Madden 12 News Post

Madden NFL 12 Reviewer: First Impressions

02:07 PM - August 26, 2011 by ChaseB

Madden NFL 12 is a new hope for gamers desperately waiting for a great football title on this generation of consoles. Prior history of the series reveals a history of big promises followed by merely adequate execution. While Madden has been good in prior years this generation, it has not been great, and most fans expect greatness.

One could argue that's a creation of the EA hype machine, but in reality it could just as easily be attributed to Madden being the only NFL game in town.

But we aren't here to talk about that. Instead, I'm here to talk about initial impressions of the retail version of Madden 12, so here are some quick-hitting initial thoughts from my first experiences with the game.

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Game: Madden NFL 12Reader Score: 6.5/10 - Vote Now
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# 1 awr0430 @ 08/26/11 02:21 PM

What i gathered from this first impressions is the game is an improvement over last years, but its worth $40 rather than $60. Just my opinion....

# 2 mva5580 @ 08/26/11 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by awr0430


	What i gathered from this first impressions is the game is an improvement over last years, but its worth $40 rather than $60. Just my opinion....

This game, in my opinion, will NEVER be "worth" more than $40 because it comes out every single year and there's only so much they can change in it year to year.

They update the rosters, uniforms, stadiums.........and then what? Little things here and there that people may like, but along the way they manage to break/change 3 or 4 things from the past year that worked. It happens Every. Single. Year.

I don't doubt that the people who make the game try. I really don't. This is their job, their life. They don't WANT to ship something that has the perception like Madden/NCAA does here. But in the end, they're catering to who the company wants them to cater to. And it isn't us. It's the people out there who buy the game and really couldn't care less how realistic it is, how many "little things" are included. They just want the 3 updated things listed above, and they're good for another 365 days.

Funny thing is, it's not like Madden is a HORRIBLE game. It's not. But, and these people are going to have to live with this until it's not true anymore, the fact is people like us are going to expect A LOT more than is even reasonable when your company has decided to go in on a deal that makes you the only option. I don't even care if people think 2K was better, Madden was better, etc. Don't give a crap. When there's competition, there are very real and immediate reasons for the games to get better quickly. And there's also something for everyone. If someone liked 2K's presentation better, Madden's gameplay better, or whatever, you had the ability to choose. Now you can't, and therefore any errors are magnified x100. Maybe that's fair, maybe it isn't. But that's life.

The people of this website though need to accept that they're the minority, and the things that are complained about on here aren't going to change. They're just not. So you can either keep buying the game and deal with the problems as they come, or you can say that it isn't worth it anymore and skip it. It's your choice. But these problems that are discussed with EVERY yearly release of these games just aren't ever going to go away. Face it, football is the most popular sport in America. And along with that comes the fact that the people who buy football games are going to be, let's say.....not some of the smartest people in the world. You've played online....you know what I speak of. THESE people are the majority. THEY are what EA Sports cares about. If this game all of a sudden became Front Page Sports Football '95 (you old schoolers know what I'm talking about,) the game would tank. NHL, FIFA, and MLB are high quality games because there is a larger segment of "hardcore" fans of those sports who have that high expectation of realism. I juts don't think it's there with the football gamers. They just want to turn it on, go for it on 4th and 20, and throw bombs all day.

# 3 ven0m43 @ 08/26/11 02:48 PM

I haven't bought madden since 2008 and i thought i was going to get this one, but I think I might have to pass again. EA would rather add some dumb feature that isn't needed than fix the game play/problems.

# 4 zoguloth22 @ 08/26/11 02:48 PM

you would think after 20 odd years Madden would be a top noch football game, But it isnt even close to other sport games. I would think after 20 years it would be as good or better then mlb the show ea NHL or even nba2k serries but the truth of the matter is its not even close to any of them games i mention.
What i think should happen after 20 years of madden is they should just give up let someone else take over and maybe stick to Fifa and maybe make a new baseball game becouse they cant seem to get football right.

# 5 Sublime12089 @ 08/26/11 02:55 PM

lol, thats always my first game too, but I usually play as Tampa.

# 6 DJ @ 08/26/11 02:59 PM

Chris, a big THANK YOU for bringing up the lack of a Player-Lock camera for defense in Madden. Aggies and myself were campaigning hard for PL to make it into Madden this year, but were unsuccessful. I really don't understand why it's not there, when as you said, it's in NCAA and as Aggies (and others) have pointed out, a version of that camera DOES exist in Madden, only it's tucked away in Superstar Mode.

I agree that without Player-Lock, playing defense is not a lot of fun.

# 7 coolcras7 @ 08/26/11 03:17 PM

Madden 12 the game you buy not the game you want.

# 8 SGMRock @ 08/26/11 03:20 PM

I agree with mva5580, love me some Front Page Sports Football! I agree that us hardcore football sim players wont ever get what we want because we are not the masses they shoot for when they make these games.

Hockey is my primary sport as a fan and even NHL isn't as hardcore as I would like it. They love the big hits and goalie fights.... :P But I think NHL and FIFA are definitely closer to the real thing and as mva5580 said I doubt football will ever get to that point. I think the average player wants a game somewhere between true sim and NFL Blitz.

# 9 noonan2112 @ 08/26/11 03:26 PM

Most reviews so far say that this game has a lot of work to do and according to GameInformer this is going to be a very disappointing release. I was hoping for a mind-blowing review for Madden 12 (as I pray for every year) that simply says, "put away $60 because this is a must-buy." Yet again, I am very un-impressed and will likely choose to keep my money that will be better-spent on other games as I have done since I bought my PS3. Why is it so hard to make a good football game? Why!!!???

# 10 infemous @ 08/26/11 03:28 PM

I'm sorry to say but this article wasn't particularly informative.

I found that too much information is being saved for another article and as such this was devoid of the depth I would expect for a game of Madden's importance.

EGs.
"The OL/DL interactions are better again this year. Still, I'm seeing some stuff that could be troublesome going forward. In reality, the line play has improved during the past several years, but going into this year it still had a long way to go. It's not there yet. I'll detail more in the gameplay article coming up this weekend."

"The WR/DB interactions still, well, they're just bad. That's all you can say about them. This is one of the more fascinating aspects of football, and it's still the same old same old for Madden."

These are some hotbed issues and to skim over them in a first impressions review means this is a pretty pointless article.

Thanks anyway.

# 11 kbmnm247 @ 08/26/11 03:38 PM

Is this where I am supposed to post this??

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...post2042768742

# 12 RaychelSnr @ 08/26/11 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by infemous


	I'm sorry to say but this article wasn't particularly informative. I found that too much information is being saved for another article and as such this was devoid of the depth I would expect for a game of Madden's importance. EGs. "The OL/DL interactions are better again this year. Still, I'm seeing some stuff that could be troublesome going forward. In reality, the line play has improved during the past several years, but going into this year it still had a long way to go. It's not there yet. I'll detail more in the gameplay article coming up this weekend." "The WR/DB interactions still, well, they're just bad. That's all you can say about them. This is one of the more fascinating aspects of football, and it's still the same old same old for Madden." These are some hotbed issues and to skim over them in a first impressions review means this is a pretty pointless article. Thanks anyway.

Hard to get much more than surface level after 1 or 2 games man. I'm not going to start talking about stuff as fact until I see it through 10+ games

# 13 wallofhate @ 08/26/11 04:09 PM

Crazy thing is im enjoying this madden way more than any others in the past this generation. Usually I buy madden cant stand playing it and then trade it in after a week or so. This madden I actually think im gonna keep and play until the next one.

It definately has its problems (1 is a strange audio thing where Gus either refers much of the players by thier # or calls them the wrong name completely) and like Chase said with the recievers interaction with the cornerbacks. The lack of penalties especially pass interference have me shaking my head. Last years madden had flashes of "wow that looked and felt like real football" this year it happens way more. DPP helps the game immensely. Imo if they fix the reciever and corner interaction (recievers need to fight for the ball while in the air as do the corners) and sometimes trying to catch the ball triggers "sideline catch" animation when not needed. But overall I am enjoying the game alot

# 14 Pappy Knuckles @ 08/26/11 04:16 PM

What does DPP mean? I've seen that mentioned a lot lately.

# 15 kbmnm247 @ 08/26/11 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by noonan2112


	Why is it so hard to make a good football game? Why!!!???

Because it is a very complex sport with 22 players on the field that are always active and doing different things based on what the opposition is doing.

When you couple that with the fact people want head tracking, feet planting, refs, 3d grass, etc. etc. then it gets even tougher.

And that's not even mentioning any bells and whistles and modes, that's just straight up 11v11 being a very hard thing to replicate.

# 16 wallofhate @ 08/26/11 04:45 PM

Dynamic player performance Pappy. It makes the players play more like themselves. Like A Peterson is known to fumble so if you play with or against him and he fumbles he will start to cover the ball and go down easier (ll). It applies to all positions like Eli throwing interceptions,Vick running instead looking for the open man or Db's playing more conservative after being burnt

# 17 steelernation28 @ 08/26/11 05:09 PM

How annoying . Maybe I should start playing soccer.

# 18 jyoung @ 08/26/11 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steelernation28


	How annoying . Maybe I should start playing soccer.

You should!

FIFA and PES are looking killer this year!

# 19 RaychelSnr @ 08/26/11 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wEEman33


	You should! FIFA and PES are looking killer this year!

This is true

Back to Madden -- I've got a huge write-up I'm working on about the gameplay. If you guys aren't satisfied about the depth of that one tomorrow, then I have nothing more to offer you except a novel or seven

# 20 cbrock24 @ 08/26/11 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bucfan47


	My opinion of this "General" overview article is this...If the game sucks, point it out. If it's really improved, tell us where. The problem I see in rating this game very good is the online aspects of the game "Online Franchise" went untouched. No slider adjustments can be made online, nothing. I just do not see how the game can rank very high no matter the changes or improvements made to offline due to that. The should have learned from college football that gamers play online now. The days of playing offline franchises still exist, yes, but the proof (Online Franchise) is in the pudding. They should have at the very least brought the online portion of the game up to speed with the offline before making any further additions to offline franchise. Had they done that, and added custom sliders alone, this game would have been rated much higher in my opinion than what it will end up getting.

Actually, a majority of consumers play 'offline'. A majority of people on this site might play online, but look at the statistics. Most consumers are casual gamers that play Madden offline.

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