Madden 11 Impressions

[Rodster]

The demo is out on XBL !!!

It's a big one too 1.47GB.

edit: Jared I forgot about the Madden 11 thread, go ahead and close this if you like, sorry !

[Diablo25]

Thanks for the heads up.

[Rodster]

Is it out on PSN too?

[Rodster]

Can't wait for you guys to chime in about Gameflow, I like it so far.

Oh forgot to mention the demo has commentary and 5 min qtrs.

edit: Penalty wise i've seen the CPU get called holding and a false start. I find the new kicking meter to be on the very easy side but the game retains the fun factor from last year. And in a JRod moment i'm beating the CPU and in the third qtr my guys fumble a punt I lose it deep in enemy territory and they score.

[seanmac31]

Coming off NCAA 11, I'm profoundly unimpressed so far. The graphics are very much on par with Madden 10 (which is to say they don't look as good as NCAA), though I've seen a few nice new animations in the DB department. On one pass play, Kelvin Jenkins went down to his knees for an interception but bobbled it and let the ball hit the turf. Darrelle Revis made a lovely pick where he slid under a route and plucked the ball away before taking it to the house. The replay system is much less repetitive than NCAA's, which is nice.

There are a lot of complaints about the strategy pad over at OS. I think it does work to simplify adjustments, but at the price of letting you do fewer adjustments on any given play. As someone who has always disliked the way people use defensive hot routing, I have no problem with the decision, but in practice it will certainly take some adjusting to.

At this point, I prefer NCAA's way of providing three suggested plays to Gameplan, which selects one play for you and where you don't see the play art until you are on the field. I have no doubt that it does a reasonably good job of modeling team tendencies--the Jets tend to call a lot of blitzes on defense--I can't say that it feels like much of an improvement.

Not only am I an NFL guy, but I'm a Jets fan, and yet, after one game with the demo, I turned it off and went to NCAA, which felt much better. I buy Madden every year, and my original plan was simply to keep NCAA for a few weeks and then trade it in, but I'm not sure I'm going to bother. I'm pretty sure I actually prefer Madden 10 based on the demo.

[Danimal]

I'm convinced there is no way this is the game they wanted to deliver this year. My guess is they bit off more then they could handle, had to scrap a lot of features because they were far from ready and this is what we got.

I'll try the demo tonight and see what it is like, but honestly NCAA is so good I am not sure I will care if I don't like it.

[seanmac31]

I've warmed up to the game a bit after more playings--in the end, I'm sure I'll get it simply because I'm such an NFL guy--but if you don't have much preference, I can't see grabbing this game over NCAA. It really feels like the NCAA 04/Madden 04 split.

[GTHobbes]

I'm convinced there is no way this is the game they wanted to deliver this year. My guess is they bit off more then they could handle, had to scrap a lot of features because they were far from ready and this is what we got.

You could very well be right. But I also wonder if it just aint Tiburon. Back when The Show announced it would have real time presentation (RTP), I remember reading Ian say on Twitter that he didn't see what the big deal was about. I haven't played the demo yet, but I'm already seeing comments talking about how stale the Madden cutscenes are. When you consider Ian's comment on RTP, and his talk about how hard it would be to implement real time physics in Madden, I'm not totally sure Tiburon's vision for the near future of football games is the same as ours. Especially when you consider the time it must've taken the development team to implement all of the money grab things that they've added these last 2 years (Madden Live Moments, paid scouting reports, Madden Ultimate Team, OTP boosts, etc.). I'd hate to learn that RTP or real time physics ended up on the cutting room floor because time was spent implementing paid DLC items, but you have to wonder.

[vinny-b]

I will try the demo. It is free.

that said, am not expecting it to be better then NFL 2k.

[Teal]

It's not bad. It's not NCAA, though, either. I'm actually happy, as more of a college fan than a pro fan, that, for once, it looks like NCAA is actually not the stepchild of Madden, for a change.

What's up with the sound? It's like, the fans aren't there until a ball is snapped or kicked, and then they quickly go away. The new announcer can be a little too over the top with his enthusiasm at times. I know it's a demo, but they needed to polish it up some more, I think. Liked that you could play an entire game, though.

I like the IDEA of Gameflow, but the guys talking in your headphones repeat themselves too often, and more times than not, give you useless information. But it's kind of cool to just worry about being the field general, and not the coach, too. I don't think I'd use that mode all the time, but it's nice when you don't want to have to strategize all the time, and just play football. It's also nice that you can choose a style on each down, rather than being stuck with one or the other for an entire game.

All in all, though...I have my football game already. I wouldn't give up NCAA for Madden anyway-although I might have considered buying Madden and having both. But really...I don't see anything to make me want to.

But, remember, I'm not a pro guy, so that's a factor. However, I still think NCAA is the far superior product this season.

[Rodster]

I really liked Gameflow and I can see myself using that for every game. I had a feeling the Gus Johnson audio was going to be what's in the demo. It's really hard to pull off that off the first year although EA turned miracles with Thorne and Clement as well as Martin Tyler in the FIFA series. Different studios and teams I guess have their way of doing the commentary.

What I don't get is how good Collinsworth sounds in the game. He sounds like himself on TV but Johnson just misses the mark. Too bad they took away the radio guy, oops.

[Wilk5280]

NCAA 04/Madden 04 split.

That was my very initial impression. I have my full retail copy of the game and let me just say that the more I'm playing it the more I'm liking it. I am also more of an NFL guy and at first was quite disappointed. Some of the design decisions really had me scratching my head. From the front end to the Stratpad I was just plain baffled.

I'm getting the strat pad down to where it's almost engraved in my muscle memory. The only thing I can't figure out how to do is the back out of an adjustment without completely calling a different one. For instance if I call press coverage, but change my mind and want to go back to normal coverage I can't seem to do it without completely backing off to deep coverage.

My first few full games were nothing but complete shoot outs. I played a game of Broncos @ Bears and Cutler had over 300 yards passing and 4 touchdowns in the first half alone. Prior to the game Collinsworth discussed the Broncos trade of Cutler to the Bears and how it impacted each team during their first season. He went on at length talking about Cutler's interception problem in Chicago last year and how he's going to have to fix that this year if the team is going to improve. I thought that was a really nice touch.

My main beef right now with the full retail copy of the game, and it's a biggie, is the complete lack of pressure on the cpu qb's. The cpu get's plenty of pressure on me, especially when I call play-action, but I cannot get to the QB for the life of me. Haven't messed with any sliders, but it's really, REALLY, REALLY bad.

Each of the stadiums have their own custom chants, commentary and stadium noises. It does a nice job of making you feel like you're actually playing in a different stadium each week. It could probably be implemented a little better, but it's much better than in the past.

Teams will also play much differently from each other. The Jets love to blitz. They'll bring the entire D up to the line and come at you from every which way.

Jay Cutler of the Bears will not hesitate to thrown the ball down field to the speedy receivers of Knox and Hester. He goes deep early and often.

The game really is a lot of fun, but it did take me some getting used to. I can make stops now on D, but EA is going to have to address the lack of pressure on the cpu QB. Even when you do get close, the qb manages to get the ball off. It may not be on target, but he's not getting sacked. In 5 or 6 full games I have 2, maybe 3 sacks.

[GB_Simo]

Boom, have you played the demo? I've played exactly one game - as the Colts against the Jets - but I felt like I was getting reasonable pressure on the QB and I had a couple of sacks to my name, so I'd be interested in your take on how that compares to the retail version.

The new announcer can be a little too over the top with his enthusiasm at times. I know it's a demo, but they needed to polish it up some more, I think.

Very true, but as an Old Spice salesman he's in a class of one, no?

[Wilk5280]

Haven't played the demo so I can't compare. Sorry.

Gus Johnson is over the top, but if you've heard him in real life he's just the same. Every single play in a game he calls sounds like a record breaking play.

[Lancer]

Played one game, quick impressions :

1.GAMEFLOW : HEADPHONES -Saw the gameflow tutorial so hooked up the head phones. It had me cracking up hearing the coach talk to you over the headphones. It's a videogame EA, it'll always be a videogame. LOL. Are they thinking they would fool people into thinking Ryan was actually talking to you, hehe. It's silly and gimmicky but funny too.

2.GAMEFLOW : GAMEPLAY - except for the headphones, I enjoy the gameplay aspect of GAMEFLOW. In the last few years I've been a pretty lazy football gamer where I'd to 'ask madden' or 'ask corso'. Come to think of it, that's what it really is. So this is right up my alley.

3.On the field gameplay - really enjoy it! t he pace is perfect. I have NCAA on slow but madden is slower than that. It really is nice running the ball where you look for your holes. I think the locomotion is fine in madden. I don't even notice it, and I like it that way. I think it is way too exaggerated in NCAA but NCAA is that kind of game, big plays in college. NFL is more methodical and precise, and I think EA got that right between both games.

4.Sound - horrible. Hope it's because of the demo. Crowd noise is non-existent. I think the full version will probably be improved in this dept. Gus Johnson - not a fan of his, all he does in YELL on tv, well.............minus one.

5.Graphics - similar to last year. I am sure the full version will have some minor touches. I like Madden's graphics over NCAA's even tough everyone tells me I'm nuts.

6.NEW KICK METER - Terrible! WTF! It's like Genesis days. Bring back the old one , (the one in NCAA), it's Perfect.

7.Only thing from NCAA I miss in Madden are the constant replays. I love how the replays in NCAA show off the graphics, I hope madden can do that.

Like it! It's a must buy for me.

[Danimal]

Played a few games of the demo, after all the gloom and doom today i was expecting to not like it. On the contrary I absolutely loved the game play, as to what we're getting in the whole package i am still disappointed but game play wise it felt really..REALLY good. The fact that once the game starts you can pause, change the game speed and adjust most of the sliders make a big difference.

1. Passing Game: This felt much better then ever before. The catching animations are superb, NCAA's are good, but these are better. I saw some catches that made me go WOW in a good way. Being able to put touch on the ball is a great feeling, I had 3rd and goal from the 7, I hit Crotchery (sp?) in the back of the end zone by putting it over a LB's head. He jumped and missed it (in 10 that's a pick) the WR went up caught it, came down with his feet together keeping them in bounds and falling down. It looked so real I actually shouted Great Catch!

I had another one where I tried to hit a deep comeback on the side line, I got the ball in between 2 defenders and the WR made a one handed grab coming back and got his feet in. The footwork on curls and what not is outstanding.

2. Running Game: The running game was really easy, then I went in and bumped the cpu rush defense and tackling to 60 and guess what not so easy anymore. It feels as good as NCAA and the fact that some slider tweaks fixed it in and unpolished demo is reason to hope.

3. Sounds - This addition is going to be great. The demo is really behind in the sound (according to something I read 5 weeks behind and really trimmed) and you can tell because it cuts out and what not. But the limited music they play is a great addition, the J-E-T-s chant by the crowd is awesome, even little things like whistles..I mean I don't recall that kind of atmospheric sound before. Gus Johnson is going to be a take it or leave it, personally I love him.

4. Game Flow - I haven't taken the time to make a game plan yet. But the two teams sure seem to play like the Colts and Jets. I didn't see any really odd calls at all, I didn't see the same play called multiple times in a row either. I think their is potential here but I am not entirely sold, I will say playing this way makes the game feel better in terms of presentation. I don't like how I can't see what sets the cpu is in offensively, I don't like that I don't know my play until I break the huddle. But a simple X Press gets you the play book and you can turn it off. I'm 50/50 on this feature.

5. Locomotion - It feels different then NCAA, I don't know how to put this. NCAA feels more loose, more wide open. Madden feels heavy, more plodding and frankly I liked it a bit better.

6. Animations - Some really great new animations, I mean I love that you can go to replay in the demo because you can see all sorts of good s***.

7. Camera Angle - Not crazy about it after playing NCAA, I mean really no multiple angles again?

8. Challenges - I don't know if these are fixed or not, but the way the do them now with cut schemes and replays is 100 times better.

9. Strategy Pad - Talk about a lot of steam being put into nothing. I'll tell you that after about a dozen games this should be second nature and you know what it is better. I am one of the people who couldn't remember all those combos and if you could you had a great advantage. SP makes it easier to know what you're doing and makes it take just a tad longer which should really cut down on the guys who Hot route everything. Hot routing and adjustments should be about the chess match of coaching, by making it a tad slower you are making your opponent choose what to combat most. I mean seriously i know guys in 10 who can adjust the line, LB's, coverage and assign 3 individual hot routes beofre I snap...how is that realistic?

Anyway while I am still disappointed in the overall package we will be getting, I definitely like the game play and atmosphere changes.

[Teal]

Now, I'm all for proper celebrations and atmosphere in a sports game, but digitizing Obama? Really?

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/110/1108432p1.html

[sportdan30]

Count me as one who also was pleasantly surprised by the demo. There are some things in NCAA that I like better, and some things in Madden I like better. It's way too early for me to gauge Madden after one game, but I'm leaning in the direction of this game.

Some quick notes:

Tackling in Madden looks and feels better to me. NCAA almost seems to have a pinball feel to the players bouncing off one another when you have a whole slew of players tackling one ball carrier.

The cut scenes in Madden are going to get very tiring very quickly. Hopefully there are more in the retail version.

The sound is very strange in the demo. It goes in and out and just doesn't have a very good flow to it. Plus, there seemed to be a little too much applause for the Colts playing as the road team.

Gus Johnson is the best commentary they've had in years, but that's not saying much. There are just way too many instances of no talking. As I understand it, the retail version sounds better. We can only hope!

I was able to sack Sanchez five times. Sure, there were quite a few instances where he got the ball away at the last split second, but I sacked him in key pivotal times during the game.

Not once did I feel like there was any type of comeback A.I. Actually, the Jets had trouble moving the ball on me on All-Pro. I was able to get a lot of pressure from Freeney, so maybe that had a little something to do with it. Sanchez made some awful awful decisions. There were several instances that he threw the ball right in to my player's hands, only to have it dropped. At least two to three passes should have been picked off.

I only saw one interception, one penalty, and one fumble. That's without adjusting the sliders of course.

I love the Gameplan mode. Like Lance, I'm a lazy gamer and proud of it! I actually am learning what some of these coverages mean which is nice.

The strat pad doesn't bother me. I simply go with what the play is, and rarely make adjustments. I just want to play the game and have fun and not over think things. Maybe down the road I'll toy with the different strategies.

On the field, running feels great. Tackling and playing defense actually feels better than NCAA. I feel more in control of my player on defense and I can't necessarily explain why. Manning is pin point perfect if he gets time to pass, as he should be. I threw one pick trying to go deep and left it short.

I like the simple button presses for the audibles. It similar to NCAA, but the game moves quicker it seems between menus and game play. In the past, it was tiresome playing Madden as there seemed to be hesitation between the button presses.

The grass textures look great, and the crowd looks much better than NCAA. It's nothing spectacular but it actually looks pretty nice from afar.

The players getting off the bus look ugly. Is this a new addition? Manning looks like a goon.

Overall, I like what I'm seeing. I'm excited to see what little things change and add to the retail version. I pretty much agree with Lance and Danimal's impressions. Not perfect, but definitely more enjoyable than any Madden I've played on the next gen.

[MizzouRah]

I'm working too much.. downloading now.

I'm actually looking really forward to Madden this year.

[Danimal]

Now, I'm all for proper celebrations and atmosphere in a sports game, but digitizing Obama? Really?

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/110/1108432p1.html

He is the president and teams visit the white house after winning the super bowl. I'm amazed by the number of complaints on this at OS, it's a nice touch.

[sportdan30]

Now, I'm all for proper celebrations and atmosphere in a sports game, but digitizing Obama? Really?

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/110/1108432p1.html

He is the president and teams visit the white house after winning the super bowl. I'm amazed by the number of complaints on this at OS, it's a nice touch.

Agreed. I skipped through most of the Superbowl celebration as I don't want for it to ruin my experience, but it seemed pretty well done IMO.

[Teal]

Now, I'm all for proper celebrations and atmosphere in a sports game, but digitizing Obama? Really?

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/110/1108432p1.html

He is the president and teams visit the white house after winning the super bowl. I'm amazed by the number of complaints on this at OS, it's a nice touch.

Just funny that they've NEVER done that before, and weird to have a sitting president give his permission to be a videogame character. It just seems a little superfluous to me, that's all. The rest of it was pretty damn cool.

[Teal]

Just played the demo again, and crushed the Jets. I dunno...still see no reason to froth at the mouth over it, although, gameplay-wise, it ain't bad. But after making a helluva comeback against Clemson and edging them out in a nail-biter, 20-17, with 23 ticks left in the game, and experiencing the incredible atmosphere, I think I'd almost have to make myself pull that one outta the tray just so I could justify spending another 60 bucks on Madden.

So, you guys who love the NFL, have fun, but I'm sticking with, what I feel is, the better title.

[macsomjrr]

Now, I'm all for proper celebrations and atmosphere in a sports game, but digitizing Obama? Really?

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/110/1108432p1.html

He is the president and teams visit the white house after winning the super bowl. I'm amazed by the number of complaints on this at OS, it's a nice touch.

Just funny that they've NEVER done that before, and weird to have a sitting president give his permission to be a videogame character. It just seems a little superfluous to me, that's all. The rest of it was pretty damn cool.

I think it's awesome. Even though I rarely play a sports game all the way into the championship (either because I suck or get bored) this is the kinda thing that would make me wanna do it. If I feel like I'm actually playing to see some sort of neat celebration it makes it a bit more worth while. Especially how if it is individualized to the team. Love it.

Still haven't played the demo yet though - we'll see how the rest of the game is. I really enjoyed 10 though so I think I'll be alright.

[Badgun]

What's up with the sound? It's like, the fans aren't there until a ball is snapped or kicked, and then they quickly go away. The new announcer can be a little too over the top with his enthusiasm at times. I know it's a demo, but they needed to polish it up some more, I think. Liked that you could play an entire game, though.

If there is no way to fix this it has to be one of the worst design decisions ever. I tried turning off Gameflow, well the coordinator still talks over the crowd and stadium sounds anyway, so then I went into the options and turned coordinator's voices to OFF. There is still a moment of deafening silence as you walk to the line, which completely ruins the immersion factor for me. Not a complete gamekiller, but damn annoying to say the least.

Also is the difficulty on rookie, because I beat the Colts 34-3 and got over 200 yards rushing with Greene.

I do like the new kickmeter if it really is based more on the kicker's skill. I guess we'll find out when some of the weaker kickers start nailing 58 yard field goals.

All in all I liked the demo except for the annoying complete loss of sound in between plays and I do hope there is a way to keep that from happening. I love Gus Johnson and I think the commentary is probably the best we've had since Madden/Summerall. Still a definite buy for me.