Madden NFL 07 [GC]

You're not in control of the plays you run, either; the computer will select the best plays for that particular point in time, letting you concentrate on the position that you've chosen. Since you're only supposed to perform your role, you're only evaluated on whether or not you do your assignments in each play. Do your job right, and you'll be rewarded with influence points that you can use to boost your stats or the stats of your teammates. Perform consistently, and you can receive a variety of roles based upon the position. For instance, wide receivers that establish themselves as a deep threat can get the role of a Burner, while solid defensive backs can get the Shutdown Corner role. You're not necessarily guaranteed that you can keep these roles either; don't play as well, and you might even lose these character traits. These can also be manipulated based upon your athlete's ego. Depending on how you answer interview questions, you can get a positive or negative ego, which will affect how your character's influence works. Act like a nice guy, and you'll find your influence gets boosted faster. Pull an ego trip, and you'll find that mistakes will sink your pull on the team.

While the remake of the Superstar makes the game extremely unique (in fact, it's probably the biggest change made to Madden in years), there's a significant issue with the influence system, which really governs the whole mode: You can perform your assignments perfectly, but if one of your teammates screws up, you get penalized for it, which doesn't make sense. For example, if you're a lineman and you block for a running back who fumbles the ball twenty yards away, the coach doesn't yell at you on the sideline for his weak hands. Since there are plenty of things that can be out of your control, your level of influence can unfairly vacillate from play to play. I know that there is no I in team, and the fortunes of one player are tied to the squad he plays with, but the mode isn't called Superteam, is it?

Closing Comments
While the inclusion of NFL Network mode and the redone Superstar mode reinvigorates the game, Madden NFL 07 still features so many of the same bugs and issues from previous years that should¿ve been fixed a while ago. Considering that many of the gameplay features are extremely mild remixes of previously included gameplay options, this year¿s Madden comes across as a solid title, but one that¿s starting to show its age.

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