Did any read this?

[ronnyballgame]

will be brief but wanted to share some thoughts after 4 5 minute qtr games on All-Pro.
The build isn't final, it's Beta, and the collison detection was the biggest flaw we found. (aside from the awful camera angles on replays, and RIDICULOUS FILM GRAIN, on the instant replays. I know they are inspired by NFL Films, but the INSTANT REPLAY, doesn't need film grain.)

The game was much more challenging than last year, we both had very tough times throwing completions when moving around, or throwing off our back foot. Receivers were not catching everything, and overall it just felt more realistic in terms of credible receptions. The tackle animations and hits are really improved and give a DEFINITE sense of momentum. Diving and swatting at a ball carrier will trip him up and usually knock him over. Last year the hurdle would make a lot of long TD's happen, this time, it was MUCH less, and we liked it. No hurdle this year, and I'm not sure what the Y/triangle button does. The D matchup option was great, having Ty Law on TO all day, is helpful.
The big hits, were just great. There were some serious fumbles caused by a good hit, but it didn't feel cheesy, the hits looked like they SHOULD cause fumbles. Gang tackling looked good also, when 2 or three guys bring a ball carrier down. The running game felt challenging to me, while my opponent lit me UP with Clinton Portis.

Defensive hot routes really improve the game. Making those last minute adjustments give you a level of control that has been missing on D. I got caught trying to hot route a blitz after the snap only to see Rodney Harrison fall face first on the turf because i was pushing down on the stick during a play.

I hadn't quite figured out the details of all the D changes, but it just felt good. The games were challenging, and exciting but NOT as satisfying as ESPN. Let me say that ESPN's presentation adds ALOT to the feeling of excitement when playing the game. There was so little going on in Madden in terms of ambience. I know many will say they don't care about ambiance, just give them a good game, which is fine, i'm just saying it's like watching a game on a regular TV compared to a HI DEF tv. It's that big a difference.

Aside from the real time sunlight, and the nice detail on the player models, this game has not been upgraded a whole lot graphically. A bit, but not leaps and bounds. The 4 fans they give you to customize helps eliminate the HORRIBLE home fans cheering opponent touchdowns, but it FEELS like a band-aid. Meaning, they cut to these fans, so you don't see the whole stadium more than a bit. The stadium crowd still feels VERY un-connected to the game (aside from your 4 custom fans) The best part of the WHOLE FAN THING, was when I was getting toasted in my last game, after the 3rd fumble (more on that in a minute) 2 of the fans were like, that's it, where outta here and they made their way past the other fans to leave. That was great. However, the stadium never got emptier, that sucked.

There weren't a whole lot of penalties called, a few but not many.

The kickoffs are imrpoved in that when the camera spins around, you have time to set up some blocking, although the AI blockers weren't any better overall than ESPN. I returned my second kickoff for a TD with Bethel Johnson, after getting a couple of solid blocks.

The kick meter is hokey and new and will take some getting used to, lots of shanked punts today.

The squib kick is a joke and will ruin online games in the hands of crafty glitchers.

The play by play was so insignificant, about 3 games in i said, have they said ANYTHING i haven't heard before or even remotely drawing me in to the broadcast??

The franchise i checked out a bit, and began "leveling up players", but it was the storyline central i particularly enjoyed. Here is where Madden kind of gets one up on ESPN. When dealing with your franchise, story mode has Tony Bruno's radio show on, which is very cool since I am a daily Bruno listener (where is Steve Czaban>!?) It just adds to the whole franchise process. Add in the local and USA Today newspapers and you have a pretty cool upgrade for those who play franchise. How repetitive and redundant that all gets after the first season we'll have to wait and see.

One of my bigger annoyances is the decision to not offer half time and end game highlights. ESPN does this so well, I dare say it's worth the 20 bucks just for that and the entire game replays.

But what really irks me is the decision to upgrade the cheerleaders with huge boobs. So while ESPN has a halftime show with highlights from Chris Berman, MAdden has a bunch of scraggly haggy fake titted cheerleaders.

Oh and the few coach faces i saw all looked like they were dead, i'm not kidding, almost dawn of the deadlike. Weird.

Gameplay of course is king, and if you are a Madden player, the gameplay is pretty much what you expect and for that I can't say it's good or bad, it just is.

I think the new route chooser that allows receivers to pick 1 of 3 routes is great because it allows more variation on the part of the AI receiver, and allows miscommunication to occur like it does in the real game.

The playbooks feel repetitive, and frankly, the Patriots playbook sucks. I like the 3 TE formations as they will probably use Watson for some of that this year, but they just don't seem as creative as ESPN's playbooks.

Overall, I kept feeling like ESPN was more "fun" "exciting", Madden felt like Madden, and while I am VERY happy to get it on Xbox Live and hopefully HD/Widescreen support, it just isn't even close to as pretty as ESPN's game.

I think that the GAMEPLAY gap between the two has closed so much, that for 20 bucks, and all that amazing presentation, highlights, online leagues, etc. etc. I don't know how people can skip on ESPN.

Im gonna play some more over the next week. I'm taping a Madden Challenge preview show for G4 in a few weeks so we'll see if I find anything new between now and then.


I just read this in the Madden department, and thought it was a great read and comparison, just wanted y'all to read it.

Less than 2 weeks man, 12 days until it is ours, our precious!

[Shaver]

This does not belong in the ESPN forum.

*LOCKED*