Madden, You Hurt So Good!

I have been a Madden video-gaming lunatic since the franchise released its first game back in 1993 for the Super Nintendo game console. It can truly be said that there is no other virtual football game that can even compare or compete with Madden. Since its release, this gaming franchise developed by EA Sports has been one of the most significant and profitable games in the gaming industry. This game is so good, in fact, that many credible video game reviewers have labeled it one of the best games of all time - don't believe me check Cnet.com.

But let's get to the real point here. Madden's latest release, Madden '08, is sooo good and yet somehow it makes me want to break something, preferably not the game. The graphics are incredible, the sound is amazing, and the game has even explored weather tendencies of different locations around the country and incorporated that into the game.

Yea, yea, yea, so Madden '08 is perfect, right? Wrong!!! There is a devil - and please let me know how you feel about what I'm about to say - built into this game. What the heck is with all the fumbles!? If I am running with Willis McGahee (who just so happens to play on the greatest team in the NFL, ahem Ravens ahem) I am guarenteed at least one fumble per game. And this fact doesn't even take into account when it's raining. I fumbled 8 times in one game during bad weather. Really EA, is that necessary? If leading the league with at least 16 fumbles a season isn't enough to frustrate you to the point of violent action, perhaps the over-abundance of injuries is. During the course of any given game you will be forced to waste timeouts due to injuries. It's not that the injuries wind up being season ending or consistently catastrophic, it's that the same player will get injured more than once, twice even, in the same game. It's crazy and it's just not right. This makes me very mad EA, very mad.

There are other frustrating nuances including an artificial intelligence that has been programmed to know when you are passing or running every down (there are ways to overcome this) and a lack, meaning total absence in this case, of John Madden's commentary (although I am getting used to this after a third straight abandonment from the game). But these things, flaws if must call them that, are simply not even a stepping stone toward the demise of this franchise. Madden you rule the world of sport gaming, just please EA, please make the pain stop!

I Liked It Old School

Don't get me wrong, the newest next-generation systems like X-box 360 and Playstation 3 are incredible. Nothing can compare to their graphics and seemingly infinite amount of data storage space. But weren't you satisfied back when "up, down, up, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start" was as normal a conversation starter as "wow, I wonder who got the boot on American Idol this week?" I mean that code solved all of my video-gaming dilemmas - it gave me 30 lives in Contra, made Castlevania a whole lot easier, and I even think it did my laundry once.

Here's the problem I have with the newest games - gameplay. Not only do the older consoles offer many more games, but they offer games with incredible gameplay. It seems that the new consoles (i.e. the 360 and ps3) have been so worked up on making the graphics as realistic as possible that they have forgotten that gameplay is always a platform's number one selling point. How many of you reading this post have played Sonic for Sega Genesis? Let's be honest, everyone! How many have played Sonic for the Game Cube or ps2? Probably a limited number (and yes Sonic exists on both of these consoles). What could possibly be the reason for this? I'll tell you, gameplay. In case you haven't read it enough yet, gameplay, gameplay GAMEPLAY!

Somewhere during the shift from 8-bit graphics to now, creating games with distinction and character has been lost. I long for more games with the quality equal to the Halo and Madden franchises (that's not to say that there aren't any other quality next-gen games). Until then, I still like it old school!