Madden NFL 25 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions (360, PS3)

[jpdavis82]

Quote: Originally Posted by Only1LT

I had wanted to touch on this as well, but my impression was already quite long. The fact that they added foot planting, in and of itself, is nice, but it's pretty cosmetic. Not only doesn't it animate all that great (there is not much, if any, indication of weight transfer in the animation, just a foot plant for foot plant's sake) but it doesn't slow you down all that much either. This is why I said a couple pages back that people saying zigzag or swerve running is dead, were overstating the case. The animation may no longer zig zag, but the changes of direction don't impose too much of a speed penalty or loss of balance, so it's kind 6 of one, half dozen of the other. Now this isn't to say that there aren't improvements in both animation and locomotion. The game does look, feel, and control better. It doesn't extend to receiver routes, unfortunately, because they make some really unrealistic cuts and that's probably a part of the reason why receivers are getting open so easily a lot of the time. I'm very skeptical about the True Step on Next Gen too. Holding out hope and waiting on judgement, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that my Spidey sense is tingling...

I understand your skepticism, the way I understand it and this is based on a press row podcast I heard with Victor Lugo at E3. The current gen engine does not allow for transitional animations for every step. The ignite engine is supposed to allow for them for each step, which will be 3x the rate of animations allowed for locomotion vs current gen. The only time I heard a EA developer say zig zag and ice skating was totally gone, as far as I remember, was during the IGN interview with Cam Weber in reference to next gen. Simfballcritic said a while back that ice skating and zig zag can still happen on current gen, but it happens a lot less with Madden 25.

[ch46647]

Quote: Originally Posted by Only1LT

I had wanted to touch on this as well, but my impression was already quite long. The fact that they added foot planting, in and of itself, is nice, but it's pretty cosmetic. Not only doesn't it animate all that great (there is not much, if any, indication of weight transfer in the animation, just a foot plant for foot plant's sake) but it doesn't slow you down all that much either. This is why I said a couple pages back that people saying zigzag or swerve running is dead, were overstating the case. The animation may no longer zig zag, but the changes of direction don't impose too much of a speed penalty or loss of balance, so it's kind 6 of one, half dozen of the other. Now this isn't to say that there aren't improvements in both animation and locomotion. The game does look, feel, and control better. It doesn't extend to receiver routes, unfortunately, because they make some really unrealistic cuts and that's probably a part of the reason why receivers are getting open so easily a lot of the time. I'm very skeptical about the True Step on Next Gen too. Holding out hope and waiting on judgement, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that my Spidey sense is tingling...

On top of what seems like a completely different locomotion system for AI and user controlled players. This guy hit the nail on the head with what he said right here.

If there are any game changers reading this, please COPY AND PASTE these last few pages and send them to the developers. This is why Madden is so far off from a gamplay perspective from EA's own NHL and FIFA. Everything just seems so disjointed and out of control.

Football (any sport) is all about anticipation and reaction. You cannot anticipate or react to anything in Madden because the way the game animates and moves makes no sense.

It is the same way with the physics engine. In theory it is good, and sometimes it looks fantastic. But it is completely random and you literally have no clue what kind of results you are going to get.

(Back to hockey for a moment. Download the demo and grab Zdeno Chara, I guarantee you will know EXACTLY what will happen when you hit a smaller player)

[GiantBlue76]

Quote: Originally Posted by ch46647

On top of what seems like a completely different locomotion system for AI and user controlled players. This guy hit the nail on the head with what he said right here. If there are any game changers reading this, please COPY AND PASTE these last few pages and send them to the developers. This is why Madden is so far off from a gamplay perspective from EA's own NHL and FIFA. Everything just seems so disjointed and out of control. Football (any sport) is all about anticipation and reaction. You cannot anticipate or react to anything in Madden because the way the game animates and moves makes no sense. It is the same way with the physics engine. In theory it is good, and sometimes it looks fantastic. But it is completely random and you literally have no clue what kind of results you are going to get. (Back to hockey for a moment. Download the demo and grab Zdeno Chara, I guarantee you will know EXACTLY what will happen when you hit a smaller player)

I'm sorry, but we shouldn't need to jump through hoops and make notice of this. Either the developers are good enough to see this themselves or there is no hope for Madden ever getting to the next level.

[Big FN Deal]

Quote: Originally Posted by jpdavis82

I understand your skepticism, the way I understand it and this is based on a press row podcast I heard with Victor Lugo at E3. The current gen engine does not allow for transitional animations for every step. The ignite engine is supposed to allow for them for each step, which will be 3x the rate of animations allowed for locomotion vs current gen. The only time I heard a EA developer say zig zag and ice skating was totally gone, as far as I remember, was during the IGN interview with Cam Weber in reference to next gen. Simfballcritic said a while back that ice skating and zig zag can still happen on current gen, but it happens a lot less with Madden 25.

I guess trying to decipher all the Da Vinci Code like things from Tiburon about Madden are getting old for some. For instance, I believe Weber when he says that but I have no idea what it really means, in relation to how it effects game play. I am starting to think it may very well just be more cosmetics, meaning movement will look better and more fluid but have nothing to do with physics or player differential.

So we could essentially end up with a much more realistic moving Madden on new consoles but where every player moves basically the same. A 300+ pound OLineman should NOT be moving like an agile TE. Even if they add in a player modifier for every position, that still leaves players with lower ratings moving the same and skilled players doing so too, when not using the modifier.

[ghettogeeksta]

Cut scenes gotta gotta go! I don't want a fricken mini dance cam stopping the flow of the game. They need to have the players celebrate without stopping the game like other sports titles. If next gen Madden 25 have cut scenes especially the same old recycled ones from current gen, it's an auto fail and I won't buy it! My fricken thumbs are sore from pressing the A button to skip pass them.

[jpdavis82]

Quote: Originally Posted by ch46647

On top of what seems like a completely different locomotion system for AI and user controlled players. This guy hit the nail on the head with what he said right here. If there are any game changers reading this, please COPY AND PASTE these last few pages and send them to the developers. This is why Madden is so far off from a gamplay perspective from EA's own NHL and FIFA. Everything just seems so disjointed and out of control. Football (any sport) is all about anticipation and reaction. You cannot anticipate or react to anything in Madden because the way the game animates and moves makes no sense. It is the same way with the physics engine. In theory it is good, and sometimes it looks fantastic. But it is completely random and you literally have no clue what kind of results you are going to get. (Back to hockey for a moment. Download the demo and grab Zdeno Chara, I guarantee you will know EXACTLY what will happen when you hit a smaller player)

There's no need to do that, I talked to them about this months ago. They said this is something they have been stressing with the devs and the devs have been working on this, trying to figure out how to get weight & momentum to matter on next gen. The devs want to get where we do guys, it's just going to take a little longer. Not a lot longer, but a little bit longer.

[Only1LT]

Quote: Originally Posted by jpdavis82

I understand your skepticism, the way I understand it and this is based on a press row podcast I heard with Victor Lugo at E3. The current gen engine does not allow for transitional animations for every step. The ignite engine is supposed to allow for them for each step, which will be 3x the rate of animations allowed for locomotion vs current gen. The only time I heard a EA developer say zig zag and ice skating was totally gone, as far as I remember, was during the IGN interview with Cam Weber in reference to next gen. Simfballcritic said a while back that ice skating and zig zag can still happen on current gen, but it happens a lot less with Madden 25.

No, I read up and listened to the presentations of True Step. What I am skeptical about isn't the talking points, it's the IGN Live Demo.

Reading about and hearing about True Step, made it sound great. Watching the game actually in motion during the demo... was a mixed bag at best. Looked better than current gen Madden, but seemed to fall far short of what they were touting it to be. It seemed to be something that wasn't persistent. It would look just like current gen, then the runner would change direction or do a special move, and it would look all Next Gen like for that brief moment, then go right back to looking like current gen. It's early and they have time to go, so I'm not writing it off by any means. Just wasn't a great first impression and again, I'm a bit skeptical based, not only on track record, but by the only visual evidence of the tech in action that I have to go on at the moment. Nothing would make me happier than to be proven wrong about this as this is easily one of the biggest issues with the game.

I din't mean the devs said zigzagging was dead. I meant I had seen several GCs say it was dead.

[beecravey7]

I am playing the demo on the ps3 and have noticed players disappear between plays and all u can see is their shadow when the players come to the line for the next play and during play.