Madden 07 (Xbox 360) Thread

[Dave]

Is there a "sit your lazy ass on the stationary bike" option in the menus?

Yeah, but to activate it you have to purchase the "Discovery Channel Bike Team Uniform" from the XBL Marketplace.

[JRod]

Another quick question about the SS mode. Has anyone been traded or anything yet? I was wondering how the game handles that.

I haven't gotten that far in to a career. I did see a "demand a trade" selection when I was in my Agent's office.

I don't have the game but I wish you could start another SS player after you get done with the first, in the same franchise.

Question for those that have the game. NCAA's campus legend mode is a great idea but poorly implemented. In that game, I started as a QB true freshman. Sure enough I was starting at QB. So my question is, do you automatically start or do you have to move up the depth chart.

[Sport73]

Got the game at midnight and played 2 online games against RallyMonkey.

Both of us reacted with the same..."ick".

In a Dallas vs. Washington Matchup, TO was absolutely unstoppable. Single, Double, or just 5 guys in the area were not enough to keep nearly every pass thrown in his direction from being a completion. On the other side of the ball, Portis was a machine, tearing up 148 yds and 2 touchdowns in the first half.

While not outside the realm of possibility, these performances showed way too much emphasis on star power in Madden 07.

Another potential problem was the uncanny frequency of fumblesin the red zone on game winning drives. There were 3 game-critical turnovers during the final minutes of these 2 games, and it gave you the sense that the game has some sort of 'DRAMA' engine built in.

On the positive side, the graphics are pretty and the control is tighter than last year. QB's can roll out of the pocket too easily, and the slant routes still work better than they should.

All in all, I'm severely disappointed so far. Admittedly, it's only 2 games, but color me concerned.

[Wilk5280]

hmmmm, interesting

[sportdan30]

I couldn't disagree more with Sport73. What a difference year makes. I absolutely detested last year's game. This year's game feels fresh and thus far, is a joy to play. Best of all, that horrific camera angle they used last year is gone. Thank you.

I played the Cardinals in one game, and on the first drive they ran the ball like crazy. They really exploited the run. I do agree the fatigue patch needs to be fixed.

The running game is much improved and overall feels more intuitive than NCAA '07. In the past, I've had difficulty finding holes through the middle, but now I can dance my way through and run off a big gain.

The commentary doesn't bother me, but I do hope that next year they had a two man booth from the ESPN crew.

Graphically, it looks great. It's sweet to see the field get all beat up over the course of a game. Also, seeing the puddles build up is pretty cool as well.

It's possible the star players might make the big plays more often than not, but then again, that's why they're the STAR Players.

Can't wait to play more when I get home.

[GTHobbes]

I'm still in the middle of my first game, but my initial impressions as a bigtime former 2k fan are...meh. It's videogame football, and it's not as bad as past Maddens, but it's still nowhere near 2k, IMO.

Too many negatives to go into here, and there also are some positives, but I wanted to comment on one thing. People who say Mario Running is gone are wrong. Maybe it's reduced in the running game, but its still prevelant (sp?) elsewhere on the field.

For example, first sack I saw in the game involved Mario Running. Heath Miller, my tight end, was going out on a pass pattern. The Cleveland Browns DE was pass rushing. They collided at the line of scrimmage and, instead of going into some blocking animation, they both just ran in place right into each other for 2 seconds or so before Heath Miller got around him and the guy came in and sacked Roethlisberger. Long term I guess I'll get over this kind've stuff, but it's a shame that it was gone from 2k 2-3 years ago.

[TheTruth]

Just a heads up for everyone that are picking up the game but haven't yet. Wal-Mart it seems has changed the price in their system to match the 47.99 price of Circuit City. I picked my copy up at WM this morning.

[sportdan30]

I should have prefaced by saying I hadn't really played a whole lot of Madden in almost three years, so the game will feel more fresh and exciting to me. To me, it feels more alive than in year's past when I felt it was a bit stale.

I'm not a hardcore football video gamer by any means, so I'm just going to enjoy the game for what it is, and not break it down segment by segment.

[fsquid]

I'm not a hardcore football video gamer by any means, so I'm just going to enjoy the game for what it is, and not break it down segment by segment.

then why are you here?

[Bill_Abner]

I should have prefaced by saying I hadn't really played a whole lot of Madden in almost three years, so the game will feel more fresh and exciting to me. To me, it feels more alive than in year's past when I felt it was a bit stale.

I'm not a hardcore football video gamer by any means, so I'm just going to enjoy the game for what it is, and not break it down segment by segment.

Hey Dan, no need to put a qualifier on your opinions, bud. We all have them and they come in all shapes and sizes and from various perspectives. Seriously, we all know you Cardinals guys are baseball geeks and not football geeks.

[MizzouRah]

I should have prefaced by saying I hadn't really played a whole lot of Madden in almost three years, so the game will feel more fresh and exciting to me. To me, it feels more alive than in year's past when I felt it was a bit stale.

I'm not a hardcore football video gamer by any means, so I'm just going to enjoy the game for what it is, and not break it down segment by segment.

Hey Dan, no need to put a qualifier on your opinions, bud. We all have them and they come in all shapes and sizes and from various perspectives. Seriously, we all know you Cardinals guys are baseball geeks and not football geeks.

Actually, I'm more of a hockey geek.. but football is right up there with baseball for me.

Sounds good Dan, I'm just looking for a fun game of football myself as I have FOF for my "stat geek" football side.

[Danimal]

I only played one game, so my comments are limited. (I should probably review the mid night store i went too lol)

- Fatigue doesn't work period, I don't buy the crap about it being a cosmetic thing. i had a 14 play drive that was nothing but Thomas Jones dive and streatch plays and he never slowed down, never left the field (and i sent auto sub out for RB at 85%) never fumbeled etc. I will wait to see what the patch brings, but this is a game killer for me, if the patch doesn't fix it i will probably return it.

- All pro is too easy, I put up 21 points on Greenbay really quickly. granted this is one game, but i never felt challeneged.

-GB had two picks, the first play of the game Favre threw behind his receiver and Vasher picked it off for 6. Later Favre over through his receiver and I got another pick by my strong safety. It was nice to see interceptions on poorly thrown passes and not the standard jump by a LB.

- new animations are great, seeing lots of nice chip and cut blocks. Overall the game looks pretty, the field degrades very nicely. I like the NCAA interface better because it is easier to read for me, but thats just me.

- As GT said Marrio running is still there at times, itr is probably the best it has been in years and if you see that situation about to occur and hit the highlight stick 9 times out of 10 it appears you won't get caught up. But it is frustrating to hit the line and get caught in an animation and your guy is moving sideways etc.

- Superstar is very interesting. I created a LB and got drafted by the Raiders. The default view is really close and will take some getting used to though.

[GTHobbes]

I bet SS mode will be cool when I get a chance to put some more time into the game. Hopefully the camera angle change will freshen it up for me...anything to keep my focus away from some of these terrible tackling animations. (Some are nice, but some are embarrasing.)

[SoMisss2000]

I'm still in the middle of my first game, but my initial impressions as a bigtime former 2k fan are...meh. It's videogame football, and it's not as bad as past Maddens, but it's still nowhere near 2k, IMO.

lol, there we go.

[Slumberland]

I drank a bottle of wine at an outdoor screening of Rocky in Bryant Park, then hopped on the train and walked the woman home, only to turn right around and drop by EB Games for the midnight Madden madness (or whatever it was called). It was very surreal... standing in the flourescent lighting, slightly buzzed, surrounded by teenagers, the smell of half-masticated potato chips and Bugles in the air, watching the minutes tick by before the clerk could release his precious cargo. Went home, was too tired to play, but woke up this morning and thought the new black spined jacket art looked very nice next to my other games. At this point, I give Madden an 8.7.

[Bill_Abner]

I drank a bottle of wine at an outdoor screening of Rocky in Bryant Park, then hopped on the train and walked the woman home, only to turn right around and drop by EB Games for the midnight Madden madness (or whatever it was called). It was very surreal... standing in the flourescent lighting, slightly buzzed, surrounded by teenagers, the smell of half-masticated potato chips and Bugles in the air, watching the minutes tick by before the clerk could release his precious cargo. Went home, was too tired to play, but woke up this morning and thought the new black spined jacket art looked very nice next to my other games. At this point, I give Madden an 8.7.

Awesome.

[bdunn13]

I drank a bottle of wine at an outdoor screening of Rocky in Bryant Park, then hopped on the train and walked the woman home, only to turn right around and drop by EB Games for the midnight Madden madness (or whatever it was called). It was very surreal... standing in the flourescent lighting, slightly buzzed, surrounded by teenagers, the smell of half-masticated potato chips and Bugles in the air, watching the minutes tick by before the clerk could release his precious cargo. Went home, was too tired to play, but woke up this morning and thought the new black spined jacket art looked very nice next to my other games. At this point, I give Madden an 8.7.

Why not. Other "famous" people review games all the time before they play them. Nice job!

[Danimal]

I'm hearing good things about the PC version, so good i think I might return the 360 and go with that. Fatigue is only a problem in the 360 version apparently. The PC offers everything the Xbox version does, with graphics on par with the 360 and a 60fps fram rate if your rig can handle it.

also apprently you can FULLY edit players, have a fantasy draft etc. Plus the addition of any mod tools created, I think I'll be making a switch at lunch time.

[wco81]

Who's letting you return opened video games?

Is the PC using the next-gen engine or the old PC engine?

[seanmac31]

Wow, what a difference a year makes. Color me very impressed, albeit off of only limited time with the game. The thing that I've always loved about the Madden series has been the fluidity of player movement and control, and it's back in a big way. The control is appreciably more fluid than NCAA '07, and in a completely different stratosphere from Madden '06. At this point the game moves very similarly to the current gen versions, only with much better graphics and many more animations (and the actual odd penalty call).

I do have a few niggles so far:

-All-Pro feels way too easy out of the box, even more so than All-American for NCAA. The game will clearly need some slider adjustment, and I'm not a big slider fan.

-The playcalling screens are quite small and hard to read now. I have to squint on my 27" screen to see how the play is actually drawn up. It's not a huge issue, as everyone has most of the plays committed to memory more or less, but I'd rather have a cleaner interface.

-After having dropped $60 on a game, I really don't appreciate needing to dial up XBL and drop a little more just so I can get the Jets playing in white pants on the road.

But those complaints aside, I'm very happy so far. From what I've seen it takes NCAA behind the woodshed, and I liked NCAA.

[JRod]

After doing an Abner and playing the heck out of NCAA (XB) over the last few days, I've come to the conclusion the xbox version is the way to go.

I found a set of varsity sliders for NCAA that squash most of my complaints. Mostly lineman getting too far upfield before the QB can even hand-off the ball. It happens but not like in NCAA.

Plus somthing feels right about the older version. There's something off in the newer version of NCAA which I can't explain. All of this makes me think that the Madden version will be a little bit better.

[dbdynsty25]

Who airrated the field before the game...holy crap the grass textures look like sh*t. At least in Dolphin Stadium they do.

[hellbent]

Given the issues we already know about in the 360 - like Dan, I'm going to check out the PC version tonight. Hopefully I've got enough horses under the hood to get at least 60 fps not to mention that I'm also crossing my fingers that I can use the 360 controller on the PC version this year.

I could post detailed impressions later, but I think Slumber has already cornered the market on the best impressions post ever

[Bill_Abner]

I'm hearing good things about the PC version, so good i think I might return the 360 and go with that. Fatigue is only a problem in the 360 version apparently. The PC offers everything the Xbox version does, with graphics on par with the 360 and a 60fps fram rate if your rig can handle it.

also apprently you can FULLY edit players, have a fantasy draft etc. Plus the addition of any mod tools created, I think I'll be making a switch at lunch time.

I believe the Xbox version has a player editor as well, fyi.

[TheTruth]

I'm also crossing my fingers that I can use the 360 controller on the PC version this year.

Yes, you can use the 360 controller on the PC version.