Madden 11 Impressions

[Aristo]

One thing that hurts the AI is the play calling. There is little strategy to what the CPU tries to do. On third and long, it calls the streaks play far too often. And there isn't any real play calling strategy to react to teams strengths and weaknesses. It's all based on gameflow which calls a play based on situation but not game situation. For example, a team may be running poorly but then tries a draw just because that play has a higher rating in gameflow.

I think the AI play calling is pretty basic. And there's no positional awareness in the game, meaning that it doesn't try to create mismatches, or run at the weak links in a DL. Which takes the randomness feel out of the franchise mode.

You are right. Except that you just described every football game ever made. You could post the same thing in Backbreaker, NCAA, or 2K threads. Even FBPro lacked this ability. None of the text based sims adjusted like this.

I'm not sure why this was important to point out.

[Rodster]

You are right. Except that you just described every football game ever made. You could post the same thing in Backbreaker, NCAA, or 2K threads. Even FBPro lacked this ability. None of the text based sims adjusted like this.

I'm not sure why this was important to point out.

I'm tempted but i've already been warned.

[snaz16]

You are right. Except that you just described every football game ever made. You could post the same thing in Backbreaker, NCAA, or 2K threads. Even FBPro lacked this ability. None of the text based sims adjusted like this.

I'm not sure why this was important to point out.

I'm tempted but i've already been warned.

Front Page Football 95 was pretty good at adjusting to your game plan.

[matthewk]

One thing that hurts the AI is the play calling. There is little strategy to what the CPU tries to do. On third and long, it calls the streaks play far too often. And there isn't any real play calling strategy to react to teams strengths and weaknesses. It's all based on gameflow which calls a play based on situation but not game situation. For example, a team may be running poorly but then tries a draw just because that play has a higher rating in gameflow.

I think the AI play calling is pretty basic. And there's no positional awareness in the game, meaning that it doesn't try to create mismatches, or run at the weak links in a DL. Which takes the randomness feel out of the franchise mode.

You are right. Except that you just described every football game ever made. You could post the same thing in Backbreaker, NCAA, or 2K threads. Even FBPro lacked this ability. None of the text based sims adjusted like this.

I'm not sure why this was important to point out.

No game up until this one bragged about gameplanning and gameflow. I think his point is these new features really don't do anything to enhance the game. I've played around with creating my own game plans and while it's a solid idea, it just isn't deep enough.

[Lancer]

I think the most logical explanation is that they are overhauling the game next year in the franchise modes so this year they just gave you last years game with a few modifications they advertised as new features. It's not the first time EA has ever done that

[JRod]

One thing that hurts the AI is the play calling. There is little strategy to what the CPU tries to do. On third and long, it calls the streaks play far too often. And there isn't any real play calling strategy to react to teams strengths and weaknesses. It's all based on gameflow which calls a play based on situation but not game situation. For example, a team may be running poorly but then tries a draw just because that play has a higher rating in gameflow.

I think the AI play calling is pretty basic. And there's no positional awareness in the game, meaning that it doesn't try to create mismatches, or run at the weak links in a DL. Which takes the randomness feel out of the franchise mode.

You are right. Except that you just described every football game ever made. You could post the same thing in Backbreaker, NCAA, or 2K threads. Even FBPro lacked this ability. None of the text based sims adjusted like this.

I'm not sure why this was important to point out.

No game up until this one bragged about gameplanning and gameflow. I think his point is these new features really don't do anything to enhance the game. I've played around with creating my own game plans and while it's a solid idea, it just isn't deep enough.

Ya. EA bragged about it and it's turned out to be a shallow feature basically just assigning a percentage to when a play should be called. It's just not that deep. Nor is it that user friendly, each play could have been assigned tags and before a game, you select plays based on what they do. Like burning a slow CB or blitzing the weak link in the OL.

What happens in the AI just calls preprogrammed plays based on these percentages but not on what's going on in the game.

[Lancer]

I know it's late but ebgames.com has a Madden11 sale only online : save $10 on Madden - $49.99.

[greggsand]

Maybe I'm not a "madden expect" (I'm sure I'm not), but I like the gameflow option. I don't know, maybe it's only for the casual player, but I like it.

[Aristo]

You are right. Except that you just described every football game ever made. You could post the same thing in Backbreaker, NCAA, or 2K threads. Even FBPro lacked this ability. None of the text based sims adjusted like this.

I'm not sure why this was important to point out.

I'm tempted but i've already been warned.

Front Page Football 95 was pretty good at adjusting to your game plan.

Actually, FBPro used a system like Gameflow, but with a lot more scenarios than EA put in. But the gameplans only dealt with down, distance, time, and score. EA should be embarrassed for creating a system that pales in comparison to what Sierra did 15 years ago.

Ya. EA bragged about it and it's turned out to be a shallow feature basically just assigning a percentage to when a play should be called. It's just not that deep. Nor is it that user friendly, each play could have been assigned tags and before a game, you select plays based on what they do. Like burning a slow CB or blitzing the weak link in the OL.

What happens in the AI just calls preprogrammed plays based on these percentages but not on what's going on in the game.

But somehow Backbreaker gets credit for being "too smart," right? I'm not saying what you wanted is a bad thing, but you could have at least pointed out one time in the history of football games that this kind of system was ever used. That fact is, Madden not having this system in has nothing to do with why someone should or shouldn't buy Madden. I might have to do with why someone shouldn't buy any football games, though.

[JRod]

Aristo -- Where did I praise the play-calling of BB? And who's talking about buying are not buying?

You guys are taking one statement running wild with it. All I said was that gameflow only takes into account the preferences that was set for a certain play. I don't see it take into account what's really happening in the game.

You guys are reading why too much into a statement.

[AJColossal]

I think Madden on some level deserves some of the lambasting it's been receiving. The series, by and large, is in some sort of holding pattern, and I think there's a sense the fans deserved a little more than that, and that's fair.

But I really do think that the gameplay, considering the limitations of the creaky engine, is as good as it's ever been. Granted, you have to play with sliders, but I feel like I'm seeing everything I want to see in a football game, and there's a sense of variety that I'm very pleased with. (Just when I think there's not enough sacks, I pickup four in a game. Kickoff returns seem too hard until I easily take one back in my last game).

Again -- disappointing on some levels, but the gameplay as far as Madden goes, is very good.

[Rodster]

I think Danimal came up with the best solution and that is keep Madden basically the way it is and just make an entirely new football game from the ground up i.e. NFL Elite or some new name to it for the hardcore, franchise freaks.

[JRod]

I think Danimal came up with the best solution and that is keep Madden basically the way it is and just make an entirely new football game from the ground up i.e. NFL Elite or some new name to it for the hardcore, franchise freaks.

No way this would fly, as it would take sales away from Madden. And investors do not want to see Madden sales slip for EA. It's just not smart business for have a company develop a game to compete with another game of theirs. Head Coach was a football game but it never really competed with Madden. FIFA doesn't really compete with FIFA: World Cup. EA strips out much of the international stuff for FIFA so that FIFA:World Cup has more draw to it.

The problem is that Madden's gameplay is so ingrained into people's expectations that they can't really change it. They had their chance with the next-gen system but they stayed close to the gameplay formula.

However, I go back to the recipe for success, EA knows on one hand a good quality simulation will sell as did FIFA and NHL. FIFA and NHL were the first two to move away from bad engines and implement more sim-like gameplay to compete with the more-sim like counterparts. NBA Elite is now going that direction to compete with the sim-like NBA 2k.

Madden is it. There isn't a more sim-like game because a sim-like game can't exist on the premise that no other game can be a sim because it can't have the NFL. I think this aspect is more important that people realize, because there is no direct competition to expand people's expectations of what a football game should have.

Madden is what it is and that's not a bad game, but it's not really pushing itself to be an innovator.

[Wilk5280]

I have found the sliders in this thread over at OS to really improve the overall gameplay experience significantly.

http://www.operationsports.com/forums/m ... iders.html

[Danimal]

So played OTP last night with Todd. As much as I wanted to hate this mode it was fun even if it was just 2 of us against the cpu. Be interesting to try a 3-3 game.

[greggsand]

Played a buddy online last night - a blast. We noticed that if u set the game speed on 'slow' online, the game was really "choppy". Set it back to Normal (default online), and it was extremely smooth. Just FYI. I also had the setting turned on to send post game email reports, but I never got any (maybe ranked games only??).

good times.

[GTHobbes]

Interesting article regarding early Madden sales (and price drops).

http://www.cnbc.com/id/38786847

[bkrich83]

Interesting article regarding early Madden sales (and price drops).

http://www.cnbc.com/id/38786847

A week in to sales in what is already a weak market. Not really sure this means what you hope it does.

[bkrich83]

Played a buddy online last night - a blast. We noticed that if u set the game speed on 'slow' online, the game was really "choppy". Set it back to Normal (default online), and it was extremely smooth. Just FYI. I also had the setting turned on to send post game email reports, but I never got any (maybe ranked games only??).

good times.

I think, and am not totally sure, but the email results is only for ranked games. But now that I think of it that's always been sort of hit or miss.

[GTHobbes]

Interesting article regarding early Madden sales (and price drops).

http://www.cnbc.com/id/38786847

A week in to sales in what is already a weak market. Not really sure this means what you hope it does.

Nah, I don't doubt that Madden's sales will be fine -- probably a couple of percent over last year's sales by the time the first month rolls around.

I do think it's interesting that the article points out the Metacritic review scores are averaging 8.5 (thanks OS for its 9.0) and that the metacritic user reviews are averaging 5.3.

5.3? That's Backbreaker territory!

[bkrich83]

Interesting article regarding early Madden sales (and price drops).

http://www.cnbc.com/id/38786847

A week in to sales in what is already a weak market. Not really sure this means what you hope it does.

Nah, I don't doubt that Madden's sales will be fine -- probably a couple of percent over last year's sales by the time the first month rolls around.

I do think it's interesting that the article points out the Metacritic review scores are averaging 8.5 (thanks OS for its 9.0) and that the metacritic user reviews are averaging 5.3.

5.3? That's Backbreaker territory!

Too many people with lame company loyalty agendas when it comes to Madden. I wonder how many people ranked it a 0 before even playing it? I will never get the blind brand loyalty in this industry.

[Rodster]

That article has more to do with a weak economy and competition. They mentioned how Gamestop has been affected as well partly due to increased competition from Amazon and Walmart starting a price war. Yes it has something to do with Madden itself but that probably is a small part of the problem.

Madden now has competition from Backbreaker so EA is sure to lured the distracted to their side by lowering the price.

[Aristo]

Too many people with lame company loyalty agendas when it comes to Madden. I wonder how many people ranked it a 0 before even playing it?

About 70 thousand.

http://www.vgchartz.com/worldtotals.php ... sort=Total

[GTHobbes]

That article has more to do with a weak economy and competition.

You're probably right, Rod...but with NCAA seeing an uptick in sales this year, I would think that EA's expectations for Madden would be the same.

[Rodster]

That article has more to do with a weak economy and competition.

You're probably right, Rod...but with NCAA seeing an uptick in sales this year, I would think that EA's expectations for Madden would be the same.

Not necessarily. Did the person who bought NCAA 11 have enough money for Madden 11 when money could be tight? Is Gamestop still doing their $40 NCAA trade towards Madden this year? Haven't heard whether they are or not. That always helped Madden sales in the past.

I think the economy is taking it's toll on lots of things. Hell i'm self employed and i've had to lower my prices because people just don't have the money like they did pre 2008 crash.