Madden 09 Hands-On Report: Pasta Padre

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by SageTheInfinite

Be thankful everyday you weren't subjected to any next gen NBA Live's cb, lmao. Im sorry I'm an admitted Live *****, that's why you'll hardly ever catch me in those forums. Some people should take that approach over here .

you don't have to be sorry for hating Live. Like I said, I don't play b-ball games. Never could get into them.

And I agree, it would be nice if people who have nothing but hate for any game and had no intentions of buying it, that they stay out of that games forum.

[Moostache]

Quote: Originally Posted by SteelerSpartan

Ah good stuff, Im much more optimistic about Madden then I am NCAA this year...surprisingly Outside of the big flaws that everybody always talks about....the only thing really eating at me is the staleness of Hammond and Hopefully with more input from us for Ian, 2010 will be something special

I will be posting full impressions later today at maddenwars, but I can say that the commentary of Tom Hammond in the builds I played at EA (Alpha-23 and Alpha-24) last week were TONS better than the Eagles-Cowboys clip of play-by-play.

Hammonds did not sound nearly as badly stitched in the game as he does in the early clips..its still far from perfect, but it is not jarringly bad either. And in terms of year-over-year improvement, the Hammonds/Collinsworth combo is LIGHT YEARS ahead of the radio guy. I am a big ND fan and I can't stand Hammonds in real life, but he did not make me want to punch kittens in Madden either.

The crowd reactions did not seem to be very dynamic in pitch and tone and volume or properly tuned to the on-field situation from what I recall, but I did not specifically focus on it either.

All I will say for certain is that guys who want gameplay and player control improvements above presentation and fluff will be ECSTATIC with this game. Madden NFL 2009 absolutely DESTROYS Madden NFL 2008 and it still has over a month of tuning and tweaking to get better still.

One of the great things that I learned during this past Community Day was the information from Pasta and cdj and their impressions of how NCAA 2009 was changed from their first hands-on time (in NYC in April) to their second hands-on time (in Orlando at the end of May). They both confirmed that the game was significantly tweaked and toned down and that the producers had implemented some of their very specific suggestions as well.

Why is that important?

Because all of us at the Community Day event last week made some very specific suggestion for gameplay tweaks and AI tweaks to the producers of Madden in Orlando...if they are able to implement these suggestions and continue to fine tune the game, then Madden NFL 2009 is looking very, very strong and is already a better game than NCAA 2009 as it was presented in its late-Alpha stage! I am more pumped for Madden to release than I have been in years...I felt it was that good.

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Moostache

I will be posting full impressions later today at maddenwars, but I can say that the commentary of Tom Hammond in the builds I played at EA (Alpha-23 and Alpha-24) last week were TONS better than the Eagles-Cowboys clip of play-by-play. Hammonds did not sound nearly as badly stitched in the game as he does in the early clips..its still far from perfect, but it is not jarringly bad either. And in terms of year-over-year improvement, the Hammonds/Collinsworth combo is LIGHT YEARS ahead of the radio guy. I am a big ND fan and I can't stand Hammonds in real life, but he did not make me want to punch kittens in Madden either. The crowd reactions did not seem to be very dynamic in pitch and tone and volume or properly tuned to the on-field situation from what I recall, but I did not specifically focus on it either. All I will say for certain is that guys who want gameplay and player control improvements above presentation and fluff will be ECSTATIC with this game. Madden NFL 2009 absolutely DESTROYS Madden NFL 2008 and it still has over a month of tuning and tweaking to get better still. One of the great things that I learned during this past Community Day was the information from Pasta and cdj and their impressions of how NCAA 2009 was changed from their first hands-on time (in NYC in April) to their second hands-on time (in Orlando at the end of May). They both confirmed that the game was significantly tweaked and toned down and that the producers had implemented some of their very specific suggestions as well. Why is that important? Because all of us at the Community Day event last week made some very specific suggestion for gameplay tweaks and AI tweaks to the producers of Madden in Orlando...if they are able to implement these suggestions and continue to fine tune the game, then Madden NFL 2009 is looking very, very strong and is already a better game than NCAA 2009 as it was presented in its late-Alpha stage! I am more pumped for Madden to release than I have been in years...I felt it was that good.

YES!! YES!! YES!!

[Moostache]

Quote: Originally Posted by maddenps2

I'm curious read pasta's Madden NFL 09 impressions. Because each year it seems we get a positive report and people get excited. The game comes out and after playing it more extensively we see all that excitement turn to disappointment.

This year's Madden is more improved than previous years.

That is in direct comparison to the preceding title in the series (2008) and to the overall lack of fulfilling expectations in the "next-gen" consoles. The PS3 version makes the 2008 version seem like a really bad joke and the XB360 version is identical in every way except for the controller used.

The jump in player control is far greater than I can recall. The animations are better, the player models are better, and the presentation overall is better. There are no areas of the game that are worse and many that are drastically improved over 2008, so the optimistic outlook is warranted.

Madden 2009 in late-Alpha stage looks like a very solid title with a legitimate chance to be a great game in August. If the game plays solidly in May, and the producers and developers take to heart the very specific feedback we provided them at the recent Community Day event, then the end results for Madden should be very positive in the end and justified as well.


Honestly, my advice remains the same to everyone - if you feel you have been burned by EA games and been unable to get your $60 worth of entertainment from them (in other words, if you played them less than 8 hours - or about 3 Hollywood feature films with popcorn and a drink), then DO NOT BUY the game again and stop whining about it at every given opportunity. Speak with your wallet first and your keyboard second. Its my opinion that you will miss a potentially great game this year; but possibly all you will do is save your $60, and the rest of us the chance to re-read another "EA sucks and 2K rulez" post or the more generic boiler plate version of "EA sucks and everyone there is lazy" in the future...

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Moostache

Honestly, my advice remains the same to everyone - if you feel you have been burned by EA games and been unable to get your $60 worth of entertainment from them (in other words, if you played them less than 8 hours - or about 3 Hollywood feature films with popcorn and a drink), then DO NOT BUY the game again and stop whining about it at every given opportunity. Speak with your wallet first and your keyboard second. Its my opinion that you will miss a potentially great game this year; but possibly all you will do is save your $60, and the rest of us the chance to re-read another "EA sucks and 2K rulez" post or the more generic boiler plate version of "EA sucks and everyone there is lazy" in the future...

[SteelerSpartan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Moostache

I will be posting full impressions later today at maddenwars, but I can say that the commentary of Tom Hammond in the builds I played at EA (Alpha-23 and Alpha-24) last week were TONS better than the Eagles-Cowboys clip of play-by-play. Hammonds did not sound nearly as badly stitched in the game as he does in the early clips..its still far from perfect, but it is not jarringly bad either. And in terms of year-over-year improvement, the Hammonds/Collinsworth combo is LIGHT YEARS ahead of the radio guy. I am a big ND fan and I can't stand Hammonds in real life, but he did not make me want to punch kittens in Madden either.

Well I hope so, because hes been sounding very Sega Genesis to me...especially that "and they get em" line

[Moostache]

Quote: Originally Posted by SoxFan01605

That's good to hear. Hopefully, the new breakaway system makes running have a more rewarding feel once the controls are gotten down. Good job on your coverage. I'm actually somewhat looking forward to trying this one out.

The breakaway system, IMO, was a great addition. This is going to be controversial in many circles though. Before I try to explain this, PLEASE do not take these words as gospel truth...I am going to do my best to explain a difficult thing - the "feel" of the game and not just what can be seen in a video or screenshot.

The breakaway engine allows players to actually manually break out of tackles and manually fight for extra yardage in the game. It ALSO allows for defenders to add onto the tackles in a better way than in 2008. It may feel overpowered to some people when they face power backs like Steven Jackson because he can seem to carry tacklers forward for extra yardage, but it is not like he gets a free 3-4 yards every play...its more like you feel like using the left stick jukes in the game during a tackling animation can get an extra couple yards and occasionally break free entirely.

The defensive animations of adding to the tackle were not as impressive to me as the offensive ones, but I had a distinct feeling playing the game that getting an extra defender into the area to add-on to the tackle was an imperative. It did not feel cheap or overblown to me and I believe that with another month of tuning and tweaking that the feature is going to be a huge addition to Madden - it is already something I missed a great deal on Friday night when I switched back to NCAA 2009 from Madden 2009.

I hope that makes some sense...the gameplay on Madden, in addition to looking fantastic and very smooth compared to 2008, offers a very real change to the dynamics of using the controller and the sense of being responsible and in control of the game more than watching pre-canned animations or foot-sliding animations determine the outcomes too often.

[PVarck31]

The thing that strikes me is that the version you guys played is late-alpha. Its not even to beta yet and alot of people are saying its light years ahead of 08., and that it could be released now. This is great news. I don't think I have been this pumped for madden in years. If they use the remaining month plus to fine tune and implement suggestions from the community, I think EA could be back on top of the world.

Think about it. NHL 08 is amazing. Live took big steps, The NASCAR demo is recieving a ton of praise, and now NCAA and MADDEN are back. WOW.