Madden NFL 07

Features

Madden NFL 07 introduces Lead Blocker Control, allowing the player to cycle through offensive players at the line of scrimmage and select one to control after the snap. The camera zooms in on the chosen fullback, tackle, guard, center, tight end, or wide receiver, enabling the player to manually open a running lane while the computer controls the halfback. This feature also permits the player to block with any of those positions and then switch to the halfback to slip through the gap, eliminating computer assistance entirely.

The Highlight Stick lets players move the right analog stick in any direction to trigger evasive animations such as ducking, spinning, or squirting out of tackles, and these moves can be chained together. The Truck Stick animations remain for larger backs but are supplemented by the Highlight Stick's variety. Smaller backs like Tiki Barber use the Highlight Stick to avoid and squirt out of tackles. Juking and Spinning now offer two types each: for the PS2, a cut move left or right via L1 or R1, or a wider juke by flicking the Right Analog stick; a quick spin is performed by tapping the circle button, while a stronger spin that may break a tackle is done by holding the circle button.

The Wii version, developed at EA Canada, features FreeMotion Controls that completely rework the control scheme to use the motion sensing of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk.

Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and Wii versions

The seventh-generation versions include Superstar Mode and Franchise, but the Tony Bruno Show is absent, possibly due to a contractual issue, though it appears in the Wii, GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 versions. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions do not allow editing player appearance, attributes, or jersey numbers, while the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions do; the Xbox 360 version permits creating a player. Franchise mode lacks Owner Mode, Fantasy Draft, and two-player cooperative play. The Xbox version is the last to include NFL Europe teams.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack contains 35 songs from artists including Audioslave, Rise Against, Keane, Wolfmother, Lupe Fiasco, Cord, Crime Mob, Thirty Seconds to Mars, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and Trae tha Truth. Tracks include 30 Seconds to Mars - Battle of One, AFI - Summer Shudder, Al Fatz - Came Down, Anti-Flag - This Is the End (For You My Mind), Atreyu - Ex's and Oh's, Audioslave - Revelations, Bishop Lamont featuring Chevy Jones - The Best, Cartel - Say Anything (Else), Cord - Go Either Way, Damone - Out Here All Night, Dashboard Confessional - Reason to Believe, Dynamite MC - Bounce, Feezy 350 - Playa What, Glasses Malone - Right Now, Haley Hunt featuring Goose & Reason - Won't Stop Runnin', Hit the Lights - Until We Get Caught, Keane - Is It Any Wonder?, Less Than Jake - Still Life Franchise, Lupe Fiasco featuring Jonah Matranga - The Instrumental, Matchbook Romance - Monsters, Omnisoul - Not Giving Up, Rise Against - Drones, Riverboat Gamblers - On Again Off Again, Saves the Day - Head for the Hills, Shorty Da Kid - Get Loose, Spank Rock - Backyard Betty, Sparta - Taking Back Control (listed as (Future Needs)), Taking Back Control - Spin, The Pink Spiders - Easy Way Out, The Rapture - Whoo!

Alright - Yeah... Uh Huh, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - In Fate's Hands, The Sleeping - Don't Hold Back, Trae tha Truth - Real Talk, Underoath - You're Ever So Inviting, Wolfmother - Woman. Additional tracks include remixes and original compositions by Sam Spence, David Robidoux, and Tom Hedden.

Reception

The game received generally favorable reviews on all platforms except the DS and Game Boy Advance versions, which received average reviews according to Metacritic. AllGame gave the PS2 and Xbox versions four stars out of five, stating the gameplay improved with new offensive line and running back controls. IGN gave the 2D mobile phone version 4.5 out of ten, calling it a mess and a let-down, but gave the 3D mobile version eight out of ten, calling it far superior.

Famitsu scored the PlayStation 2 version 27 out of 40 and the Xbox 360 version 27 out of 40. The Wii version won GameSpot's award for Best Traditional Sports Game and Best New Control Scheme of 2006, citing the FreeMotion controls as a fresh take on stale mechanics. It also received GameSpot's Award for Best Original Game Mechanic for the FreeMotion controls. It was named Best Sporting Game of 2006 on G4's X-Play, Game with the most Game at the Spike Guys' Choice Awards, and BB&B's Sports Game of the year.

In December 2006, all versions combined sold 1.9 million units, making it the best-selling title that month in the US. The PlayStation 2 version sold 2.8 million units in 2006, the best-selling video game that year in the US, while the Xbox 360 version sold 1.1 million units. By August 2007, the game had sold over 7.4 million copies in the United States.