Bill Abner's Review

[RGiles36]

Quote: Originally Posted by mrprice33

But again, we're going down that road. Argue from the positive instead of the negative. Why would it be a good idea for EA to tune the game to the hardcore out of the box as opposed to the casual? What purpose would it serve, and what difference would it make?

Great point. Not that casual gamers are inferior and do not know how to change options, but I'm not going on a whim when I say the hardcore are more inclined to fiddle with them regardless. I think EA would run the risk of turning the casual gamer completely off whereas the hardcore already knows that, "Hey, I can probably fix that with sliders." My 2 additional cents...

[Klocker]

the reaon that they don't tune to HC and instead tune to casual is becasue the Casual player WILL NEVER TAKE THE TIME TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO TUNE THE GAME and they would just give up.

HC will take the time and will spend hours (actually enjoying) doing so.

the Casual market is probaly 3-4 times the HC market. So that is a void argument.

[bukktown]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bill_Abner

Lock me in a room and shine a light in my face and a gun to my head and force me to pick a game merely on gameplay alone -- and this year I am going with NCAA. The reason is that I think NCAA requires fewer gameplay adjustments. Yes, I gave NCAA a B and Madden a B+ but this is almost entirely due to Dynasty being FUBAR. NCAA 11's Dynasty Mode is worse than the untouched Madden 11 franchise mode. Or at least it was until the tuning pack. Madden and NCAA do play similarly but if you are really happy with NCAA and are seriously questioning whether or not you need Madden..I'd just stick with NCAA; it's a great game. I don't think you are missing much by not getting Madden unless you simply need/want an NFL game or love the idea of Team Online Co-Op (which is hilariously entertaining). Hope that helps.

As I am sitting here about to go to Gamestop asking myself 'Why get Madden when you are enjoying NCAA?', this is what I really needed to read. Thanks Bill!

[jira2004]

Thanks Bill I held off last night and I still didn't purchase madden 11 just on the principal that to me NCAA 11 is a great game IMO.....I will probably pick up Madden later when a serious Patch comes out.....

Ncaa11 baby baby!!!!

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by Only1LT

Last point on the sim/slider thing and then I'll leave it alone. The majority of what I think is un-sim about this game, a slider can not fix. The way players move. The animations. The poor player interaction. Lack of true gang tackling. Weight and momentum not being factored in. These are my main issues.

Seriously, if you would have stated this earlier, I think it would have made everything clearer.

At first, you mentioned that you couldn't use sliders like offline gamers because you play online against your friends.

This sounds more reasonable.

[Only1LT]

Quote: Originally Posted by mrprice33

Do you have any evidence to the contrary? Why has a game like MW stuck while a game like ARMA hasn't? Why does Guitar Hero do better than Rock Band? Why does Wii dominate 360/ps3? It's because people don't want realism, because with realism comes difficulty. But again, we're going down that road. Argue from the positive instead of the negative. Why would it be a good idea for EA to tune the game to the hardcore out of the box as opposed to the casual? What purpose would it serve, and what difference would it make?

I don't think it's tuning it for the "hardcore". I'm not talking about difficulty or complex controls. I'm talking about having the players in the game, be incapable of doing things that human beings can not do.

The purpose? The purpose would be to live up to your own slogan. "Everything you see on Sunday". They said Madden is a sim. Then shouldn't it be?

[Only1LT]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

Seriously, if you would have stated this earlier, I think it would have made everything clearer. At first, you mentioned that you couldn't use sliders like offline gamers because you play online against your friends. This sounds more reasonable.

I never brought up sliders. Bill did. Anything that I mentioned about sliders was only to retort what he and other posters said.

I don't see how this is not clear.

[Only1LT]

So let me see if I have this right so far. It is unrealistic to expect a simulation to be a simulation out of the box. My mistake.

Furthermore, any attempt to make a Football game that is actually realistic, will be an abject failure. As an aspiring game designer, this is good to know.

Did I leave anything out?