NFL games, I was rather peeved. Madden 2007 for the PS3 just enforces the reasons for my dismay.

Pros:

- NFL foolball
- Improved graphics from the previous generation of video game consoles (not by the leaps and bounds you'd expect though)
- That's about it

Cons:

- Graphics not up to the quality you'd expect from next gen technology.
- Controls feel 'off', especially on defense.
- change of the speed burst button from X to R2...this was very difficult to get used to.
- create-a-player was ruined. Yeah, it was kind of cheap to be able to build the perfect player. Now you have to participate in drills to set your created player's attributes. While fine in theory, the drills (think scounting combine...bench press, 40yd dash, etc) weren't well executed. I really noticed the 'off' feel of the controls while running through a tackling drill with a LB. It was the same setup as the Mini-Camp drill from previous games (which I normally ruled at), but I could barely make a tackle. The players just didn't feel responsive.

Bottom line, this game felt rushed. I had a feeling EA would let the quality of their NFL game slip now that there's no competition. I can't even recommend renting this game, let alone buying it. It really seems that all of EA Sports titles are slipping greatly in terms of quality.

I know it is hard to beleive, but, this game is not worth purchasing. Please read all the other reviews and believe them - it is not a good game. I can't understand why in two player mode they would allow you to see the other players play call? That does not make any sense. Play is slow and much different from PS2 versions. Don't buy it.

I've been playing Madden on a PS2 for about as long as the PS2 has existed and this is the only update to disappoint me. Here are my thoughts.

Gameplay

This is the good news. The graphics are great - probably not quite as good as you thought, but still great. There is some pretty stupid eye candy. For example, between plays you get artistic shots of various unseen parts of the stadium like between pillars, or looking out from the hallways or, my favorite, a close-up of speaker clusters. Players on the sideline clap together in rhythm like trained monkeys. I wouldn't miss these.

Players move in a much more natural fashion and tackling in particular is much more realistic. For example, instead of either getting tackled or shucking a tackler, you may have a running back slowed down by dragging a tackler before getting popped by another one. It's hard to describe but it has a much more realistic feel. I also feel like its easier to run through the middle which was also a short coming of prior games.

The controls have shifted dramatically so you need to read up before you play. In particular, the triangle button has shifted from "hot route" to "jump offsides" - that cost me about 100 yards my first game. The new controls probably make more sense, but will take some getting used to.

They removed one feature that I really liked which was the "accelerated clock". That used to run the clock down to fixed time after calling the play which made it harder to call a crazy amount of audibles at the line and also kept the game moving. Without, I find that I can run a play every 10 seconds which is pretty silly.

Strategy

This is a complete disaster. In a rush to get the product out they have removed a ton of features. You no longer have formation specific audibles, so you're back to the basic five. You can't have formations specific substitutions, so there's no resting specific players or having a formation with your possession receivers. You can't adjust individual defenders, so you can't decided to blitz a corner instead of have them play zone or switch match ups. You can't alter your defensive match up (man match vs. zone match), so it's impossible to disguise zone coverage.
This is probably sufficient to send me back to the PS2 version.

Summary

If you just like to play a game with your friend and you don't generally make adjustments at the line, this is a worthwhile upgrade. If you play in Franchise mode and like a more cerebral game, I'd wait for 2008 when they've put those features back.

How can you have a Madden game without John Madden himself? The only thing provided is some wack radio commentary. The graphics are great but this is the worst Madden version I've ever played. Don't buy this.

If you're looking for a game to play head-to-head or don't care about Franchise mode, the game will be fine for you. The graphics are great and the gameplay is good for head-to-head mode, but everything else about the game is really, really bad.

1) In Franchise mode, CPU teams sign Hall of Fame players to their team -- in a recent game against the Vikings, YA Tittle was the QB and Chuck Bednarik was on defense! This makes franchise mode almost unplayable.

2) There is no way to edit player ratings

3) There are no formation-specific substitutions

4) The announcer is a generic radio voice -- no Madden!! (which may be a positive for some people)

It looks like this game was rushed to market and is nowhere near a completed product. I'm back to playing Madden for the PS2 on my PS3.

I have been playing Madden '05 on my PS2 for 2 years. It's super fun to play and has great graphics, etc. I bought a PS3 and of couse the first game I grabbed was Madden '07. What a complete dissapointment. I expected something great and what I got was a step back. This doesn't even deserve the Madden name on it. Talk about throwing a game together too fast just to get it out...that's exactly what happened here. I suspect that Madden '08 on PS3 will be much, much better because this one is pathetic. The designers should be embarassed. However, this is pretty much par for the course with the PS3 games I've bought. Thank goodness I bought the PS3 for the blu-ray as well because the gaming is not what I expected by any means.