One of our editors brought you a full review of the new Madden 08 game for the Xbox 360 and for the most part it was very positive and he went as far as to call it “the best football game to ever hit next gen” but this editor has a bit of a different opinion. I see it as a solid game, but not worth the purchase as it has not evolved enough from it’s other iterations.

Proof that this Madden is still the same game is the fact that one of my buddies and I sat down for the first time without looking at one instruction manual and played a full game without losing a step. The only thing I had to ask about was what the speed burst was now, aside from that all of those extras in there (which there are a ton) are not that necessary. By these I mean the mismatch crap, the possesin catches, the icons for players and all of those other “upgrades” really don’t add value. It was funny because we played the 360 version and my buddy doesn’t even have a 360 and actually still plays Madden on the original Xbox, but he played just fine.

What do you get for purchasing the new Madden 08? Roster updates which are alwasy nice, tons of options and a quest for a ring that makes no sense and a half assed half time report. The commentation in this game is horrible and even lacking at times, not one word is spoken during the half time report?? There still are no nets behind the uprights, how hard are these to put in?

And as far as game play, I have to admit that I like the fact that the game does have a lot of defensive options, which All Pro Football 2k8 lacked, but they just aren’t enough. You can go back to the PS2 days of Madden and still boil the game down to the same inner core with a few additions here and there. The biggest additions in my opinion were probably the addition of gang tackles back a few years.

This years Madden can be very frustrating at times with the large amount of interceptions and fumbles that have been addded in, these at times take over the gaem adn actually decide them. Making 5 interceptions in a game is not that hard as they have made all the DB’s, FS and SS super keen to the pick. Fumbles are even worse since receivers can make great catches and then have the ball dislodged (wihtout using the hit stick) and even HB’s are prone ot fumbles now. I got tackled by Ray Lewis, not even a solid tackle but more of a shoulder tackle, using Rudi Johnson and coughed up the ball for a touchdown. During certian games I score more points on defense than I do on offense.

If you don’t own a football game then go pick up Madden 08, but if you own an older version you may want to rent this game and see if it has enough meat on it’s bones for your taste, becasue I am still hungry. If you are an Xbox 360 owner and have Madden 06 this will be a world of improvement, but if you have 07 it will feel very similar.

P.S. Achievements on the 360 version are very simple to get and quite a shame that you can dumb down the A.I. and still get the points.