Madden NFL 08

Game Info

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: EA Tiburon

Genre(s): Sports, Football

Players: 8

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Release Date: August 14, 2007

Summary

All-New Read & React System: New player skill icons identify on-field strengths and weaknesses, providing an immediate read on what your opponent is giving you. Quickly react, create mismatches, and exploit opponent weaknesses before every play. All-New Front Office Mode: Take full control of every aspect of an NFL franchise. Construct a state-of-the-art stadium, set concession prices, hire your coaching staff, draft players, and manage the entire operation from the top down to build your dynasty. Your Ring of a Champion: Increase your Madden Gamer Level to help create and customize your own in-game championship ring. Madden Unmatched: All-new player moves, including auto-motion, backward passes and low-hitting tackles, plus ultra-smooth gameplay provide the most realistic NFL gaming experience ever. Control receivers and make spectacular catches or key possession receptions, or roam the secondary and jar the ball loose with big hits and ball-stripping tackles. [EA Sports]

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What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this game is 6.2 (out of 10) based on 95 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Aaron M. gave it a4:
The graphics are amazing, but with the problems this game has I would prefer the problems to be fixed and have Madden '96 graphics. Terrible AI, lineman are useless, recievers don't put their hands up, you can't change the positions of players. Brian Urlacher was a safety in college! Manny Lawson and Terrell Suggs were ends! Hines Ward played quarterback! No one releases anyone to free agency. This game is terrible but it's the only pro football game so by default it's the best.

Du M. gave it a3:
Madden 08 sucks! the game graphics are great but the sideline and stadium graphics look like nfl 2k2... franchise mode is useless.. why can't i control it like in madden 05 (prices, tickets, advertisement) where is the newspaper thing?... another thing that simply drives me crazy is that i can't change a players position even though i have a need and also i can't change a player's height like in past madden... after a week i get tired of hearing marshall faulk's stupid intro and after game ring what it's called thing..stupid!!! why is there only one frikin official in the game? that sucks too... and finally madden is too slow for my taste.. loading takes forever and every single thing you do like changing a players appearence takes for ever... and it runs slow in my ps3 meaning sometimes you feel it freezes... simply awful!!! the only thing that keeps my buying madden is the draft class. Period.

Stan D. gave it a4:
Anyone who knows video games will like the new madden, but if you like and know football the old one is so much better. I don't understand why they got rid of substitutions, if my MLB sucks I don't want him in on 1 or 2 linebacker sets. Also I like having me best WR in the slot on some plays, for the mismatches. Madden 08 for regular xbox is still the same, just to let you know.

Black Machismo gave it a5:
This game didn't fix anything! The rosters weren't even accurate. The ratings were horribly ill-proportioned (Carson Palmer a 90! Phillip rivers an 88! Rex Grossman above 75! come on!). The training camp mini-games (if they can be called games) are still impossible. I barely got under five seconds with devin hester! Also it is Bullsh*t that they call features like create a team that have existed since '04 "new". And if I cant change positions (which is complete bull, by the way), why isn't there any flexibility t ohave players play as "tweeners, ie:Rodney Harison playing WR. The AI is so broken I'm not even going to talk about it. The only redeeming quality is it is football (barely). Come on EA get on the ball and stop ripping us off.

Dan C. gave it a2:
I have the PS3 version. Gameplay can be choppy online. I played one game online and I would be sacked before my primary receiver got off the line every time, or else have to rush a pass that would always get picked off, because the other guy clearly had a better connection. The worst thing is the turnovers, though. Some of you guys say it's realistic to have a guy fumble 4 times a game if he doesn't constantly cover up. That's just wrong. How many guys do you see covering up the ball with both arms every single time they get hit? None. And yet there are some guys out there who fumble once a season or less, and practically nobody that fumbles even once a game on average, much less 2-4. If covering the ball is what is required to avoid fumbling 3 to 5 times the real-life average, then you shouldn't have to slow to a crawl in order to do it. These guys drop the ball like they're carrying it in one hand. The other terrible thing about fumbles in the game is that you can't tell you've fumbled until it's being recovered by the other team. There is no notification on-screen, and the announcer never says anything until it's too late. Sometimes if you have it stripped without getting really hit, you can tell you've fumbled because your guy keeps moving and the camera stops, but when you notice that, you've run 10 yards away from the ball and still have momentum in that direction. I'm trying to remember even one time that I've recovered a fumble on offense. I think the underlying reason for this is that EA felt they had to make the difficulty levels distinct. Pro is too easy. You basically impose your will on both offense and defense (at least I do). You win by 20 points every game in your sleep, and there's no challenge. Then you step up to all-pro, and you can execute perfectly and still get buried by 30-40 points because after you break that 20 yard run or 30 yard pass, the CPU decides it deserves the ball back, and takes it accordingly. I'd say defense operates about right in this mode, but it still gets ugly quick because the CPU never starts in its own territory after recovering a fumble on your 2nd to 3rd play from scrimmage. I'm going to try playing on pro and just boosting the CPU AI. Maybe that will strike some kind of balance. I don't know why anyone is hating on NCAA though. The gameplay on that is head and shoulders above Madden. NCAA is as great as ever. I think what EA ought to do is, instead of having the 4 very drastically different levels, have 10 more subtle difficulty levels, where only level 10 is the "CPU cheats you" level, and the rest just require you to be smarter and execute better. The current difficulty levels are basically set up to where the bottom two are characterized by the CPU laying down for you, while the upper two are characterized by the CPU cheating you. I guess with the sliders, it's still a little better than, say, Fight Night, where the hardest level is still basically the CPU laying down for you.

Jeff B. gave it a2:
Wow just got the PC version and it was nothing I hoped it would be. The AI is flat-out terrible and favors the computer for sure. Players make impossible defensive plays - like instantly changing direction the instant your QB releases the ball only to cover 15 yards and make a play on the ball before your receiver can catch it. Blockers are retarded and let obvious threats sack/tackle you while stopping obviously benign defenders. The comp always gets good protection in the pocket, even with a crappy O-line, while your first four draft picks were O-linemen and you get sacked every other play. The computer also seems to become invincible as soon as you are up by about 14 points, generating turnovers and making impossible plays like the cheater it is. The mini-camp games are still largely impossible and you need to play them if you want to level up your players. I chose to skip them and screw my player's stats rather than deal with the frustration. This year you can't switch the positions that your players play. WTF? It was nice to be able to move your players around in previous versions, especially on defense. Franchise mode still generates statistics that are completely unrealistic. Custom playbooks are still limited to 11 formations and less than 80 plays. Custom play building is still buggy and frustrating. The one thing that is new, player "weapons," is actually just a useless gimmick! For instance, if a player has a 95 speed, he gets a little foot icon above his head! If he has a 95 break tackle, then he gets a little bulldozer icon! It has changed nothing significant at all! This game was a disappointment across the board. I have been unsatisfied with the Madden franchise for years, and this years release proves to me that EA has ceased trying to make it better. I will go back to playing Madden 06 for now, and pray to God almighty that the NFL has the sense to let someone else use their signature in the future.

Matt P. gave it a5:
For some reason, some very odd, very naive reason, I thought that this Madden would somehow be better than the horrendous outing in 07. I thought that everything would be fixed and that the game wouldn't be a broken mess, boy, was I wrong. I know I'm not going to steer away any fans of the series, and seeing as how this is the only NFL game out there, there really isn't any option, anyway. To start off with, the turnover mechanic is woefully broken. Not only will you fumble two, three, four times a game, but you will also throw about three or four interceptions a game. This is, however, nicely balanced because the computer QB will either throw 7 INTS or none at all and eight touchdowns. QBs will consistently throw lame duck line drives that will end up in the hands of a middle linebacker. Balance is way, way off, with the computer being really bad and your team being really good, for the most part. The recievers will, I kid you not, turn around with their hands out infront of them like a cowboy holding two six shooters and watch the ball hit them in the helmet. On one replay, I watched Larry Fitzgerald's eyes actually follow the ball as it hit him the thigh. Playing as a secondary defender is next to impossible, because when you press the Y button you jump, you more than less wait three seconds then shoot your hands up in the air, like you're doing the wave. The only positive: it's the only real, liscenced pro football game out there.

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