The Madden NFL 12 demo is available now. Please play a few games and post your impressions here. For now, just search under "M" in the demos section or games section. It weights in at 1.53 GB.
Aaron Rodgers is so good...........
He can bend over and bullet pass one out of his backside, but then no one wants to catch it.
The passing game is making me not like this demo and i was liking it at first, but the more i play the more start seeing all the flaws. It's awful and needs alot of work..
Just got the demo because I refuse to participate in XBox's scheme to steal from people by CHARGING them for online gaming (LOL)
Demo is, eh. Was expecting a lot more. The presentation elements are decent, but why do we still get the ultra zoom player lock camera after every play? And has EA realized it needs to differentiate presentation elements for each game? Otherwise all their effort is wasted...for example the coach giving some last minute words to his QB is a nice touch, but if we see the same exact animation before the first drive of EVERY game it's going to do more harm to believability than good.
Still no player momentum, default game speed is way too frantic. Lots of big hits and not a lot of form tackles. Defensive backs still "creep" out to their positions pre-play, with their backs fully arched. When do you EVER see this in real life? The whole thing feels like pretty much the same game as the last few years, with a little less suction blocking.
What really exemplifies EA's failure is this: when they have the pop-up display to announce the offensive "starters", they don't list the offensive linemen. What a great example of how EA thinks we are all mindless morons who don't appreciate anything other than "marquee name" skill players. As long as EA thinks their customers are all that way, they will continue to design arcade games like this one. And I have no intention of buying an arcade game.
Just got the demo because I refuse to participate in XBox's scheme to steal from people by CHARGING them for online gaming (LOL)
Demo is, eh. Was expecting a lot more. The presentation elements are decent, but why do we still get the ultra zoom player lock camera after every play? And has EA realized it needs to differentiate presentation elements for each game? Otherwise all their effort is wasted...for example the coach giving some last minute words to his QB is a nice touch, but if we see the same exact animation before the first drive of EVERY game it's going to do more harm to believability than good.
Still no player momentum, default game speed is way too frantic. Lots of big hits and not a lot of form tackles. Defensive backs still "creep" out to their positions pre-play, with their backs fully arched. When do you EVER see this in real life? The whole thing feels like pretty much the same game as the last few years, with a little less suction blocking.
What really exemplifies EA's failure is this: when they have the pop-up display to announce the offensive "starters", they don't list the offensive linemen. What a great example of how EA thinks we are all mindless morons who don't appreciate anything other than "marquee name" skill players. As long as EA thinks their customers are all that way, they will continue to design arcade games like this one. And I have no intention of buying an arcade game.
Madden 12 was the last game in the Phil Frazier & Ian Cummings era, this was the last year of Ian's 3 year plan. Next year will be the first Madden made with Cam Weber the new GM of EA Football games. He is a former college QB and a diehard football guy. The first thing he did when he came to the team was he doubled the size of the Gameplay team. He is a true hardcore sim football guy and I expect to see more gameplay improvements in Madden 13 than we did the last five years combined. He was on the EA Canada team and helped develop FIFA and Fight Night games. In his interview back in April one of the first things he mentions is working on realistic player movements pre play, during, and post play. I'm very excited about the future of Madden and NCAA for that matter with Cam Weber in charge. Mike Young is also the Creative Director now replacing Ian Cummings and he is a presentation animal, so expect to see much improved commentary(new commentary engine starting with Madden 13) and very soon also new halftime, post game, and weekly franchise studio shows. Madden 12 is going to be really good, but I think these new games with Cam as GM will blow it out of the water.
Madden 12 was the last game in the Phil Frazier & Ian Cummings era, this was the last year of Ian's 3 year plan. Next year will be the first Madden made with Cam Weber the new GM of EA Football games. He is a former college QB and a diehard football guy. The first thing he did when he came to the team was he doubled the size of the Gameplay team. He is a true hardcore sim football guy and I expect to see more gameplay improvements in Madden 13 than we did the last five years combined. He was on the EA Canada team and helped develop FIFA and Fight Night games. In his interview back in April one of the first things he mentions is working on realistic player movements pre play, during, and post play. I'm very excited about the future of Madden and NCAA for that matter with Cam Weber in charge. Mike Young is also the Creative Director now replacing Ian Cummings and he is a presentation animal, so expect to see much improved commentary(new commentary engine starting with Madden 13) and very soon also new halftime, post game, and weekly franchise studio shows. Madden 12 is going to be really good, but I think these new games with Cam as GM will blow it out of the water.
Sounds great, except when the new consoles come out in another year or two and we're back to square one again...
Playing as Chicago, Green Bay kicked a 50+ yards early in the game. At the end of the first half the Packers had the ball within field goal range. There was 15 seconds left and the clock running the Packers ran a run play that ran the clock out. They had one timeout remaining and the field goal would of been about 40 yards. There wasn't really any wind either.
Sounds great, except when the new consoles come out in another year or two and we're back to square one again...
Exactly. I love how some people get all geeked over a change in development teams, thinking this is going to be revolutionary. And it ends up being the start of yet another 3-year cycle that ends with more changes and a new 3-year cycle, that ends with more changes and a new 3-year cycle, that ends with more changes ...
Exactly. I love how some people get all geeked over a change in development teams, thinking this is going to be revolutionary. And it ends up being the start of yet another 3-year cycle that ends with more changes and a new 3-year cycle, that ends with more changes and a new 3-year cycle, that ends with more changes ...
Well when the guy is a hardcore football sim first kinda guy and has a proven track record with FIFA and Fight Night and is a former college football QB himself, what do you expect us to do? It's not like it's impossible for EA to put out good NFL football games, it's just that they haven't been able to do it very well with this gen systems. The old gen system Madden's were pretty awesome. If you read the interview with Cam Weber he talks about how this will be a continuous development and not starting over after every 3 years. He wants to have each game develop with the concept that each game will build upon the next, he uses FIFA as the example for how he wants development to work. Each year they will implement new changes in the core gameplay to keep improving year after year along with continuously improving game modes like Franchise,Superstar,etc.. which FIFA is doing and it's worked well for them. He doesn't want there to be gimmicky features in the game one year and then they remove it the next, but rather each new feature introduced each year helps to improve the next years game.
Well when the guy is a hardcore football sim first kinda guy and has a proven track record with FIFA and Fight Night and is a former college football QB himself, what do you expect us to do? It's not like it's impossible for EA to put out good NFL football games, it's just that they haven't been able to do it very well with this gen systems. The old gen system Madden's were pretty awesome. If you read the interview with Cam Weber he talks about how this will be a continuous development and not starting over after every 3 years. He wants to have each game develop with the concept that each game will build upon the next, he uses FIFA as the example for how he wants development to work. Each year they will implement new changes in the core gameplay to keep improving year after year along with continuously improving game modes like Franchise,Superstar,etc.. which FIFA is doing and it's worked well for them. He doesn't want there to be gimmicky features in the game one year and then they remove it the next, but rather each new feature introduced each year helps to improve the next years game.
I like your enthusiasm and I hope you're right, I really do. But this whole "3 year" thing is the EA business model. Let's suppose this guy does come in and make a great game, that's fine but it will never be perfect. What would be the incentive to buy next years? What EA should realise, and hopefully they will one day, is that if they make the perfect Madden which I do think they're capable of given time. I mean really just the perfect American Football game with all the features and rules and everything working perfectly, then they could just release a $20 DLC thing for it each year to update rosters and rules etc where necessary. $20 obviously isn't the $60 they get right now, but they wouldn't need to spend so much on development ever year, it would just be clear profit.
I think Madden will/would get better once we move to a digital subscription model (which EA clearly wants to do). Imagine just paying some kind of fee per year and your Madden game would be continually updated and tweaked as and when improvements were made rather than a whole dev cycle every year, it would be a big ongoing project and they'd make their money through people subscribing to it.
Is there a slider i can change that make players feel like they have some weight to them?
IMO, the players do feel like they have more weight this year, compared to previous verisons of Madden.
a few things I noticed abou the demo.
in 2 different games I had situations where it would be 2nd and 8, 3rd and 8, Id throw a pass towards the side lines, and the player would catch the ball, the refs would rule it a catch (they show the close up animation where the ref says its a catch) then when I go back to the huddle it would be 3rd and 11 or 4th and eleven. even though the catch was made close to the first down marker.
running backs hitting the hole seems off. its like they get an automatic 3 yards as soon as they hit the line of scrimmage. its like the rb gets thrusted forward by soem forcefield or something. doesnt happen everytime but happens enough.