Madden NFL 08: Menu, Modes and Features - Part 1

Madden NFL 08’s main menu is pretty well designed although some features could be improved. The menu five major sub-menus – Play Now, Play Online, Game Modes, Features, EA Sports Extras.

Play Now is the equivalent of most other games that have a quick play option. It is simply a game between two chosen teams that have no impact on the record of the season or the statistics of the players. Within the Settings it is possible to select on of the 32 NFL teams as your favorite team and this team will automatically be selected for you when entering a Play Now game along with one of the team’s rivals. When you play with the San Diego Chargers the opponent is the Oakland Raiders. These teams can of course be changed in the Play Now menu but is setup this way as you are most likely to pick your favorite team. Although the function of selecting a rival team is great the designers might just have gone with a randomizer instead so that you constantly try beating new teams. Despite this the Play Now game mode serves it purpose – a quick game without any hassle.  

Play Online is as the name suggests, the online version of the game. I rarely play online and have very little experience with this feature. The idea is to utilize player versus player rather than player versus game. For each time a player wins he or she gains points to their online account and this serves as an indication of one’s skills. Players with high scores are paired against other players with similar scores in order to make the games fair. As with most online games this doesn’t always work out, as experienced players may start new accounts in order to be paired up with less experienced players. While I have never been attracted to player versus player, this doesn’t mean it isn’t a game option. Online game play seems to have been the most popular form of game throughout the last few years and player versus game seems to be deemed less attractive.

The Game Modes contains the game’s two major modes – Superstar and Franchise. These two modes are the core of Madden NFL 08 and is similar to other game’s Campaign or Story modes. I’ll go into detail of these two modes in my next journal entry but in short the Superstar mode allows the user to control one player of a team while Franchise mode allows the player to be in control of the entire team.

The other modes are Mini-Camp, Two Minute Drill, Practice, Situation and Skill Drills.

Practice mode is probably the most boring feature but is valuable for players who wish to try out new plays or just tune their skills within the game.

Mini-camp Drill is great mode that allows new players to become familiar with the game mechanics. Placed over the map of the US the player travels from state to state completing small challenges with star players. There is about 10 different activities including passing, running, tackling, coverage, kicking and punting. Each of these activities have four different difficulty levels and a key player attached to each. For example a player will start with Tony Romo, quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, on Rookie difficulty while they’ll play with the number one rated quarterback Peyton Manning, from the Indianapolis Colts, on All-Madden. A player can only move on to the next difficulty level once they have completed the first level and gotten enough points to earn a trophy. The key players match the difficulty of the level so as to make the player more familiar with playing. Through these camps the player learns the key skills as well as becoming familiar with key players and teams.

Skill drills is similar to Mini-camp but explains how to play more efficiently. The player is playing against a team called The Dummies, who are actually a top team. At the start of each drill a short description of the objective and controls are given. The skills drills serves to teach new players how to get into the game while helping more experienced players become even better.

Situation is similar to Practice but is set up as a real game. At the start a player decides a number of variables such as the score of the game, how much time is left, how many time outs each team has. As the name suggests it allows you to play out different situations where you might need help or simply give you a challenge. You may want to see if you can win a game where you are behind with 10 points and there are only five minutes left or you might want to see if you can keep the opponents from scoring with 10 seconds left.  

An important aspect in both real life football and in Madden NFL 08 is the two minute drill. This is a term used when a team is behind in a game and they have a short amount of time to score in order to either tie the game and force overtime or score enough points to win. Real NFL teams run this drill in their training camps and is vital for players to master if they want to win games. In this feature the player competes in a short of Arcade game where they are given two minutes to score as many points as possible. Points are given for each time a pass is completed or a touchdown is scored, while points are subtracted if a player loses yards or is intercepted by the computer. The goal is to beat your own highscore. While a regular two-minute drill can be quite boring to practice each time adding highscores and points for doing actions adds enjoyment to an otherwise dull experience. It also teaches players how to run a two-minute drill effectively and translates into actual game experience.