PackWolf's Madden Impressions from E3

[FAIRDALE_KINGS]

E3 2006: Madden NFL 07 Preview
by Dan "PackWolf" Bertholomey

May 14, 2006 - The build was set up for 1 min. quarters so it was a little tough to get a real good impression of the game. Here are my impressions. The engine, graphics and gameplay look and feel similar to last year but there are significant improvements. The graphics are more detailed this time around from everything to the player models to the very cool and much improved field degradation. The field gets torn up and wet when it rains and footprints and the field wearing out are all there this year. The grass is now 3D. There are now cool player intros where they are introduced like every game is the Super Bowl. Running out of their inflated helmets, high fiving their teammates.... To sum up the graphic impressions from E3, The graphics are improved over last year but not by leaps and bounds from the current Madden from what I saw at E3 and still not up to par with the draft day renders we saw a couple of years ago in my opinion. The coolest upgrade in graphics is the weather effects on the field and how it deteriorates as the game goes on.

Read full story HERE

[marshallfever]

Quote: Originally Posted by FAIRDALE_KINGS

E3 2006: Madden NFL 07 Preview by Dan "PackWolf" Bertholomey May 14, 2006 - The build was set up for 1 min. quarters so it was a little tough to get a real good impression of the game. Here are my impressions. The engine, graphics and gameplay look and feel similar to last year but there are significant improvements. The graphics are more detailed this time around from everything to the player models to the very cool and much improved field degradation. The field gets torn up and wet when it rains and footprints and the field wearing out are all there this year. The grass is now 3D. There are now cool player intros where they are introduced like every game is the Super Bowl. Running out of their inflated helmets, high fiving their teammates.... To sum up the graphic impressions from E3, The graphics are improved over last year but not by leaps and bounds from the current Madden from what I saw at E3 and still not up to par with the draft day renders we saw a couple of years ago in my opinion. The coolest upgrade in graphics is the weather effects on the field and how it deteriorates as the game goes on. Read full story HERE

Can youpost the who article, since i don't want to sign up to that site

[TheDutchDad]

Ditto.

[Wilk5280]

since it's at FK's site, I doubt it.

[PacMan3000]

It literally took me 20 seconds to register and then read the article.

[FAIRDALE_KINGS]

For the people who don't want to join the site.... for whatever reason. I'm still trying to attract traffic to the site but here ya go.

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Just got back from E3 and had a chance to play Madden 07 on all 3 consoles.

Xbox 360

The build was only 60% complete so keep this in mind while reading. The build was set up for 1 min. quarters so it was a little tough to get a real good impression of the game. Here are my impressions. The engine, graphics and gameplay look and feel similar to last year but there are significant improvements. The graphics are more detailed this time around from everything to the player models to the very cool and much improved field degradation. The field gets torn up and wet when it rains and footprints and the field wearing out are all there this year. The grass is now 3D. There are now cool player intros where they are introduced like every game is the Super Bowl. Running out of their inflated helmets, high fiving their teammates.... To sum up the graphic impressions from E3, The graphics are improved over last year but not by leaps and bounds from the current Madden from what I saw at E3 and still not up to par with the draft day renders we saw a couple of years ago in my opinion. The coolest upgrade in graphics is the weather effects on the field and how it deteriorates as the game goes on.

I noticed that the defensive A.I. seems much smarter this year. The DB's cover better, the blocking is smarter. It seems like a much tighter and smarter A.I. this time around. Running and blocking seems to be vastly improved. You can see holes in the line and I have a feeling running, especially up the middle will be much more realistic.

Kicking is totally new and a huge change. It is similar to the swing in a Tiger Woods game. You pull down on the stick and back up again It is not as easy as last year. It takes more precision and timing. If you don't get your kick just right this year, you may have a few blocks.

There will be mini camp and you can challenge plays this year. The two mini camp modes that were on the build were weightlifting and running the 40. These modes were a lot of fun and challenging. The graphics in these modes look cool. You enter into what looks like a combine for the NFL tryouts. Guys are all over the place lifting weights and working out. It is very well done visually. You run by precisely moving your sticks in a running motion. Its fun to try and beat your time in the 40, or beat your lbs in weightlifting. I was told by one of the developers that in franchise mode, you use these training techniques to get your player back on the field after injury. I was concerned because I didn't see any training camp modes that actually helped my in game skills, such as swat, Rushing attack and in game skills drills. I asked the developers about this and they assured me that they would be in there.

A couple of negative notes..QB fumble issue was still in the game in this build. Hopefully this will be fixed before the game is finished. The most serious issue in my opinion is that at this point there is NO individual playmaker on defense and from what I was told by one of the developers, it will not be in this years game. I was very disappointed and actually angry about this and began to let the developers hear my frustrations. Their response was that , this is a next gen engine and it takes time to implement all of the features that were in the Xbox Madden. Two completely different game engines. Since this is a new engine, new console, each cycle they only have a certain amount of time to add new features. They started from scratch with this new Madden engine last year. They reminded me that it took years on the original Xbox to achieve all of the final features that were in Madden 06 for Xbox.

I asked about on line this year, stats tracking. They were pretty quiet about this. They did tell me about a point system. A little different from achievements. You gain points both on and off line by achieving certain milestones in the game and you build your Madden Points which appears with your profile on line.

The game was certainly fun to play at E3 and it seemed much more challenging. Many areas of the game were not accessible in the E3 build so this made it impossible for me to break the game down and have impressions on every aspect of the game. The game was 60% complete according to the developers. They certainly did not show everything at E3. One developer told me that when they finally reveal everything in the game, this may be the deepest Madden yet. I am being invited back to EA in about a month and at that time, the entire game will be unveiled and I will be able to break it down completely and I will have a much more detailed impression at this time. The game definitely has potential to be a very solid football game this year. I am looking forward to going back to EA and get a very detailed hands on session this time.

PS3
The PS3 Madden was only 30% complete and looked like a clone to the 360 version but not as detailed as of yet. The PS3 version has a long way to go and from what I saw, will probably be very similar to the 360 version. I certainly wouldn't buy a PS3 thinking Madden will be superior to the 360 version.

Wii
The Wii Madden was a trip. The games visuals were that of Madden 06 for the Xbox, possibly a bit more detailed and clear. The Wii will have the power equivalent to the original Xbox in general, possibly a bit more powerful but not in the league of the PS3 and 360, but the Wii is all about fun. I thought this game would be a joke, something for little kids, but to my surprise, the game was actually a lot of fun. I found many of the Wii games were just that, lots of fun. Using the wand, or nunchucks as people are starting to refer to them, makes you feel more of a part of the game. Madden Wii will never replace my Madden 360 or PS3, at least in the near future but I am more impressed with the Wii than I thought I would be.

[marshallfever]

FAIRDALE_KINGS - Thank you for posting the whole article

I'm just glad to hear that the 40 yard dash and the weightlifting aren't going to be the olny mini camp features in the game. The way EA was gloating about it, i thought it was the olny min camp-type of feature in the game

Humm hearing them say this might be the most deepest madden makes me happy. Hopefully thier big secret is the ESPN presentation and a Super Bowl atmosphere for the Super Bowl

[highheatkingsb]

Well, with the players coming out of the helmets and the kicking game, sounds like they took that from the Arena game and added it.