Madden 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

[IStillDoWhatIDo]

man THANK YOU to the guy who reminded me of something. Is lead block still in the game, and if so, has it been toned down??

When lead block first came out, I just to use it all the time and pancake the hell out of people, but I came to the realization that it's an unrealistic feature. Lead block was WAY too powerful. Please tell me it's changed.

[PVarck31]

Quote: Originally Posted by Badgun

someone please tell me that you don't have to do that My Skill crap if you don't want to. Tell me that I can get the game, select All Pro and play.

You do not have to do it.

[StormJH1]

Cool, can't wait to check it out. For people who own NCAA, are the gameplay and these new "tackling" and "running" animations significantly different than NCAA?

Also, I better not hear about excessive fumbling b/c that RUINED '08 for me. I tried so hard to get into that game, but that was an irreparable screw up that they didn't even address until football season was more or less over. Inexcusable.

[Harlemal]

Quote: Originally Posted by SteelerSpartan

I love the QB wind up for deep passes...should help against those damm cheesers

I like that to fam. the game play is solid. the new cam i great for pocket passers but you will def. need to get use to it. If you like 08 like me i have the feeling you are goin to love 09.

[kardashian]

Found something else I didn't like... the FG Nets raising animation... it takes over your whole screen and plays for about 3-4 seconds as the clock is running, and if you try to smash A to make it go away next thing you know the help screen pops up and wont come off until you press A again. I could see this causing problems if you have no time outs like the Broncos IRL last year and trying to rush and pick the play and run a field goal and have this animation eff you over.. they definitely should have made it so you can skip the animation by pressing A or something.

The other thing i dont like... having a Streak and a Corner route under nearth by the slot receiver lets say on the left side of the field against cover 3 with no purple zones... the streak route obviously takes the corner in the deep zone down field with him... so my corner route under neath should get open for the corner realistically right? Wrong... the corner in the deep zone has eyes behind his head and magically turns around and races back to contest the ball... god i hope they patch this.

other than those two things.. looks good. glad to finally see that 1on1 coverage isnt exploitable by some type of "user catch" lol.

[MaddenMan]

Ok the demo is nice showing off the Madden IQ thing and the most recent Madden moment. Short and sweet and I tried playing crappy on the Madden IQ test and then beating the moment was pretty easy, then I tried my best at the IQ and it seemed as if the moment was much more difficult. Anyone know if they IQ is tied?

Anyways I'm sold this year, picking up my copy on the 12th and I'll be back a month or so after the 12th. I see no point in overanalyzing every aspect of a video game and I'm going to have a blast.

Hit me up with a game invite anytime.

MM

[ch46647]

Some quick thoughts for those of you who are at work or have not yet played the demo:

-As everyone has said the graphics are stunning. And to the poster above I feel that the faces do look alot better this year.(But I do not tend to pay much attention to that stuff)
-The controls feel tight and responsive, very similar to the control you had back in the PS2 days
- I think user catching is MUCH improved this year
-Defensive line pressure seems completely fine to me
-Since that guy in the review the other day said the QB sneak was a "money" play I decide to do a bunch of them. It didnt seem that money to me, there was no guarantee of getting the yard.
-OJ Mayo has a clear face mask and it looks good
-The demo has not penalties, no commentary, cant play defense.(They dont even call delay of game if the play clock runs out)
-Blocking seemed overall better then years past. No true pocket but certainly better then last years
-Animations are very very fluid. ALOT more so then NCAA granted I only played the demo and did not get the game.
-The computer defense does not seem to be a problem in this short defense. I read the horror stories and saw the clips of NCAA's defense and Maddens is much better. Pursuit angles, defensive AI seem to be much more geared to the defensive minded player. This is very important to me because I am a very defensive oriented Madden player
- One problem I have had is with the screen plays. I get sacked everytime, by the time the screen is set up my QB is on his back.(Anyone else having a problem with this)
-New passing camera is excellent and I do not have a problem with the scoreboard being at the top of the screen

Hope this helps guys! All in all from the short demo I am very impressed. I think this is the year Madden fans will start to enjoy Madden again. I have been a Madden fan my whole life but thought the last couple versions have been terrible. This demo is very promising to me.

[Perfect Zero]

Well, there are two parts to this game, and I'll break them down under what I take from them.

First, Madden IQ is a fun challenge to do. You go through tests to see what difficulty you should play on, and then you have to play out different scenarios. I think this was really well done, and when I played the challenge in the demo, I think it worked really well (well, at least for the offense). It takes some time, but not enough that you just want to tank it. I think a lot of people who play all the time will enjoy this feature, and maybe, just maybe, this could be the end of games that cheat you.

Second, the only time you get to play in a real game is in a mode called "Madden Moments." The one you get to play in is in Super Bowl XLII, and lucky you, the Patriots are about to stop you on 4 and 1. This game is challenging, but I will echo, this is not a new engine (although, I don't think they promised that). The stadium looks really good, and the field is beautiful. The only gripes that I have are that the player models look a bit too blocky, the names on the back of the uniforms is STILL wrong, and the field looks too small (but that may be because it's a different camera or something to that tune).

I have played the demo going on an hour now, and this is 5x better than NCAA. Again, I don't know about the defense, but if they improved it in any case, it should be good to go. I'm a big NCAA fan, but I think I'm trading it in today to put down on Madden. And I will say this, I think this Madden could finally beat NFL 2k5.

Addition: Yeah, Eli has to wind up to throw deep. This alone makes my day, as EA in the past believed any third stringer could throw 75 yards on the run. Kuddos for finally getting this through.