Bill Abner Impressions

[Bumbles]

Quote: Originally Posted by ChubbyBanana

Nice Read. Seems abner was a little more calm in his impressions than he usually is. Also seems like he might actually be enjoying the game a bit more. Sad to hear that kick returns are still difficult a la NCAA, but hopefully something that can be addressed.

Calm? Are you kidding? Bill is one of the most respected sports game reviewers in the industry, his posts emanate an aura of calm analysis in a field littered with rah rah incompetents.

The news about flats passing and QB dumpoffs is really facepalmy... deja vu... I'll be waiting for the post release impressions thread here to decide if I will buy it this year. The one thing I was most hoping for in Madden 11 was a competent CPU passing defense and lack of money plays.

[Skyboxer]

Quote: Originally Posted by tazdevil20

Not sure how that fit to what I posted, but ok

Only part in ref yo your post was I never said it had great blocking.

[Palo20]

The big plays are a concern. I noticed it in the demo and really hope some of the zone coverage is tightened up.

[mavfan21]

I liked this entry, further down the page, it's about NCAA11 but the same could be said for past Madden bugs and glitches. Somehow these game reviewers always miss this stuff:

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Have to admit, I chuckled



From Kotaku's story:

Another large patch coming by mid-August for NCAA Football 11 will address some notorious balance issues with recruiting in the game's Dynasty modes, and deliver "live tuning" for necessary gameplay adjustments without waiting for a dedicated patch. Although this is also being addressed directly in the patch, a big key will be its ability to fine-tune dynasty recruiting AI, because many have noticed bot-controlled powerhouses coming in exceptionally underweight with repeated lackluster recruiting classes.

Ok, that sounds goovy. Kotaku was pointed to the EA Blog and posted its story. Of course that isn't even the real problem (Lackluster recruiting classes). But that's ok.

Of course Kotaku is apparently not one of the "many" as those pesky and 'notorious' Dynasty issues are MIA in their review. (written by the same guy, btw) Funny how that works.

OK to be fair Kotaku isn't alone. No one else said anything about it either, and really I don't know why I let this get under my skin the way it does. I'm old enough and have been around the block enough times to just let this flow under the bridge and move on.

We ALL miss things in reviews. I have written reviews in the past and then noticed a major issue a week later and it leaves a lump of pain in the pit of my stomach. I try and take this **** seriously but when I see news posts from a MAJOR game site talking about these important game issues like they were on top of the story all along -- I have to admit it's rather "irksome."

Because the "many" who noticed those issues? The gamers. The people who bought the game primarily off of reviews by websites like Kotaku. The critics absolutely failed them.

Anyway, that's my last rant on the subject, I promise.

The good news? EA is fixing the dynasty mode problems and if they work -- this will get a ridiculous amount of playtime this fall and winter. And I guess in the long run that's what matters.

[Pringles]

nice find
but who didn't know that ncaa and madden both would have day one patches ? it is simply a way for you to activate your game as soon as they anounced that getting patches and roster updates would require making you activate your game meaning no re sell value.

i knew there would be a day one patch as for the game itself i have herd others say that extra point is still in the game in franchise mode but just the weekly show not the halftime one. something about hitting the Y button.

[Vikes1]

I also respect Bill's impressions/reviews.

Very good news to hear that Bill feels the ratings seem to matter in the trenches. If this is a fact..this is a major step forward for the game.

Not so good news about AI pass coverage, and seemingly total lack of adaptive AI. At least with the demo...I saw the same thing. On All-Pro, and nearly the same on All-Madden, I was able to complete with ease, the same slant pass to the same receiver, using the same play over and over again. I believe Bill is more than likely right about needed to have the coverage AI slider at 100. Hopefully that slider works.

[phillysouljah]

Quote:

I don't mind hard returns, but on the demo, has anybody actually gotten past the 30 on All-Pro default?

I find the returns way too easy. Both on All-Pro and All-Madden, I get a kick return TD about every second game in the demo. Madden 10 had the most absurd kick returns and I see they haven't been fixed for this year. Although this guy's review throws me off by saying the returns are so hard.

I refuse to believe that anyone could play more than 3 or 4 games of the demo and not get at least 1 kick return TD. There's just no way. It's always been way to easy in Madden. And I've never been a stick person. I don't even know how to spin and juke effectively. It's just holes open up all the time.

[Deelron]

Always enjoy Abner's impressions. He's added more comments after tweaking his sliders which are pretty useful (for us offline tweakers).