Madden NFL did not get off to a great start on the Xbox 360. The game that everyone was waiting for was a terrible launch title. This year’s game is the 2nd on the Xbox 360 and 17th in the franchise. While the game itself always has something new or exciting to make a gamer drop another $60, there is usually something that makes you wonder what thought went into the game or how certain issues ever made it through QA.

First off, anyone comparing the Xbox 360 version of Madden to the previous generation games needs to stop right now. The Xbox 360 version is a game all to itself meaning the engine and modes were built off of Madden 06, and not from the original Xbox or even PS2 game. This has some plusses in that some of the complaints from the old games aren’t in the 360 version, but also some minuses in that many of the old school minicamp games and editable ratings aren’t in the game.

If you’re reading this you obviously know the football basics. Last year’s 360 game failed on so many levels because the game was lacking so many rudimentary features that any football gamer comes to expect. This year, the game has been enhanced to include a superstar mode and a somewhat more flushed out franchise mode – however it’s still not at the level of the prior generation games.

First there are six mini-games, some of which are based on the NFL combine. It’s a neat idea but the forty yard dash is about as exciting as it sounds; the QB and RB competitions are fun; however if you are getting blown away there’s no option to restart – instead you’ll have to quit and then go back to the team select screen.

The superstar mode is a fantastic idea but has fatally flawed execution. In my mode, I selected a quarterback and ran through the mini game drills to determine how I would get picked in the draft. Unfortunately all you can find out up front is who drafted you, not when you were drafted. If you do some digging you can find out, but why do we need to dig?

The choice of your agent and answering stupid ‘interview’ questions is just silly and has no bearing on what happens in the mode. Picking a horrible agent really doesn’t affect anything. It’s too bad, but just another example of something that should be a fun feature which isn’t.

During a game, when your player is in game, you have control of him. You do NOT have control of anyone else during the game so if you’re on the bench you are watching. Not a bad idea, it makes sense…but…it’s broken. The play on the field is sped up while you are a non-participant. That’s fine, but the game clock is NOT sped up! This means the running backs could really do a number on a 40 yard dash! This is just terrible and it really ruins the mode.

Just in case it wasn’t totally ruined before, the influence meter comes into play. That’s right –before every possession you are given influence points that, like in an RPG you distribute to your character. During the series you earn and lose points based on the teams play. Again, it’s an interesting idea, but it’s flawed. While a QB throwing a bad ball and giving up an interception should make a QB lose influence points, I’m not sure why an RB fumbling the ball downfield should affect the QB’s influence with the guys. That’s a truly bizarre rating system.

The franchise mode is probably the area where you’ll spend more of your time, especially if superstar drives you nuts. It’s not a bad mode on its own, but when you know what the prior generation has for features, this mode pales in comparison. A problem that EA insists is a feature is that as you increase your Madden Gamer Level, you unlock hall of fame players. Great idea, but not when these hall of fame players become free agents and can be signed by any team in the franchise mode. Just to recap: although my personal players retire, guys that retired a long time ago in the hall of fame can be signed? Who thinks up things like this? As EA has mentioned this is not a bug; this is a game feature, although there is a rather obscure workaround. Apparently making it a slider wasn’t an option…

The actual meat and potatoes is gameplay, and luckily it’s much, much improved over last year. The biggest and best new feature is the ability to control a lead blocker on a running play. If you can master this, you’ll do much better running. It does take a while to master as you’ll be flipping buttons, but it’s very much worth mastering. I have come to realize that football is not perfect and you can complain about different routes and intelligence of some players, but you know what, the game is just plain fun to play. The harder levels are very difficult but not so much in that you feel the game is cheating – it gives just the right amount of challenge. Speaking of challenges, they are in the 360 version this year albeit very weird how they are done – almost as if they were pasted in the game after the fact. I’m glad they are there, but I think they whole “review” process and video replay could have been done better.