Madden for the 360

[danthemanuno]

Yesterday i went with my friend to get a 360 game at a local video game store near his house. When he asked for a copy of Madden the guy at the counter instantly asked if he was "sure that he wanted it."

He then went on to say that at the store the employees are allowed to sign out a game a week and he said that Madden for the 360 was a waste of a sign out.

So he did not get Madden, but instead NBA Live 2006 for the 360, which was AMAZING!!!!

I am wondering is Madden as bad as this guy said. For he really made my friend not buy it and went on and on about how bad it is.

So is it any good?

[EricRyan34]

you can tell that the Madden 360 was rushed into production, thats about all I can say. The only thing that has changed basically is a little better graphics

[s1lence]

Madden looks alittle bit better, but it doesn't play any better. They also stripped abunch of the features out like the superstar mode and changed the franchise mode. Thats probably why they said it was a waste as the regular xbox/ps2/GC versions are more complete games.

[Anthony1]

Before I give you my take on Madden 360, I must say that if you think NBA Live '06 is good, then you really need to play NBA 2K6. NBA Live does have the better graphics, but the game is "lifeless" "soulless". While NBA 2K6 is absolutely overflowing with life and soul. Plus it's not like the graphics for NBA 2K6 suck. It's just you can tell that the focus was more on quality gameplay, and being a realistic simulation of the real NBA.



Ok, now the take on Madden 360. I got Madden 360 from GameFly right away, and I started playing Madden when I first got my 360 on launch day. At first, I was totally blown away by Madden. I thought it was pretty incredible. And in some respects, it really is. But ultimately, after playing it for several weeks, I discovered that the game is just not very polished at all. It's definititely a victim of being rushed for the launch.

Here are the positives and negatives for Madden 360 (IMHO)

Positives = Graphics for the most part are pretty damn amazing. Stadiums are pretty awesome. If you play a Sunny afternoon game in Miami or someplace like that, the graphics look pretty damn astounding. Sound is very good. Playability is "decent".


Negatives = The quarterbacks look like totally roided out versions of the real people, or zombie versions of the real people, on roids. Everybody looks like they've been spending too much time in the Gym. Even punters and field goal kickers look a little too muscular. Indoor stadiums make the game a little too dark. They don't quite have the correct lighting for indoor stadiums. You can play the game on Live, but for some reason, Madden seems to have more lag than just about any other 360 game I've played on Live. I'm guessing that due to the rush to get it out on time, the online code wasn't exactly optimized to the T. The playability seems pretty weak to me. I mean, it's ok. It's a familar game of Madden, but it's actually kinda weak. Very difficult to run the ball with any amount of success against a player that knows how to play defense. Also, one of the worst parts of Madden's playability is that it's so hard to defend a deep pass to a very speedy receiver. It's almost like a "money play". The cut scenes after the play is over is a little herky jerky, and they seem to show the same stuff over and over too much. The cut scenes right before a play starts are the same thing over and over. They always show the defensive guys standing around in the same exact way, and the Quarterback going up to the line in the same exact way. There should have been more variety. Also, as great as the stadiums are, they don't show them off very good. They always have cameras coming out of the tunnels and stuff, showing you a freaking fire hydrant on the wall. I've seen the fire hydrant for like 20 different stadiums!!


Ok, the bottom line is that Madden for the 360 is a decent game, it doesn't suck, but it definitely has issues. Quite a few issues. Still, for several weeks, I thought it was pretty damn amazing. So you can look past alot of these issues. But after awhile, I just came to the conclusion that it's a better idea if I pass on the '06 Madden for the 360. I'm guessing that late next August there will be a Madden '07 for the 360, and it will have alot of these issues corrected. Plus, NBA 2K6 is such an amazing sports game, that I'm cool with just playing that. I actually sold my Madden on craigslist, just because I felt like it just ultimately wasn't up to par.

[pacmanhat]

It sounds like I thought of it more highly than others here...I thought it both looked and played MUCH better than more recent iterations of the game. The graphical difference is massive, both visually and on a technical level. There are a few questionable things that happen now and then in the course of the gameplay, but overall it plays a great game of football.

[Anthony1]

It sounds like I thought of it more highly than others here...I thought it both looked and played MUCH better than more recent iterations of the game. The graphical difference is massive, both visually and on a technical level. There are a few questionable things that happen now and then in the course of the gameplay, but overall it plays a great game of football.


Well, I'm not a fan of the more recent versions of Madden, I preferred the NFL2K series from Visual Concepts, but I did play the Xbox 1 version of Madden '06, and I can tell you that the playability of that version blows the 360 version out the water.

Now, I'm talking purely from a playability standpoint, and more importantly, the flow of the game. For sports games, for me, it's all about how the game flows. Does it flow realistically. Madden '06 on the XBOX 1 flowed pretty damn good, even thought I'm not a huge fan of that game, but Madden '06 on the 360 just doesn't flow right.


And I didn't even bring up the fact that Madden for the 360 is the only 360 game I've played that doesn't use the rumble function of the controller whatsoever. It's a really glaring omission, because when you get tackled really good by a defender, especially a "hit stick" tackle, you should feel some serious rumble, but there is no rumble whatsoever. Very weird.

[gepeto]

Good move the 60.00 you saved can go to a good game.
I purchased nba 2k6 I liked it much better than live as for madden I took a break from ea they have been putting out some serious garbage. They charge 10 more for madden 06 yet strip the all the features that made madden.

Serious rush job. it is funny I remember an ea representative on G4 justifying the 10 price increase. He was saying that more content is added therefore justifying the price.

It is pretty but that is it. Ea knows what it is doing. They figure give the people anything. The hardcore maddenites already got madden 06. To be honest I have never seen a next gen game stripped of so many features. I am glad yousaved your money as for me I will buy it when the content equals the price 19.99. maybe

[Anthony1]

Good move the 60.00 you saved can go to a good game.
I purchased nba 2k6 I liked it much better than live as for madden I took a break from ea they have been putting out some serious garbage. They charge 10 more for madden 06 yet strip the all the features that made madden.

Serious rush job. it is funny I remember an ea representative on G4 justifying the 10 price increase. He was saying that more content is added therefore justifying the price.

It is pretty but that is it. Ea knows what it is doing. They figure give the people anything. The hardcore maddenites already got madden 06. To be honest I have never seen a next gen game stripped of so many features. I am glad yousaved your money as for me I will buy it when the content equals the price 19.99. maybe


I actually bought Madden 360 for $38.99. GameFly sells it for $48.99 with their "keep it" option, and I had a $10 off GameFly coupon from buying Kameo for $38.99. So I ended up getting Madden for $38.99 plus tax. I didn't have to pay any shipping fee's and they sent me the box and instructions later, and everything was mint. I ended up selling it on Craigslist for $45, which is actually about $2.50 more than I paid for it!! :D


Again, the game doesnt totally suck, but I feel I can put that $45 on another game, and revisit Madden for the 360 next August.