While definitely better than Madden 07 for the 360, this game still has its Franchise issues.
Here's the rundown:
Negatives:
1) Am i crazy or are the draft picks in the Franchise mode the very same draftees as in Madden 07? Jaime Redmond QB is great, but i'm sure ii drafted him in Madden 07. Thank god i import my draft picks from NCAA Football
2) Still no madden vocalizations when playing the game. Can we at least get Cris Carter or Troy Aikman???
3) Game freezes very very often. yes, i got this game used, but still...
4) I REALLY CAN'T STAND the artistic design of the non-in-game features. For instance, the entry/franchise room is soooo FOX SPORTS, all metalic and phallo-centric, its really really a put off. Compared to NCAA Football 08's trophy room, this one is a joke - totally emotionless (no screen for replays, photos, etc). And I'm kinda tired of the "sparkling squares" or whatever you call them that make up the background in all the management features. It's all glitter but no heart. I can feel the "football as business" thing, but not the love of the game!!!
Mixed Improvements:
1) HIgh draft picks don't end up sucking so much as they did in madden 07. In that game, you literally couldn't get a defensive player to stay over an 80 overall ranking! period! Here, that is less the case, though good OLBs, MLBs and O Lineman are especially hard to find. If the actual NFL has 10 Center's ranked over 97 overall, it's a shame that 10 years later into a Franchise, there is only 1.
2) Training your team between each week is nice in a way - it allow you to focus on your best recruits to make them better. But it's a lot of work, especially if you like to sim most of the season and play playoffs/suberbowls. And the difficulty for each trail is lopsided with running 40 yrd dash to be routine, but WR catching on even the third difficulty is very very hard!
So...
If you're looking to pick up your cheap Madden game, its better than madden 07, but not mch