Madden 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

[-DaVe-]

Re: Madden 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

I love how some of you 2k5 fanboys have put this game on a pedestal, its not the perfect football experience that you all make it out to be. The best thing about that game was the fact that it was only $20. It had iffy animation, a lot of pass plays ended in jump balls. You had to charge jukes and spin moves. The presentation was sick, but that game is old news. If you want to play an old, budget football title, be my guest, but quit whining about Madden and comparing it to some out dated, non-conformists football dream. If 2k5 is so great, why aren't you playing it instead of posting on here about how "bad" Madden is? I have been let down the last few years by Madden, but with the scale of these stadiums and the animation in this title, I couldn't help but get a little giddy. Oh yeah, Madden 05 was leaps and bounds more fun to play than 2k5. I had both, but I couldn't get a single football fan I know to play it.

First person football? What a joke. The secondary coverage in that game is a joke, as well as the player models. They all had arms down to their ankles and were lankier than Wilt the Stilt. I won't get into how lame the quarterback play was, the a.i. didn't realize that Vick was a mobile QB. And the much touted Cribs feature? I'm not into doll houses, so the only person who got any use out of that was my little sister, she said it was an awesome football feature, and truly showed how sim 2k5 was.

Madden looks to be back on track, so if you don't want to play, don't, but please quit shoving this 2k did this and 2k did that garbage down my throat. You 2k5 fans should have a convention.

Ok now this^ is coming from a true Madden "fanboy". You had more fun with Madden 05 good for you(alot of kids enjoyed dropping back 50 yards and throwing bombs to the receivers) but you're asinine if you think it's a better football game than 2k5. Seriously. 2k5 was leaps and bounds better than Madden 05. It's not even close IMO ....Hell Madden 09 still looks like it hasn't out done 2k5 in some areas. When I see refs in a Madden game instead of ghosts , that's when I'll start to realize that Madden is coming along...
And countless other things that I don't feel like typing up right now

[countryboy]

Re: Madden 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

guys knock off the 2K vs Madden talk. This is a demo impressions thread.

[noplace]

Re: Madden 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

Same old Madden with better environment, tacke animations...Not impressed after playing the demo but its not like they gave us alot to go on...No comentary, 1 drive, etc....

[Likwidkewl]

Re: Madden 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

Is no one else bothered by the slight white outline around all the players? I am assuming it is a lighting effect, but it's driving me crazy. It looks like the models were cut out with scissors, but some white outline was left around the edges then they were pasted into the environment. I am hoping it is just due to the lighting in that stadium.

PS. I noticed the same thing on both the 360 and the PS3 demos. I am not talking about the PS3's specific issue with shiny graphics.

[green94]

Re: Madden 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

Played a few games last night, Loving it. I tried running backwards and making off balanced throws, and similar to NFL2k5, the QB actually had to come set before he threw - NICE!

Another funny thing, I scored with 1 second left and they let me kick the extra point and kickoff, I thought they might let me get a defensive set in, but to no avail.

[Qb]

Re: Madden 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

In the passing game, I found my biggest gripe. The Superman DBs are back with a vengeance. 5-9 cornerbacks who are able to leap Plaxico Burress in a single bound. And of course, Plaxico decides (perhaps wisely, considering the otherworldly athletic prowess of the DBs) he's best off laying out for passes in traffic rather than going up for them. I can't seem to figure out the logic in how a computer controlled receiver decides how to go for a ball.

The selling point--- control. I don't know. I'm going to have to get used to the game before i can even start to think about that. Honestly, at this point, I can't tell the difference because the game is just moving too fast for me to react to the fact that I'm being tackled and make a move. I know the tackles are FAR more context sensitive. I was really impressed with this--- if I got tackled immediately after hitting spin, the resulting animation would make it clear the computer knew I hit that button. Meaning even in failure, you can see what you were trying to do. Doesn't have a direct impact on game play, but it makes you feel a lot more in control.

This is about how I feel. I rated as All-Pro passing (one more notch & I would've been AM) and I definitely saw the super-DBs that reacted to thrown balls when they really shouldn't have. Overall, and I know that it was the Pats D, I thought that the defense covered too much ground. Perhaps there is something to the idea that the field is too small...

I guess part of it would be what an earlier poster stated about the Madden AI defense always seeming to know what play I called or what I was trying to do. I suppose that could be good for long-term replay value, as it will force the user to call a lot of audibles, hot routes and the like. It just made it very difficult for me to get a read on things since I haven't played any virtual football since the fall (no NCAA 09 for me & Madden was dusty before Thanskgiving)...

As for the player control, I don't see where there has been a major improvement (again my frame of reference isn't that good). Players still feel like they are sliding around; I'm not seeing a lot of momentum/weight or true planting & cutting. Also, although not entirely related to player control, I don't know how many times my receivers ran their pattern out of bounds. They seem to have poor awareness of the sidelines to say the least. Their awareness of defensive players and the ball are also lackluster IMO.

Now don't get me wrong, I did see some goodness as well. The graphics are sweet, animations improved and some of the well-known issues (throwing on run, deep drops, throwing across the field, etc) seem to be better as well. However, the overall feel of gameplay doesn't strike me as a significant upgrade over 08.

I know this is a brief demo and Ian has stated that things were tweaked from the build we are playing to the retail version, but it just doesn't feel 'right' to me. For comparison's sake, the difference between playing the NHL 07 retail version and the NHL 08 demo was night & day. I immediately could see improvement in many areas (control, positioning, framerate) that assured me the game was going to be better. Maybe it's an unfair comparison, but that's what I was hoping for with the Madden demo.

Anyways, as I said to a fellow OSer over Xbox Live last night, take my impressions with a grain of salt as I'm starting to realize that I'm not a big football gaming type anymore. I didn't even buy NCAA for the first time in years, which was mostly decided even before all the negative post-release buzz, that just sealed it. I'll probably still get Madden (I have since the original Genesis incarnation), but right now it's more of a 50/50 than I was expecting prior to playing the demo...

[Goffs]

Re: Madden 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

im bored of the demo...no substance at all...maybe because im a defensive guy i lost interest after i scored a touchdown (even though its my beloved G-men)

god next time they release a demo make it 4 quarts a min or 2 long....like NCAA!! now that demo i played alot...

[bigfnjoe96]

Re: Madden 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

Not having the DEMO be 4 2 minute quarters really doesn't make sense to me. Especially if you are promoting 85 NEW Features. From the time I spent with the DEMO I found it to be OK.

I didn't play 08 so I'm not sure about this-1, but for those who did is the DEMO running in 60 FPS? because it didn't seem that way...

[TJdaSportsGuy]

Re: Madden 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

I didn't play 08 so I'm not sure about this-1, but for those who did is the DEMO running in 60 FPS? because it didn't seem that way...

LOL, that's easy. Yes, it is. Go back to Madden 07 for proof. Feels like it's moving in slow motion.

[bigfnjoe96]

Re: Madden 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

LOL, that's easy. Yes, it is. Go back to Madden 07 for proof. Feels like it's moving in slow motion.

Thanks TJ. In reference to speed it definitely ran smoothly, but for some reason on my set it didn't have that 3D type LOOK/POP like some other sport titles.

[ab2c4]

Re: Madden 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNN

If only you knew.......

If I only knew what? Are you talking about adjusting the sliders, or what?

[callmetaternuts]

Re: Madden 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

If I only knew what? Are you talking about adjusting the sliders, or what?

yea, was building off of the pandemonium from yesterday

But back to the demo......too hard to tell alot about it with 1:40 of gametime. I actually liked the virtual trainer, fwiw

[ab2c4]

Re: Madden 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

You didn't answer my question though: what don't I know about? Are there no sliders to adjust this year, they did away with them? Or are the sliders broken like in NCAA?

[callmetaternuts]

Re: Madden 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

You didn't answer my question though: what don't I know about? Are there no sliders to adjust this year, they did away with them? Or are the sliders broken like in NCAA?

Dont want to hijack the demo thread, check out the thread called NEW AND IMPROVED SLIDERS (or something like that).

[TWOPLAYERSORNO]

Re: Madden 09 Demo Released, Impressions Here

play the actual demo. Graphics are worse!!!!! Look at the jerseys man. They have no wrinkles. NOTHING. just flat. WTF????????

Madden 07 and madden 08 had way better graphics than this.


Madden 08 ****s on madden 09.