While Ubisoft was busy flooding the Wii with sloppy games (Rayman excluded), EA Sports dropped back, surveyed the field and delivered a quality product in Madden NFL 07. It looks exactly like a GameCube game and the boring static menus make it feel like it belongs in the 90s, but graphics matter little when compared to the superb Wii controls.

By mapping the game's most important features to the system's controller, the developers turned a stale and very familiar series into a freshly original experience. Instead of pressing a button to pass, you drop back, press a direction on the remote's d-pad that corresponds to a receiver, and then make a throwing motion. To kick, you select a direction, then flick the controller upwards. Need to juke? Just shake the nunchuk in the desired direction. Want to deliver a stiff arm to someone's face? Push the remote forward. Madden contains plenty more features, and they all combine to form a wonderfully entertaining game of smash mouth football. Actually throwing for a touchdown as opposed to simply tapping A creates a great sense of accomplishment missing from all previous sports games. Making some of the plays still comes down to mashing buttons, but going through the motions, or using what EA calls FreeMotion control, tricks the brain into thinking the person's completed some heroic feat, despite still being an armchair quarterback.

EA deserves even more credit for the very informative tutorials. A "Learn Madden" mode walks you through just about everything you need to know, and while playing an actual game, Madden NFL 07 offers tips to get you started. Some trial and error may still be needed, as careless passes will be intercepted or batted down. However, once you get the hang of things, you'll be racking up touchdowns in no time, Peyton Manning style.

Sweet little touches add to the experience. Instead of sticking with the same radio announcer heard in the Xbox 360 version, EA elected to reinstate actual "in the booth" commentators, including John Madden. Also, being able to select players and plays by pointing at them and clicking makes the experience even more interactive.

In addition to playing standard football games, EA programmed in three intriguing mini games. The 2 on 2 mini game pits a quarterback and a receiver against two defensemen. Each team gets five chances to score, and the ability to make your offensive teammate's remote rumble adds a new and unique feature to the series. This allows you to strategize with each other, as you can inform your receiver to run specific patterns whenever he or she gets a signal (in this case, a vibrating controller).

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