Madden NFL 07

What happens when you put Tony Gonzalez, LaDainian Tomlinson, Chad Johnson, Larry Johnson, Antonio Gates, Carson Palmer and Edgerrin James all on the same team? Do you get a team of destiny that crushes the competition leaving broken egos in its wake? How about a team of Pro Bowl players that cruises to the Super Bowl? Well not in Madden 2007 on the Nintendo DS. The tried-and-true Madden franchise returns again for another yearly outing but the DS version is still falling short of the first down.

Madden is simply a monster franchise that shows no signs of slowing down. EA knows, or seems to know, what gamers want in a football game and tries to revamp each version released before the football season begins. The amount of gameplay options and modes included in a Madden game is usually staggering because you can do almost anything in the game. The 2007 version for the Nintendo DS includes a wide assortment of modes that was very surprising to find on a portable game. The game includes the standard instant play mode along with a Season Mode, Franchise Mode, Wireless Play, Create A Player and Create a Team. But gameplay modes do not make the complete game since incredible gameplay is a true sign of a champion, which is where Madden 2007 comes up short.

I will give my honest interpretation of how I believe the gameplay in Madden 2007 is flawed. I will take you through several hours of starting the game from scratch, creating my personal team and then what I found out by playing the game. Think of this as a documentary inside of a game review. Gaming can be compared to relationships; just because it starts out great doesn’t mean it will end well.

I started the game out by playing a Play Now game and selected my favorite team the Miami Dolphins. Almost immediately I was impressed with Madden 07 for the DS. The graphics looked good, for a DS game, the sound effects and voiceovers by Madden and Michaels sounded great and I was able to pull off some big plays right away. In fact I was pulling off too many big plays, such as huge runs and big pass plays, without any challenges from the defense. But then the defense of Pittsburgh came on strong and started shutting me down. Soon Pitt’s offense was firing on all cylinders and the game became much closer than I would have preferred. But in the end the mighty Dolphins prevailed with a victory and I was felt that the game had some potential.

Next I moved on to creating a new team in hopes of building a potential Super Bowl legend: The San Antonio Heat. Yes it might sound corny but it’s hot down here in TX and I’ve been using the Heat name for years in some fantasy football leagues. When you create a team the game has you replacing one of the current NFL teams. I selected the Cincinnati Bengals since I used to live near Cincy and was a Bengals fan growing up. Besides the home away from home connection I thought the Bengals had a balanced roster with a solid defense and a great offense. I then changed the colors of the uniforms to a more Southwestern look and made one big trade. I traded Rudi Johnson for Edgerrin James. It was then time for some football!

The season started out really rough. The passes and runs I made in the Play Now option had no success. I started to notice that my wide receivers couldn’t catch anything and Edge couldn’t find a hole to save his life. Tackles by the defense would sometimes come out of nowhere to stop a potential big play. What should have been easy wins for the SA Heat turned into disappointing loses. After the first four games the SA Heat was dead last in the division sitting at 0 and 4. Ouch!

I then decided to trade for some more players. I picked up all of the players I listed earlier that were not already on the Bengals’ roster when it was turned into the SA Heat (which wasn’t an option in the Franchise mode since the computer would deny each trade request). I thought my fortunes had to turn because no team would be able to stop all of these players. At first it seemed to work, with me winning a couple of games in a row. But none of those games were easy, all of them providing a close game. In fact close games is what seems to be the expertise of Madden 07 for the DS. No matter how far ahead I would get the computer would always seem to pull in amazing catches, stop me from making runs for the first down or anything else it needed to do to win. After 11 weeks into the season the Heat was now 4 and 7, would I’m sure would lead to me losing my job as coach if I had all of those players on one team.

Just to get a moment of clarity I decided to try the Play Now option again just to see if maybe it was me that was causing the problems with my team. But I guess it wasn’t because I didn’t have any problems pulling off the big pass and run plays. Outscoring the computer by 20-plus points was never an issue in the Play Now mode. With my confidence riding high again I went back to my team in San Antonio to see if we could salvage the season. Surprisingly we managed to end the season at 8 and 8 which is due to just one player, LaDainian Tomlinson. He had in almost every game after the 11^th week at least one running play that was 50 yards or longer. It was amazing! But what was even more amazing to me was the computer still performing miracle plays to stay in the game. No matter how many big plays LT pulled off the computer would always find an answer. I think I finished the season with only two games that I outscored the computer by more than one touchdown.

Some of you might be wondering why I’m making a big deal about computer AI but it needs to be addressed. When you play a sports game and know that you never have a chance to win, where is the fun? Even with the game on the lowest difficulty setting makes me shudder to think of just how bad it would be on the higher settings. Finishing the season at 8 and 8 makes me believe that all hope isn’t lost but I would have to grow some thicker skin just to deal with the inconsistencies in how the computer plays.

One huge part of the game that needs to be mentioned is the kicking game. EA has decided to use the touch screen for the kicking game which is, of course, a feature exclusive to the DS. But be prepared to practice kicks and punts. If you do not practice kicking and punting you will be left in a very unfavorable position when it comes to extra points and punt returns. The way the kicking works has you touch two points on the touch screen. The first point you touch produces a green X and the next point you touch produces a red X. You then need to draw a line between each X in order to kick the ball. The longer the distance between the two X’s should produce a stronger kick. But the touch screen makes this somewhat challenging because you can also call an audible and change hot routes with the touch screen. I usually found creating a diagonal line from one corner of the touch screen to another created the longest line. But you might end up pressing either the audible or hot route button instead during field goals. Another sore spot in regards to kicking was that I never made a field goal longer than 30 yards. My kicks were never long enough which almost cripples the kicking game. I would usually try to make anything that was shorter than five yards when it came to fourth down, especially if I was near my end zone.

Madden 2007 just ends up missing the goal line when it comes to scoring a touch down in the gameplay department. The game is a great package filled with a ton of options but the unforgiving computer AI will give you the creeps. The kicking game is a unique feature because of the touch screen but it could limit players due to its learning curve. If you must have a football game for the DS then you’re really left with only one option which is Madden 2007. Just be prepared to scream and yell while the computer decides to perform a miracle comeback to win the game.

Gameplay: 6.5
All of the controls in the game are tight and responsive with players performing jukes, spins and other assorted moves. But the relentless AI in the Franchise and Season modes will have you wishing for a bulldozer to ride over the opposing team.

Graphics: 7.0
For a DS football game the graphics look good but still something that would have appeared on the PlayStation 1 or Nintendo 64. All of the players are animated nicely and I didn’t notice any slowdown in the game. There were a couple weird issues such as players bouncing off of other players five yards after tackles and players walking through other players during the change of quarters. I do want to cast my vote, if EA is reading this, to bring back the classic 2D style graphics found in some of the N64 Maddens. I think those graphics would work great on the DS and would look much nicer compared to blocky 3D character models.

Sound: 7.5
You get actual voice samples of John Madden and Al Michaels included in the game. The samples are limited to a few phrases but it’s still nice to hear in a portable game. The sound of crowd is always noticeable during the game as well. The game even includes a song during the menu selections which is great to hear in a portable game.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
It’s a tale of two different games. During the Play Now option you can roll over the computer without a problem but the Season and Franchise difficulty will have you grinding your teeth.

Multiplayer: 7.0
The game allows up to four players to play via wireless connection on the DS, with each DS requiring an individual copy of the game. There is no Nintendo Wi-Fi support.  Why can’t the Nintendo Wi-Fi service get more third-party support?

Concept: 8.0
The game includes a ton of options and choices for a portable football game. This isn’t a stripped-down version of its console bigger brothers. Almost all of the features found in the console version are in the DS version. The touch screen offers the ability to control players with the stylus instead of just pressing buttons which is a nice feature but a little difficult to master. Even the DS microphone comes into play when calling an audible.

Overall: 7.2
Madden NFL 07 for the DS offers a ton of features, touch screen support and wireless play to make it a solid portable football experience. However the frustrating AI, learning curve when using the touch screen and blocky 3D graphics slows the game down. But if you want a full-featured Madden game that offers an unforgiving football experience then look no further than Madden 2006 for the DS. But then again how many football games are available on the DS anyway?