what is still the biggest advantage of Madden over ESPN NFL ?

[omegatron3k]

All of you guys posts are speaking from the perspective of your own personal likes & dislikes between the two franchises. Obviously only a few of you really understand the reason why Madden is still considered the best football game. NAME RECOGNITION!!! You can try to break it down with the minute details all you want but nothing will ever take away the fact that Madden has over 15 years in the videogame business compared to 5 years with the 2k franchise.

In my store (Gamestop) nobody comes in to buy Madden because it's fields are pretty, the sky is pretty, & all that other b.s. you guys type on this board on a daily basis. All they want is that new MADDEN!!! Madden sells to the majority of casual gamers who don't even play franchise or season, just multiplayer games with their friends, cousins, uncles, etc. Only about 10% of the football gaming community play franchise & all that other crap. These are modes that are catered toward the hardcore & that's who mainly play these types of modes. This game of Madden is ingrained in society as being the ultimate football simulation. Only HARDCORE gamers like the majority on this board can truly see the difference between the two franchises & football fanatics know which game is the better representation of what we see, hear, & feel on Sunday night.


ESPN NFL FOOTBALL!

[Kanobi]

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omegatron3k said:
...the reason why Madden is still considered the best football game. NAME RECOGNITION!!!

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That pretty much goes without saying. I think everybody here already understands that or at least they should.

[Rocky]

I like the *feel* of passing the football in Madden better. In ESPN it's either too fast or too floaty. Madden's ball physics just feels right.

[wwharton]

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MercilessMagal said:
hey.before anyone jumps on their guns this is not a Madden bashing post... what is the problem about comparing both titles ? as long as it is constructive comparison and criticism there i see no point on everyone starting being nasty just because of a simple question.

Madden is selling leader still isnt it.. it is on the market for ages and has a big name.. everyone knows it.. but it cant be only that.. so i am just trying to see ppls opinions on what makes madden the selling leader on this market.. i see no reason to bashing anyone or why we cant discuss this in a civil way.

and yeah.. NCAA makes Madden looks better.. i could compare NCAA to ESPN but they are not really competing against each other so there is no point on doing so.. i think that the lack of NCAA game by VC is an advantage to Madden series... im not saying is a big one.. but is one thing i can think of and am waiting for the replies of the rest of the board.

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First, I wasn't saying it was a bashing post but why start a post like this knowing what was/is going to happen, but so be it. And though Madden is the leading selling game many that frequent THIS forum wouldn't consider it a better game so why ask this question in THIS forum? Anyway...

The question was "what do you think are Madden biggest advantages ?" and your response was basically that Madden has NCAA. Madden doesn't "have" NCAA. NCAA is a seperate game sold by EA and that many consider better than Madden so I wouldn't say Madden has NCAA. You can say I'm tripping over semantics but if you're asking what does the EA football series have over the VC/Sega football series then NCAA would be such a huge advantage nothing else would need to be mentioned, but that's not the question.

Lets say you meant imported draft capability for argument sake. Obi posted a great example of how this isa advantage and I see how that can be a factor. But it still requires buying a completely seperate game. If you don't buy NCAA this feature means nothing. If you MUST group them together you're talking $100 instead of $50 and cutting off a market that won't spend that.

To be fair I'll list some things off the top of my head.

- polish. riding the wave of the name ea only needs to make a few changes to make it's fans happy so they focus on polish. the navigation is better, organization, ease of use and understanding. with 2k4 being such a success i think this year VC will begin spending more time on polish but we'll see in Aug.

- smoothness of animations. i think all ea player models move more fluidly but they sacrafice a realistic look to get it. i think the realistic players are more important but if ea would just drop the momentum in half i think the madden players would move beautifully.

- ball trajectory. but this will be fixed in 2k5

- of course the one that really matters, name recognition.

[njskillz]

I haven't got the slightest idea. I went to my local Blockbuster today to rent Madden just to see if maybe I'm not in touch with reality. All I kept saying to myself was, "They have got to be kidding me...". Maybe it's time for me to retire from gaming world. Player models, player detail, gameplay, game atmosphere, for the life of me I can't see where it's even close. Maybe you guys have a different version of the game than I have. We can't possibly be talking about the same game. Can we???

[Kanobi]

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Rocky said:
I like the *feel* of passing the football in Madden better. In ESPN it's either too fast or too floaty. Madden's ball physics just feels right.

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I agree with that. Theres just something about Madden's pass control that really conncects you to the velocity and touch you put on the ball. Its been that way for yrs now.

Like wwhart said though, this apsect will be improved in nfl2k5...at least as far as trajectory is concerned. Can't wait to see some high arching , air mcnair type passes in 2k5.

[seanmac]

The question at hand isn't what ESPN needs to do to sell more games, it's what elements of football Madden simulates better than ESPN. I would agree with everyone who commented on the more fluid player movement. I think the pre-snap defensive adjustments are easier to execute on Madden, but that's a minor point. I liked Madden's package adjustments last year as well. But for the most part, I have to say that ESPN does a better job of simulating football.

[studman]

- the run game

in ESPN (even on the hardest level) it's too easy to just juke/juke, shoulder charge and be on your way to an 80 yard run.

in Madden (on All-Madden), it's a lot harder to run, if u have to set up the run. plus if u know how to use playmaker control it's awesome. having the ability to tell your RT to get off the DE and hit the LB cuz u know the DE isn't goin to get u is great. it's all about timing.

-but to me the biggest thing Madden has over ESPN is on-field spacing.

in ESPN it's too wide open, like NCAA is. it's so much space between players that u can always find someone open, and the defensive AI doesn't react fast enough.

On the other hand i think Madden's computer def. AI is too good, they're everywhere. on All-Pro (the most realistic level) it's great though. timing is everything, a tenth of a second on a slant route can be the difference between a first down and an interception, u have to squeeze the ball in. in ESPN the players are always open to me.

- Marketing (obviously)

EA does a great job of selling the game to ppl that just want to play football, their commercials are far far superior. the hits they show and what not make u want to go play the game right away. ESPN's on the other hand u have to really sell yourself on because their's pressure everywhere to buy Madden.

- Franchise mode

never played ESPN's franchise, my friend has it though and he tells me about it, so this isn't 1st hand information.

now, regardless of NCAA. in Madden u have a chance to see what players can do in training camp (mini-camp), u know their skillz after u draft them, and u don't have to sign them if u don't want to. don't know if u can do that in ESPN? i'll leave everything else alone, cuz it's purely speculation on my part, i can tell u what is good about Madden, but that would defeat the purpose if ESPN has comparable stuff.

-special teams

special teams in ESPN is too easy. just line it up and hit the A button to snap, and A button for power. c'mon, we're so far past that. that's just like Live's freethrows (the T is so old and the box is too easy). in madden u have to judge trajectory, then power, and then accuracy. it takes a lot more focus. in ESPN on the hardest level 50 yd. FG's are given for anyone with good power, accuracy doesn't mean as much. in Madden a 50 yd. FG on the hardest level is hard, i make about 30% from that distance because the wind is so hard to judge like in real life. plus u have to kick it lower to travel further increasing the chance of a block (though they're so seldom). and someone mentioned earlier how easy the kick-return is, i mean i only play ESPN casually but i don't think i've ever played a game and NOT returned a kick off.



**someone with more info on ESPN Franchise mode, plz fill me, i'm not trying to look ignorant to the feature. thank u.