Madden NFL 08 [X360]

LEARN TO USE PLAYER WEAPONS IN MADDEN 08 WATCH THE HITSTICK 2.0 FEATURE IN MADDEN 08

It also just so happens that these animations are gorgeous to look at, from Reggie Bush doing his trademark summersault for six, or a Chad Johnson river dance after a score. This is because the game runs at a buttery smooth 60 frames per second. So when Peyton Manning annoyingly calls three audibles and a hot route at the line of scrimmage, it never looked so good.

It even sounds good -- EA recorded many of the voices of real NFL quarterbacks like Manning and Tom Brady. You can almost make out Jeff Garcia's lisp. One of the low points of Madden, however, is the radio announcer; a generic play-by-play man that would be better suited to hosting infomercials than professional football games.

But football is really all about the players, and that's clearly where EA puts its major focus in 08. New this season are weapon categories in which stars are broken up by their abilities, be it brick wall defenders like Ray Lewis or Smart QBs like Brady. These weapons will have access to special abilities too -- smart players can see an opponent's play art about once a game, while Spectacular Catch receivers can make amazing grabs no one else can. The goal here is to make NFL stars play like stars and to exploit matchups -- and in this, EA succeeded. It's a great touch, overall.

Off the field, you can jump right into quick games with your buddies as well as the standard franchise mode, this time with up to 32 teams, ideal for a fraternity house full of football fans. Unfortunately, multiplayer franchise is limited to offline-only as EA has yet to match the online leagues of 2K Sports. Still, you do have the option to create players and a custom team, building a stadium from the bleachers up.

Superstar is probably the most enjoyable single-player mode, as a breath of fresh air from traditional 11-on-11 football. You take control of a created player or a rookie like Adrian Peterson and play as that character his entire career, from the NFL combine, to agent signing, to practice, to Canton. If you already created an All American in NCAA Football 08, you can import him too.

Online, the ESPN partnership is in full effect with downloadable video highlights and segments from ESPN radio. Of course, we'd trade all of that in for online leagues because most of us already have, you know, cable TV and radios.

In the end, Madden 08 is simply superb. If you could only own one next-gen football game, this is it. That is, unless the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader sim finally comes out. Maybe your girlfriend will get behind that one. Then again, maybe not.