Madden NFL 10 Demo Available, Post Impressions Here

[yh006866]

does anyone have an extra demo code?

[The Visualizer]

Played 2 games on ARI-PIT and 1 of NYG-DAL on all All-Pro

I pretty much echo everyone's impressions with the graphics, presentation and game speed so Ill just share a few things that stood out in the games I played.

A FEW COOL THINGS
-Pass rushers run at the QB with their hands up if they know they cant get a hit on him as hes throwing

-I ran a stretch play and the strong-side TE immediately kicked out and chucked the DE back inside springing me for a big gain

-Pro-Tak and Brandon Jacobs are fun to watch, my man didn't go down easy on most plays, def a big difference in running styles from Willie Parker and Beanie Wells

-Fumble pile-up works better than I had hoped for, I lost 1 so far

-New playbooks are sick, lots of "useful" plays

-Didnt see any WR's magically speed up to make catches or any pass defenders make ridiculous plays on the ball

-Squib Kick..nuff said

A FEW THINGS I DON'T LIKE
-NO PENALTIES CALLED, this has got to be my main gripe with the game so far, I know it can be adjusted with sliders but if you are marketing the game "Everything You See On Sunday", call a holding or false-start from time-to-time on the default settings...these things happen waaaaay more frequently that EA thinks, I had only 1 penalty called in 3 games and it was Running Into The Kicker and 2 of the games were the 5 min qtr Gamestop ones.

-Playcalling screen is gonna take some getting used to, I miss having more than 3 plays displayed, mainly because its gonna take extra time scrolling thru the playbooks to find the plays I want.

-QB Evade Rumble, I like it but I dont think it should rumble if the defender is coming from the QB's blindside, its too useful right now.

[Illustrator76]

My quick impression is that player models look MUCH better to me, they are much better proportioned and a lot less squatty (especially after looking at NCAA 10 for the past week). I do hate the slow gameplay speed though, it is just too SLLLLOOOOWWW, hopefully normal will be just right.

[spankdatazz22]

Played one game before going to work, on All-Pro (5min demo):

Color me a bit surprised, this is the first Madden next gen that I felt somewhat engaged. I never could complete a full game of the NCAA 10 demo. First want to say it was pretty ballsy of Tiburon to allow replay (although there isn't much of a buffer) given the potential for ridicule/praise and the game speed change. Also like that you can change difficulties, and I guess you can adjust sliders. Very good.

The player movement isn't as twitchy as I thought it'd be; definitely no where near NCAA demo. The slower game speed works, although it may be a little too slow. As an APF/2K5 fan I can appreciate it but may be a big shock for a lot of general Madden fans. Big problem is there seems to be little to no discernible difference in player speeds, and the seeming complete lack of analog movement. Just don't feel like I'm really running. Also there's a huge lack of individuality among the players since there's that player movement issue. Players interact during the play a little better than I thought they would. Lots of variety on wrap tackles, but overall the game doesn't speak to the speed/collisions you see in the NFL. Pro-tak seems to usually result in soft looking tackles.

Graphics are excellent; player scaling not so much. Thought my DB made a tackle and it was actually James Harrison - his face was well done though. Was hard generating much of a pass rush; OL seemed impenetrable at times, pockets still don't form as they really should. Still better than in previous years; could be better w/slider tweaks. If I have an LB coming full speed at a lineman that's already backing up, there shouldn't be some stalemate jostling animation to kick in which is what happens. Looks ugly. Just didn't feel like I was playing with the Steelers defense. WR and DB play was better than I thought it'd be though. Wasn't impressed w/the signature throwing anims most of the time - seemed to take too long to wind up/throw for whatever reason; qbs still exhibit very poor footwork.

Presentation was better. Really didn't notice the cutscenes all that much, surprisingly. Thought a lot of the crowd comments were more silly than appropriate. But it didn't distract all that much.

Will need to put in more time w/the demo, but at least it didn't completely repulse me on the first playthrough. I came in w/very low expectations so I think some of my surprise comes from that. The game would feel a lot better if they addressed the player movement issue (true analog movement, varying speeds, appropriate transitional animations, realistic contact/collisions) and players were more distinctive/played more like individuals.

[leo2k2ndc]

I'm having a hard time searching youtube online to find gameplay videos, so I decided to start a thread .. If anyone has any videos, they could post them in this thread so I can maybe get thru this week without using my XBOX Live month subscription just to play a Madden Demo ...
Thank YOU

[Moegames]

Oh i want to comment on the overall sound of the game..and this is minus the commentary of course but the overall sound during big plays, bad plays, TD's,etc is flat out amazing..this adds so much excitiment to the game. I remember one of my HUGE gripes last year was the same old crowd sounds..its SO MUCH BETTER now...even the fan hecklers inbetween plays and hudles,etc adds a whole new layer to the overall sounds of the game.

I just tested the game on my main home theater system in the living room..i got a pretty high end sound setup..around 5 grand invested into my sound setup in my home theater ..so i turn up the volune and i was freaking in heaven playing this madden demo.. the CPU ran a TD on my butt for big yards and the crowd just went NUTS..it was sick!!

Again, the sound is amazing in this game..its too bad the commentary will be so dodgy this year..owell, im happy with the changes we do have this year..im not one of those nit picking spoiled brats that needs to have a perfect game...

[ausar72]

Quote: Originally Posted by KDRIZZLE2K4

Wow! Nice screenshots...

You know those socks on the Giants look pretty low. Do you think they put in variable sock lengths, like in NCAA?

[Bootzilla]

Quote: Originally Posted by rudyjuly2

But even a great DE only gets 1 sack a game. 16 sacks is usually good for Top 5 in the league. And that DE rushes the QB 30 times a game. Even though the DE may be a lot better than the tackle across from him, you can't expect to dominate on every other play. They can still get pressure and be disruptive but I think people expect too much on a play by play basis sometimes.

I agree. Many people expect to get too many sacks or pressures. In the NCAA forum I used Oklahoma as an example where Bradford was sacked something like 14 times all year while averaging 30 plus passes a game.

What I'd like to see from computer controlled players on human controlled teams is ACTIVITY. I want to see the offensive linemen working hard against these top flight guys. More pressure and penetration. What I don't like is when guys are stonewalled by inferior linemen. The whole stonewall instant death grip is what I don't like. Overall though I guess it's something that can be tweaked with sliders so it'll probably not be a problem but, players should play to their ratings regardless of whether you're playing on all-Madden or not.