Madden 12 News Post

Madden NFL 12 First-Look Preview

01:17 PM - April 28, 2011 by RaychelSnr

Ed. Note -- This preview will solely focus on presentation. That does not mean I did not play the game already, but because my initial hands-on time was so brief I feel it would not be worthy of speaking about here -- I would more or less be listing off bullet points straight from EA rather than giving you guys actual gameplay impressions. I believe I will be playing the game in a deeper fashion in the very near future, so expect gameplay impressions from OS by next week.

Madden NFL Football has struggled mightily over the years to find a solid presentation foundation. Over the years the presentation elements have been lacking, aimless or just plain bad. And, to some extent, that�s not surprising. EA had the impossible task of trying to live up to ESPN NFL 2K5 in the presentation department -- a game that was at one time the gold standard for the entire sports gaming industry. On top of that, the Madden developers refused to just go the route of mimicking an ESPN-style broadcast after they acquired the ESPN license, which would have been a commendable creative decision had they actually created presentation elements that were lauded.

Nevertheless, here we are now, and all we have seen during this console generation is bland, repetitive, aimless or just plain bad presentation in our NFL football game. However, it seems like EA is finally putting in the time and effort -- and money -- to create an experience that you will want to be a part of, not just because you want to control your favorite team or player, but because you want to be a part of a football experience.

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Member Comments

# 1 RGiles36 @ 04/28/11 01:28 PM

Hell yes. Bravo! Great write-up!!

# 2 canes21 @ 04/28/11 01:29 PM

Disappointed they scrapped the Extra Point and half time shows, but they were terrible Maybe they are going to surprise us with new, improved shows under different names.

One thing I hope is that when I play the Eagles and Billy Budgenson the rookie from Colorado in 2019 is the QB, he doesn't run out in the pregame in the same exact fashion as Vick.

# 3 DavidmOrtiz15 @ 04/28/11 01:30 PM

I hope the duo-commentary works this year, and that they actually discuss topics together instead of being on different topics in every game. Im ready for this game to be released already.

# 4 ChaseB @ 04/28/11 01:33 PM

Hey all, just an update that I played essentially three full quarters of a game today while at a Madden event in NY. So I should have some relatively fleshed out gameplay impressions in the near future.

# 5 chen_sc @ 04/28/11 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChaseB


	Hey all, just an update that I played essentially three full quarters of a game today while at a Madden event in NY. So I should have some relatively fleshed out gameplay impressions in the near future.

chase are you gonna answer some questions like you did with ncaa 12?

# 6 PacMan3000 @ 04/28/11 01:38 PM

This sounds really exciting, though considering the huge amounts of improvements, I didn't get the sense that Chase was really excited about the presentation. It felt more like he was telling us what was changed, rather than giving us his impression of it.

Which is fine, but I'm just wondering if there's a reason for that? Were you impressed with what you saw, especially compared to other games like NBA 2K and The Show regarding strictly presentation?

# 7 djordan @ 04/28/11 01:48 PM

Good read. Can't wait to hear your gameplay impressions.

# 8 Nab_Impervious_XII @ 04/28/11 01:54 PM

My only fear with EA's design choices in presentation is that they're always so painstakingly focused on one aspect of presentation that they always seem to miss the forest.

The 700+ cameras are a great addition, but like Chase said, a lot of fans won't even notice them.

EA kinda reminds me of the kid who will attempt to memorize every sentence in a textbook (even the index) to pass a test, but due to the limitation of time, they only manage to memorize 12 pages and end up failing the test anyway. Whereas another kid (let's call him 2k or Sony) make better use of their time by focusing on the parts of the book that are immediately applicable to the test and pass with flying colors.

These are great additions, don't get me wrong, but a lot of them seem more "academic" then viscerally impactful.

# 9 BleedEaglesGreen @ 04/28/11 02:03 PM

Thanks for the info. Although I'm disappointed that they've scrapped the Halftime show, at least I don't have wait in ravenous anticipation to see if this area is improved this year. (tired of scanning through numerous off camera clips from the E3 Expo lol) Every year the same hope......... please let there be an ESPN/ CBS broadcast half time show...... similar to 2K5 or better but to no avail. I hope there's some sort of broadcast highlight package and commentary at the end of the game or week in season mode. It wouldn't hurt either if there were highlights from other games too. EA you've got NFL exclusivity don't make us suffer! COME ON EA!!!!!!! LOL

# 10 BleedEaglesGreen @ 04/28/11 02:06 PM

Chase were there any improvements to the end of game recap?

# 11 Mr_Riddick @ 04/28/11 02:07 PM

Good write-up as always Chase. Beganing to have faith again I must say. Looking at the feature list along with this preview, I hope I can finally play an NFL game this year....

# 12 ChaseB @ 04/28/11 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chen_sc


	chase are you gonna answer some questions like you did with ncaa 12?

That's the plan. I'm sitting in Penn Station right now rather than OS HQ, so I won't be doing it right now but later tonight or tomorrow I'll be checking in. Just not offering up open season as of now since I won't be at my computer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PacMan3000


	This sounds really exciting, though considering the huge amounts of improvements, I didn't get the sense that Chase was really excited about the presentation. It felt more like he was telling us what was changed, rather than giving us his impression of it. Which is fine, but I'm just wondering if there's a reason for that? Were you impressed with what you saw, especially compared to other games like NBA 2K and The Show regarding strictly presentation?

Yeah, I was hoping the tone would come across clearly enough. I was not overly excited if only because I only saw so much in my short time -- so I'm not going to go bananas when there's so much I still haven't seen over an extended period presentation-wise. It doesn't mean I won't be impressed in the long run, and I certainly am impressed already with the pregame stuff before a game and the opening sequence of action. It's just the other elements during/later in the games that could potentially not resonate as much long term. I can probably explain this better when I have more time since I think it's a tricky thing I am trying to explain.

# 13 Nab_Impervious_XII @ 04/28/11 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJenness


	It sounds to me that it was removed completely.

Yea, that's a shame. I really think EA kinda overcomplicated the whole "Extra Point" thing too. We didn't need to see Fran Charles & Alex Flanagan during the broadcast. Just give us their voice overs and hire a compelling play-by-play commentator like Berman, and you have an amazing show.

Unfortunately, it seems like another case of EA being too diligent with the details and eventually discouraging themselves from breaking new boundaries in presentation.

# 14 ch46647 @ 04/28/11 02:25 PM

Chase, next time you play please pay attention to the "stadium atmosphere." What I mean by this is are the crowds finally dynamic? Are there ebs and swells in the crowd that sound like a real NFL stadium? Do they react to appropriate situations on the field?

I personally feel one of the bigger dissapointments as far as presentation goes in recent Madden's has been the crowd noise. It almost puts you to sleep with the same repetitive crowd sound cycling over and over....

# 15 cgalligan @ 04/28/11 02:27 PM

The additions look nice. Great visuals.

I agree with NAB that they might have focused on a few things that most people wont notice, but, I can't fault them for trying.

One thing that I hope they add in the future, is a halftime show and postgame "player of the game" clip like they have in NBA 2k11. Those are pretty slick in that game. I like how it has a little commercial talking about some other upcoming games around the league between quarters as well.

Along those same lines, it would be nice to see a "today" feature like NBA 2k11, where the commentary and everything changes based on what game your playing. For example I played a game on Easter, and it said, "welcome to this specail easter sunday matchup between..." just little things like that really add to the presentation of the game imo.

But, again, I'm excited about the things I'm seeing a reading so far. Lets just hope everything "works" as well as they look in the screenshots...

# 16 spfalla @ 04/28/11 02:41 PM

I think "most people" are the casuals who just buy the game to play Madden. I have a feeling these little presentations enhancements may have the feel of The Show. Where its just the little things here and there that make you think, damn that's just like when I watch it on tv. I think OSer's will notice them.

# 17 extremeskins04 @ 04/28/11 02:45 PM

Great write-up Chase as usual. Very informative and exciting stuff! Thank you for doing this.

# 18 Hooe @ 04/28/11 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJenness


	It sounds to me that it was removed completely.

Not sure if anything has been said about end-of-game stuff changing; it has been specifically stated that the Extra Point halftime show has been removed.

Which, frankly, it was rather poorly-done in retrospect, so if they take a year off from that to go back to the drawing board I don't blame them.

# 19 mrmass413 @ 04/28/11 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ch46647


	Chase, next time you play please pay attention to the "stadium atmosphere." What I mean by this is are the crowds finally dynamic? Are there ebs and swells in the crowd that sound like a real NFL stadium? Do they react to appropriate situations on the field? I personally feel one of the bigger dissapointments as far as presentation goes in recent Madden's has been the crowd noise. It almost puts you to sleep with the same repetitive crowd sound cycling over and over....

i second that

# 20 kackle85 @ 04/28/11 02:49 PM

I know you said you werent covering game play but can you just give us a thumbs up or thumbs down at least?......the anticipation is killing me!

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