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161 of 195 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Sucking creativity, quite literally this time. Serious glitches too., August 15, 2007
Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars
[For those blindly marking this review unhelpful, just because you disagree with me giving Madden a 2 star rating, you should take a trek on over to EA Sports's own Madden forums, look for the "glitches galore" thread in the Madden Wii forum and get a good look at all the glitches that are being found in this game. Since typing this review, there have been many glitches discovered by players of the game, some not so serious, some serious, some very serious (like, losing your entire franchise mode game save), and EA's hasn't really commented on fixing them, though these glitches have been tested and confirmed. People giving this a five star rating are doing a great disservice to those of us who want a quality game, and allow EA to be complacent in mediocrity.]
Another year, another Madden. You know how it goes. When Madden came out for the Wii last year, it came to some rather critical acclaim, and people loved the motion sensing controls, though they were aware they needed tweaking, on top of the graphics as well. EA promised that this release would be far superior in quality...
Well, my review title points out possibly one of the biggest complaints I have for the Wii version of the game (one that seems to have many other gamers irritated), and this is typically a big selling point to me. Despite this game being on the Wii, a system touted as being built on innovation and is meant to stand out from the next generation crowd, in a near surprising move by EA, the Create A Player, Create A Team, Create a Stadium, or the (pointless) Create A Fan modes have been removed from this version of the game! Unbelievable. One of the nerdiest things that I (used to) enjoy doing was creating myself as a physical powerhouse of a running back, that ran faster than Devin Hester before anyone knew who he was. I also would create a team that would decimate everyone on the field, with my own roster of NFL superstars and my own imposing stadium to do it in. Removing these features is a decision I absolutely do not understand, nor can forgive. It was self-indulgent fun. Give players a chance to create something, and they will come back for more.
The closest I can come to creating a player on the Wii now is the NFL Superstar mode, which is a decent feature in and of itself and vastly improved over last year, though it can use heavy refinements (more on that below). In terms of your created character, rather than opting for a real-life 2007 rookie, all you can 'create' of yourself in this mode is your skin tone, and a generic face selection. The hair is even randomized and non-selectable for crying out loud; the first player I attempted to create for this mode had a frickin' mullet, I kid you not. Also, forget about customizing your gear, like elbow pads, face guard, etc. And Superstar cuts your ability to create a superstar monster by putting a cap on the amount of distributable attribute points into different categories (and not alot of them, I might add), so no 99 attributes of everything for you, though it's better than random parent-gene assignments for sure. I can understand the attribute points, so it makes the game more balanced, but in the past you could still make a 99 attribute machine and throw him on the team of your choosing (which is another thing you can forget about, as you'll probably be drafted by the team you hate the most). This all is reason enough for me to charge this game with a 3 star rating, but there is more to be disappointed with.
Despite promises, the controls are not much, if any, better than last year, at least not by a long shot. Crossing your fingers and hoping that you'll make the right stiff arm move or juke or (in my eyes, the most dreaded) catch is still something you'll have to live with. However, it was a highlight of last year's game, though with faults that haven't been really addressed this time, so it's not a big problem. To be honest, despite different controller mappings, that had me somewhat confused at first, gameplay is unsurprisingly not so much different than last year. Though there is a lovely glitch where when you hike, sometimes the game will react to your quick arm movement and pass IMMEDIATELY after the snap, which is pretty much a guaranteed turnover.
Another thing that isn't much/any better, that we were led to believe by different gaming publications and sites would be, are the graphics. Yeah, it still pretty much looks like last gen, unfortunately. I'm not a big graphic-hound, but I (like many others) were under the impression we would be seeing improvement. None to be found unfortunately.
The fan-cutscenes after touchdowns have thankfully been removed, so that's a plus, but I still think Madden can improve it's presentation factor ten fold. Player animations are still robotic in between plays. BORING. And please, for the love of god EA, get a different endgame animation for future releases. If I see my quarterback grab the camera one more time, followed by a receiver 'raising the roof', I'm going to do an endzone dance on top of my game disc.
The soundtrack is another area I have a huge beef with. Nevermind that I think the majority of the music is terrible, that's my personal opinion and some of you may like what's there. I personally left active only 3's and 7's by Queens of the Stone Age, the Ozzy track, and some other track that I forget the name, so just assume that I'm picky. But what is INEXCUSABLE, especially considering it was a feature sorely missing from last year's game, is that even on the Wii, a system perfectly capable of custom soundtracks, you are still unable to use a custom soundtrack in this game. For crying out loud, EA! Good lord, Excite Truck, a Wii launch title, has this functionality, yet Madden 08 does not? If I'm going to be inundated by ads for Sprint, Under Armor, Cadillac, and Snickers during gameplay, at least let me listen to my own tunes during the training camp and menus instead of the overhyped garbage you're pushing!
Madden and Michaels still do play by play, not the annoying announcer from the 360/PS3 titles. This may be good or bad, depending on your preference, as their dialogue really hasn't been updated all that much. I foresee Madden and Michaels spending just a few hours maximum in the recording booth each year anymore, if any at all.
As far as the different party modes, they are fun when you have a buddy around and it is a nice way to freshen up a game that has been stale for pretty much the past 7 years. The Wii is a party system, and it shows that this was an area of focus for the team.
Ultimately, if you own a Wii, and happen to have last year's version of the game, keep it and pass on this version. '08 is ultimately a step down from what was excellent about the last title, and I hope that Madden 09 they will learn from their mistakes. This is unfortunate, as I had high hopes for this title. I strongly feel this franchise has reached a point where they need to bite the bullet and skip a season, releasing roster update patches and etc. that will be used for the current games, and pool their resources to overhaul a new engine for gameplay and release it the following year. There's tons they can do.
For example, in Superstar mode, instead of generic training-camp minigames that have been recycled year after year, include actual, real-life workouts and exercises like benchpress, squats, deadlifts, pullups, crunches, sprints, cardio, and have those slowly build your player's stats like strength, agility, speed, etc. depending on what they did. They can skip it if they want, but avoid it too much, then your player suffers. Have it be educational to, so you understand why you are doing it, and what the real physical benefits are. You could even make the game do double-duty by getting overweight gamers in shape with something like that. Sure, do the training camp mode stuff when that time comes, once drafted, but instead of leaving blank dates on the schedule, put more control in the player's hands of what they can do! I mean, if you're going to make it realistic, then do so! Also, let me have more controller of my player's appearance, please. Let me wear the gear I want, (within reason, of course), and have some kind of sub option to at least choose which team you want to be on so you don't have to be stuck playing for a team that's a rival to your own favorite. And lordy lordy, bring back the Create-a-Modes, that should be a definite given...the fact that those are gone is baffling to me.
EA can win a lot of lost respect by making a complete overhaul, but until then, we should not be content with blindly purchasing the same regurgitated roster-updated, feature-slashed title year in and year out, merely because EA owns the license to the NFL. Buy only if you missed last year's Madden on the Wii, and even in that case, try finding an old copy of '07 first.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Online mode is great!, August 27, 2007
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
I was hesitant to buy this game after reading of the glitches and about how EA really didn't seem to put enough effort into making it work well and look good on the Wii.
Well, I haven't had it long and maybe my opinion will change, but for now I'm very glad that I bought it.
The online mode is really a blast. It is a MUCH different feeling for me to know that I'm playing against another human instead of the CPU. The fact that you can play in games that affect your ranking adds to the thrill/pressure. It's nice too that you can specify that you only want to play people who are at your same skill level.
I guess I could have just been lucky so far, but the online mode has worked very well and I didn't notice any lag.
As for the rest of the game, yes it would be nice if EA would make the graphics look as good as they can on a Wii, but my old fashioned non-HD TV isn't going to do it much justice anyway, so I don't worry too much about that.
The glitches are at least rare enough that I've played several games so far (offline and online) and haven't seen any. Perhaps the first time I do I'll change my opinion of the game. For now, though, the few games I've played online have realy made the purchase worth it.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Decent offline play, but online mode has *serious* bugs, August 22, 2007
Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
The control scheme on the Wii makes this the most enjoyable football game out there, and you'll have a fun time playing the offline mode with friends. The online mode, however, is terrible, and brings the entire game down.
The online mode is plauged with bugs that make the game a remarkably frustrating experience. Remember those pictures of broken TV screens that popped up every other day when the Wii was first released? Unless you have the patience of a saint, you'll be intentionally duplicating that expereince in your home, throwing your Wii remote at the TV in helpless anger.
As others have mentioned, setting up a match can be a pain. I wouldn't put the failure rate I've experienced as high as others here, but I'd say at about 30% of the matches fail to start for me. I can live with that. The real problems begin when the game starts.
1. False start penalty any time you try a 'no huddle' in online mode except during the final seconds of a quarter. This might be part of EA's obnoxious 'Fair Play' system where they try to keep you from running 'unrealistic' plays, but 'no huddle' offenses are used frequently enough under normal circumstances in the NFL that it's absurd to prevent them. Again, this is something you could probably live with, except that the 'no huddle' option is mapped to the 'B' button, which also sprints. So if you happened to be sprinting when the last play ended and don't *immediately* let go of the button, your offense will rush to the line and automatically trigger a 5 yard penalty.
2. Random audibles. Multiple times I've lined up to kick a field goal or punt, and notice my formation change right before I hike the ball. It costs a time-out to get back to play-book and reselect a kicking play, unless you give up two of your audibles to be punt/field goal.
3. Disconnecting players. This is hardly exclusive Madden on Wii, but the treatment is. Rather than letting you complete the game against the PC, the game will freeze for about 10 seconds, tell you the connection was lost, and force you back to the menu. Even worse, it will actually increase your "Did Not Finish" percentage, even if you're not the one that disconnected. When you play a close game for 45 minutes to an hour and are seconds away from winning, this is infuriating.
4. Fair Play restrictions. As in #1, except these aren't exclusive to the Wii version and have been around for a while. With all of the other problems though, it really starts to get annoying. Online, the game will prevent you from doing anything except kicking if it's 4th and 1 unless you're down and it's near the end of the game.
If you plan on only playing this game offline with local friends, then I could recommend it when the price drops a bit. You should definitely stay away from this if you have any intention of playing online though. Visit the EA forums for the Wii version of the game to get an idea for the scope of the problems; they extend well beyond online play, and even include errors with autosaving the game. When a major feature of the game is as broken as online play is, I cannot justify paying full price for the game. Wait until next year's version if you can, or if you don't care about the roster updates, pick up last year's Wii version. The game is nearly identical and in some ways better than this year's, and you can pick it up used for a few dollars.
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