Sheer Maddenness

by Ryan Van Bibber on Aug 16, 2007 8:58 AM CDT in Events

I may be old, but I'm not, as the kids would say, a "square." The week turned hectic fast and I missed the yearly madness around the release of Madden 08.

My $50+ bones are still burning a hole in pocket, and I sit Madden-less as I type this. However, I'm a little hesitant after buying the 07 version for my PS2 only to find out that it was nothing compared to the Xbox 360 version of the game.

Now an Xbox 360 runs about, what, $450? So that's out of the question, unless I can find a volunteer among the TST readership to write up a nice little explanation for my wife as to where a chunk of the vacation money went, why the back bedroom smells funny, and what those bags under my eyes are.

Thus I pitch the question to you: to get the most out of August's favorite video game, do the new generation consoles make that much of a difference? My understanding last year was that there were oh so many more features, particularly in the online play, on an Xbox 360.

Is the 08 version significantly different than the 07 version, other than rosters?

While we're on the subject of Madden 08, Tecmo Blog has a very thorough rundown of the rankings for each team and the key players on that team.

The Rams rank seventh overall, which is pleasantly surprising. However, it always seemed to me that these games value the offense much more than the defense, i.e. if your thumbs and eyes work together better than your friend's you can walk a couple into the end zone as the Raiders to his/her Patriots.

Holt and Jackson lead the Rams' players in individual rankings on offense, garnering a 98 and 96 respectively. The passing game lets you dominate an inferior opponent and, as you well know, the Rams are loaded in that department. Here's the recommendation from Tecmo Blog:

The greatest show on Turf lives. Who cares if the rumors about Scott Linehan slowing things down turn out to be true, that doesn't mean you can't bring out your inner Martz and go pass-happy.

Uh, "Greatest Show on Turf" should be capitalized.

Little leads the defensive player rankings with a 95. For those of you out there who have played the game, how does Carriker rank, what about the rest of the defense? And if you opt to play a full season, do you suspend Fakhir Brown for the first four?

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VanRam

I just bought a 360 within the past month JUST for Madden. Sure, I'll play other games eventually but that was the sole motivation for my purchase. (That and the fact I committed highway robbery on a friend who wanted to get rid of it, a controller, and two games for 2 hundo). But I think, if I'm not mistaken, that the xbox360 has been lowered to $279 if that makes a difference to your wife. But yeah, the jump from xbox1 to 360 really is signifigant. I'll tell you what, I've only had a chance to play 2 games but Bulger is dropping passes on dimes and our team just feels good as a unit. The one thing that caught my eye was Glover was rated somewhere in the high 80s which I don't know if I agree with anymore. But it doesn't matter, I went and signed Tank Johnson as a FA anyway. To answer your question I think Carriker was around an 82, which isn't bad, but Wroten was only a 69 I think. That won't last. As for the game, even from the reviews I read beforehand this is touted as the first version of Madden that does the next gen systems justice and I like what I see so far. Faulk shows up and does some announcing but I will say I wasn't all that impressed with the presentation side of the game. I say do yourself a favor and get it. Man, I'm playing right after work...

by 636thestruggle on Aug 16, 2007 11:44 AM CDT reply actions

good to hear

i may have to try it out on a friend's 460 this weekend, get the feel for it.

by Ryan Van Bibber on Aug 17, 2007 7:00 AM CDT up reply actions

I'm a fan of

the nintendo wii and tecmo bowl.

by sccardsfan on Aug 16, 2007 7:09 PM CDT reply actions

do they

make Tecmo for the Wii? Cool.

by Ryan Van Bibber on Aug 17, 2007 7:00 AM CDT up reply actions

Madden 07 for gamecube

I decided to move in with the girlfriend recently and apart from other valuable attributes, she came with a 42" flat screen and a gamecube. I'm not sure why anyone cares about rankings, as we all know you have to bump everyone to 99 just to compete at All Madden anyway. And, no going for it on 4th down, unless it's under 2 minutes or overtime of a close game. And you have to do a shot for every sack you allow.

by strugglemonkey on Aug 17, 2007 11:37 AM CDT reply actions