Madden 04-12 Searching for Best Franchise Mode

[chargerrich]

With football season fueling my arm chair GM passion and being pretty disappointed with this years Madden offering I have over the last two weeks playied/tested every madden from 04 to 12 trying to find the best GM/Franchise experience and man am I glad I did!

IMO the peak of franchise nirvana is Madden 07 for the PS2/XBox. I am truly amazed at how well this game holds up. Great gameplay, Team relocation and stadium builds, realistic stats (with proper sliders and settings), Scrambling CPU QBs, superstar mode, college all star game, mini camps, Tony Bruno show, newspaper headlines, Player roles, full editing and NCAA draft classes. I am actually completely satisfied.

A lot of people fondly talk about 05 as the best franchise and it is very good... But 07 is the same core game with added features like player roles which are kind of amazing and better gameplay. Sure the graphics are PS2 era but gameplay and the overall experience are far more important to many of us (something the current madden developers clearly disagree with).

The game is not without faults but most can be mitigated with sliders and settings. If a great sim/GM experience appeals to you then I highly recommend the PS2/OG XBox version of 07 until and if EA remembers the sim crowd in a future release.

[nflrocks24]

Quote: Originally Posted by chargerrich

With football season fueling my arm chair GM passion and being pretty disappointed with this years Madden offering I have over the last two weeks playied/tested every madden from 04 to 12 trying to find the best GM/Franchise experience and man am I glad I did! IMO the peak of franchise nirvana is Madden 07 for the PS2/XBox. I am truly amazed at how well this game holds up. Great gameplay, Team relocation and stadium builds, realistic stats (with proper sliders and settings), Scrambling CPU QBs, superstar mode, college all star game, mini camps, Tony Bruno show, newspaper headlines, Player roles, full editing and NCAA draft classes. I am actually completely satisfied. A lot of people fondly talk about 05 as the best franchise and it is very good... But 07 is the same core game with added features like player roles which are kind of amazing and better gameplay. Sure the graphics are PS2 era but gameplay and the overall experience are far more important to many of us (something the current madden developers clearly disagree with). The game is not without faults but most can be mitigated with sliders and settings. If a great sim/GM experience appeals to you then I highly recommend the PS2/OG XBox version of 07 until and if EA remembers the sim crowd in a future release.

I agree with you. Anything, personally 04 through 07, is really good in my opinion. But 05 and 07 did stick out the most of the four. And 07 also has the college all star game in there as well.

[IIIPercent]

I just recently bought a PS3 and have been playing Madden 12. So awesome. Infinitely better than the past five years.

[nancybrown]

I really love the game... Anyone can give me the link to download the game??

[Guru03]

07 is the best Madden ever in regards to franchise mode. In fact I am going to be in a Madden 07 PS2 fantasy draft this weekend with another avid fan (offline sadly because the online stuff would not work anymore anyways).

[chargerrich]

Anyone know where to get a Madden 07 roster that i can update on the PC or how to get rosters from the ps2 to the pc for editing? One of the problems with ALL maddens has been too many players with 99 speed... i am trying to cut down on the 90 yard TDs that seem to happen every game.

Fact guys like LT and AP were GREAT in their prime, but ran no where NEAR a 4.2 that is a 99 speed. So I am looking to edit players once franchise starts and i import my draft classes.

[BobbyColtrane]

For me 2006 is the best. That was the last year the rushing attempts worked correctly on PS2. 2007 and beyond your backup RB wouldnt get any carries.

[chargerrich]

For PS2 there is nothing better than 07... just do not get the 360 version, it is TRASH.