Preview of Madden 08 on TeamXBOX

http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1615/Madden-NFL-08/p1/


Looks pretty interesting. Next seasons game should be the best yet!

 

Wow, the "24 weapon category" crap looks stupid. If you are a fan of football you should already know what players are good at. This seems to be yet another crappy little gimmick EA is going to throw in the game. Also, what the deal with being able to view the opponents play calling?

If the same defensive setup is called against a QB like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, for instance, a gauge will slowly begin to fill up. Once it’s full, the player can hit the right trigger and left bumper at the same time to literally “read” the defense. Naturally, the same goes for the other side of the ball. If you, like many people, have a “money play” that you use all the time, players like Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis or Broncos safety John Lynch will be able to hit the same buttons and see the actual play that’s been called (although it should be noted that you won’t be able to see the routes the receivers will run). As you might have guessed, both of these abilities will allow players to quickly change the outcome of the game, although we’re hopeful that it can only be used once or twice in a game.

I understand that is going to help cut down on people running the same play over and over but I think it can also be exploited. I guess I will just have to play and see how it works myself because from how I understood it I'm not going to like that at all.

 

I think it sounds pretty cool. But once or twice a game whats the big deal?

 

I like it, it adds some dynamics to the game.

 

I'm with Latdogg on this one. We as users should know our players strengths and weakness. Something about having icons like speed guy or smart guy seems real arcadey to me. It's kind of like filling up your turbo in a racing game. Hopefully it will be implemented correctly and will be well balanced.

 

The problem I see is that there is no significant difference between Champ Bailey and any of the other corners on Denver. QB's can throw past Champ over and over.

These new features are probably going to make it harder for the other team to beat key defensive players when they shouldn't.

I am pretty sure players can turn the icons off.

At least they are changing the game up and not just releasing the same game with an updated roster.

 

They need to fix what was already broken and put back what they took out, not add stupid gimmicks. If you're using the Ravens, you should already know that Ray Lewis(well actually a few years ago) can stuff the run and all that crap. Peyton Manning can't see every defensive play, he reads man or zone and blitzes based on the D's lineup. Sometimes he is wrong and gets killed (05 playoffs anyone?). I hope that feature can be turned off. They can make Champ Bailey dominant without adding taglines to his stats. I just hope my speed guy can beat their dominant defender before they max out their special powers meter and do a fatality. What a bunch of crap.

 

"Gimmicks" sell the game.

 

that is what counts for me.

 

yeah i agree swiper.. Dont get hung up on the frills..

i really dont want to see or hear anything about Madden 08.. I'm getting it no matter what (if no money crunch that is..lol).. And so there's no need in trying to see previews or screen shots..

 

i agree with ya guys about knowing the players etc.. i also think along with knowing the players that their ratings should be hidden...

 

I'm buying it no matter what, but I will say I don't want to hear this is the best Madden, every year, the new Madden is the "best". Just change the damn playcalling screens, when you are playing side by side a friend, bring back defensive matchups and the formation subs.

 

Here is one from gamespot.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/sports/madden08/news.html?sid=6169878&tag=nl.e577

 

I agree. What you see is a linebacker covering a receiver and somehow keeping up stride for stride. This happens all the time in this game. Madden is lacking in the match-ups department as it relates to gameplay. Scrub receivers catching the ball vs premiere corners and vice versa. I especially hate how you can't seem to run on dime and nickel sets either. A dive or draw play from a passing formation should be at least 4-5 yards against these sets but rarely are.

Exploiting favorable match-ups should be something that this "24 category ratings" thing will address. At least I hope so. Still, I don't think it's going to be the issue many of you feel it will be. As I've said before, let's wait and see, deciding the merits of these features after playing it. As Bx said, we hear the hype all the time only to find out differently once we've played it.

Though it's not official, EB Games has APF 2k8 releasing a day before NCAA '08. So, those of us willing to try it will have a full month before Madden comes out to form a very solid opinion of 2k's latest offering. This is great news to me as I'm not a big fan of the college game and generally in the past have only gotten it to get a football fix and get some idea of what Madden is going to be like.

 

the only reason that wouldn't work is because EA does some of the worst ratings ever made, i think last year KGB was the best sack artist in the game.

 

why wouldnt it work? then you wouldnt know about there poopy ratings if they were hidden.. then you would have to rely on trial and error with some guys, seeing if they fit ur style of play etc..

 

I think they definitely should do some work on the defensive side of the ball, as they kind of got away from that in the last installment on the 360. This weapon thing may turn out to be something good, but we'll just have to wait and see. Champ Bailey is extremely over-rated on madden 07, as passes that come straight into his arms that you know he should catch are passes that he drops or simply jumps up and bats down, while other lesser known corners make the easy picks.
I do like the awareness from 07 though. I don't know if any of you noticed, but recently I've seen players break off from their coverage and suddenly decide to rush the quarterback....not bad.
Still, as many of us know, madden 08 will need to be a full-scale tweakage of 07 to get any fans at all. I'm excited, and I think this will be a good showing for the EA team, but I won't be satisfied until I see the final product.

 

The defensive side of the ball needed a big adjustment this year mainly in the passing game, so hopefully this improvement of the weapons actually works.

 

What kind of adjustments?

More ints?

 

No, remember in the older Maddens (2005, 2006) on the regular Xbox how you could do anything and everything with your D before the snap? If you wanted your DE to drop back into coverage or cover the flats you could. If you wanted a LB to swap to a zone coverage or blitz you could do that. with these newer "next gen" Maddens they took all that away.