Madden NFL 20 Beta Impressions, Post Your Weekend Thoughts

[PhillyPhanatic14]

Here's my overall impressions from the beta

Positives

• Game runs smooth, real smooth
• Pass trajectories are an awesome addition. Real game changer.
• When pass rush is working it feels great and adds a new challenge on offense
• Superstars and X-factors have been implemented very, very well. They truly do make the best players feel like the best players without feeling gamebreaking.
• Expanded playbooks are awesome. RPOs are ridiculous amounts of fun.
• Running feels better. Guys actually stick to their blocking assignments.
• Graphics seem improved. Nothing specific, just overall.
• More animations
• Appreciate that they continually update unis and equipment. This was something that lacked majorly for a long time and they didn't do a quick fix (like they did for relocation teams/unis) but they have stuck with it and it adds a lot of immersion.

Negatives

• Extremely, and i mean EXTREMELY, disappointed in how they have handled franchise. No new contract system that was promised. The scenario engine is a joke and in multiple franchises i never saw anything from it besides the coordinator stuff. The visual depth chart is now hidden and takes a couple seconds to load (on the Xbox One X) which makes it useless and a major downgrade from last year's visual depth chart that was already visible and functioned much better. There is still no way to choose the weather for games. There is no real offseason which seems insane with how big of a deal that is in real life. There is no way to see what players have been drafted ahead of you in fantasy drafts or rookie drafts. Overall with franchise, there is simply no innovation in this mode and nothing of substance that is new from previous years. Major disappointment to a mode that many spend a lot of time in... maybe they withheld features from the beta... we'll see.
• User pass rush seems less effective than CPU pass rush, even if user is controlling a linebacker/db
• Lower rated qb's having robo qb is ridiculous and should never be in the game. It negates everything they talked about with the ratings spread. Who cares if a guy is rated a 70 if he plays like a 95?

Overall

• Gameplay is awesome. Franchise is bleh.... same old, same old. Tough to say if it'll be able to keep my attention for any length of time since i've been playing the same exact mode for the last few years. It's 100% a game that i'll be buying with the EA Access discount because i love football and the NFL, but franchise has left a real bad taste in my mouth after this beta and i'm very disappointed in what they have produced there this year. Gameplay is great though, can't say it enough. They made some serious strides there this year and that's why I'm a 100% buy. It is more than enough to outweigh the bland franchise mode.

[T4VERTS]

It's kind of long, 2800 words, but I did a write up on my thoughts in regards to the Beta. It's a mix of feedback, thoughts, and outlook.

https://4verts.blogspot.com/

[JayhawkerStL]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

I just think they have a fear of it being the number 1 complaint and EA listening and nerfing the pass rush.

My take was that the pass rush really got to me in the first game I played. I got shut out in the first half of my first game with the Chiefs, ad the *** rush was a big part. But I came back and won in the 2nd half.

Then I blew out my next two opponents, as I got used to the timing of the rush. I don't think they nerfed it, I was always hyper aware of it. But it forces you to think ahead, to have plan, and such. I'm really gonna have to work on those RPO's, though.

[edgevoice]

Quote: Originally Posted by T4VERTS

It's kind of long, 2800 words, but I did a write up on my thoughts in regards to the Beta. It's a mix of feedback, thoughts, and outlook. https://4verts.blogspot.com/

Enjoyed your write-up. Thanks very much.

[jpdavis82]

My Madden 20 Beta Review

I’m going to try not to repeat everything that everyone else has already said.

First of all, the gameplay and player movement/animation quality has seen tremendous improvement, signature animations for QBs like Rodgers, Brees, and Mahomes are very well done and look very believable. Superstar X Factor Abilities aren’t OP and can actually be turned off in Franchise if you like(always love having options).

Outside of that though, it’s Madden 19 in terms of presentation and the core of Franchise Mode. To be fair, the presentation in Madden 19’s beta was lacking a lot from the retail version(missing stadium sound effects, songs, halftime show etc...), but for Franchise, I’m not expecting much to change unless they release another blog talking about things we haven’t heard about.

If Gameplay is all you care about it’s a day one buy imo, but if you’re looking for a deeper, more immersive Franchise and Presentation experience, this may not be your year.

Overall I would give this Beta a 6/10, the tremendous improvements in gameplay and player movement, are offset by the lack of improvement and innovation in Franchise and Presentation, making this experience anything more than barely above average.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[T4VERTS]

Quote: Originally Posted by edgevoice

Enjoyed your write-up. Thanks very much.

Thanks for taking the time to read the book haha.

[marshallfever]

Wow @ the first few posts with the in dept looks, those are awesome reads. For myself, here are my impressions:

The 2nd post mentioned this game feeling like the Ps2 era Maddens and that's the exact same way I felt once i got into a game and started playing. This version of madden has given me those same vibes in a great way.

The visuals of this version are spot on. I found Madden 2019 to look too dark. On sunny days, the game looked cloudy. This version does a better job with the lighting. The size and weight of the players is great. I played with the Panthers and Cam Newton feels "meaty," like he has weight to him. I just think the player models and proportions this year are spot on; they feel big and life size in a better way than 2019's version.

On the field, this is where the game SHINES. It's far from perfect, but after playing Madden 2019, Madden 2020 feels like a step in the right direction. I will preface this by admitting the 4 online games i played, i lost all 4 but never felt like the game got away from me, nor did it feel like the A.I. was being unfair. With that said, there's still a lot of tuning that needs to be done with completions, fumbles and interceptions.

This is a positive and a negative, but for the first time in a while in a Madden game, I could see the windows of the passing lanes. You can see when the perfect time to pass the ball to a specific receiver is, in the prior Madden games, it felt like the A.I would leap from nowhere to make a stop or an interception, in this year's version, it felt more organic which is a huge feat. However the amount of interceptions need to be toned down. Playing online, I was the Rams against the Patriots. I was 14/17 for passing attempts and those 3 incompletions were all interceptions brought back for TDs. The person I was playing was pretty good, but to have all my incompletions be interceptions was somewhat off.

Fumbles were also an issue. Playing as the Panthers against the Bills, Luke forced 3 fumbles in the same game, that clearly needs to be toned down. This seems like an easy fix though.

The Superstar markings, on Paper they sound unfair, but Ea has done a terrific job of making them feel just right. Out of the 4 online games i played and the 4 offline games i played, the Super Stars felt like Super Stars yet they weren't completely unstoppable. So far it was handled pretty well. But this is a small sample, playing 30-40 games might determine if this needs more tuning or not. I also wish they had more defensive Super Stars, maybe it's because i didn't play as many different teams, but i didn't feel like the defense had as many Star ratings as the offense Superstars had.

To quickly conclude, i'm excited about this year's version. I haven't played a lot of Franchise mode in the last few years, but this new Superstar mode sounds interesting enough since the passing mechanics are so much better this year. Pump Fakes actually WORK!

[Rayzaa]

Quote: Originally Posted by T4VERTS

It's kind of long, 2800 words, but I did a write up on my thoughts in regards to the Beta. It's a mix of feedback, thoughts, and outlook. https://4verts.blogspot.com/

Good read, I left a comment in the blog.