Between the demo and the release of the actual game... what happened?

[spankdatazz22]

***dumb thread alert***

When the demo released I remember being pleasantly surprised by it's quality. It was only 1min quarters but from a gameplay standpoint the game seemed pretty solid. I really liked how the highlight stick (or whatever it's called) was implemented. No gang tackling/really improved player interaction, but what was there was pretty good. Player proportions looked much better than they did in the pics that were released. Playing the demo seemed more exciting than the gameplay movies that were released seemed to indicate.

But then I brought the game, and it was a real bore. Shoddy collision detection. Not enough variation to the gameplay. Obvious lack of additional modes/options made the game seem bare.

I traded it in when Madden released and was subsequently even more disappointed in that game with it's issues. I still have Madden; fired it up for the first time in a while yesterday and attempted to replay the Eagles/Giants game. After watching several soft tackle plays and a grossly out of proportion Plaxico Burress catch an awkward touchdown, I turned it off.

I downloaded the NCAA demo again just for kicks. I found myself once again surprised - the demo seems noticeably cleaner graphically than Madden, player models are definitely better - less humpbacked; looked better in motion. Tackles aren't as soft. Highlight stick is much better implemented. Players still zombie walk after the play stops, but player emotion is better portrayed. Less emphasis on corny cutscenes. Of course there were issues with the demo, but not like there were with the full game.

So what happened? Does the game still have the same collision detection issues? I've played the demo several times and haven't seen any of the glaring problems I saw when I purchased the game. I don't follow the NCAA forum much, but it seems just as dead as the Madden forum - I assume whatever issues existed with the game when I purchased it still exist. I just read exerpts from the IGN Madden wishlist; why aren't there demands to have the game play more like NCAA? (well, seems that's wished for every year)