A true next-gen madden with some truly great features, and some small annoyances
The 'weapon' feature adds a great deal to the game is a great new addition. You can really see the difference between a power back and an elusive back. The 'weapons' also allow you to pick a play around which weapons you have on the field, thus allowing for some truly dynamic play.
There are however some annoying little features in this game that will annoy the player. For example, many simple catches and interceptions are simply dropped by the receiving corps. Leaving you staring blankly at the TV thinking that you could catch a ball better than Randy Moss. Another frustrating thing is the increasing amount of fumbles that occur in a game. I can understand that if a QB on the run, when hit, could fumble the ball, but i hardly think the starting kick returner is going to fumble when hit on a quarter of his return attempts.
The difficulty in this game is also very challenging to the point where it will leave you screaming at the TV on certain games. Deep passes will rarely fall into your receivers hands even if they have beaten the coverage. This is due to the fact that many safety's will jump, without ever looking at the ball, and bat it away. If you ever feel confident enough to ramp up the difficulty to all-madden you will probably throw about 10 interceptions due to the amazing secondary or be sacked repeatedly by the pass rush, dont even try and run the ball.
The graphics in madden 08 are very good, with some neat new animations throw in to the mix. The elusive back evasions are particularly impressive and never feel unrealistic.
The features and game modes in this years installment are also very impressive. The franchise mode allows you to do pretty much anything with your club, including moving it elsewhere. You can simulate pretty much anything from actual games to re-signing players to drafting rookie's. The superstar mode is also impressive, as you can create a player of your own choice or play aa one of the years rookies already signed to a team. You can also create your own team which is pretty awesome.
Online play in Madden 08 is also OK, but not great. If you live in the UK (like me) you will constantly be matched against opponents from the USA and lag will be a problem. Even in matches against UK opponents lag is still an issue, but a bit less of one.
Finally the control scheme in Madden 08 is pretty good. with the pre-snap audibles easy to access once you know what your doing. The only fault i can find with the control scheme is the actual throwing of the ball. You can tap the receivers button to throw a very high lob pass, or you can hold is to throw a bullet pass. With nothing in the middle you find yourself in the position of needing to throw over a player but a lob pass takes too long to come down and your player is out of bounds. By simply editing this feature the passing plays would be more fun and challenging.
Madden NFL 08 is a great game with some awesome new features. however the small niggles that detract from the game stop me giving it a 9.0 or 9.5 rating. I would give it a 8.7 but with some of the features sorted out for next years installment I could easily see it being a truly awesome game.
Thanks for reading,
Ben