Madden NFL 08: Introduction and Difficulty

Madden NFL 08 was the 2008 edition of the Madden NFL series developed by EA Sports and the 19^th installment in the franchise. It was released on August 14^th 2007 on several different platforms including PC and GameCube. Vince Young, quarterback for the Tennessee Titans was chosen for the cover.

Madden NFL 2008 is probably the only video game that I have played consistently throughout the years. I bought it by chance in 2008 when it was on sale in a Danish video game store. Just around that time I was starting to get into American Football and had been watching NFL games at night, due to the time difference. Madden 08 turned out to be last game in the Madden NFL series to be released on PC and since the only platform I had was my PC, I played this game religiously for four years.

There are four difficulty settings that I available in the game – Rookie, Pro, All-Pro, All-Madden. Having played the game for so long, I am now able to play it on All-Madden without any difficulties. The difficulties are a measurement of several variables and mostly affect the abilities of the different players, such as reducing the chance of a receiver catching a pass he otherwise would have caught on Rookie difficulty. Each difficulty level also boosts the AI of the CPU and allows it to predict plays better. Most people complain that the leap from All-Pro to All-Madden is too big and in some ways I agree. I remember when I was trying to switch from All-Pro since I was winning every game to All-Madden and lost almost every game in the season. But if a player plays the game enough there will come a time where All-Madden is too easy (granted it took me 4 years to reach that level).

Luckily it seems as if EA Sports had predicted this problem and have therefore incorporated “sliders” into the settings. The sliders are preset but can be changed to either increase the difficulty of a specific difficulty setting or to make it easier. The sliders control elements such as the Offensive line’s ability to block, or the quarterback’s accuracy. You can change these things for the CPU as well, if you feel like the CPU isn’t giving you enough of a challenge. What is great about these sliders is that they are very custom suited. I for example am more talented at throwing the ball than I am at running it. I may either increase the skills of the CPU’s pass defense or increase my own running play sliders. Some hardcore fans have it as a goal to regulate the sliders so as to match a realistic football game as possible. Unfortunately the fact remains that this is a simulation game, and even years into the future it will remain this way.