“Ready … Set … Hike!” My quarterback, Donovan McNabb, shouts as we start the play. I am looking through the eyes of Brian Westbrook, halfback for my favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles. I run up to McNabb and receive the handoff. I run up the field. I’m not gonna make it much farther, I think. However, I whiz by the opposition (the Dallas Cowboys) and run the 39 yards for a touchdown. The fans are booing like crazy here at Dallas Stadium, and I like it. I am grinning ear to ear under my facemask. I sneak a peak over at the bench, where Terrell Owens, the Cowboys’ wide receiver and former Eagles player, has a stunned look of disbelief as I jog over to the bench and high-five McNabb.

This is one of many scenes and possible game outcomes you can experience in Madden NFL 08 for the Mac, the latest in a long series of football sim games. Madden is one of the few games that publisher EA Games has released for the Mac, along with Need For Speed: Carbon, Battlefield 2142, among others. Madden is one of the better games they have released, in my opinion, and the 08 version gives you all the excitement and fun as the previous Madden football games. It’s no wonder they are so popular! In Madden, you take control of your favorite team in the NFL, and you use buttons on your computer’s keyboard to control what your team does. You can also use different combinations of buttons or even use a USB game controller.

There are many different features in Madden, like Create-A-Fan, a wonderful tool that you can use to create your own fan for any team. After creating and saving, the custom designed fan will appear at their team’s games. Another game mode, Franchise, lets you take control of a team for 50 seasons, and try your best to lead it to as many Super Bowl wins as possible. One other exciting mode, Hall of Fame, lets you create a player, design every aspect of him, and help him make his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. My guy got drafted by my favorite team, The Eagles; I’ve already got 100 rushing yards and 78 passing yards, and I’ve barely started the season! You also control his career, too. Madden 08 a keeper for my game cabinet (yes, I’m that big of a geek).

It’s a great title for armchair quarterbacks, real life jocks, and everyone in between. And you don’t have to wait until football season to play. However, you will need a computer running Mac OS 10.4.9, 1.83 GHz processor speed, an Intel Core Duo processor, 1 GB of RAM, and 6 GB free hard-disk space, ATI X1600 series or later; NVIDIA GeForce 7300 Video card, a DVD-ROM drive. Unfortunately, this game does not support the GMA950 integrated graphics card so your Mac Mini or MacBook won’t play this season. So even though your favorite team didn’t make it to the NFL playoffs or the Super Bowl this year, Madden 08 NFL for Mac lets you feel the thrill of victory all year long!

Thomas Fogel, Posted 1/15/08

For more information on EA Games, visit: www.ea.com