espn

[giantsg7]

first off let me say iv been a big madden supporter for a long time. iv bought the game just about every other year since like '93, and each of the last 4 years i think. i bought ncaa football the day it came out and was really let down. its basically the same game from the past few years with a few tweeks and additions. and from what iv read about madden it looks like it will be the same thing. so i decided to give espn a try, and why not its only 20 bucks. and i completely love the game, its such a refresshing change from madden. ya the gameplay isnt quite as good, although its alot closer than you would think, but the programmers really do every thing in their power to give you the best football experience you could possibly have. i think ea really has come to a point where they dont even care about improving the overall quality of their game. they just do stupid stuff like add defensive hot routes, and use that as a major selling point for the game. meanwhile they comepletly ignore the areas of their game that are underdeveloped. and i think i just read in that review that espn had defensive hot routes in last years game. you didnt see them using it as a major marketing tool. no, because to them it was just something that was part of the game. heres just a couple minor examples of what im talkin about. 1. how many games is ea going to make without the ref actually flipping the coin at the coin toss? seriously, its the first thing you notice when you play the game and its so completely out of place. i could understand if it got left out of like madden 2000. but here we are 5 years later and they still havent fixed it. 2. does ea not realize that there are more than like 10 players and just 1 coach on the sidelines? there is an entire team and a whole coaching staff. give them credit, they are the first company to put players on the sidelines and a coach as well, but they just get so complacent and feel like just because they are ea they dont have to change it from year to year. espn has like 100 people on the sidelines, its called "paying attention to detail" 3. injuries. they are completely underdevelloped in madden. a player goes down, holds his head and thats just about it. if you play espn you cant help but smile when someone gets injured cause you get to see it all play out infront of you. the training staff comes running out, they wave and are like "hey we gotta get a stretcher over here. dont worry man your gonna be ok". do you think ea would ever go that far? no of course not. 4. chain gang. whered they go? they took it out in like madden 2001 and just never bothered to put it back in. do they not realize that measuring for first downs IS a part of the game? honestly, how can they go one year without it in the game let alone like 4. i know its not that big of a deal, but hey, espn would never let something that obvious go. and not just that but espn has AMAZING cut scenes, and measuring for the first down is just another reason to watch one. now i do not have a copy of madden of course, nor have i played the game. but i can just about garuntee that neither of these 4 things i meantioned will be changed in this years version of the game. how do i know? because its ea. they are just completely unwilling to go the extra mile. sure what i named are just little details and dont bother most people. but when they go missing year in and year out i really start to feel ripped off. and dont tell me they dont have time to do it. 4 years is plently of time. and dont tell me its cause they spend all their time on gameplay because the gameplay is far from perfect. anyone who has the #1 rush defense and #32 pass defense year in and year out can attest to that. when you play espn you really understand how little ea actully does to madden each year. i mean, in espn you get to see the fans tailgating in the parking lot, fans walking through the turnstyles, finding their seats. during the intermissions they cut away and show panorammas of the city's skyline. blimps in the sky. and a REAL halftime show with Chris Berman and highlights of the half, not just the pasuse menu. not to mentions cut scenes of stuff like players talkin on the phone on the sidelines after scoring a td and sayin "hi mom" into the camera. and all that in espn is just expected to be a part of the game. they dont have market each indivigual cut scene. ea puts a really bad animation of dumping gatorade on a coach into ncaa, and that is like one of their top 5 selling points!!! can you imagine how rediculous it would be if espn marketed each one of their cuts scenes like that? "come buy our game we have a player talking on the phone after a touchdown!" no its just one of hundrends of different things that sega put in the game that completely puts it in a league by itself when it comes to "paying attention to detail" and delivering a complete football experience. i seriously think everyone gives ea a free pass on all that stuff just because they are ea. i personally feel really ripped off for spending all that money on ea sports games and having them not give any kind of real effort back. thank you