Customer Reviews

Madden NFL 08: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides) (Prima Official Game Guides)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Got to agree with the other reviewer about this book. The information contained in the book is decent, but the pictures and explanations of the controls are terrible. It looks like they used xbox or ps2 for the pictures and for almost all the controls. Why they did that I don't understand, as it would seem that xbox 360 and ps3 are the up and coming systems. I would skip this if you have xbox360 or ps3, as it is not much help.

There is some good information here on offenses and defenses in the game and some generic information on all the NFL teams. But there is no specific information on plays to call for each team.

Other issues:

- At times the guide references the XBOX and PS2 controls. Other times the PS3 is mentioned. Why not list controls for all consoles or at the least be consistent?

- Several typos / misspellings. Has the publisher ever heard of spellcheck?

- Several inaccuracies. Ex: the Patriots no longer play on grass, they are on field turf.

QA was lacking on this book.

Very disappointing, and not what we've come to expect from Prima. I expected to get some insider tips on the 'features' not discussed in the flimsy manual. Things like why one running back has the "Elusive skill" and a yellow bar at 92, while another has a partially full "white bar" at 93. Or what do the 'points' really mean on the mini-game 'bench press'. I mean how many reps is required to get 9,000 or 15,000 points? How about deciphering the obscure scouting report comments such as "Is this guy really a DT"? Is that a complement or a smack down?
Instead you get a player-by-player breakdown on every team in all individual categories - useful, but is not all I was expecting. The book is hefty, but that's expected with the team-by-team/player-by-player breakdown.
The book also does not do an even adequate job of sorting through the various platforms. No where does it tell you that the "adjust pass rush protection" feature is not included on the Xbox 360 version (even though the Prima Guide lists it). After reading this in the Prima guide, I had though that little gem was for all platforms, and went back to the game manual to try to find it. Nope, not there. It does vaguely discuss NexGen platforms, but is still not up to par from what we normally expect.
If you want a team-by-team/player-by-player cheat sheet, then go ahead and buy, otherwise pass on this one, and buy another game or accessory.

I just wanted to echo the reviews so far, this is focused on PS2 and XBOX, with only 16 pages about PS3 and XBOX 360, I was really disappointed.

This could be much better. It does spell out a great deal about the game but when you want to know specifically which keys to press to get the on-screen result, it leaves you frustrated because that is often not listed

I bought a 360 and immediately bought Madden 08. I've played Madden since 92 and they just get better and better.

The manual is terrible.

The information on the screen is too small to read sometimes to understand what to press or such.

The interface is crap.

The announcer commentary during the game is absolutely HORRIBLE. You have great sound from the crowd, players, FX, and so forth, and the announcer is a cruddy radio announcer calling play by play through what sounds like a one speaker AM radio. Where the heck is Madden's colorful commentary? I usually ended up turning it off at times in the past, but who doesn't repeat the oft-heard Madden-saying to his buddy he just sacked "he put enough mustard on that to cover a foot long hotdog!"?

I've not played the mini-camp games yet. I don't even know if they are offered on the game anymore. I hope so. If they aren't I'm just going to go sell this game back to a store and get another football game.

Good gameplay, but missing those little things that made Madden so endearing over the years. All this game has is name recognition as THE game that pretty much every guy has and plays. But if EA keeps going this, then the game will be passed by Sega or some other developer.

I bartend and some EA designers sat at my bar one day. For all you guys out there, I chastised the hell out of them for the terrible looking cheerleaders on a Madden a couple of years ago. Wait till I see them again this time... I'm gonna unload on them.