Madden NFL 08: Superstar Mode - Part 3

The next step is the NFL Draft. You are asked whether you want to be chosen your favorite team or if you want to enter the draft and see where and when you are picked. This is a good feature because often you are only interested in playing with your favorite team rather than playing for a team you have no connection to. The Draft is rather anti-climatic as you are just informed of when you are picked and you have no real idea of why you were chosen in the third round. Once picked you receive an email from the owner or coach of your team informing you of their great expectations. The computer now features a page about your player and a general analysis of his abilities and skills. Throughout your career your agent will write too you as well as receiving personal messages from your mom. The calendar now shows Practice almost every single day except on game day. While having this high amount of practices is customary in the NFL and certainly realistic it adds very little to the experience and is more of an annoyance than anything. You can skip the practices but you won’t improve your overall rating or you can do the circa twice a day practices, five days a week and improve your overall rating. Except that very few people want to do 40 practice sessions per month.

 The real problem boils down to one attribute called Awareness. Practices boost your Awareness attribute. While attributes like Speed, Blocking and Strength are pretty self-explanatory but no definition for awareness is given. Oddly enough it’s what separates a player that is rated 85 overall from being a 95 overall.  These practices improve a player’s awareness and it is this attribute that boosts the ratings. It isn’t an increase in catching or blocking but quite simply an increase in this single attribute. The only explanation that users have been able to give is that it simply means that the player is more aware or more alert of what is going on. But this benefit has no effect on you when you’re controlling a player. What matters is your own reaction time and your own alertness. Despite this awareness remains one of the most important attributes in the Madden series.

One of the big features of both Superstar mode and Franchise mode is that several key players have been given certain Weapon Roles – a certain characteristic attribute that they have that makes them stand out. For example Drew Brees is known for being on the most accurate passers and therefore has the Accurate Passer Weapon Role, symbolized by a crosshair. Antonio Gates has some of the most secure hands in the NFL and therefore has the Possession Receiver Weapon Role, symbolized by a pair of gloves. Some players are considered so talented in many aspects that they are given a star symbol and are known as Feature Running Backs or Franchise Quarterbacks, this would for example be Ladainian Tomlinson and Peyton Manning. This feature is also available for your own superstar. It isn’t clear when or how you get the roles but at some point the coach will send you an email telling you that over the last season you have performed really well and that you have now become a special weapon on their team. You can select the role when your player is on the field and it allows you to modify skills and attributes of yourself, your teammates and your opponents. You might have the role of Speed receiver, which may allow you to increase your own acceleration ratings, decrease the opponents’ awareness rating and boost your quarterbacks arm strength. The more impact the player has on the game the more he or she can modify the skills of the players on the field.