Last year's Madden for the 360 was a joke. Sure the graphics had been upgraded, but like all of EA's games of last year it was lacking most of the features of the current-gen versions. This year, EA did a good job bringing back most of the features missing. The problem is that it really doesn't bring much new to the table, is still missing some things, and there are some noticeable bugs that hamper what boils down to a $60 version of Madden '06 for the original Xbox.
Pros: Brings back most of the key features missing from last year's 360 version; very nice graphics, of course; the stadiums look gorgeous; videogame grass/turf has never looked this good; there are tons of cool animations for the players; the game is still very fun to play; online play over Xbox Live is very fun, depending on your tastes; Hall Of Fame players are a nice touch; Ya gotta love the 'Madden Gamer Level' and I wish more games would adopt something like this feature; Franchise mode is still a blast to play through; the addition of the 'Lead Blocker' feature is fun to use for awhile; nice quicksave feature is a blessing; thankfully the horrid cone-vision passing is turned off by default; using a draft-class from the NCAA game is still really cool; while they took out the feature to scout players yourself before the draft, every player is automatically scouted for you and the info is right in front of you during the draft; decent selection of tunes, as usual; no more Tony Bruno or his stupid 'radio show'!!!!; I do like the fact that in Superstar mode you only play as your created player, but.....
Cons: Superstar mode is still boring, in my opinion; there is still no 'Owner mode' feature; no historic teams; while Madden's commentary had always stunk, the new play-by-play guy isn't much better; no training camp mode; once you unlock the hall of fame players, they show up in your franchise mode as free agents (very annoying); strange pauses during gameplay feels like the disc has problems loading; EA's new menu systems in their games is annoying at first; achievement points don't involve the things they should, so they are frustrating to get; the CPU AI is still completely idiotic; why does every player model in the game look like he's on steroids?; the new mini-games are more annoying than they are enjoyable; why does EA expect us to PAY $ for downloading classic stadiums online?!!; the 'highlight stick' is overrated; tackling in this game is a joke; not having the option of a fantasy draft really stinks, as that was a really fun way to play through 'Owner mode' with your buddies; if you played Madden '06 for the original Xbox, there isn't much new here which is obviously disappointing.
The problem with this year's Madden is the same problem the series has had since the '05 game came out: they bring hardly anything new to the table. Sure this is way better than last year's 360 game, but that's not saying much. Obviously this game is going to sell like crazy no matter what (obviously I purchased it), but I am really getting sick of paying top dollar to get what boils down to last year's game with new rosters and some stupid new feature that EA is over-hyping. If you didn't play last year's 360 version, this game may make you forget it's bad points for awhile because you will be impressed by the graphics. After a few games, however, you will start to notice that this game has the same problems the series has had over the last few years. Too bad EA doesn't have anyone to compete with anymore, or maybe we would have a better game each year.
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