Madden NFL 11 Demo Available Now, Please Post Impressions Here

[feeq14]

Call me easy to please but i am pretty impressed. Considering that NCAA is always basically the engine from the previous years madden, i felt so much better playng this than NCAA11. The interaction between players, especially WR/DB is waaaay better. They seem to have done a lot to shorten up animations so that players dont animate their way out of a play. My only gripe is that Peyton manning threw 3 int's. And only one was not a really bad read on a play

[droopizzle34]

i must say I really like the demo. Very good flow,run blocking is vastly improved,and gameflow is a great addition.

[Sausage]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sausage

After playing the demo adusting the speed to normal, using gameflow and using the strategy pad; I have to say the videos don't do Madden 11 any justice. This game is much better than I expected and I am officially "uber" excited for my retail copy. Locomotion (it feels just right, not over or under done on normal speed). Gameflow (very cool, and perfect for those who just want to move from play to play). Coordinator (not annoying as expected, pretty immersive actually). Transititions from play to play much better (the game just flows better from down to down). Commentators (again better when actually playing, Gus surprised me a few times with his exhuberance). *Another plus for me was how nicely commentary went from play to a replay; and so far each replay was nicely done. *I didn't have many penalties, but there was a nice replay as the referee was calling the penalty, replay was showing it while you chose to accept or decline. These are just a few of my impressions and I cannot wait to play more.

Quote: Originally Posted by Sausage

I forgot to mention one thing Strategy Pad, I have to say to have so streamlined has made it so easy to use, it took a few seconds to adjust to and I was making all adjustments in seconds. Well, hope you guys are enjoying the demo and football games again. For the next couple of months I stay off the Madden/NCAA boards, because it gets a little crazy. I will see you on the other boards.

I keep adding to my impressions, running blocking is definitely a breath of fresh air; similar to NCAA, o-line looking for defenders to block; I believe I noticed head tracking as well. Pass blocking has been refined, but I liked it last year as well.

One other thing I can tell the Madden team worked is on is "little animations" which give the players a more life like behaviors. There is a lot less sudden stops and players moving in synchronization; just looks more organic.

[jamaster14]

game is a 10/10 GAMEPLAY wise for me.

its a 1/10 when factoring in strat pad. thought it would grow on me, but after 30 or so games, i hate it more and more. i wont buy it unless they patch strat pad.

i will commend EA on doing an EXCELLENT job on gameplay. man coverage, the deep ball, run game, player movment... all greatly improved. bravo

[BlueNGold]

Played 2 games early this morning. Loving the gameplay and the feel of locomotion.

For me I actually prefer Madden's locomotion over NCAA's. I don't know why but it feels like there's more weight to the players and I love how, for example, Joseph Addai feels light, quick and agile but Shonn Greene feels heavy, strong and powerful. You also see a big difference with Dwight Freeney when you use him compared to other d-lineman. It just makes the players feel more like their real selves and it has a great feel to it. It's almost like some kind of "Signature Movement" in a way. Can't wait to use Adrian Peterson in the full version to see how he feels.

And damn, Darrelle Revis flies in this game with how fast and quick he is. I actually almost had a user INT in man to man usering him from the start but he dropped it.

Speaking of WR's/DB's, has anyone noticed the route running? After that missed user INT with Revis I was feeling cocky so I decided to line up using him in man to man again. I was covering Anthony Gonzalez and he made me bite hard with this really nice head fake and burned me on a slant. I was impressed.

Catching is also looking nice. You can tell that catching animation tool did big work on that aspect. Everything looks really natural. I had probably my greatest catch in Madden ever with Santonio Holmes on a long bomb that looked like I overthrew it because it was heading towards the back of the endzone but Santonio kept his feet inside the endzone, reached out and grabbed the ball while dragging his feet down.

My only problems so far are the Strategy Pad, which isn't even that much of an issue, just going to take some getting used to and I had a play where Revis jumped a route but dropped the pick, then the ball went right through his body into Reggie Wayne's hands. Only time I've seen that though so hopefully it doesn't happen in the full retail version.

[ab2c4]

I'll start off with the only possible negative that I have at the moment: there is only one set of sliders in the demo. I hope to God in the retail version there are both sets (for Human and CPU).

As for the rest of the demo I came away very impressed. I think the gameplay is a nice improvement over Madden 10. The gameplay I thought was pretty smooth. I like the play calling screens as well as how you call audibles. Graphically, it's fantastic, I love it.

Overall, it has the potential to be a great game........as long as both sets of sliders are in the retail version. If the retail version has both sets of sliders I think this will end up better than NCAA 11 (which I think is the best NCAA football game ever, going back to 1993 I have played every release of the game).

[wheelman990]

Well, after 3 games heres my impressions

Thegame is in the step in the right direction, but for me falls short of a purchase. Heres a few

pros:
graphics
annimations
blocking
slightly in presentation

cons:
presentation still odd at times
same old madden hit sounds
skating and sliding of players
gang tackles are terrible
camera could use work
game still gets stale quickly
just nothing to keep my interest in the long run, besides the NFL licence.
bad crowd & sidelines besides cutscenes

[big_larry]

Quote: Originally Posted by streamline

Demo is okay. It's an improvement from Madden 10, but for some reason it just isn't fun.

I agree,

That's because you see the same thing year in and year out, you can predict the out come of plays, guess what tackle animations are going to trigger, the game is just not innovative at all anymore.

Im going to pass on Madden until they come up with something innovative, new, and different, im too busy to be playing games anyway, I have school, studying for my A+ exam, a job, and a girlfriend, another lame Madden game just make it easier for me to pass up.