Madden PSP Impressions

snate · Post by **snate** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 11:24 am

Today's the day ... Post em if you got em ...

slyguy · Post by **slyguy** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 12:02 pm

I would like to hear some too but either way i will get the game anyway

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 12:59 pm

I will most likely pick this one up today. I'm a little scared of the sluggish menus, but I don't make a lot of in-game changes with football anyhow. The one thing I'm really pumped about with PSP football is the sleep function. I like football games, but they take way too long to play for realistic stats, and I constantly find myself wishing I could just quicksave my games and then come back to the them.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 3:00 pm

No, I don't have a link but there are a handful of impressions over at OS. Surprisingly, so far the impressions are favorable as long as you can deal with some load times and pauses.

snate · Post by **snate** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 3:49 pm

I got it at lunch. I made some minor settings changes and jumped into a game. The load times and transitions didn't seem unusually bad. As far as gameplay goes, the game is pretty fun. My biggest gripe is that after every play there is a freeze for about 3 seconds before it goes back to the play calling screen. There is also some hiccuping on pass plays as the ball gets to the receiver. The graphics are ok - definitely scaled back from the console versions. Madden and Michaels sound pretty robotic especially with the akward pauses. It feels like you are playing a game on the CPU but your CPU doesn't have enough power to play the game. Kind of dissapointing, but a fun game if you can deal with the struggle.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 4:54 pm

Thanks snate...you just saved me 50 bucks. I'm not even gonna bother without renting it first. Hopefully I'll have a copy by this weekend to give it a whirl.

Sport73 · Post by **Sport73** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 7:15 pm

Granted I only played for a few minutes, so I may still be intoxicated from the fumes of fresh cellophane, but right now my impression is:

THIS IS WHAT I GOT A PSP FOR!

It's Madden. It's Madden portable. The graphics are more than acceptable (near PS2 since the screen is small), the animations are superb. the gameplay is familiar Madden, the PRECISION PASSING is implemented in a GREAT way, and the little hiccups don't ruin the experience one bit.

Ahh. This is nice.

Toper · Post by **Toper** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 8:28 pm

Sport73 wrote:Granted I only played for a few minutes, so I may still be intoxicated from the fumes of fresh cellophane, but right now my impression is:

THIS IS WHAT I GOT A PSP FOR!

It's Madden. It's Madden portable. The graphics are more than acceptable (near PS2 since the screen is small), the animations are superb. the gameplay is familiar Madden, the PRECISION PASSING is implemented in a GREAT way, and the little hiccups don't ruin the experience one bit.

Ahh. This is nice.

Totally agree with you.

This is EAsports best port yet...I feel like I'm playing the console version on my psp.

I was concerned with the load times and pauses:
-Load times to start the game are bearable...after that there are none during actual gameplay (that are noticable).
-Pauses occur briefly when going to the huddle/picking your play (as mentioned by others)...I noticed that accessing the umd for commentary was causing some in-game pauses - I turned off the commentary, and that seems to have eliminated all the gameplay pausing that was going on.

To me, this one is a keeper...and only $37 (at Fry's)...EA batting 2 for it's last 2 on the psp (this and burnout).

Toper

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 9:41 pm

The glitch is still there

I like it so far, but I need practice with passing. I am also having trouble with my QB beginning to scramble (and causing me to make awkward throws) even though I have the auto passing off.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 9:49 pm

Is the passing cone "in the game" or did they leave it out? I can't imagine it would be in there though since there is only one analog stick.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 10:00 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:Is the passing cone "in the game" or did they leave it out? I can't imagine it would be in there though since there is only one analog stick.

It's definitely not in the game. Only precision passing.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 11:26 pm

Interesting..I just read this "review" over at ebgames website (I omitted the guy's name). I hadn't seen this said anywhere else. Can any of you guys who have the game verify or deny this? Thanks in advance.

" XXXXXX: 9/21/2005
DON'T BUY IT WILL UPGRADE YOUR FIRMWARE
I just bought this and I can't even play it. Why you might ask, because it wants to upgrade my firmware to version 1.52 before it will allow me to play. So if you are like me, you know that is a no no. There is no way to play this game without updating the firmware. Stay away from this game and lets make it known that we DO NOT appreciate someone twisting our hand like this."

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 11:28 pm

The more I think about it, the more I really hope it's not true. First EA took away my choice in football games. Now they're making me decide between playing Madden versus playing old school Super Mario on my PSP? Bastards!

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 11:29 pm

Obviously that was going to be the case. Burnout last week did the same thing. I can pretty much guarantee that all games that come out in the future will make you upgrade.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 11:37 pm

GTHobbes wrote:The more I think about it, the more I really hope it's not true. First EA took away my choice in football games. Now they're making me decide between playing Madden versus playing old school Super Mario on my PSP? Bastards!

You can't blame EA for that. That's Sony's decision. Man, EA gets blamed for everything. As for the firmware upgrade is concerned, it's been widely known that future games would require the update. I would rather play brand new games instead of old games. Burnout and Madden mark the beginning of the flood of PSP game releases through the holidays. The old games helped during the period of nothingness but it's time to move on. Besides, it's only a matter of time before the newest firmware is cracked and you can play your roms again.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 11:40 pm

Sorry Scoop, for all the s*** I like to give EA around here, I was actually just joking around with my post. Sometimes sarcasm doesn't make its way across in my posts. It definitely sucks, but I don't blame EA (although out of all the things they could be pioneers on, this didn't have to be one of them). But you're right, I'm sure people a lot smarter than I will have cracked some code and have new roms out soon enough.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 11:47 pm

Just download Version Changer... you can keep your emulation and still play the new games.

As for Madden, I've been playing it a bunch on the train today, and they did just just enough of a good job that I think I'm going to enjoy it over the long haul. The Madden gameplay is intact, and some things I didn't even expect to make it into this version (like smart routes and slide protection) are indeed there. The menus don't chug as much as I feared, franchise mode seems pretty complete and the in-game save is nice and quick.

I'm a bit disappointed that there are no replays, and the graphics have definitely taken a big hit. I guess 22 players on screen at once is a tall order for the PSP, but both FIFA and MVP had replays, why couldn't Madden get it together?

Still, all in all I don't regret the purchase.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 12:06 am

GTHobbes wrote:Sorry Scoop, for all the s*** I like to give EA around here, I was actually just joking around with my post. Sometimes sarcasm doesn't make its way across in my posts. It definitely sucks, but I don't blame EA (although out of all the things they could be pioneers on, this didn't have to be one of them). But you're right, I'm sure people a lot smarter than I will have cracked some code and have new roms out soon enough.

No need to apologize. EA aren't pioneers on this either, Midnight Club 3 required a firmware update to 1.51.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 1:27 am

The game runs a LOT faster if you turn off the commentary... and make sure you turn it off, not just down (it can't be done while a game is in progress).

All-Madden seems like a nice difficulty in this one, nothing too cheap. I did have to turn offensive catching assists back on, however. My guys would just drop them left and right, even if they were wide open. I'm not the manual catch type.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 6:59 am

Slumberland wrote:The game runs a LOT faster if you turn off the commentary... and make sure you turn it off, not just down (it can't be done while a game is in progress).

All-Madden seems like a nice difficulty in this one, nothing too cheap. I did have to turn offensive catching assists back on, however. My guys would just drop them left and right, even if they were wide open. I'm not the manual catch type.

Yeah, I agree totally. What a pleasant surprise so far. The game does indeed run faster with commentary off.

I didn't think of turning catching assist on. I will try that. I turned the catching sliders all the way up for both human and CPU and that worked as well. I also turned interceptions down. Other than that I am enjoying the game on All-Pro so far.

Can you switch the direction of the play at the line?

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 9:19 am

ScoopBrady wrote:Midnight Club 3 required a firmware update to 1.51.

I played quite a bit of MC3 and it never made me update my firmware from 1.50. This was way before I ever heard of anything called a version changer too.

Drag66 · Post by **Drag66** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 9:27 am

Leebo33 wrote: Yeah, I agree totally. What a pleasant surprise so far. The game does indeed run faster with commentary off.

I didn't think of turning catching assist on. I will try that. I turned the catching sliders all the way up for both human and CPU and that worked as well. I also turned interceptions down. Other than that I am enjoying the game on All-Pro so far.

Can you switch the direction of the play at the line?

I think you have to press square and then press the directional pad in the opposite direction of the play.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 9:34 am

Drag66 wrote:
Leebo33 wrote: Yeah, I agree totally. What a pleasant surprise so far. The game does indeed run faster with commentary off.

I didn't think of turning catching assist on. I will try that. I turned the catching sliders all the way up for both human and CPU and that worked as well. I also turned interceptions down. Other than that I am enjoying the game on All-Pro so far.

Can you switch the direction of the play at the line?
I think you have to press square and then press the directional pad in the opposite direction of the play.

Thanks! Do you like the game?

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 10:28 am

Leebo33 wrote:
ScoopBrady wrote:Midnight Club 3 required a firmware update to 1.51.
I played quite a bit of MC3 and it never made me update my firmware from 1.50. This was way before I ever heard of anything called a version changer too.

That's weird. I know upgrade 1.51 was on the umd for MC3. I had already upgraded so I assumed since it was on there 1.5's would have to upgrade to play it.

As for Madden PSP. I'm very happy with it. It's the reason I bought a PSP too. Portable football on par with current gen football games. It plays a good game of football and looks good too. The graphics definitely take a hit from the PS2 version but it still does look nice. It's definitely on par with EA Sports other PSP titles (NFL Street 2, FIFA, MVP). The bottom line is if you've played FIFA PSP and could deal with the pauses when the ball went out of bounds than you won't be bothered by Madden. The sliders will have to be messed around with a little but nothing too major. Hopefully a roster download will be available soon either from EA or the community. Anyone play online yet?

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 10:31 am

As long as it's an upgrade from Mattell Electronic Football, that's a winner in my book!