Madden NFL 13 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

[mightyrx]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bulls321974

"Madden NFL 06" was my last copy I purchased. After all those years I have to say that just little has changed in terms of gameplay feeling. It just doesn't feel right when playing it because it still looks arcadish and extremely artificial. Player movements still look bad to me most of the time which consequently kills the atmosphere. The acclaimed new physics engine doesn't really make a difference compared to previous titles. Biggest improvement: Adding Phil Simms. Commentary has vastly improved. After playing two demo games, a few questions come up: Why do the Seahawks wear dirty looking, grayish uniforms that supposed to be white? The seahawks have 3 new jersey colors; white, ash/grey and dark blue Why do all players walk as if they have a bad arthritis in both knees? Why are some cutscenes extremely choppy and uncoordinated? Why do some receivers drop plenty of passes even though they were open, no defender interfered or hit them? On All Madden, the sliders for the user are all set at 25 Why does the "EA" wipe appear numerous times but no replay will follow? You might be too quick on the button presses post tackle Why did EA create these nicely looking starting lineup graphics when there is no time to look at them closely, let alone reading the player's names, positions etc.? CPU quarterbacks tend to throw unrealistic lob screen passes with little or no chance to get completed All in all: It still plays like the first next-gen Madden and that's simply too little improvement in order to spend 60 bucks for this game...

Hope that clears up some of your concerns.

[CoRRuPTMiND93]

some people are just being too hard on the game right now. YES it still needs LOTS of work, but its like most of you don't even appreciate the things they've done to better the game. It seems like at this point people won't be happy until the entire game is fixed, but fixing a game like madden is going to take time. Tuning a physics engine is pretty damn hard, the presentation elements they added this year are pretty damn good, the commentary has vastly improved, total control passing is awesome, read and react still needs a little work but i'd say 75-80 percent of the time it works great. honestly the only game breaking thing for me in this game is the foot planting and player movement. I expected there to be bugs with the new engine, but the engine is far from terrible. Oh and another thing, people are complaining about the replays and cut scenes and things like that when its JUST A DEMO. For all we know, the physics engine could be tuned way better, the replays could be fixed, ect. Just continue to be patient. I have no problem with people disliking the game, but don't sit there and tell me that EA didn't make a step in the right direction. This is a FOUNDATION for them, not a Ceiling.

[bnb]

a couple more impressions:

trufant picked me off at their 10 yd. line and proceeded to house it. wouldn't have happened if the 2 skins that were giving chase didn't get their arms tangled and proceed to knock each other over. it looked really bad thanks to the physics. i can already see the infinity engine giving me fits.

moss bobbled what looked to be a sure touchdown. he caught it, got hit from behind, the ball popped out and he tried to hang on all the way to the ground. it looked amazing and very realistic.

griffin's dreads look horrible clipping through his helmet.

uni and field degradation are quite well done.

the progressive lighting isn't nearly as pronounced as ncaa this year.

loving the commentary. it gives a fresh feeling to the game and i think i'll keep it on this year. i am already getting sick of nance saying, "it's a pass all the way". and "3rd down all the way"? what the hell does that even mean?

[Hooe]

Is it just me, or are the Seahawks and Redskins both playing in colored alternate jerseys? The Hawks' jerseys are definitely not road white (the Giants' road white jerseys when playing at San Francisco are much brighter), and the Seahawks' new alternate jersey is in-fact grey.

Might explain some of the apparent lighting issues.

[jvaccaro]

The biggest issue I am having is that the jerseys look very dark, almost black, when the light source is from the endzone the camera is facing. Even the white SEA and red WAS jerseys are hard to tell apart because of this new shadow effect. M12 on PS3 didnt have this problem on my TV.

There also seemed to be a lot of injuries in my first two games.

I can't seem to get the defensive backs to strafe, swat, or intercept, however it seems easier to put the receiver in better pisition to make a catch.

Commentary is waaay better.

[krispykeith]

Pro and All-Pro, Very Slow, default sliders, xbox.

I have to say I am really enjoying this game and it really just comes down to this...it "feels" good. While all of the changes may have pros and cons to them and I could detail each of those out, on the whole each change improves the overall "feel".

A perfect example is the immersion factor which is much improved. While the replays feel unfinished and the default camera leaves me a little frustrated they are far outweighed by the leap in commentary, stat overlays, crowd noise and little touches. Overall I feel far more immersed...it feels right. Please do fix that default camera though as I have heard only negative reactions to it.

Another example is the new engine. I am frustrated to no end by the lack of momentum. I almost fear this is a conscious choice though. It reminds me of this giant debate in killzone where the aiming had this wonderful heavy, weighty feel and it was difficult to pull off shots. The community outcry was deafening and they patched it so it was really fast to move and...well, like every other shooter. I am guessing it is similar with Madden. I would love it to be HARD to run, HARD to shift left and right...and really "realistic". I bet the majority of players would cry foul if direction shifts were heavily momentum based and we would hear "everyone runs like they are stuck in mud". You probably can't please everyone but I sure wish there was a slider that would allow me to increase the momentum factor. It really shouldnt be difficult to add...literally decrease speed on directional changes and make it a slider value. The more you increase the momentum slider the less speed you would have for a few moments.

Again, while I sound like I am complaining I actually think the engine "feels" better, more organic and leads to more "wow" moments. I don't get too hung up on little odd glitches, it is a game. At the end of the day I feel better playing this engine than the previous versions.

It is the entire package that just feels more organic, more alive and more immersive. It has been a while since I felt that in a Madden game so the experience far outweighs the annoyances. While I won't declare it the greatest thing since sliced bread I will be purchasing based on the demo. Any improvements in the final product (camera please) and subsequent patches will only validate that decision.

[kingcrf]

Quote: Originally Posted by TracerBullet

Nice to see the commentators actually breaking off of a longer statement to announce a big play. Said something to the tune of, "Flynn is looking down the fi...that ball has just been picked off!" Sounded natural too.

same thing happened to me "and flynn drops back throws looking for DEANGELO HALL

[Humdinger80]

"I have no problem with people disliking the game, but don't sit there and tell me that EA didn't make a step in the right direction. This is a FOUNDATION for them, not a Ceiling."

I have to agree with CoRRuPTMiND93 here because although I hate to admit it, this game does "feel" good to play especially on very slow, movement doesn't have that turn on a dime feeling that has infuriated me to no end. And don't get me wrong folks I HATE EAs Madden franchise as a whole with a white hot passion but this game is dare I say....decent?. And as much as I love 2Ksports games, those ALWAYS need serious gameplay patches every year as well.