APF Players' Response to Madden 10 News

[Tyrant8RDFL]

1) Do you think APF will remain relevant after Madden drops; i.e. will it still get serious gaming time from you.

This will all depend on how well Madden executes the AI, and gameplay in madden 10.
APF will still be relevant to me simply because the animations and gameplay is sweet and smooth.

2) What have you seen from Madden 10 that makes you say "they moved the sport forward" just like you saw APF and said "they moved 2k5 forward"?

Bringing much better presentation to Madden, and all the work in making a playoff game feel much more than a regular season game. I cant comment on AI or anything else simply becuase I have not played the game.

3) What still seems to stand out about APF from the evidence we have so far about Madden?

The Animations from APF are far ahead of Madden.


4) Are you planning on spending serious time with Madden 10?

If Ian delivers on the game being sim again, then yes.


5) This one is purely for self-interest: how many would be interested in an online franchise with APF players--in other words, playing online in Madden with guys who play APF whom we know are real football-heads?

I would be interested but unfortunately I have a league setup with friends, so I wont have enough time.

Thanks for the questions that was cool

[RogueHominid]

Some interesting responses, guys, and many many thanks for all the good work in keeping the thread civil and focused.

I've been following some of Tombsong's posts in the Madden thread and they, coupled with the responses in this thread, made me think that this discussion could use a bump.

When I first put the inquiry out, we had a lot of interesting news and titillating footage surrounding new features such as WR/DB jostling and player momentum.

Now, we've seen more gamplay videos and have heard from the team that a few of the things we were really excited about are not in the game any more or aren't as extensively implemented as we'd have liked because they were breaking existing parts of the game.

In order to help with structure and staying on topic, I'll just post a couple more guiding questions (but please don't feel like they're designed to limit your response, just keep it civil):

--Where's your hype meter at with Madden 10 at present?
--What have the latest run of vids suggested to you about what's changed and what's stayed the same on the field and in terms of core game play?

[Fox1994]

New Question 1: 7/10; They've really doen a good job hyping this game, I'm just jaded about the way things have been. It looks phenomenally better than NCAA 10. Don't know if it will be, but they undoubtedly have a better hype/PR team than NCAA. NCAA's adverts make it seem like they don't care about all the stuff we've asked for. Not to mention the roster thing. I know I'm going off on a tangent, but just comparing those two, I can't see why anyone would even consider buying NCAA 10.

New Question 2: The newest videos make it look like a much better game than last year, though it's still not quite perfect. The secondary looks to be playing better, the running game looks nicer. Aside from the major presentation overhall, it just looks like they've improved the game. The injury system looks great and the blocking for running and passing looks much improved.

[baa7]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fox1994

New Question 2: The newest videos make it look like a much better game than last year

I honestly don't know what it is people are seeing with these vids. The game looks identical to Madden name-any-other-version-the-past-several-years. At the very least, the animations in APF are still light years ahead. And we all know the gameplay in Madden wasn't even close, so how could it possibly be so much better, given they're still using that same Madden game engine?

[sb24]

Quote: Originally Posted by The Autumn Wind

--Where's your hype meter at with Madden 10 at present? --What have the latest run of vids suggested to you about what's changed and what's stayed the same on the field and in terms of core game play?

Well i dont have any faith in madden. That being said, i will play 10 to ensure i know whats its about. Nothing worse than trashing a game that you admit to never playing.

I dont watch the videos. Based on responses to the videos, im concerned. Now to be honest, i dont go to the madden forums anymore at all. The fanboys and anti-ea guys are so heavy, you cant find the good info.

I will give it a try but not a buy.

[spankdatazz22]

Glad you bumped the thread. Was wondering why I have this huge disconnect with Madden compared to the joy some appear to be feeling with it's impending release. My thoughts:

Quote: Originally Posted by The Autumn Wind

--Where's your hype meter at with Madden 10 at present?

I'm interested in trying it out. That said there isn't anything that's been announced that I look at and say "that's impressive". And it's disheartening to see people gushing appreciation for things being implemented (or should say attempted to be implemented) that were done by older games awhile ago. That and the dev team breaking their arms patting themselves on the back - really for accomplishing nothing I'd qualify as praise-worthy, or at least worth "taking a bow", as they seem to be doing a lot of - also is kind of grating. Unfortunately they can do it given the situation they've put themselves in.

They do seem to have done a good job with the variety of cutscenes in the game, even though I think they should've had the vision to implement realtime presentation. Or something that's innovative in it's own right. For things like tackling and cutscenes, it seems like they looked at 2K5 and said "let's do more of that". I'm sure Visual Concepts would've likely tried implementing something newer rather than simply giving more of what they had 5yrs ago. And sad to see some saying the game will be worthy of a 9+ rating then out of the other side of their mouths say "they're implementing [whatever] next year". Ridiculous.

Quote: Originally Posted by The Autumn Wind

--What have the latest run of vids suggested to you about what's changed and what's stayed the same on the field and in terms of core game play?

The most impressive thing I saw was the change they made to the pass rush - after Ian complained that OS was being too harsh on the E3 videos. Still are obvious issues with the DE play and the lack of OL doubleteams, but the practice videos he released showed much improvement. But the pass rush doesn't seem anywhere near as pronounced in the subsequent gameplay videos they've released with the changes. One had the Titans in it (I think versus Oakland) and the other was the recent Online Franchise video, which also didn't impress (OL/DL play and overall).

The hype vids have been alarmingly bad imo. Poor physics, stiff animations/movement, etc. really stand out in all of them. Players seem to have zero distinction between them; no personality. The defense still seems to exist mostly as a prop; I never get the feel that a Ray Lewis is on the field. Or a Troy Polamalu. Or a Demarcus Ware. One thing APF did a fairly good job at was making some of the players seem distinctive; it was easy to tell a Jerry Rice from a James Lofton from a Rocket Ismail - not just because of the uniform or number on their back. Same w/other players at other positions. It was no where near perfect, but for a 1st year effort it was very good.

To me individuality is something that's stayed the same from Madden '09 to Madden '10. I think the QBs will have some sense of distinctive behavior because they have unique throwing anims. But lacking signature drops, unique running styles, etc. makes them seem more cookie cutter than they should be this far into next gen. Overall I think the game will be an improvement over '09, but it'll be more along the lines of the previous year's versions from one season to the next rather than some redefining moment/reimagining of the game that some want to make it out to be. It's not a MVP-like makeover - they're building on what came before it. The best thing I think I'll be able to say about it is it'll be better than '09; the worst that it's still disappointing (so far)

[DocHolliday]

I think it looks better, but the engine is flawed and all the window dressing in the world wont make up for it.

The game will be praised by the first people that get it, hyping up the community. Then the first few days of public release will have very nice things to say.

Then it will all fall apart and the glaring issues that are always in Madden will resurface....Stale gameplay, everyone seems the same, etc.

After that Major bugs will pop up out of gameplay in drafts, free agency and trades that will make us shake our heads.

Finally there will be MAJOR issues with online franchise that will render the mode almost impossible to play with a full league.


In the end we will come back here and play some season of online APF leagues and have fun.


That's my call. Mark it.

[elgreazy1]

As hyped as I was to finally be able to get a new game of football, I'm starting to step away from purchasing Madden for yet another year. Don't get me wrong, I think the devs are doing a fine job in getting the game where it SHOULD HAVE BEEN many years back, but as stated by many people, the game engine is still majorly flawed. And as stated in the post above, there WILL be countless game-breaking bugs, glitches, exploits, etc that will surface within a month (heck, maybe even days) upon the release.

I'll just rent it, sit back and probably buy it (used) down the line if it turns out okay and/or when the necessary patches are implemented.