I have been playing a lot of Madden 08 on the Wii since I finished Metroid Prime 3. This is the first Madden I've owned since 03 or 04 on the X Box. Besides the buggy and laggy online, PS2-type graphics, and laggy menus, it's a very fun game to me. The motion controls work great if you actually take the time to learn them, which is the sole reason I was interested in getting Madden(along with online play). Sadly, the hit or miss online portion of Madden on Wii has been pretty much left for dead by EA. Well, that sucks, but at least I have franchise mode to go though. I love my franchise mode. I love drafting young players, building a solid team, and most of all, tracking their stats through the years. I don't know why, but I have always had a thing for stats. Baseball stats, football stats, music sales, box office, and videogame sales data. Which brings me to my point... Because of the buggy-ass game that EA has released, I again got robbed of some incredible stats I had in a game of Madden today. Not only do I record the yearly data in my franchise, but I also record single game records, for both the regular season and post season. Since I made the switch to All Madden a few seasons ago, most of my player's stats had been suffering, but things are starting to turn around this season. I felt like I finally had my break through game against the Jaguars a few minutes ago. Statistically, I had one of my best days ever for a QB, a TE, a DL, a PR, a kicker, and a FB. As a team, I not only had my highest score in All Madden(beat the old record by 9), but my defense also recorded a shutout to boot. In the game I had tied many positional records, and also had many second place records. I think the stats I will miss the most in this game is my QB passing yards, my record shattering FB stats, and my punt returned for a TD(only my third ever). Anyways, after recording the stats when the game was finished, I exited out and hit the "end game" tab, only to have the game freeze. This has happened quite a few times to me already, maybe 10 or so. Another time I had the game glitch out while I was playing, but mostly it happens when exiting a menu or when a save file refuses to load. Couple this with the junky online and half-assed PS2 graphics, and you've got a fun game buried under a pile of crap. I've owned many Maddens through the years on the SNES, PS2, and X Box, and they have had their share of bugs and annoyances(particualarly on the PS2), but nothing that compares to Madden on the Wii. Earlier this year I purchased Godfather on the Wii, which ended my 2 year boycott of EA games. After dealing with the frustrations of 3 fun, yet flawed EA games this year(Madden, Godfather, SimCity DS), it has me thinking of sitting out on EA games again. With money being so tight for me this year, it may not be worth risking my money on any more. Now that I've vented and got that off my chest, I plan to have a great day no matter what EA or my wife try to throw at me. So in closing, let me just say: EA, kiss my grits. :)
"I feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself."
