Madden NFL 10 Hands-On Preview (Joystiq)

[PlyrzNumber1]

I'm with the others who think the development team should focus more on gameplay aspects, particularly getting the X's and O's of simulation football down (which NBA 2K has done quite well, basketball ofcourse), then moving on to more nebulous enhancements like "presentation" and "broadcast".

[NYG 5]

when teams get into the red zone, i hope we get to see some cutscenes with a ground level camera angle from the sidelines

[Netherscourge]

Quote: Originally Posted by Brnto4life

After playing NBA 2K9 recently for the first time, I'm PRAYING that this "Emotions of the Game" presentation mode will come close to matching that. I was blown away by how much it felt like I was watching a real NBA broadcast while I was playing 2K9. The pre-game, overlays, commentary, and replays all felt broadcast-ready and it really sucks you into the game. Hopefully the football dev teams at EA Sports are moving in that direction.

I hope so too - but it seems like it's not going to get there yet. I mean, they're still dragging their feet about extra camera angles... The fact that they had to post a thread with a Poll asking our opinions means they dont' really feel like working on it for some strange reason... as if the poll was to try and justify NOT wanting to work on it.

But they do the easy stuff like cleat colors for the freaks who make noise about it.

How can you have "Emotion of the NFL" if you don't have a TV-style Broadcast camera as an option?

I don't know... hopefully, E3 will reveal everything and some surprises. At this point, I'm 100 % focused on presentation and I don't even care about game modes or anymore gameplay gimmicks. Gameplay can get boring too if it's not spiced up with solid presentation.

[Brnto4life]

Quote: Originally Posted by Netherscourge

I hope so too - but it seems like it's not going to get there yet. I mean, they're still dragging their feet about extra camera angles... The fact that they had to post a thread with a Poll asking our opinions means they dont' really feel like working on it for some strange reason... as if the poll was to try and justify NOT wanting to work on it. But they do the easy stuff like cleat colors for the freaks who make noise about it. How can you have "Emotion of the NFL" if you don't have a TV-style Broadcast camera as an option? I don't know... hopefully, E3 will reveal everything and some surprises. At this point, I'm 100 % focused on presentation and I don't even care about game modes or anymore gameplay gimmicks. Gameplay can get boring too if it's not spiced up with solid presentation.

I'm praying they've been dragging their feet on the camera angle deal because of this new presentation stuff. I hope their unwillingness to comment on the subject stems from the fact that they don't want it revealed yet.

It's also tough for the Madden team because there are so many problems with both gameplay AND presentation. It makes it difficult to decide whether to focus 100% on one or the other or do a mix.

The NBA 2K series had the luxury of simply getting basketball right from the get-go, so they were able to focus much more on presentation. With that being said, they've fallen into the same trap as EA Sports of late, and now there are tons of fixes needed to gameplay. The difference is, presentation is already awesome so they can take the time to polish the game.

[NYyankz225]

I think it's funny that some people are questioning why we don't trust places like IGN for noticing the improvements that were made.

In case you don't remember, these are the same places that gave past Maddens 8's and 9's. Games that most of us would say have significant faults. Yet now, because they are saying something somewhat negative, we should all believe that their opinions are valid? I think it's just that some people like Derrville want to go against the grain. You can bet if IGN or this site had given Madden 10 a glowing preview we would be hearing about how past reviews were so inflated and they can't be trusted. Yet now we should listen because they have a few negative (and inaccurate according to the CD guys) things to say.

Fact is EVERYBODY is "biased" on both sides of the fence. That's life. You just have to sort out the subjective comments that are made and make your own decision based on the objective information there is.

[Bgamer90]

Quote: Originally Posted by Netherscourge

I look at everything equally - to simply dismiss this because it doesn't kiss the developer's asses is rather naive.

None of the previews have "kissed developers".

Just because this wasn't positive isn't the reason many are talking bad about it (well at least it's true for me). It was the manner in which the things were being said and also the things themselves that were being said such as "they aren't doing nothing new to the gameplay " which is practically a lie (even if you don't like the gameplay, to say that they aren't doing anything to it is just wrong...).

Tie that in with nothing that in depth and a bunch of EA "money hungry cash cow" talk, the preview overall was just pretty bad in my opinion and again, not because it wasn't positive, but because of the way it was handled.

[TheWatcher]

The magazines say silly stuff every year about Madden. A number of them praised Madden 08 as "the one"... the generation-defining Madden. a couple huge mags gave that game a 9.0. I just saw a recent article where some reviewers from the big mags were putting Madden 08 on it's all-time Madden great's list... But Madden 08 was flaming garbage as it was a broken mess with weak graphics... I can't even respect a reviewers view on football games after they've put that piece of junk in high esteem.

My point is that the magazines for the most part have very casual players reviewing these football games. They don't look for all the little nuances nor do they care. They don't care about the stuff we care about. So it's not a stretch to fathom that they wouldn't pick up on the difference in feel between 09 and 10... well, I think something would have to be wrong with a person's nervous system to not pick up on it, but given the mags track records on Madden reviews I can still believe they'd miss it. But when I tell you they're wrong, they're so dead wrong... they've become dust blown away in the wind; that's how dead wrong they are about this. If it weren't for their track records, I'd actually be stunned at hearing them say this. The only way they could be right is if EA completely changed everything about how the players moved, gamespeed, etc. since we left, and I sincerely doubt that happened.

Bottom line, when you get the game you'll see that it does feel different and does not play the same just in terms of feel alone... and it's tweakable to your liking. And nothing influenced me to feel that way, lol. I can tell the difference between a game that defied the laws of physics on every down (Madden 09) to one with weight and momentum playing a factor (Madden 10) and if didn't I would've said so. I spent all Winter talking about this and it was at the top of my agenda for Community Day.

I have nothing to lose by being truthful and nothing to gain by pretending. It is what it is and you'll see August 14th.

[Bgamer90]

Quote: Originally Posted by grunt

Gaming sites are finally developing the courage to criticize Madden but they are doing the criticism 5 years too late. Finally Madden is heading in the right direction and the critics are bringing heat. Where were these same critics when Madden was really bad but they were still giving the game the mandatory high review scores.

Yeah.

Strange isn't it?