In time, I'll post a full review of Madden NFL 07. I have no energy now, and I don't expect to be in writing condition after Thursday's MurphGuide.com Summer Cruise.
In fact, I plan to spend much of Thursday beating the shit out of my long-time Madden rival, during which time I'll take copious notes on his whining, bitching, moaning and controller-throwing after I shut down the run and turn his offense into a pass-only chuck 'n' duck disaster.
Then I'm out of town for the weekend, but I might have a full review of the game late Sunday night, or I might post a diary on my first fantasy football draft of the season, to be held earlier in the day at Chez PK.com. Either way, here are some of the best Madden links I've come across this week.
• Metacritic's Madden NFL 07 Page — As of PK.com press time, 11 media reviews were linked to, with scores from 1-100 applied to each. Average rating: 86. That's quite low for the greatest football video game series ever — each edition places in the mid-90s — but Madden 07 suffers from having already reached an apex. EA Sports adds things that users neither want nor need just to validate spending another $50 on what amounts to updated rosters.
• D.J. Gallo Examines This Year's Player Ratings — A great piece for ESPN.com's Page 2 that riffs on the game's individual evaluations. Not just overall ratings, but points awarded in categories such as Ego. Gallo notes that five of the 16 players designated with a 99 Ego rating attended the University of Miami.
• Top 20 Players By Position — I thought Michael Vick peaked in the 2005 edition, but check out his speed rating compared to everyone else.
• Shitload of Custom Covers — I always check 'em out, but never actually printed one. I guess because I'm not a virgin.
• VG Sports' Madden Strategy Forums — An annual information base of tips and tricks. These posters are quite skilled, so employ their advice at your own risk.
• GameFAQs.com's Madden NFL Page for PS2 — Not much posted yet, but soon some nut will upload a text file with every player rating, formation, audible, hot route, offensive and defensive playbook, Madden card and assorted other info that might make for good reference. Then again, unless you're into the Run to Daylight blocking feature, you know all this shit from last year.
• EA Sports Forum: Madden 08 Wishlist — The game's been out for two days, so, naturally, gamers already want more.
• YouTube.com Video Search: Madden — Over 1,000 Madden-related videos are hosted. If you think I clicked through these, you're nuts.
