Madden 2008: A Brief Synopsis

[dusematic]

First of all, if I get so much as one comment straight out of the Gamespot forums about how sports games suck or Madden is the same game every year I think I may actually puke.  Then, of course, I'll declare eternal war against you and everything you believe in.  Even if it means worshiping Satan, I'll do it.  Just to spite you. 


Madden 2008 is a joke. Just like 2007 was. The game is so choppy it makes me sick. I can't play a game this choppy. I've personally played 360 and PS2 versions of the game, i.e. the most popular console platforms in North America, and the story is the same. The game randomly hiccups and sputters along, most notably after a play and before you choose the next one.


Let's not even get into menu lag. When a game pauses for up to two seconds on the menu screen each time you scroll to the next submenu (i.e. clicking down on the d-pad from "stats/info" to "coaching strategy") you know there is a major problem. This is the ultimate dagger, as it makes one loathe to enter the menu to even make a substitution, let alone get nitty gritty in the morass of menus that something like Franchise mode has to offer.


And for the love of God, what the eff is going on with online play? Online play has the worst chop, lag, and bugged out bullshit I've  seen since Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.

AND NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT THESE FUNDAMENTAL FLAWS IN THE GAME. WHY? WHY AREN'T PEOPLE DISCUSSING CRITICALLY MASSIVE DESIGN FLAWS IN THIS GAME, WHICH ANY SERIOUS PLAYER COULD IDENTIFY IMMEDIATELY? Certainly no major gaming media outlet or review has even flirted with these issues.  The only criticisms I've seen leveled at this game have to do with turnover differential and player rating gaffes.


Do you understand how much the menu lag takes away from the enjoyment of the game?

The menu lag, especially when online, is a disgrace. Have you tried going into an online lobby that has the maximum 50 players in it? It's unusable. You can't type messages and scroll through the player list to see their stats. It was OK in '06, but '07 ruined it and apparently they made no changes in '08 to fix it.

Ever tried setting your depth chart in an online game? It's the laggiest experience ever. EA needs to stop with the flashy animations if they can't simply produce a smooth, chopless experience in their menus.

I can't believe no one else is complaining about this. I used to love finishing a game and then going in the lobby to check my stats and talk smack.  Now, that part of my life is over.


I think people who don't think their Madden game lags should be strung up by their feet and beaten to death with a spiked mace. Seriously, these people need to be culled from the herd with alacrity. Because the menu system lags like a crippled kid in an Olympic 100 meter dash. And that's just the offline menu system. I'm sick of people too dumb to recognize lag in a game who make smug chiding comments about how it must be my system, my disc, or my connection. My connection?  Try 2Mbit upstream and 15 down. Get real with yourself.

[Strazos]

Dude, it's Madden. People would buy it every year if you just put a turd inside and charged $60 for it.

And from what you are saying, that seems to be what they've been doing. Seriously.


They're called Maddentards for a reason. You think all the frat kids and fake gangbangers and the rest of the majority of the buying demographic even knows the meaning of the word "lag"?

Though honestly, wouldn't the problem in this instance be choke, not lag?

[MrHat]

We should front page this.

[schild]

I'll be long dead before f13 ever frontpages anything about Madden, you twisted fuck.

Duse, why are you surprised at any of this?

[Yegolev]

I am sure EA will have these issues fixed for Madden 2009.

[dusematic]

Duse, why are you surprised at any of this?

Because it wasn't always like this.  This shit started in '07.  Before that (and I've been playing Madden since '93) the game was pretty fucking crisp as you'd expect it to be.  I like Madden as a game.  It's just sad that I can't enjoy it anymore because EA evidently has high school computer science kids programming their menu systems nowadays. 

[Rasix]

How's the actual football in it? Or has the lag prevented you from getting to play an actual game?

[dusematic]

Though honestly, wouldn't the problem in this instance be choke, not lag?

There's chop.  There's lag.  There's bugs.  There's offline menu lag and online menu lag, which is so severe, I can't even talk about it without entering an apoplectic rage and hurling insults at everyone and everything with (to quote tycho) such intense lateral spin, that it would bore up all of your dickholes, kinking your vas deferens'.


Here's an example of some choice madden 2008 bugs:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBXOZIRF9Gw

[dusematic]

How's the actual football in it? Or has the lag prevented you from getting to play an actual game?

The football game is deeper than ever.  There are so many options pre snap now that you have the ability to become one with your console; an erotic gaming mindmeld where you can get down in the metal of the system, where your defense never enters a solid state, but, rather, is an amorphous entity.


Too bad after every play before the play selection screen pops up, there is a 1-2 second hiccup.  Unacceptable levels of chop such as I have never seen in a product receiving such high levels of exposure.  AND NOBODY, NO REVIEW, NO GAMING SITE, NOBODY, HAS BROUGHT THIS TO LIGHT. 

To discuss this problem, you have to venture to the darkest, dankest corners of the internet.  Where only hooded shadows wrapped in secrets dare make such utterances.

[Murgos]

To discuss this problem, you have to venture to the darkest, dankest corners of the internet.  Where only hooded shadows wrapped in secrets dare make such utterances.

And thus, F13.

[hal]

Welcome home and all like that

[Miasma]

I hear the PS3 version is even worse because they didn't have time to optimize so it is stuck at 30FPS even though it is supposed to be the more powerful machine, the 360 version is 60FPS.

[NiX]

Since EA just cuts and pastes their menu system across all sports. NHL will suck just as much. WHOO!

[dusematic]

Madden on Xbox 360 is 60 fps except when its 4FPS.

[cmlancas]

Madden 2009: We Break It, You Buy It.

[schild]

Madden 2009: We've sewn your mouth to our collective dick.

Suck everything.

[dusematic]

I mean do we not have one other person on these boards who plays Madden?  Everyone I've talked to in real life who is any good at the game, the first thing they mention is the lag.  But I have yet to see even one review anywhere even hint that lag might be a problem with this game.  What's going on?  I feel different.

[Rasix]

I mean do we not have one other person on these boards who plays Madden?  Everyone I've talked to in real life who is any good at the game, the first thing they mention is the lag.  But I have yet to see even one review anywhere even hint that lag might be a problem with this game.  What's going on?  I feel different.

I'll be getting it later as a birthday gift.  I don't currently have a single sports game since I traded in my Xbox outside of a tennis game for my PSP.  I've never been very good at Madden though.  I have a hard enough time getting a passing game going at lesser difficulties and have trouble picturing how some of you manage to win at max difficulty.  I've never had it in me to really try hard at these games outside of playcalling.

I doubt it can be worse than some of the PSP menu lag I've experienced.  That shit can be brutal.

[dusematic]

It's like anything you just have to practice.  I destroy the computer at All-Madden difficulty.  The real competition is online.  But that's completely out of the question for me now.  I don't deal with chop.


As far as getting better, most people make the mistake of playing at a comfortable difficulty setting.  If you play 16 games at a difficulty setting that is uncomfortable for you, you'll be better.  As soon as you start winning you crank it up again.


Edit: Also, play 2 minute quarters.  Anything more is way too frustrating when you're getting your ass kicked.

[Sky]

First of all, if I get so much as one comment straight out of the Gamespot forums about how Madden is the same game every year I think I may actually puke. 

Madden 2008 is a joke. Just like 2007 was.

Heh.

[murdoc]

Madden talk makes me want to play NFL 2k5 again.

[Nebu]

There isn't a single football game made worth playing in any format.  It takes anyone with a little playing experience almost zero effort to see the gaps in the game mechanics.  This ends up ruining all of these football games after an hour or so.  At least baseball and soccer have reasonable statistical simulators available, but that's still a far cry from live action play.   

[WayAbvPar]

I have only played 3 or 4 games, but I haven't noticed any issues with the single player action. I wonder if I am just used to it since I played NCAA 2008 for a month before Madden?

The online game, however, is a fucking joke. Trotski and I played a game Thursday night and the lag was horrific. Nothing like having to guess where the fucking kick meter is when trying to hit a long FG (I luckboxed a 51 yarder that iced that game... heh). I am hoping they are able to patch it or something, because right now I have no interest at all in playing online again, and that was at least 50% of the reason I bought the fucking game in the first place.

[HaemishM]

I play Madden 08 on the Wii. I haven't tried online yet, and have only had time for a few games, so haven't written a review.

First impressions are that it's a bit weird. The controls are changed enough from '07 that it's like playing a new game, but the changes seem really arbitrary. Like they were changed just to change them, rather than for a good reason. I will say the INT's are down from last year's version, which was something that irritated the shit out of me last year. I threw way too many INT's, whereas this year it doesn't seem nearly as bad. But the action feels kind of disconnected.

The menus are pretty shitty, though. Not laggy, mind you, just really hard to read because of the choice of colors and transparant backgrounds. Also, the player ratings for the Packers, especially their defense, seems WAY high.

I still wish the 2k Sports guys could make an NFL-licensed game. Madden has always been an inferior game in comparison.

[Morfiend]

First of all, if I get so much as one comment straight out of the Gamespot forums about how Madden is the same game every year I think I may actually puke. 

Madden 2008 is a joke. Just like 2007 was.

Heh.

Thank you for that Sky. I loldirl.

[dusematic]

First of all, if I get so much as one comment straight out of the Gamespot forums about how Madden is the same game every year I think I may actually puke. 

Madden 2008 is a joke. Just like 2007 was.

Heh.

I see what you tried to do there.

[dusematic]

I wonder if I am just used to it since I played NCAA 2008 for a month before Madden?

You're used to it.  Which is sad.  But also sort of noble.

[Zetleft]

Madden talk makes me want to play NFL 2k5 again.

I hear ya.  Hell I still play that game from time to time.  We still need a rematch. 

[naum]

A shame what's been done to the Madden game…

…hope FIFA 2008 isn't messed up too bad…

[HaemishM]

As long as FIFA 08 for the Wii is as good (hopefully better) as 07 was for the Cube/X-Box, things will be fine. If they fuck it up, however...

Well, nothing really will happen to them, because it's EA and they sold their souls to the devil, but shit something should. Hellfire, brimstone, rectal probings, something.

[Strazos]

At least NHL 2k8 will be safe.  :-D

[HaemishM]

After playing the Bigs for a few minutes last night, 2k Sports needs to get their Wiimote out of their asses and adapt the MLB/NHL series for the Wii, except they need to not fuck it up like they did the Bigs.

[Nebu]

MLB has much potential on the Wii.