Madden 07 PSP

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 9:24 am

Unless I read a bad review or impressions first, I'll be picking this up at Circuit City on Tuesday when they open. I can't pass up the $12 discount and figure I can always sell at a small loss if it sucks or if there is a game killing bug.

Any impressions out there yet?

b_assassin · Post by **b_assassin** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 1:10 pm

I played Madden 07 PSP for a few minutes at E3 this year, so my impressions are far from comprehensive. Graphics appeared to be slightly improved, and it 'felt' like it played a bit smoother than the 06 version (2nd version at that).

I can't make any real judgements on gameplay, its Madden, so changes year over year can be pretty subtle anyway. I'll eventually pick up the PSP and 360 versions of Madden, and I think it would be sweet if they had connectivity features like the PSP-PS2 versions did last year, but I'm sure neither MS or Sony would go for that.

slyguy · Post by **slyguy** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 1:53 pm

I have the 360 version already and i'm going to pick up the PSP version on tuesday

WillHunting · Post by **WillHunting** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 10:36 am

I am thinking of getting this too from CC... But I need to read more impressions first. I am abit weary about EA's inability to release a PSP game without a crippling gameplay bug.

Please post impressions before the week's end

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:17 pm

I'm getting it tonight at midnight when I pick up the 360 version. If it plays like NCAA 07 without the spotting the ball issues this game will be awesome.

slyguy · Post by **slyguy** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 1:11 pm

ScoopBrady wrote:I'm getting it tonight at midnight when I pick up the 360 version. If it plays like NCAA 07 without the spotting the ball issues this game will be awesome.

Scoop i agree if it plays like Ncaa minus the touch football rule. It should be a great handheld football game

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 4:21 pm

The impressions I've seen at IGN say that the touch football thing is not present. It actually sounds likes it's very good. I know, I know, they're IGN impressions but it sounds like EA finally got it right.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:06 pm

Impressive that they are only releasing it at $39.99...aren't EA games normally $49.99? I'm definitely hitting CC up in the morning...$12 off both the 360 and PSP versions...not too shabby.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:20 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:Impressive that they are only releasing it at $39.99...aren't EA games normally $49.99? I'm definitely hitting CC up in the morning...$12 off both the 360 and PSP versions...not too shabby.

NCAA 07 started the $39..99 price point for EA's PSP games. Hopefully it stays that way.

ddtrane · Post by **ddtrane** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 1:04 am

ScoopBrady wrote:
dbdynsty25 wrote:Impressive that they are only releasing it at $39.99...aren't EA games normally $49.99? I'm definitely hitting CC up in the morning...$12 off both the 360 and PSP versions...not too shabby.
NCAA 07 started the $39..99 price point for EA's PSP games. Hopefully it stays that way.

Fight Night was and still is $39.99

cootdog · Post by **cootdog** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 10:32 am

One thing that made me nervous from IGN's review:

"The visuals are pretty much exactly the same as last year, which is great."

Now, I remember the animation was pretty decent, but the players themselves had a distinctly low-poly PS1 look to them. Meanwhile, in the stills I've seen of 07, they look noticeably crisper than last year. I guess I'll see for myself later today.

b_assassin · Post by **b_assassin** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 10:53 am

IGN's review of the PSP version is up: http://psp.ign.com/articles/726/726725p1.html

It seems like a truncated version of their PS2 review with about 1.5 paragraphs of specific discussion about the PSP version...

It is difficult to tell whether the reviewer actually played the PSP version of the game.

Nonetheless, I think I'm going to cruise over to CC or Fry's and pick up the PSP version today. I'll be waiting on the 360 version for a few weeks after I've killed more zombies at the Willamette Mall

After browsing some other forums for impressions, I read about some bugs with hiking the ball after calling audibles and receiver icons getting messed up sometimes. These issues sound annoying, but not game breaking IMO, if anyone else has additional info about the PSP version, please post it here. Thanks.

b_assassin · Post by **b_assassin** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 11:03 am

cootdog wrote:One thing that made me nervous from IGN's review:

"The visuals are pretty much exactly the same as last year, which is great."

Now, I remember the animation was pretty decent, but the players themselves had a distinctly low-poly PS1 look to them. Meanwhile, in the stills I've seen of 07, they look noticeably crisper than last year. I guess I'll see for myself later today.

I think this is an artifact of them just copy/pasting the PS2 review and calling it the PSP review. From even the high-res screenshots I've seen of the PSP version, the player models still are pretty low-poly, but their texturing looks improved IMO. I've also seen a handful of comments on other boards about the graphics being improved, so hopefully this is just another example of IGN being lazy.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 11:43 am

So far, so good. I haven't seen any problems with the spotting of the ball. The game looks better than last years Madden. If you saw the graphics for NCAA they are on par with those. I have seen the bug with the passing icons. Occasionally they will switch the receivers icons at the line of scrimmage (different than they show on the play calling screen) and as soon as the play starts they switch back. It definitely keeps you on your toes if you use the coach's cam to see the routes at the LOS. I've only played a half so far but I'm really enjoying it.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 1:26 pm

Damn Circuit City is awesome. Madden PSP, Madden 360, new Outkast CD...all for 92 bucks. F the game stores.

slyguy · Post by **slyguy** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 1:42 pm

ScoopBrady wrote:So far, so good. I haven't seen any problems with the spotting of the ball. The game looks better than last years Madden. If you saw the graphics for NCAA they are on par with those. I have seen the bug with the passing icons. Occasionally they will switch the receivers icons at the line of scrimmage (different than they show on the play calling screen) and as soon as the play starts they switch back. It definitely keeps you on your toes if you use the coach's cam to see the routes at the LOS. I've only played a half so far but I'm really enjoying it.

Thats good to hear Scoop it sounds like the icon thing is not that big of a problem. I'll be picking it up a little later i'm going to trade NCAA (360) for it i'm not a big college guy anyway

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 2:31 pm

OK PSP'ers, for 39.99 CAD, I couldn't resist so I just picked it up and played 2 exhibition games. The commentary is decent with Madden adding his typical two cents on your chosen play. Game modes include franchise, a fun mini-camp competition and practice. Now if you have the PS2 version you can link your farnchise and what not, just like WE9.

Now, the first thing I checked was were the fatigue issue was there, and I am glad to say that under settings you can switch it ON/OFF, so the option is there, so I am not sure which version the IGN guy was reviewing.
You can configure the buttons and customize the game to your liking too.

The new end 2 end is cool, you turn your PSP upright and try to press the correct button to elude the tackler but at the same time while earning points and tokens, it's a good learning curve with the things you can do with the running game this year.

I liked the running game so far, I played the Seahwaks and S. Alexander was dancing and tapping. Having said that I still got nailed a few times as soon as I handed off the ball despite calling for MAX protection or having 2 TE's. But the problems you find on NCAA is not here. In the passing department, I didn't see the cone feature but one thing I have to find out more later tonight is that on playaction situations I was burned a couple of times with the long passes.

I don't know if that's the PSP button configuration being too close together where I would just tap the wrong button while trying to control a certain player but it's something to look for.

Multiplayer option is there too with AD HOC and infrastructure, went online for the latest rosters but they weren't ready.

Graphics wise is fine for the PSP although some animations were funny. The replays need improvement, they try to replay your last play from the end zone angle and you can hardly see anything from there.

One glitch I found and is that when you call your audibles and slide protection, your buttons are frozen and you can't choose your desired play until in some case 2seconds before you snap the ball, and in one case I just run out of time. This is an issue for sure, so I look forward to see if anyone else had this problem.

That's it for now, will play more later tonight and oh yeah, I like the Madden long camera angle, I am not sure if it was there last year, but you can definitely read the plays better from the high angle.

For 39.99 you can't go wrong...

cootdog · Post by **cootdog** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 2:55 pm

This is funny -- I pre-ordered from buy.com, and despite the packing slip clearly stating the PSP version, it's the PS2 game they sent. So I sold it to my PS2-owning roommate at cost ($38, w/ free shipping) and am now out the door to hit up Circuit City, effectively saving me $10 on the PSP game while supplying the PS2 version to my roomie at CC prices.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 3:56 pm

10spro wrote:I like the Madden long camera angle, I am not sure if it was there last year, but you can definitely read the plays better from the high angle.

I'd really like a camera in between Madden and Long, but what is really cool is that you can essentially create your own camera angle by zooming ou the coach's camera. On pass plays I've been zooming out and then snapping the ball about 3/4 of the way back down. It gives me a great view of my receivers without making everything seem so small.

The running game is a lot of fun and they fixed the sensitivity of the precision passing. So far, so good. It seems great.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 7:13 pm

Man, what a great handheld football game!

Have you guys figured out how to throw the ball away?

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 7:20 pm

Yeah, good game Leebo. The manual is not complete as usual, other than throwing the ball away I also want to know which button does the Hut-Hut pre snapping of the ball. Still having some freezing when calling for a Hot route, audible or slide protection.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 9:29 am

I also can't figure out how to pump fake so add that to the list along with the snap count and throw away. It wouldn't bother me as much if the CPU couldn't do those things

I played a couple more games. I really like it. There's quite a bit of Mario running, but it's mostly on my end. It's nice to have the accelerated clock again.

I played the Colts and saw the "Peyton Manning" bug a few times where he stands there and lets the play clock run down and gets a penalty. I just decline the penalty. I've also been stuck while hot routing or changing the line a few times as well.

slyguy · Post by **slyguy** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 12:09 pm

Leebo33 wrote:I also can't figure out how to pump fake so add that to the list along with the snap count and throw away. It wouldn't bother me as much if the CPU couldn't do those things

I played a couple more games. I really like it. There's quite a bit of Mario running, but it's mostly on my end. It's nice to have the accelerated clock again.

I played the Colts and saw the "Peyton Manning" bug a few times where he stands there and lets the play clock run down and gets a penalty. I just decline the penalty. I've also been stuck while hot routing or changing the line a few times as well.

I have two games under my belt i like what i played so far. But how do you throw the ball away and pump fake, i remember last year i couldn't figure it out(maybe its not in there) i could live without the pump fake but there has to be a way to throw the ball away

WillHunting · Post by **WillHunting** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 12:29 pm

Did you guys try "Select" to throw the ball away? I think that's how it is done on NCAA.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 1:30 pm

Leebo33 wrote: I've also been stuck while hot routing or changing the line a few times as well.

OK, so it's a bug, I thought it was just me. The buttons just freeze before the snap and come back again with about 2 seconds to go before you execute the play, by then you just dont' know what you wanted to do. Pressing the right shoulder button just brings the preview of the play you're about to execute unlike the 360 version which does both, a pre-snap Hut and preview of the play.

I'll try later the select button for a throw away, see if that't the correct key.