Madden 07 Continues the Legacy

As someone who has played Madden on Playstation 2 for 14 years, I can comfortably say that this year's is the best. It is the best looking, best playing, most realistic and most fun Madden that I have ever played. Unequivocally, I believe this Madden has taken the game as far as it can be taken on the PS2. Obviously, the natural progression of video games has made the evolution of Madden progressively more realist, in both game play and visual graphics. The true proof of Madden 07's greatness lies in a comparison to Madden 05, Madden 06 and NCAA 07, the best of that game line.

The most obvious upgrade is over Madden 05. The 05 version was the first to significantly improve the graphics, and the first to begin to use the PS2's capablities appropriately. But where it excelled in graphics, the gameplay was poor. Offensively, the passing game could live on slants, the long ball and an unstopable run game. This was all because the defense could not stop the run, easily got beat on play fakes and gave little room for user control, audibles, or the ability to stop a mobile quarterback.

Madden 06 introduced more control over hot routes, audibles and more defensive in-game control. Both offense and defense were fluid, and the graphics were crisp and clean. The franchise mode had every real head coach in the league to choose from, and had an expansive selection of options. Online play was top notch, and while there were some glitches, nothing was too major. It was certainly the best Madden up till that point.

NCAA 07 is by far the best of its line for a number of reasons. Most importantly, it took a cue from Madden and made gameplay more realistic on both sides of the ball. The graphics are so clean that they may even be better than Madden 07. Now, the long ball can still be had with a leap, but it takes user control on both offense and defense to be great. That is what makes it so much fun. It allows the gamer to have more say in the game. Dynasty mode is great, online is as well, and the rosters can be modified to put in the real names. There were not many flaws, but they could have borrowed from Madden's use of the right joystick to audible on run plays.

Madden 07 has captured the best from all of its previous versions, as well as the best attributes of NCAA 07. It looks great, plays without any noticible flaws or glitches, and has a deep and intricate franchise mode. Online play allows for more exciting games, once you have mastered the computer opponent. Also, once online, updated rosters, including upgrading improved players, keeps Madden 07 as current and as up to date as possible. There was a rumor that this will be the last game in the line to carry Madden's name. If that is true, it will be a sad end to the greatest line of video games ever made, sports or any other gaming genre. As the PS2 looks to pass the torch on to the PS3, one can only hope that the brains a EA Sports will be able to translate the success and pure fun that Madden brings to the new PS3 platform. There were complaints about the release of Madden 07 for PS3, and the XBOX 360 version looks great, but does not play half as well as the PS2 version. There is room for upgrades in the franchise mode, as it needs to be possible to upload draft classes from NCAA to Madden. Also, if more assistant coaches, or more college coaches were available in franchise mode, that would be great. There is not as much control over players, not as much reaction to user control, and not as much steady play. Hopefully,. by the time August rolls around, we will be playing instead of complaining about the PS3.