Imagine playing a footbal videogame where you can make an actual passing motion with the controller, and the onscreen quarterback will mimick your throw. Sounds good, right? It is. Now imagine a footbal videogame where you have to awkwardly thrust the controller (and its held-in-other-hand attachment) forward in order to tackle. Doesn’t sound so good, does it? It’s not.

With Madden NFL 2007, the advantages and shortcomings of the Wii controller(s) are made clear for all to see. Passing is a joy: make a lob motion with the Wiimote, and you’ll float the pass to your receiver; bring the controller down fast and hard, and you’ll throw a bullet. But on defense, the control scheme falls apart. While controlling defenders with the analog stick on the nunchuk attachment, you have to push both the Wiimote and the nunchuk forward to make a tackle, and it’s insanely clumsy. And you can forget successfully defending receivers — be prepared to get lit up on practically every pass.

To its credit, Madden is a fun multiplayer experience on Wii, but EA needs to completely rehaul the control scheme for defense. That’s 50% of the game — a huge chunk of the experience — and there’s got to be a better way.
KFR Rating: C+

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