The Runaround?

I'm not going to lie, before I buy every game that sits in my library right now, I scout Gamespot reviews first and foremost. I believe most of them to be dead on, if not from the critic, then from the Users who rate the games themselves.

So before I went out and purchased Madden 2008 for the 360, I cited a review of 8.5 from one of Gamespot's critics. Fantastic. I had my doubts that this years version was going to blow just as much as last years because of bug issues. So I go out and purchase the game.

Now, I don't know if a lot of you are huge fans of the madden franchise, but for the past 6 years I have purchased every new release and have been satisfied. But this years version is a travisty.

I can overlook the graphical glitches. A game is still playable with graphical glitches. But when you can't even complete more than 4 seasons in franchise mode because of a huge glitch in the free agent and rookie system, that makes the game UNPLAYABLE. I quote

" The major complaint from Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consumers is that in Franchise mode, when a team drops a player for whatever reason, he does not reenter the game through free agency, but rather, disappears. Over the period of two or three seasons, which amounts to playing about 40 games, the player pool becomes so slim that the mode can no longer continue."

My question is two-fold:

How in the hell does an unplayable game result in a score of 8.5??

How in fiery hell does EA get away with charging $60 for an unplayable game??

1) Its EA, what do you expect?

2) Its a sports game, what do you expect?

3) You wasted your money.

1) Its EA, what do you expect?

2) Its a sports game, what do you expect?

3) You wasted your money.

Matt2556

1) A better product. It hasn't ALWAYS dished out shoddy, untested and unfinished material

2) A...better....review? possibly stating the mentioned bugs that render the game useless. that's the point

3) Possibly.

1) Its EA, what do you expect?

2) Its a sports game, what do you expect?

3) You wasted your money.

Matt2556

Wow your points 1 & 2 really made it known how much you pay attention to games

[QUOTE="Matt2556"]

1) Its EA, what do you expect?

2) Its a sports game, what do you expect?

3) You wasted your money.

Scarface_tm431

Wow your points 1 & 2 really made it known how much you pay attention to games

[QUOTE="Scarface_tm431"][QUOTE="Matt2556"]

1) Its EA, what do you expect?

2) Its a sports game, what do you expect?

3) You wasted your money.

Matt2556

Wow your points 1 & 2 really made it known how much you pay attention to games

Thats biased. In professional football, i can see your point. EA does own exclusive rights to the NFL. But there's Arena league, and Street versions aswell. None of which I like.

I play sports games for the depth. And in Madden, the greatest depth you can get from it is the franchise portion of the game. And when that is rendered virtually useless by a glitch, you're missing a good chunk of the game itself and it's an unfinished product.