[CptObvious]

Now that we have been shown new screens and some short video's of the game in action, I would like to discuss what people think is nice...and not so nice about Madden. Please keep the ridiculous all encompassing Fanboy statements like "Madden is teh suck, and will for 5 more years..FU EA" and "Where is teh 2K now..HAHAHHA" out of here. Comparisons are bound to happen within the genre, just keep it civil.

Now, for my take (things that really stand out FROM WHAT WE HAVE SEEN):

+'s :

Stadiums: EA has outdone themselves here, amazing the detail that has been recreated just from the few screens / videos we have seen. Tampa and Philly look very impressive so far, the recent screen of Philly with the haze in the distance is very nice. The stadium detail itself will certainly help with the immersiveness when we can finally fire the game up.

Graphics: Before you flip your top, let me assure you this will also be listed in the -'s dept. I am referring here more to the amount of work, detail etc that has gone into creating the players, especially the textures that make up the uniforms. What's odd about this (and this has supposedly been addressed by EA, stating not all models are final) is that the Portis pic in particular is a contradiction in and of itself. Portis and Kozlowski are modelled very well, and are quite detailed...yet others are not so good (see -'s). Getting back to textures and graphics in general, the uniforms are made up of amazing detail, with stitching etc on the numbers, and we finally have facemasks that don't look to be drawn in with a pencil / crayon. The thread patterns on the pants / jerseys is quite impressive as well. It's just such a contrasting area, where some things look great, and others are downright awful. I will say that the good parts look much better than anything we have had this gen, thankfully...although it's still hard to label it "next-gen", whatever that means.

Presentation: The mere fact that it's DIFFERENT is a plus to me, and EA actually appears to be using the wonderfully rendered stadiums to their advantage. What good would wasting all the polygon's on the stadium be, if you never got to see it. From the limited views we have received, from the playcalling screens...to the stats screenshots we have seen, it appears this aspect of the game has been entirely reworked. We have also read that camera angels have been reworked, like after breaking the huddle and walking to the LOS, its looking at the QB from the D's perspective. It seems like EA has attempted to give us alot of the little things they neglected to address in previous versions.

-'s

Animations: This is such a crucial part of the game to me, hopefully the animations can be addressed before the game is released in late November. The Bucs / GB vid, and the Cincy / Philly vid both send chills down my spine, particularly the strafing animation. I have never in all my days of watching / playing football seen a receiver morph into what looks like a hunched over ape to move from side to side, nor have I seen such huge bulking men (not referring to the models here, the actual people) take such teeny tiny walking steps when the play is over. As great as the stadiums are, the animations are just "off". I won't call them terrible since that's a bit extreme, but I am leaning more in that direction. Aside from the 2 cases noted, the player movements just seem very jerky, like transition animations between running and walking, or changing direction are simply not there. One of the things Madden seemed to always have a leg up on was momentum, yet the vids I saw had the kick returner change direction on a dime, there appeared to be very little simulated momentum...which is just confusing coming from 2K which just this year got that part down pretty well.

Graphics: Here is the bad that goes along with the good above. Some of the player models are just abyssmal...even downright ridiculous. It's rumored that the models are not all done, so EA MAY have only payed close attention to the key players (although why is Kozlowski nicely modelled then) and let the ones that were less important to the screens fall by the wayside, either way the bad parts need some real attention. The model that jumps out as the most prevelant example is Dat Nguyen in the Portis pic, nevermind the fact that he is caucasian, he is absolutely huge. His muscle structure, particularly in the legs, is WAY overdone. He is also far to wide / stout...as was Vick in one of the initial pictures released earlier this week. It pains me to see EA making the same mistakes they made last gen when it comes to player models, while some say 2K's models were too tall and thin, most say that this gen's Madden was more cartoon like and grossly misproportioned. It would appear at this point that EA is still having some issues with getting the player models correct on most of the players. Hopefully this can be fixed, Portis etc show alot of promise that maybe EA can get this right this time...but do they have time to do it?

Field Textures: Forgot this when I originally posted, but at this point the game appears to be using the field textures etc from this gen's games. Hopefully they are just placeholders for something better to be implemented. I realise we won't have rolling hills-o-grass on the playing field, but it still appears to be concrete spraypainted green. At least make it a step up from the Gamecube texture used in NCAA / Madden the last few years.

All I want at this point is a next-gen football experience, I could care less who it comes from...that being said, out of the above list ANIMATIONS at this point are killing this game for me, if EA can get them fixed, and at least have a decent "game" of football going, this could be a killer title.

Enough from me for now, please discuss what you feel are the strength's and weaknesses from what we have seen / read at this point. Obviously we cannot comment on gameplay since that is not something any of us, barring IGN editors etc, have even had a chance to see.