Madden NFL 11 Demo Available Now, Please Post Impressions Here

[marshallfever]

This is sort of going to bother me a big but i have to make a decision. NCAA will be $50 at Target next week, if i wanted to buy the game it should be next week. However i was waiting on this Madden demo to either sway me to wait for Madden or just go out and get NCAA. I'll play more of the demo before i make this decision.

[Furq]

Instead of gameplan I think they should have kept the standard playcall screen, and then keep a "favorites" section where people could have set plays up according to down and yards.

That way you can still choose your play, but have situation specific plays readily available. This would cut down on the amount of time people previously took to choose plays, while still keeping some control. Those who didn't want to choose their own play at all still had ask madden. Gameplan gives you all or nothing, the computer chooses a play automatically, or you just do it the old way.

[LowerWolf]

I've traditionally been an NCAA guy, but since the jump to PS3/360, I've found Madden to be the better game. So this year - despite the NCAA hype - I've waited out NCAA for Madden. So I can only compare the Madden demo to the NCAA demo, not the retail version. So here's my first impressions:

Playing on PS3, All-Pro, normal speed. It's similar to M10, but the graphics and animations are better, as you would expect. I actually prefer the graphics of M11 to NCAA11. Madden's player models, to me, look better. That seems to be a minority opinion though.

I'm also in the minority with the strategy pad. The old way was just fine, but I don't mind the SP. By halftime of the one game I played, I had adjusted. Not a big deal to me. I can actually see myself preferring it with a little more practice.

I started out using GameFlow, but eh. I don't like not seeing my play at all until I use the play art at the line. Think it would have been better if you at least got to see the play first. I turned it off and went back to the old way of calling plays. But I never really expected to use GF much anyway. I didn't mess around with game planning.

The new/old kicking meter is OK. Does feel kind of primitive to use the old meter, but I can live with it. I didn't have any button lag as others have had. I still think the best idea for kicking is to use the right stick without the arrow ... i.e. if you want to aim your kick left, you have to push the stick left as you push it up.

The only thing that really bugged me was the zoomed out passing camera. I'm hoping there's another camera option in the retail version ... or maybe they can zoom it in a bit with a patch.

Going just by the demos, I prefer Madden over NCAA. NCAA made a bigger leap from 10 to 11, but it also had longer to go. There's nothing revolutionary in M11, but it's a good upgrade over M10, IMHO.

[Furq]

Quote: Originally Posted by marshallfever

This is sort of going to bother me a big but i have to make a decision. NCAA will be $50 at Target next week, if i wanted to buy the game it should be next week. However i was waiting on this Madden demo to either sway me to wait for Madden or just go out and get NCAA. I'll play more of the demo before i make this decision.

Obviously if you are a bigger NFL fan then get Madden, but if you are neutral then NCAA seems to be more fun for me. The progression issue is somewhat major though in that game, and is the only reason I can't fully recommend it. Don't know if it will be fixed by a patch.

[MaddenEman]

It's not hard at ALL to use the strategy pad once you get the feel of it. It's more realistic that pushing Y, LB, RB and the directions of the sticks to control what people do. The LB that reads the plays doesn't change 6 specific player's roles. He might tell the LBs to blitz or completely audible the play. But he would never tell each individual what to do after the play is called. It's so simple, and if that ruins the Madden experience than that's your loss. I love the game, it's realistic for the most part (all madden tests my patience) I finally won my first all-madden game about 15 minutes ago. Very realistic stats. The DEMO excites me and is so fun to me, jeez I can't wait til the full game! ! ! Franchise with the Eagles Makes me jump up and down inside lol. I wouldn't judge the game off of the demo nor the strategy pad FYI it's not the full game and who knows maybe the pad is just a BETA test or something lol.

[aceoye]

Quote: Originally Posted by KensaiKatai

can you please be specific and quote who are you referring to? This makes you no better then the people you are bashing. Did you play the demo? for me personally, i don't think asking for what we've already had from the madden franchise is a 'crazy unrealistic' expectation. I've been more than optimistic and supportive over the years. This has been my first year coming to grips with the fact that we are getting a, for lack of a better word, lazy, entitled, and uninspired effort in madden 2011. I will play the full version before i say anything else but i don't think it's fair to compare this game to NCAA yet. it's a demo. The strategy pad thing is really hampering my 'expectations' for now.

Just some of the expectations people make overall.. like fix warping, morphing , players looking like they are skating, some animations etc. gameplay wise thats what Im refering to its almost like people dont know that this is madden not 2k two different gaming companys with different engines and what not, ya know? strategy pad?? I really dont care for it though so whatever..

[Furq]

Also this isn't necessarily relevant, but I dislike the font's used for player names. In the Madden demo, the player names seemed to be a bit small.

[Valdarez]

I posted a long blog on my impressions of M11 Demo after a couple of games.

http://www.operationsports.com/Valda...mo-impression/

Feel free to read the whole thing for explanations of my Summary.

Summary
I dislike GameFlow, dislike the Strategy Pad, and dislike that new offensive coordinator audio. Locomotion has sliding when players stand still (as in my kick return), improper stride lengths, and sliding on nearly all toe down animations when starting/stopping. Gus Johnson is a great commentator who improves Madden's commentary, but commentary remains subpar due to lack of banter between Gus and Chris who feel as though they are in separate zip codes. Run blocking is improved, but not fixed completely. Madden 11 doesn't feel like a step forward at all, especially after playing NCAA 2011 which I feel is easily the better game this year. Instead it feels like what Madden 10 should have been gameplay wise, with a lot of unnecessary things added to the game that provide no value for this gamer.