Madden NFL 08 Franchise Mode: Part 1

Madden NFL 08: Franchise Mode

As noted in previous journal entries regarding Madden NFL 08, Franchise Mode is one of the main modes, the other being Superstar, in this game. In Superstar mode you control one player only and their actions, in Franchise Mode you control an entire team as well as the organization of the team. You set the ticket prices, you sign new players, hire new coaches as well as getting to play games with your team. You’re a combination of a general manager, owner, coach and player and it is your goal to have a successful organization that will lead you to the Superbowl!

After choosing a team, (and potentially doing a Fantasy Draft) you begin in the summer during mini-camp and practice. There are 9 different mini-camp drills that allow you to score attribute points that you can use to boost your players ratings. Each drill is different and in order to win attribute points you must get a bronze trophy or higher. The drills start on Rookie difficulty and the highest points available is 3 points. You can either chose to get the points or risk them all and try the drill at the next difficulty level but get more points. After each drill you can add these points to the player you chose and increases their ratings in key attributes according to their position, for example for a wide receiver you can increase their catch, jump and acceleration rating.

This feature is golden and I was bummed out when I found out that it wasn’t in Madden 12. Mini-camps are a very realistic part of the NFL and all 32 teams have them each summer. The purpose is of course to improve their players as well as spot potential stars as well as weed out burn-outs and players without talent. In the context of the game it is very useful for several things and can lead to different strategies. You could choose to improve an already highly rated player in order to make them complete superstars with a 99 overall. I have often done this when I had a player with over 90+ rating. Your team greatly benefits from having a complete über-star on their side. You could also choose players who are lacking in certain attributes and improve this particular attribute. I have had many running backs with fumble issues that I have then run through mini-camp in order to increase their carrying rating. Last but not least, improving young talent. Fresh out of college and with ratings in the lower end I like to only improve my youngest players. Veterans are experienced enough and will eventually retire within a few seasons. By improving young players each season you can get a team full of fresh young players with high potentials. After a couple of seasons you can easily boost a young talent from a 80-range overall to a low 90-range. Most of my talented teams have been because of the yearly mini-camp that really just gives an overall boost to the entire team even if it only directly influences 9 players.

After completing the mini-camp session you enter the pre-season. Perhaps the most useless feature of any sports game but it continually featured in every installation of Madden. It wasn’t until Madden 12 that EA Sports actually figured out how to improve this part of the game, despite the fact that fans had come with those suggestions for several years. Much like in the real NFL, preseason games don’t affect any score and for the most part it is second, third, and fourth string players who play the games in order to prove their worth. In the preseason all you really do is chose which three team captains you want and update the depth-chart that determines which players are starting and which players are benched. I have never played a full preseason and usually just simulate through it. In Madden 12, EA added the feature of having an expanded roster of 75 players, something that actually happens, and it is up to the player to determine which players to cut until they have 55 players. This was an important feature because it forces the player to cut team members that they are unsure of and may become stars on another team, as it often happens in the real world.