The best football sim available on PSP, even though it has a few small problems.
Just letting you know where I stand before you read this review. Madden 07 for the PSP is not perfect, but it's as close as portable football has gotten thus far. Madden 07 is definitely a vast improvement over last year's effort for PSP, which was slow, sluggish and unrealistic in gameplay. This year's version quickened load times, made play controls more responsive and incorporated more realistic physics into the gameplay.
The franchise mode is the most engaging mode on Madden 07. You can pretty much do anything that a real coach would do in preparation for that week's game. You can hold practice, review strategies, view league news and sign free agents. The offseason menu is equally engaging, with training drills, contract negotiations and the NFL draft. Outside the gameplay, the franchise mode is solid, if not flashy.
The gameplay seems to be where people are ragging Madden 07. Let me just say it's really not that bad. Running the ball takes on a new dimension with lead blocking control and the highlight stick. With just a little practice, you'll be able to block and quickly switch to your running back with no trouble. Passing the ball is slightly more difficult; the A.I. seems to anticipate where you're going almost too well. However, practice again is key to solving this riddle.
I know people here are saying the bugs are terrible in Madden 07, but I didn't think they were that bad. When you use Coach Cam before the play to see your receivers and their routes, the button symbol over their heads sometimes is wrong. In other words, Steve Smith's icon might be a triangle before the snap, but it's really a circle. But there's a very easy way to get around this, and that's to look at the play closely before selecting it. It always gives you the right icon there. I still haven't seen the delay of game bug or the punt in the endzone bug that some have written about. These bugs should have been corrected before hand, but they don't ruin the game like some claim.
Now here's my true beef with Gamespot. The editors wrote this fairly tough review of Madden 07, but dismissed the problems of NCAA 07. The editors gave these two games the exact same score (7.6). Come on now, NCAA 07 is terrible compared to Madden 07. The bugs in NCAA 07 completely destroy the gameplay, while in Madden 07, they're easy to work around. If you're deciding between the two, go with Madden 07. It's the best option out there right now.