 Review By: Nick Arvites |
Developer: | EA Tiburon |
| Publisher: | EA Sports | |
| Genre: | Sports | |
| ESRB: | Everyone | |
| # Of Players: | 1-4 | |
| Online Play: | Yes | |
| Accessories: | Xbox Live (online play) | |
| Buy Now: |   |
The following point isn’t counted in my final score, but I can’t leave this review without mentioning it. The biggest thing that trashes Madden online are the players. I’ve extensively played jerk-magnet games like Halo 2 and Counter-strike (PC), and it still pales in comparison to the amount of garbage I have to deal with here. You get the foul-mouthed jerks, the players that use exploits and various forms of cheese, modem bumpers, players with no concept of sportsmanship (ie: not accepting a mercy quit that would give them a win, using timeouts if they’re up by 30 points and you’re trying to run the clock out, etc), and generally some of the worst scum I’ve ever had to deal with. Maybe I'm just unlucky and get stuck with bad gamers, but out of every 10 games, I may have gotten 2 good experiences. Again, I’m not holding this against Madden in terms of this review, but this is one of the few games where I just wanted to throw my headset in the garbage and smash the disc with a sledgehammer so I didn't have to deal with it.
No review of Madden NFL 07 can be complete without mentioning the role of the series’ namesake. John Madden and Al Michaels return to deliver their “commentary” unlike the 360 version (Ed: and to think I actually missed it...), and once again it is stale, disappointing, and a total joke. I have to wonder if they actually recorded new material or they just recycled the same tracks they’ve used since Al Michaels replaced Pat Summeral. It retains the same generic observations, and oftentimes sounds like they’re watching a totally different game (perhaps played on one of those electric football board games). You still don’t see things that competitors had, like commentary that actually applied to the play at hand or even use of the teleprompter. Comments made during Coach Challenges are enough to make you scream at the TV. “The coach challenged because he didn’t like something. If the ref agrees, they’ll reverse it. If he doesn’t, the play will stand.” Now, I realize part of Madden’s real-life charm and appeal is that he keeps it simple, I simply despise generic commentary that sounds like something you’d hear from the first games to implement announcing teams like NFL Sportstalk Football.
To make it even more interesting, this is yet another title EA has put out that does not use the ESPN license. Ok, I realize the main reason you guys bought the license was to kick 2K while they were down and reeling from the loss of the NFL license, but if you’re going to pay that much for ESPN you might as well slap some logos on the menus. In the best case scenario, you could, oh-I-don’t-know, rip off NFL 2K5 and have a weekly Sportscenter recap WITH HIGHLIGHT REELS and have a Halftime report with scores around your franchise WITH HIGHLIGHT REELS. Come on, make me feel like I’m watching an NFL broadcast. I’ve seen high school football games on local broadcast channels with higher production values.
One of the excellent aspects of Madden NFL 07 is how they rated the teams this year. This is the first year where I've seen team ratings that actually mirror the parity seen in the modern day NFL. Most of the teams fall in a respectable range, which is a sharp contrast to a few years ago where you would have teams well below 70 (Browns, 49ers) and teams well above 90 (Patriots, Panthers). You still have top tier teams, but the bottom teams aren't so far away that they simply cannot compete.
Bottom Line:
I know I’m hard on the Madden series, but it’s still a decent football video game. Almost every problem I have stems from EA’s reluctancy to scrap the tired, stale, and outdated engine to implement features sorely needed. I enjoy playing Madden, but I ultimately wind up putting it down sooner and sooner every year because it is essentially the same game repackaged with new rosters and a minimal amount of new features.
Some reviews across the net have compared this iteration of Madden to an aging veteran on his last legs that still manages to deliver. I agree to an extent, although I have a better, more realistic comparison. Madden NFL 07 is similar to an aging stadium with structural damage to its foundation. No matter how shiny the new paint is, no matter how often you resurface it, and no matter how often you replace the scoreboard, it still rests upon an old, shaky, weakened foundation and desperately needs to be overhauled or replaced.
When EA picked up the exclusive rights to the NFL license, many people feared that they would become complacent and not make needed changes every year since they no longer have to face any competition. At this point, EA is doing nothing but proving their detractors correct.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
|
| 7.5 |
Posted: 2006-10-07 20:48:28 PST