A couple of additional thoughts on the Madden Demo - RaychelSnr's Blog

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RaychelSnr's Blog

A couple of additional thoughts on the Madden Demo Stuck

Posted on July 23, 2010 at 03:38 PM.

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In case you missed it, and I blame you totally for missing it, myself and Christian conducted a Madden Demo Review Roundtable this morning.

A lot of people got the feeling I was being down on the game, which I guess is understandable since my thoughts followed Christians who was rather down on Madden. For me though, I really think Madden is shaping up to be nearly on par with NCAA in terms of gameplay. Considering I think NCAA is the best playing football game released ever, that's a pretty big compliment to Madden.

However, there are some things which bug me about crowning the final build of Madden as the greatest thing since sliced bread -- namely the lack of any innovation in Franchise mode (or any modes for that matter), the potentially stale or awesome presentation/atmosphere (no real feel on it yet), and the definitely going to be repetitive commentary.

While EA looks to have basically nailed the gameplay like they did with NCAA -- I'm sure sliders will fix the pass rush issue this year or at least alleviate it -- they haven't done anything to make the rest of the game shine. Which is funny to this writer, because the same people who always complained about Madden not being good in the gameplay department are now complaining because Tiburon did nothing to innovate in the modes and focused almost exclusively on the on the field gameplay. Some people will just never be pleased.

However, I've been calling for a reset of both of Tiburon's football game's career modes for quite some time: I only hope this year everyone else catches on and we get some wholesale changes in both modes next year.

Until then, we'll be able to enjoy a couple of games with excellent gameplay. However that ranks on your list of priority items is probably how you should base your buying decision on Madden NFL 11, along with whether you prefer the pro or college game. No need to buy two games which play very similar, but no need to completely skip on an excellent year of football gameplay as well.

Chris is the Executive Editor of Operation Sports and maintains this blog on the site. He is also a native Oklahoman and avid storm chaser. You can follow him on Twitter @ChrisSnr.

Comments

# 1 TalenT @ Jul 23

"...the same people who always complained about Madden not being good in the gameplay department are now complaining because Tiburon did nothing to innovate in the modes and focused almost exclusively on the on the field gameplay."

Good point!

# 2 dannyr326 @ Jul 23

I'm really excited to see that gameplay has been a priority. Nothing is more frustrating than seeing your wideout have no inclination to get his feet in bounds. Hopefully those animation fixes will work most of the time. I would love to see more personality in regards to certain running styles with wide receivers and maybe some different toe-tap animations. For example, Chad Ochocinco is the best in the game at getting his feet in bounds. Locomotion sounds exciting, but seeing these videos it almost looks like the PS2 days when it feels as if the players are running on water with no feel of the ground. Has anybody else seen this this year?

Overall, gameplay is the most important thing. I'm really dissapointed in gameplan. Although they want games to be playable in 30 min, I think most Madden fans are definitely going to turn this feature off. They gotta stop wasting time on gimmick features. They'll probably scrap that feature for Madden 12.

# 3 CaliDude916 @ Jul 23

When I play the demo, I'll make my own impressions.

# 4 FieldMarshallP1 @ Jul 23

Madden looks OK this year at best. Im really enjoying NCAA and if madden is on par with NCAA then im going to be ok with that. To really put madden and EA football games in general over the hump and to make this franchise great they NEED to have consecutive hit tackles. Its really frustrating when I have a 4th and 1 and the animation begins and i clearly have 3 guys in position to stop the ball carrier and he falls forward due to the animation. In no way is Ncaa or Madden going to be a great game until this issue is corrected.

# 5 statum71 @ Jul 23

I hope its close to NCAA man. But I'm concerned about your statements on the pass rush. Not EVER getting sacks ccan be extremmely frustrating for a football game. Not to mention unrealistic.

In NCAA I'm getting maybe 2 to 3. Or sometimes none. I think its a good balance.

# 6 Dramaking @ Jul 23

this is a not a simulation, but i can have fun with madden but the fun doesn't last long.They needed to make he modes better cause after 2 to 3 seasons, I only put in madden just to play friends online and TRY TO FINISH A YEAR OF ONLINE FRANCHISE( There better be a achievement for finishing one year).

# 7 blklightning @ Jul 24

ian said via twitter that they were forced to gut the commentary due to space limitations.

# 8 FieldMarshallP1 @ Jul 24

This game will def be rented at best. Won't be spending $60 on madden this year.

# 9 packers718 @ Jul 25

i will be buying this due to the gameplay improvement, madden 10 was fun for the first maybe 2 months until i noticed just garbage gameplay after played the ncaa 11 demo i had more fun with that than madden 10 gameplay. If the madden 11 gameplay is that of ncaa 11 or even that of the demo which it should be i shall be happy and buy it. Franchise i can wait just one more year for its alright. Gameplay is what everyone wanted fixed and ncaa 11 showed promise so this should as well locomotion does feel good in the hands btw

# 10 DubTrey1 @ Jul 25

Well, being a long time OS'r - I like what I have read so far from you guys and take value in the comments. I went ahead and bought NCAA11 this year since it turned out to be the best football I have played a long time(if ever). I will reserve final judgment on Madden11 with a rental & impressions from the OS faithful before I tread any further with Madden. Especially considering how NCAA11 plays....