I Finished Madden 2008 Franchise Mode

…and I lived to tell the tale.

Hi gamers.  If you’re like me (and you obviously are, as 4,000+ unique hits to this blog will attest!) you like to play Madden NFL on, most likely, the Xbox 360.  If you bought (or threw away) money on Madden NFL 2008 last year (or recently), you might be a tad miffed at the humongous drop in product quality.

This blog site has a couple of posts listing ways to avoid the dreaded pre-season game freeze bug, the horrible head coach/roster-won’t-get-updated bug and a few other nasty surprises Electronic Arts threw in to our usually reliable, name brand franchise game.

We all (probably) know about the Madden cover curse – if not here’s a link to details about it.

I vote, that next year they whack the Electronic Arts logo square in the middle, because they deserve the curse after Madden 2008’s chaos.  In fact, we deserve a "new and improved" copy of Madden 2009 for gratis, in payment for the pain and suffering of a subpar product.

</soapbox>

Let’s get to what I really wanted to day: I finally finished Franchise mode!

There was a lot of pain, but eventually I finished all 30 seasons.  There are a couple of strategies to stick to (to avoid those bugs) and I found a nifty way to avoid the hard lock/freeze altogether (sort of).

Advice #1:

In Week 1, Preseason (any preseason) – supersim the first game of the week.  Once you’re back at the weekly schedule save the game.  Then go and load the game you just saved.  No more freeze.  You can sim to your hearts’ content.  Just be aware that eventually when you want to play it might lock up.  However, this lets you progress.

Advice #2:

Never, *ever* let a head coach go and coach another NFL team as head coach.  Re-sign them as an offensive/defensive coordinator or special teams (eventually they’ll retire for good anyway).  If a former user-head coach gets another gig in the NFL, that team won’t fill its roster.  If you get scheduled to play against them, you will not be able to progress through the franchise.  There is no workaround.  You’ve been warned.

The only way to avoid this is to ensure your head coaches never leave </Hotel California>

Eventually, you’ll get to the end of Franchise mode, too!

Lastly, seriously.. EA Sports: finishing franchise mode isn’t easy.  Why not give us something as a reward?  some video footage?  Unlock some cool stuff.. whatever, but something would be nice.

Thanks, and happy gaming

R