Madden NFL 07: Hall of Fame Edition (Xbox 360, 2006)

People know John Madden in one of three ways. First, there are the die-hard football fans who remember him as "Coach," from his days with the Raiders. Then there are the NFL fans who know John Madden by his commentary for all those years on Monday Night Football, and welcomed "John" into their homes. Then there is the videogame generation, who know him simply as "Madden." John Madden is a veritable institution, quite possibly the most recognized man associated with the greatest of all professional sports. (Please write in to correct me on this.) EA Sports has been churning out their yearly Madden games since 1990, and this latest game, just like all the others, is supposed to be the latest and greatest yet.

Shaun Alexander is on the cover of the game this year, following up on a record-breaking season. Last year was without question the year of the running back, and Madden NFL 07 follows suit, focusing the improvements in the game engine this year on enhancing the running game. The first upgrade is the highlight stick, which replaces the truck stick. The highlight stick enables those game-breaking moves that allow the top backs to evade tackles and break those huge runs. There are forty new broken tackle animations, allowing you to lower your shoulder and smash through a defender, spin your way around them, or perform one of a slew of other tricks to avoid being brought down.


The top running backs in the game have their own unique ways to avoid defenders, and this is taken into account, as the highlight stick enables context-sensitive moves based on your back's size, ability and tendencies. Bruising running backs like the Chiefs' Larry Johnson can knock aside linebackers like bowling pins, while wilier backs like the Steelers' Willie Parker are better at dancing, darting and slipping tackles before breaking big gains. The downside to using these flashy moves to get past defenders is that you increase your chances of fumbling the ball (which I found out all too often while challenging human opponents on Xbox Live).

These new animations are the visual highlight this year, as the character models and fields don't look much better than what we've seen on previous current-generation entries in the Madden series. This is a sharp-looking game, though, and the series has been for years. The grass in the middle of the field will deform and get muddier and worn as play goes on, for instance, and even on the regular old Xbox, it's hard to find fault with such great-looking character models, excellent use of reflective surfaces and some really well-designed stadiums.
The new gameplay features steal the show here, though, particularly the aforementioned highlight stick and the new lead blocker control. With lead blocking, you can take control of an offensive lineman, tight end or fullback, and lay down the lead block for your running back, clearing a path towards a big gain. Teams (and their corresponding halfbacks) with excellent fullbacks will probably benefit the most from this, like the Chargers and their stud blocker Lorenzo Neal, who runs point for Ladainian Tomlinson, serving as his eyes and leading the charge through the defensive line (no pun intended). The system works well, for the most part, and there's some strategy to deciding what kind of block to utilize based on your situation. You can cut block to take someone's legs out from under them, and you can even intentionally hold the defender.
Overall Rating: A 10 out of 10.

Okay, last year's Madden for the Xbox 360 was...for the most part, bad. It was rushed, missed many features and overall just lacked in almost every single area. This year, with the bumps behind them, a lot of people thought EA would be on the learning curve and significantly improve the franchise on the next generation console to set itself up as a spring board for further down the line. Well, they did a lot better, but they still have quite a ways to go.

Gameplay: 7/10
This is your typical football game, duh. The new feature is that you can control run blocking, and this takes quite a while to become useful, and even longer to master. It plays just like past Maddens and is easy to pick up, with features that require much training to become second nature and of any use (like the hit stick, run blocking, etc.). What really brings the game down, however, is the fact that yet again, there are some missing features. For me, the lack of no fantasy draft for franchise mode is really a bummer. I always love to draft the best team I can and see how I do, but, for some reason EA decided to leave it out on the 360 version. Also, I don't really care for Superstar mode. It's much better than last year, that's for sure, but at the beginning it's just a bunch of reloading to try and get the right parents to be really of any use. The 40 yard dash and bench press workout mini games are somewhat fun, but tedious as well, but keeping at it can prove to be fruitful and satisfying once you hit that sub-5 forty.

Graphics: 7/10
The graphics are quite good, though they're nothing special. The faces of selected players look just like them, but others just look like generic ones thrown on at the last minute. Also, the menu is quite bad. It's quite hard to navigate and there's so much going on at once that it's just annoying and aggravating, last year's was better. The fields and fans all look very much better this year, and the weather effects as well. But due to the menu, it may take you about 5 minutes when you first get there to figure out what's going on (besides Play Now, of course).

Overall, this year's Madden is a step in the right direction, which is good. However, this step is very minimal, which is bad. Maybe next year, EA will make one that goes leaps and bounds further than this one, but somehow I doubt it. I love the Madden franchise, but they're slacking as of now because of no competition and it shows in the game quality. But hey, I've been proven wrong before, maybe this will be another case next year. Until then, I'll just keep playing 07 and make it worth, like I did last year.

This game revolutionized football on playstation and xbox!!! However, this game falls short of past copies. I am so disappointed with it that I gave away my copy. I absolutely hate the superstar mode (first person quarterback mode). You cannot control play calling so you just run the plays called in which are SO boring and you actually have to practice every day with the team to build up chemistry. Many plays are running and all your doing is pressing a button on offense. Then on defense you have to run the whole team. I don't understand why you can't play in superstar mode just like regular mode but have the option of making it into the hall of fame. As for franchise mode it SUCKS too! The menus are hard to toggle thru and I found myself exiting this mode without saving because it was so difficult. Also in the Create a character option you cannot choose his stats you have to earn them thru 3 types of training, which are actually difficult. I tried this almost a 100 time and never got a 95 plus rated quarterback. Also the roster option does not allow you to trade and create your own custome roster in some cases. You cannot trade away active roster players to other teams.

In my book coach madden or announcer john madden, is the most reconised person in football and always will be its kind of nice to see him on a case than one of the players that most people hate or really doesnt deserve to be on a cover i think this is probably the best cover art for a football game coach madden getting carried off the field by his players and this is just the cover the game on the other hand is OKAY but its a 2007 game so what do you expect there are many good features in this game mini games,franchise in which you choose a team or choose a team and "fantasy draft" players which means every player in the nfl is in the draft, or you can take a player through the draft and through an nfl career. This game is cheap and for a madden collector is a must have.

2007's Version of madden is far superior to the 2006 version. (which isnt saying a whole lot) This game is far from perfect, and as the only football option (besides crazy blitz football) on the 360 you really have no choice. the biggest gripe about this game, which has been an ongoing issue with madden games is the defense. a Straight pattern down the field works 90 % of the time, no matter how many defenders or what defensive pattern you use it cannot be stopped. Many games turn into 60-70 point games (for both teams) and all comes down to who has the ball last. So If your a fan of high scoring, long bomb, non-defensive game you'll love this game
The Superstar mode is alright..basically the running back and quarter back superstars are good..the rest..eh..not so much. the camera takes getting used to as its a much lower viewpoint.
Graphically the game looks good. Much like last years game, justa little smoother and more animations. no complaints here. The sound is also good, not much to it but you dont buy a madden game for sound..thats what call of duty is for.
Overall, as your only option for football its a worthy purchase. EA is making great strides and hopefully 2008 will bring it all together. or at least we can hope for a 2K comeback..