Madden NFL 08 for Wii Reviews by Gamers

I love Madden. I was psyched for this year's football season, and I wanted to play Madden like I do every year.

From when I began playing it, I enjoyed it. I mean, it felt like 07 did, which is good. The gameplay is just like it always has been; close to top notch.

New this year is a party mode where you can play minigames with your friends. I played it a bit with a friend, and it was alright, but I wouldn't mind if it was scrapped next year. The games were fun and kept our attention for a few minutes, but after a while they got dull and repetitive so we switched back to regular gameplay.

The graphics in the game are moderate. They look little or no better than 07's, which is a little surprising. Glitches are existent as well, such as throwing the ball right after a snap without intending to and having a player run nonstop during minigames. There were a lot more glitches I read about, but didn't have experience with.

This year, EA left out some core features that I really loved, like create-a-play and a character editor/creator. I was completely disappointed with this. But it didn't matter to me very much, because the real draw for me this year was online play.

This is where the game really fails. There was no problem getting online, and the format seemed really great and easy to use. I tried to start a game, someone joined, so I started it up. Then I got disconnected from the opponent. I tried getting into a game for about an hour one night, and then an hour the next night. I kept getting disconnected from the opponent. I went on the Madden 08 forums to see what the deal was and everyone else was having the same problem. After two hours of attempts to get online, I only got into one game, and I was disconnected within the first minute of the game.

This game isn't worth trying. It's glitchy, doesn't even have working online play, missing features, and barely a change from 07. This game only gets a 6 is in hopes that online will eventually work.

Before discussing Madden 08 for the Wii, let me first say that some people have reported bugs and glitches, but as of this review, I have yet to see any of these problems. Some games may be faulty, but mine is not, and thus I am writing a review only on the gameplay through my own experience.

Madden 08 is a lot of the same with a few changes and improvements. Graphically, there isn't much difference between this and EA's 07 attempt with the console launch. Not what you'd expect from the Wii, but nothing to be too worried about either.

Sound is the same, as well. More of the same. Lines repeated, but not so much that it becomes painful. If you've been okay with the sound and graphics of the previous versions, there won't be any surprises here.

Essentially, it all boils down to gameplay. The motion controls GENERALLY work well. There is an adjustment period, because it's not your typical gamepad Madden, but it's pretty easy to pick up. The dumbed-down control mode is good for players new to the series, as well, although I don't find it to be that useful.

Superstar mode can be fun, although extremely frustrating in my case--I picked a receiver, so my "superstar" only plays sometimes. And from what I can tell, there is no way of calling for the ball (requesting a pass from your QB) so there's no guarantee that when you're in you'll even REALLY get involved in the play.

These problems aside, the online mode is the newest feature to the Wii version of the game, which uses EA Nation to organize and coordinate the game. It seems like, after a week or two, this will be a good quality online game. The communication is minimal, but there are no friend codes, and the lobby system seems sufficient for finding friends or opponents.

The online game does lag a bit at this point. I think after EA finishes work on their servers, there should be no problem, however. After the online game starts running better, this will get my approval for a quality Madden outing.