A decent, though disappointing football experience on the go.

If I had to sum up Madden 07 for the PSP in one word it would be "contrived" - with every Madden release I get the feeling that EA have plotted out the entire console generation or system lifecycle with fixes and near-fixes in order to keep players coming back year after year. To be clear, I don't mean "just a roster update", I mean the rate at which they add new features and fix old bugs. The PSP iteration of Madden 07 is chock full of these hit and miss, features and fixes.

A prime example of what I mean can be seen with the newly implemented Lead Blocker control, which lets you switch between a lineman/fullback/etc. and the quarterback/runner. In theory this is quite an awesome feature as it adds a great amount of depth and strategy to how you play the offensive game. In actuality, however, it falls apart because the AI is inconsistent. Sometimes it works well - you open up a hole and your AI controlled back fielders gun through it as planned (at which point you'd switch to take control of the runner) - while other times he'll just dive head first into the most crowded section of the line. Conversely, if you try and switch to the ball carrier immediately after setting up the block, the AI may not be able to hold the hole open (which leads to plenty of "Ohhh sh*t!" moments.) So now the question is will the AI problems incurred by the introduction of Lead Blocking be fixed in next year's game, or will its impending fix be put on a backburner while the dev team incorporates some new Lead Highlight Trick-Stick 2k8 feature?

On top of that there is still the myriad of bugs that should have been fixed from last year's game as well. They range from things as small as commentary foul-ups and glitchy animations, to the complete lack of fatigue (which somehow made its way from the console versions to the PSP game.) By themselves these things wouldn't be so bad, but when combined, and in a franchise that has been developed in a similar way for the last 10 years (since the first 3D versions on the PS1/64), it's kind of frustrating. So much so that I would rather they spent more time polishing the game (getting rid of bugs, tweaking/optimizing all aspects of the game, etc.) then coming up with a new mini-games like End2End (which is essentially a tackle-diversion game played by holding the PSP sideways.) That isn't to say that End2End is bad, just that it quickly loses its appeal and the resources could've probably been better used elsewhere.

Fortunately for Madden 07, despite all of my gripes, the fundamental gameplay is still solid. So while there are quite a few superficial problems, the core game remains as playable as it's always been. To say that improvements haven't been made over Madden 06 PSP would also be false, as there are a few. The most noticeable of which can been seen in the much better load times. And while I didn't have the PS2 version available to test it out, it's worth mentioning that Madden 07 also includes PSP to PS2 connectivity, allowing you to transfer your franchise mode season to the PSP for on-the-go action. For most people it will probably go unused (and understandably so), but for the hardcore Madden/Football fan this could be quite an attractive feature.

Overall, with the exception of a few mini-games and the Lead Blocker functionality, it's not much different from Madden 06. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as 06 did quite a few things right. Graphically it looks nearly identical - frame rate, animation, textures, are very similar, if not exactly the same. But even though more graphical polish would have ultimately helped this year's edition stand out from other football titles - or rather, the only other football title (NCAA 07) - the truth is it's a good enough looking game already. The lack of dual analog nubs results in the controls being mapped to the face buttons, which, despite taking a little while to get used to, doesn't really hurt the game play either. So again, on a basic level, Madden 07 holds up quite well.

It goes without saying that if you aren't already a fan of football games, Madden 07 for the PSP won't change your mind. That said, the game does offer a decent football experience on the go that is akin to what we've become accustomed to on consoles. And while I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little disappointed with this year's version, Madden 07 for the PSP still does a respectable job of replicating the game of football. Hopefully Madden 08 does an even better job of bringing the football experience to the portable screen.