For all of you die hard football fans here it is, the next generation of Madden. I was anxiously waiting for this game to come out since the end of the last football season and when that day finally came, I must say my initial reaction was disappointment. Don’t get me wrong the game is great. I just thought it was going to look a lot different. I mean, right off the bat it even had almost the same exact opening screen as the previous Madden and I was like, did I put in the wrong disc. But once I started to play the game I did realize that there was much more to it. This game is as real as it gets without having to practice twice a day.

Running at 60 frames per second, the game is a lot more fluid and quicker than 07, which gives the game a lot more of a realistic feel. I have also noticed, you need to be a lot more aware of what is going on the field and not throw any wild passes or you will get picked off. The first game I played was against my sister’s boyfriend and he literally threw about 7 interceptions to me in the first quarter.

There are many other cool features as well, like players making diving catches, falling out of bounds, hits in mid-air, etc. Also, there is a lot of variations of the controls with the Hitstick 2.0 as EA is calling it (the right joystick), depending on what player you are using. If you are using a running back, the joystick can help you to stop short, spin, or juke. If you are a player on defense, you can hit up on the joystick and he well tackle high, you hit down he will tackle low. But it also varies on each player depending that players strengths or weaknesses. One other cool new feature, depending on which level mode you are in, it will show an icon under the player telling you his strengths. Whether he has good hands, if he is fast, if he is a precision passer, if he is like hitting a brick wall, the list goes on and on.

Overall I am very happy with the game and giving it a 4 out of 5. Hopefully next year they will change the overall look of the menus and game scoreboard, along with some even more great features then I will give it a 5 out of 5.