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Mention EA Sports to a gamer, and the title most likely to pop into their heads would be a Madden game of some sort. The most defining title of its genre since the days of the Apple II, EA has steadily managed to pump out Madden games on a yearly basis, with each title going on to print money for EA's seemingly bottomless coffers. The newest member of the lineup, Madden NFL 08, also carries the double distinction of being both one of the first new EA titles for the Mac in quite a while as well as being one of the first titles ported to Intel Macs via Transgaming's Cider technology.The Madden series has also long been mired in controversy. Players have argued that sometimes the yearly iterations hardly merit the price of a full game. NFL players appearing on the covers of Madden games were said to be cursed the following season. And in 2004, EA effectively shut out any competition by striking an exclusive deal with the NFL for five years, which many players feared would make the designers lazy. Regardless, Madden 08 is the first major football title to make its way to the Mac in who knows how many years. Since Mac users haven't had to suffer through the purchase of yearly updates like other users have, this gives us the unique perspective of judging the game solely on its own merits rather than comparing it to past editions. In my particular case, the question of its quality is even more pertinent as I am not a football fan (an admission that probably puts me with about .1% of the male population in the U.S.), though as a gamer I have been coerced/forced/bludgeoned into playing (and enjoying) a number of past titles, including past Madden titles (Genesis and up), Tecmo Bowl (admittedly great fun), and past 2K Sports titles (EA's last real football competitor before they bought out the NFL). Despite all of this, I was unprepared to experience just how far football games have come since then, and Madden 08 has left a surprising impression on me. Monday Night Football...any day of the week Even if you're not a Madden fan, it's hard to fault Madden 08's presentation. Watching a game in action is an amazing experience and closely mimics the look and feel of a real football game. I guess the advantage of working on a game with a seemingly endless development cycle has its perks, as the designers have had plenty of time to iron things out, spruce things up, and make sure everything down to the last detail is flawless.The game looks GOOD. Camera angles cut in with familiar shots when showing replays. Overweight shirtless fans painted in garish colors mug for the fan cams. Glance up at the scoreboard screen and you can see the game being played out on it even as the real action happens on the field. Multiple player-chosen camera angles allow you to pick your optimum playing angles at will. Crank up the graphics enough and you can even see the field getting torn up as play progresses.
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