Madden 07 on 360

[Meshuggah]

I'm loving this game! Few things I don't really care for though, although I've only played one pre-season game.

mainly just two small things. 1. I can still throw 70 yard TD passes :/.

They use WAY too much motion blur on the crowd, making it looks worse than NCAA 07 to me. Let's use 3 polygons on them and then use a Gassian blur on them so people won't look at them. Sorry, but with the blur, it's even more apparent. I would personally rather be able to see the fans.

[magik]

Great...

Looks like Madden will be shipping with a few known bugs this year. First, gamers will be able to draft Hall of Fame players in Franchise Mode. EA claims that this is actually a feature, and not a bug at all. The other bug, especially disturbing since it should have been discovered in testing long ago, is that players aren't registering fatigue. That is to say, the players do fatigue, they just don't show it in the user interface. So far, EA has only said that a patch will be available "soon" after release.

Source

What a ridiculous bug, I can't believe they didn't catch that before launching. :angry:

... Ah well, that's EA for ya...

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

i got mine at circuit city for that same price, plus the new Lamb of God for 12.99, too! :)

Is that just the price Circuit City is selling it for? Or did you take the Fryes flyer there?

[scumdogmillionaire]

Is that just the price Circuit City is selling it for? Or did you take the Fryes flyer there?

we don't have a fryes here in denver. it's just their sale price (for this week only i think)

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

we don't have a fryes here in denver. it's just their sale price (for this week only i think)

Thanks.

It is actually why I was asking about the whole Fryes thing, because I have never seen a Fryes here in Jersey, at least none that I know of, so I was hoping it was indeed just the sales price.

[Nix]

Is that just the price Circuit City is selling it for? Or did you take the Fryes flyer there?

Got mine today at Circuit City for 47. Took another game back before I went there so I ended up getting it for $31.

[Meshuggah]

Fry's should be everywhere, I swear, it's the equivalent to Sam's Club. BUT FOR US!

US being tech-nerds :D

Can't beat going to a Hard Drive sale and seeing stacks of 9ft tall 500GB SATA drives, heh.

[mattmatik]

Well, got my game today from Gamestop, and I must say that so far I am pleased with the purchase. To me, this game feels alot more fluid to play than did NCAA07 (in past years the reverse could be said). The graphics are excellent, especially the environments. I don't know what to think of the "Radio announcer" but Al Michaels and John Madden's previous commentary needed a major overhaul anyway, so it's kind of a break from the same routine.

I played 1 exhibition and 1 unranked online game and enjoyed both - which I couldn't say for NCAA. The online component of Madden (in my experience thus far) is very smooth and I didn't notice any lag. On NCAA it was like a slideshow, so I only got even more mad when I was getting killed. I'll be starting a franchise with the 49ers soon so we'll see how that goes. Hopefully...and I say this without much hope, hehe...is that EA/MS keep this game updated with content via Marketplace. It's not enough to just get picture packs or alternate jerseys. And EA needs to patch the game when bugs arise (and they WILL). We all know EA's penchant for abandoning their games after release, so like I said, this is all in hope and without expecting much.

Anyway, if anyone wants to play, send me a message/invite!

[Nix]

Agreed. I'm really enjoying the game so far. I'll i'ved played so far is superstar mode. Doing pretty well at it too!

[virtualmadden]

Hmmm...to buy or not to buy. I'm waiting for my gift card to come back from returning my Xbox 1, then I guess I'll take a look at a 360. I love Madden games, but I also loved the ESPN series. Anyway, hopefully EA hasn't soiled "my" good name this year, lol.

[Tiger.Girl]

Dont buy it, I cant remember the last time I played a worse football game. I played the 360 version and the PS2 version extensivly today and as far as everything (except graphics, and even the 360s arent all that hot) the PS2 version wins hands down (and I HATE sony). I dont see where EA gets off thinking they can just shovel **** off on us because they own the rights. TEN YEARS AGO I remember playing FOUR player madden 97 with the multitap, and here we are now with a less entertaining game ten years later stuck playing 1vs1. Dont touch this game witha ten foot pole unless you are a mindless drone.

Sorry for the long incoherrent rant but the game REALLY is that bad.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Dont buy it, I cant remember the last time I played a worse football game. I played the 360 version and the PS2 version extensivly today and as far as everything (except graphics, and even the 360s arent all that hot) the PS2 version wins hands down (and I HATE sony). I dont see where EA gets off thinking they can just shovel **** off on us because they own the rights. TEN YEARS AGO I remember playing FOUR player madden 97 with the multitap, and here we are now with a less entertaining game ten years later stuck playing 1vs1. Dont touch this game witha ten foot pole unless you are a mindless drone.

Sorry for the long incoherrent rant but the game REALLY is that bad.

I still am completely blown away by the fact that they do not have 4 player support. That is just a joke in every aspect. As you said, it was achievable in such early versions of the game, but it is not achievable with supposed "Next Gen." Bunch of BS is what it is, and I fully agree it is EA just knowing they can do whatever they please considering they are the only game on the block with NFL Football. Combined with what I read about the fatigue, the fact it cannot push over 30 FPS, it all is really quite sad that EA are obviously not willing to push themselves to make the absolute best product they can make...

Make it decent, and wait until next year to add that aspect in, has from my perspective seem to be their approach with the Madden series for the last 4 years or so...

With that said I have not played the game yet, it just got shipped from GameFly today, so I will form my own opinion overall when I get to play it myself, but I have not been a big fan of Madden at all for the last couple of years, so it is going to take a lot to all of a sudden make me a believer, that is for sure.

[Gfunk4life]

i just saw madden 07 review one game trailers and madden 07 is looking good to me, i might have to move up my plans on getting a xbox360 to get madden 07 i want to be a RB in superstar mode or a QB that can run

[jerzdawg]

I have not tested the 4 player thing yet... but i know for a fact that before I started the game(where you move your controller to the side you want to control) there are FOUR controllers at the bottom of the screen... so i find it pretty odd that it does not support the 4 players(i know the back of the box does say only 2 player).... i have 3 controllers so i will test it out when i get home....

@ tiger.gril ... in which ways was the ps2 version better than the 360?.. just curious?

[quigley0]

I picked up Madden 2007 for my 360 yesterday, and, I was a tad dissapointed. Having played NCAA07, I was hoping Madden would be a bit of an improvement. Well, it wasnt. It wasn't bad, and, I am going to enjoy it, but I can't shake the feeling that this is "beta".

Graphics

The graphics look outstanding, that is, until the framerate drops. Just like NCAA07, Stadium "Fly-bys" should have been left out. Its maybe 2-3 FPS while panning around the stadium, and, really just doesn't look nice. Unlike NCAA07, however, Madden had framerate issue while I was playing. Running Sweeps to the left, and noticed a "stuttering" that any PC gamer would recognise to tone down the graphics. But, on 360, you can't tone down the graphics. I had one idea, i changed my 360's output from 1080i to 720p. I didn't really think this would do anything, but, it seems that it does play better at the lower resolution.

Experience

The controls are tight, and gameplay is true madden. No complaints there. You will enjoy this game on the grid iron, as much as any other previous Madden game.

My complaints are in the "little" things. One of my biggest complaints about NCAA07 is that you cannot play 4 player. And, Madden is no different. On Madden launch day, 3 of my friends would come over and play. We'd play 2vs2, and sometimes 4vsCPU. Well, you no longer have this option. It is 1vs1 or nothing. You can't even play 2vCPU. I am VERY dissapointed about this. This has been a feature for about 7-8 years now.

I am also dissapointed in the way player creation is handled. You can no longer assign attribute points to make yourself, or your friends in the game. You have to play a series of minigames, and, your success in that determines what your attribute points are. I really just want to crank my Speed and power to 99, and make myself the greatest NFL player ever.

Now, before anyone says "But that makes the game fun", and you are right. If playing minigames is your style, they've added a Superstar mode, where you do all that training to boost your character. I think they should have left that option there, and left my normal player creation alone. Now, if you want to add say, 5 or 6 created players on your team (lets say your friends), its going to take you about 2-3 hours to play all the mini games, and even then, you cannot really make Probowlers. I think my powerRB came out to 82 overall.

The superstar mode isn't my cup of tea, but i tried it out. I made a MLB, and it was ok. During the season you can only control yourself, which means that you dont call plays, and you watch when the other squad is on the field. The camera was zoomed in close, and I found it hard to play the MLB, with this limited view.

Another complaint is the lack of previous controls. This plagued NCAA07 also, When you switch defensive players, you used to be able to switch forward and back. Now there is only one button. Forward. So, if you blow past your guy (this happens alot) you have to cycle around again. This is the way Madden used to be years and years ago, but they changed it and I loved it. Now, for some reason, it is back to the old way.

I guess Madden isn't doing the play by play anymore? Some make like this, but, the new commentator is the "EA Radio", so they made it sound like a radio broad cast. The guy sounds like he is broadcasting from a tin can. I liked the old Madden/michaels better.

Overall

Overall, if you just want to pick an NFL team and play, then Madden2007 is a solid game (just dont play 1080i), but if you are a fan of having friends over to play, or, the ease of adding several players to your team ,then the game you may find lacking.

[magik]

Here's a quick rundown from the medium-length of time that I could stand to actually play the game...

Graphics:

[General]

Overall the graphics are very good but still not exceptional next-gen quality just yet. For example, the grass textures are very bland and animations aren't 'smooth' just yet.

[Animations]

The animations are much smoother over Madden 06, but still not quite 'there' yet, they still jitter a lot in between animations. When is EA finally going to get it together and put in tweened-animations?

Sound:

[in-Game Audio Commentary]

I know they don't have Madden to actually do any of the in-game commentary, but what the hell? An ESPN-Radio commentary? First of all, they didn't have to make it sound so meek, I know it's supposed to seem like it's coming from a Radio, but come on, seriously? I didn't spend $60 on a game to listen to sub-radio-quality audio commentary on a 5.1 Surround Suond System. Now I wouldn't be so upset about the audio quality had the commentary actually been good, but it's not! The commentator makes a comment pretty much every other down, his excitment levels in time of need seem very fake and poorly executed. He doesn't comment much on formations or even individual players. EA could have done a much better job here, seems laziness was in the way, however.

[Gameplay Sound]

The sound that players make when getting hit, catching the football or running the 40-yard dash is excellent. The sound is very authentic and believable, EA hit the mark in this category. Also, the sound that the football makes during a long bomb downfield is believable at first but not very authentic and gets a bit repetitive, however this does not diminish the overall quality of the gameplay sound category.

[soundtrack]

Usually the Madden soundtrack is a very enjoyable and fitting soundtrack to complement the game itself. In this years rendition, however, it seems as though the soundtrack was all but an afterthought. Many of the tracks sound repetitive even after listening to it for a short period of time. The usual Madden/Football feel just isn't there.

Features:

[Mini-Camp Games]

Although they took out (or just didn't put in) a lot of the mini-camp games from previous version of Madden, the few that are there are enjoyable and usually a lot of fun to play. Doing a benchpress with a weaker player versus a strong and very capable one really feels like a tough workout and the authenticity is there. The 40-yard dash with the two-joystick pull-downs also feels very fluid and well thought out.

[superstar Mode]

What a great feature! A very good idea and reasonably well executed, however, it falls short. I started a Superstar as a QB (you can't explicitly select the position of the player, but you can 'shuffle' enough times to get what you want... but why? Why didn't they just give you this ability?) and it was enjoyable at first. However, it quickly became repetitive and tiresome. As a QB in real life, one usually doesn't have that much say in what plays are being made, especially as a rookie, but this is a video game. It gets very monotonous to keep doing running plays because the coach is calling for them, the only way around this is to call audibles at the line but then you don't really get to choose a full-out play.

The over the shoulder camera view when you snap the ball and get ready to through is done extremely well and is very enjoyable. It is also very satisfying when you hit a good mark and score a touchdown, however, after the ball is thrown your QB just has such a dumb look on his face as he's just sitting there, it would have been nice to be able to move to a TV-angled camera to watch the play unfold instead of just sitting there barely seeing any action.

Also, when you're on defense, since you are a QB all you can do is sit there and watch a sped-up version of your defense on the field trying to win the ball back for you. It can be very frustrating watching your defense (or lack thereof) making some costly mistakes, but that's part of being a QB and adds to the overall authenticity of it all, however. What really gets me though is that you are stuck watching the 'broadcast-view' of the defense on the field. Why? You are the QB and you are sitting on the sideline, why isn't your camera view from the sideline (or at least switchable to be from the sideline).

Also, your coach barely talks to you. A feature that I would have loved to have is the ability to put on the Xbox Live headset and hear the coach's voice in the headset calling out plays and giving you pep-talks. I'm sure this is doable and it is such a little feature but would add so much to the overall authenticity of Superstar mode. I would really love if this were in the next edition of Madden, but I doubt it, it's EA, they just aren't as creative as they used to be.

[Franchise Mode]

Basic franchise mode, good control over many of the aspects dealing with a franchise. One of the best things here is that throughout your seasons you can choose to pick up a Live Opponent. Excellent idea and adds a lot of life to the franchise mode. Overall it is made apparent that EA really integrated Madden 07 with Xbox Live and they have done a great job at that.

Gameplay

[At the line]

Play calling is great and very well organized. It is much easier to find plays than it used to be. Your control at the line of scrimmage is outstanding and you really do have full control over the ensuing play. EA hit this category on the money.

[Lead blocking]

Lead blocking is a lot of fun, actually. It is also very satisfying to make that big block and see your RB take it downfield.

[Play Now]

It is absolutely ridiculous that EA did not add 4-player support... 'nuff said.

[Menu System]

If you even have to talk about the menus that means something is wrong, if you don't have to talk about it, that means it's been done well and navigating options throughout the game is natural and intuitive. Unfortunately, in Madden 07, we have to talk about it. The in-game options are decent and can be navigated without much effort, however, outside a game is where the trouble occurs. I can't even tell you exactly whats wrong or what should be what as the overall system is far too complicated to even outline. Hitting right on the left-stick brings up the Media Room (or whatever they call it) at any point in time during any screen or menu that you are on. Why? Is that absolutely necessary that you have to have instant Media access at the push of a button? Surely this is because EA is planning a lot of pay-to-download features since the main menu item that comes up is the Xbox Live Marketplace button. What a joke, this should be on the main menu and towards the bottom. You should never use a specific direction on the analog sticks to have the user navigate to a different menu. What happened to the good old days of a simple hierarchical menu system? Text is also small and hard to read at times.

Also, the playbook menu that comes up during a 'cutscene' of an ingame animation slows down the rest of the game considerably. This effectively renders the post-drive player-specific animations useless since you can't see them! They slow down to something that looks like 10-12fps while loading the playbook. Looks like EA just got lazy in this case and didn't bother to write effective code to load the playbook. Very frustrating and degrades the overall feel of the game quality.

Summary:

Overall, there are some great and solid features about this game but the lack of a few features and sub-par quality here and there is what bring down the overall score that I'm giving to Madden 07. It could have been 10x better than it is now but it seems as though a lack of competition promotes a lack of competence in Madden revisions.

My overall score: 7/10

[magik]

We seem to agree on the the problems with Madden, good review. (Y)

BTW: Why not post this in the other Madden thread?

[quigley0]

Oops! I didn't see the thread. Can a mod close this, and I'll post my review on the other thread?

[quigley0]

I incorrectly made a new thread for this, but as you can see, my review pretty much falls in-line with Magik's:

I picked up Madden 2007 for my 360 yesterday, and, I was a tad dissapointed. Having played NCAA07, I was hoping Madden would be a bit of an improvement. Well, it wasnt. It wasn't bad, and, I am going to enjoy it, but I can't shake the feeling that this is "beta".

Graphics

The graphics look outstanding, that is, until the framerate drops. Just like NCAA07, Stadium "Fly-bys" should have been left out. Its maybe 2-3 FPS while panning around the stadium, and, really just doesn't look nice. Unlike NCAA07, however, Madden had framerate issue while I was playing. Running Sweeps to the left, and noticed a "stuttering" that any PC gamer would recognise to tone down the graphics. But, on 360, you can't tone down the graphics. I had one idea, i changed my 360's output from 1080i to 720p. I didn't really think this would do anything, but, it seems that it does play better at the lower resolution.

Experience

The controls are tight, and gameplay is true madden. No complaints there. You will enjoy this game on the grid iron, as much as any other previous Madden game.

My complaints are in the "little" things. One of my biggest complaints about NCAA07 is that you cannot play 4 player. And, Madden is no different. On Madden launch day, 3 of my friends would come over and play. We'd play 2vs2, and sometimes 4vsCPU. Well, you no longer have this option. It is 1vs1 or nothing. You can't even play 2vCPU. I am VERY dissapointed about this. This has been a feature for about 7-8 years now.

I am also dissapointed in the way player creation is handled. You can no longer assign attribute points to make yourself, or your friends in the game. You have to play a series of minigames, and, your success in that determines what your attribute points are. I really just want to crank my Speed and power to 99, and make myself the greatest NFL player ever.

Now, before anyone says "But that makes the game fun", and you are right. If playing minigames is your style, they've added a Superstar mode, where you do all that training to boost your character. I think they should have left that option there, and left my normal player creation alone. Now, if you want to add say, 5 or 6 created players on your team (lets say your friends), its going to take you about 2-3 hours to play all the mini games, and even then, you cannot really make Probowlers. I think my powerRB came out to 82 overall.

The superstar mode isn't my cup of tea, but i tried it out. I made a MLB, and it was ok. During the season you can only control yourself, which means that you dont call plays, and you watch when the other squad is on the field. The camera was zoomed in close, and I found it hard to play the MLB, with this limited view.

Another complaint is the lack of previous controls. This plagued NCAA07 also, When you switch defensive players, you used to be able to switch forward and back. Now there is only one button. Forward. So, if you blow past your guy (this happens alot) you have to cycle around again. This is the way Madden used to be years and years ago, but they changed it and I loved it. Now, for some reason, it is back to the old way.

I guess Madden isn't doing the play by play anymore? Some make like this, but, the new commentator is the "EA Radio", so they made it sound like a radio broad cast. The guy sounds like he is broadcasting from a tin can. I liked the old Madden/michaels better.

Overall

Overall, if you just want to pick an NFL team and play, then Madden2007 is a solid game (just dont play 1080i), but if you are a fan of having friends over to play, or, the ease of adding several players to your team ,then the game you may find lacking.

[jerzdawg]

...snipped for length...

Also, your coach barely talks to you. A feature that I would have loved to have is the ability to put on the Xbox Live headset and hear the coach's voice in the headset calling out plays and giving you pep-talks. I'm sure this is doable and it is such a little feature but would add so much to the overall authenticity of Superstar mode. I would really love if this were in the next edition of Madden, but I doubt it, it's EA, they just aren't as creative as they used to be.

Great review... and the above idea is GENIUS.... i would love for it to do that just during a normal game... during play selection when you click the coach play.. you hear the voice but for them to have it come through on the headset... genius.. wont happen though like you said... perhaps in a hurry up offense you can have the coach relay some messages to you... ive only played 1 franchise game so far... as of now i give it an 8/10... once i explore more of the options it may change..

[magik]

Or just merge :p

[Tiger.Girl]

@ tiger.gril ... in which ways was the ps2 version better than the 360?.. just curious?

Its like playing a totally different game the presentation and gameplay are not alike at all. Heck you can even play 8 player Madden on PS2 with the multitap. I would be satisfied with it if it was EXACTLY like the ps2 version in every way except graphics.

[magik]

Its like playing a totally different game the presentation and gameplay are not alike at all. Heck you can even play 8 player Madden on PS2 with the multitap. I would be satisfied with it if it was EXACTLY like the ps2 version in every way except graphics.

It's true, the Madden 2007 (previous gen) games are much better than Madden 07 (next-gen) games. They're made by completely different teams and the 2007 versions don't have the drawback of starting from scratch (like Madden 06 was), instead, they built on the previously completed Maddens.

If you have Xbox or PS2 and want a better Madden experience, get Madden 2007. Stay away from Madden 07.

[Meshuggah]

Another complaint is the lack of previous controls. This plagued NCAA07 also, When you switch defensive players, you used to be able to switch forward and back. Now there is only one button. Forward. So, if you blow past your guy (this happens alot) you have to cycle around again. This is the way Madden used to be years and years ago, but they changed it and I loved it. Now, for some reason, it is back to the old way.

I guess Madden isn't doing the play by play anymore? Some make like this, but, the new commentator is the "EA Radio", so they made it sound like a radio broad cast. The guy sounds like he is broadcasting from a tin can. I liked the old Madden/michaels better.

I completely agree on these two things. Funny thing I decided I'd just download the PC version of Madden 07 and try it out.

You can cycle forward and backwards between players and MADDEN himself is the announcer as well as Al.

What the hell gives? graphically the 360 owns the PC version, but there are so many things wrong with this, it's not even funny.

I wish someone could sue EA and be able to make a better title. :/

[quigley0]

hmm, i wonder what best-buys return policy is? I wonder if they'll let me return it for the PC version.

Does the PC version have the same issues?

How is create-a-player on the PC version?