Madden NFL 08

Sure it's only August, but close your eyes, clear your mind, take a deep breath, and you can smell the burned sausages, the cheap suds, and the parking lot vomit—blarrggghhh—of football season off in the distance. And there's no surer sign that pigskin season is on final approach than having the annual Madden land on our desks. Vince Young, one of only a handful of NFL players who was not allegedly involved in a shooting during the off-season, is the cover model, but inside you'll find plenty of ways to get your f-ball fix between Sundays. This year's minigames involve running 40s and doing bench presses, and though they do have more of a direct impact on the game (you can use them to rehab injured players), they're as dull as C-Span. The new icon system helps you identify key players on the field. Fast players have a shoe with a wing on it, great tacklers have hammers, and every Vikings player has a boat with three X's on top of it. The game looks and plays awesome. And even though EA still hasn't put the old injury ambulance back in the game—despite our petitions, cajoling, and threats to abuse our penises—it's hard to resist the high-def siren call of Madden NFL 08.