Video Game Review: Madden NFL 08 (PS3)

- Played On a Flat-Screen HDTV at the Maximum 720p Resolution

As I waited in line at 11:35 PM last night, August 13, I was excited. Every year a new edition of Madden is released and every year I go to the "Midnight Madness" at Gamestop. This year, however, the excitement was doubled. I was going to buy Madden for the next gen PS3 not the lowly PS2!

Out of the 50 people that were in the store, I was 8th in line to pick up my copy. Once the employee handed me my copy, I was overflowing with enthusiasm. I couldn't wait to pop the disc into my console!

After an 8 minute drive from Stoneham, I reached my house. I ran up the stairs faster than Laurence Maroney on crack, juked around the wall Willis McGahee-esque, and finally reached my bedroom.

Once I started up the Playstation 3, it immediately recognized the disc (yes, that is important). EA Sports, It's In The Game! (a very necessary step 2) came and then a load up screen. It took about three minutes to load, a little bit longer than the fifteen seconds I had expected. I selected my favorite team, the New England Patriots, and boom, Madden had officially started.

The different screens before you select your game type are very crisp and innovative. On some screens you can actually see footage from the 06' season. Okay, who cares about the pre-game? Let me discuss the actual game.

I jumped right into a quick exhibition match between the Patriots and the Cardinals. They announced the captains individually (college/position/name) and to be quite honest with you, the players looked realistic and well proportioned. After that, I won the toss and chose to receive the kick-off. The kick-off went very smoothly as the camera zoomed in on the kicker and off the ball went.

The ball is came towards Laurence Maroney, whom I couldn't actually see yet. All of a sudden, Maroney and the rest of my team comes into view. Do you want to know what my first thoughts were? What the fuck. I am not one to get immediately angry, but I was. What I saw were a bunch of shitty looking players from Madden 98'.

Graphics: 6.5 -The uniforms are blurred and when zoomed out, the player models look awful. If you go to instant replay and zoom in, however, the faces and body shape look the most realistic ever in a football video game. The stadiums and the crowd models are very accurate and adequate. The grass looks natural and most importantly not like a carpet.

Game Modes: 9.0 - Franchise mode is deep, Superstar mode (which I haven't played yet) has gotten a lot praise from the critics. You can fully customize practices and mini games. A 3-D trophy room has been added so you can keep track of your achievements. New additions include videos and tutorials which happen to be very helpful.

In Game Options: 9.5 - When I say that you can do everything in this game, I mean it. The pre-snap options are loaded. Every button and analog stick direction are used. The play books are large and very easy to navigate. Sorting out plays is simple. The controller layout is very different from the Playstation 2. Turbo is now R2, stiff arm is X, and L2 is pitch ball. Don't worry, it doesn't take long to get used to this.

In Game Play: 7.0 - I didn't believe all the 30 Frames/Second bullshit that all the XBOX 360 fan boys were talking about. These guys were saying that the PS3 was going to be very choppy. Unfortunately, they are right. Running the ball is fun because of all the different options you have (stiff arm, juke, truck, stop and go, hurdle, protect ball, dive). A good thing about running is that it isn't too choppy. Passing is fun at first. The game makes sure that you can't escape the pocket too easily and also makes sure that your offensive line has good blocking coverage. Once you throw the ball and switch buttons to control your receiver, it is going to be tough. I threw a bunch of long bombs to Randy Moss and only caught one of those. The problem is in the switching. Because the game is naturally choppy, your receiver will stray from the ball. Catching a ball by pressing /\ (triangle) causes your receiver to simply put his hands up and hope the ball comes. Contrary to what I have heard, a spectacular catch receiver like Moss won't fight for the ball and make the catch. By the way, pressing turbo only makes it worse. Now to defense. Defense is bad. Switching players takes about three seconds and simply moving your player is very glitchy. You can't take control of a tackle, especially when you press the hit stick. The animation is delayed so much that the opposing is able to quickly take advantage of this. One thing that I did notice is that the defensive line and linebackers will react to what you tell them to do. So if you call a blitz, they will go in. However, if you control one of them, beware for a bad thing to happen. Intercepting and defending balls is too easy. Be prepared for at least three interceptions per game.

Point of Information: There aren't any referees or chain gangs.

FINAL SCORE: 8.00 - You can have a bunch of fun trying all the different game modes and playing smart football, but the in-game play will (I guarantee) make you angry at times.
I've only had the game for 12 hours, so this represents my initial reaction. In a couple of weeks, I might come out with another review.