by:	January 15, 2008

Before I start this article, I want to say that I was once an NFL 2K fan. For many years, from NFL 2K1 to ESPN NFL Football, I played more of that series than I care to remember. When Electronic Arts bought out the exclusive rights to the NFL license, I was ever so slightly angry. I cursed, I screamed, I vowed never to play a Madden game again. Well, as they say, time heals all wounds. I decided to give it a go once again, in need of some next generation football gaming. After renting last year's Madden 2006 for 360, I was left unimpressed, to be kind. The game was a complete mess. Freezing, bugs, poor interfaces, a game missing half its features; that game isn't worth the twenty dollars it sells for now, let alone the sixty at launch. But after some debating, I decided to give Madden on 360 another go with Madden NFL 2007. I'm glad I did. This year's Madden is far from perfect. There are still some serious problems and modes that need fixing. But there is improvement here. EA is starting to take the series in the right direction, with innovation.

To say that more often than not a sports game is merely a roster update is not far from the truth. Few series' have had more of this problem than Madden. For years we've received barely anything new. I'm glad to report that the new Superstar mode in Madden 07 changes all of that. By putting you in control of just one player on the field at a time, Madden 07 has given football gaming a fresh look. This mode is far from perfect; in its current form it's actually very rough and not all that fun to play in most positions. The camera for a QB is horrid. Wide receiver is fun on the few plays that your Quarterback throws you the ball. Don't get me started on guarding a wide receiver - it's a matter of luck more than anything else. But there's hope here. Madden has moved forward. That alone makes me happy.

Playing franchise is still fun, though like last year I don't like the interface at all and I found it really clunky. Actually, the most fun I had in this game was playing the mini games. Playing these against friends is a blast, as it turns Madden into a fantastic party game. The core gameplay here is solid, the highlight stick I found better used this year than last, and I loved the presentation in-game. I also have nothing but good things to say about Madden Gamer Levels which allow you to track your progress through the game.

My biggest beef against Madden 07 has to be the lack of Owner mode. This has been a staple of the series on the last generation systems for years. I see no reason that in the second year of Madden appearing on 360, this mode could not be included. It would also be nice if you could bring your characters from NCAA 07 into the game like in the PS2 and Xbox versions, but sadly the 360 version of NCAA was missing the campus legend mode, so that's out. Besides those features though, pretty much everything from the other versions of Madden is here this year.