Re: Madden NFL 11 Demo Available Now, Please Post Impressions Here
Madden did some great things and some terrible things so Ill put them in separate categories.
The Good:
Fade: The fade has finally been fixed by Madden to be run the way it is in the NFL. It will make personnel so important. Sure it will be abused by Larry Fitz, Calvin, and other big receivers with high spectacular catch but they do it in real life. Props to Madden for fixing this route the way it should be.
Locomotion: You can actually feel the acceleration. Its incredible how much this affects the game and the players. This is a great thing Madden did. The way players separate from the defense is great.
The Return of the Deep Ball: Lets face it. The deep ball was almost taken out of the game. This year is great because its making the speedy receivers so important to have. From what Im able to do with Santonio is great and I cant wait to see guys like Johnson and Moss.
The LB Zones: This is very realistic. No more LBs playing zones like safety. They get lost at times and I love it.
Presentation: Ive never cared one bit about presentation and still dont. I care more about gameplay than anything else but I have to admit that the presentation is great. They made the chain gang less annoying and the opening scenes of a game are actually very exciting to watch.
Kick Return blocking: Though its not that great of blocknig on returns at least the blockers come back and help after the coverage unit sheds a block instead of how they used to just run upfield to no mans land.
The Bad:
Strategy Pad: Wow. I understand where they were going but EA should have known that people dont like change especially when what they changed wasnt a bad way to use the features strategy pad and the traditional way was used. It takes a lot of time to make adjustments and of course eventually it will grow on us but there was no reason to change the old way. I really feel like Madden is trying to usher in a new class of Madden players this year with Gameflow, new controls, and new gameplay.
Gameflow: So what this is is basically Ask Madden but they renamed it and dressed it up to look like a new feature. Thats all it is. The guy who talks on the headset does it off gameflow as well so this is the most pointless feature ever brought to Madden. We need to let EA know that we arent stupid and recognize that this is pointless.
Run Blocking: Though it is improved its just as bad as it is last year. Why couldnt they just copy NCAA 11? NCAA 11 has run blocking down and honestly it is the most fun Ive ever had playing a football game. I really just felt lied to because they showed videos about improved run blocking (Which was clearly on pro) and they talked about that as a main feature but its just as bad as its always been.
Pump Faking: I feel like its there for show. Its almost useless and it seems to take forever to pump. NCAA made it a quick pump that has some effectiveness that comes out of it. Im not asking for it to throw off the whole defense like it does in NCAA but it should help gain some separation from defenders.
Commentary: Gus Johnson is great. He says some things that are funny and hes often very enthusiastic when commentating but why is Colinsworth saying the exact same thing as last year. It was bad enough to hear it all last year but now EA is telling me they couldnt take the time and add new lines?
Overall impression: I really have to see what they did to the game modes and I have to see the patch they make after this demo to make any real impression. As of now I would say its only a 5/10. This might be because I just flat out loved NCAA this year and Madden is nowhere close to it. But I love the NFL and want NFL players and I also love online franchise. The game made some great adjustments like the fade routes in the endzone and brought back the meaning of deep speed while making acceleration just as important. Then they also left the blocking just as terrible as its always been, added useless features like gameflow and strategy pad, and also left the commentating stale and played out.
I will have the game tomorrow so ill put up my full game impression on Thursday but as of right now Im not impressed and I walk away from this demo early and disappointed. I used to play Madden Demos until the game was released. As of now I have to motivation to play this demo and memorize the strategy pad or continue my streak of being a top 200 ranked player for 3 consecutive years. Maybe Im getting older and more mature or im just getting older and wiser.
Madden did some great things and some terrible things so Ill put them in separate categories.
The Good:
Fade: The fade has finally been fixed by Madden to be run the way it is in the NFL. It will make personnel so important. Sure it will be abused by Larry Fitz, Calvin, and other big receivers with high spectacular catch but they do it in real life. Props to Madden for fixing this route the way it should be.
Locomotion: You can actually feel the acceleration. Its incredible how much this affects the game and the players. This is a great thing Madden did. The way players separate from the defense is great.
The Return of the Deep Ball: Lets face it. The deep ball was almost taken out of the game. This year is great because its making the speedy receivers so important to have. From what Im able to do with Santonio is great and I cant wait to see guys like Johnson and Moss.
The LB Zones: This is very realistic. No more LBs playing zones like safety. They get lost at times and I love it.
Presentation: Ive never cared one bit about presentation and still dont. I care more about gameplay than anything else but I have to admit that the presentation is great. They made the chain gang less annoying and the opening scenes of a game are actually very exciting to watch.
Kick Return blocking: Though its not that great of blocknig on returns at least the blockers come back and help after the coverage unit sheds a block instead of how they used to just run upfield to no mans land.
The Bad:
Strategy Pad: Wow. I understand where they were going but EA should have known that people dont like change especially when what they changed wasnt a bad way to use the features strategy pad and the traditional way was used. It takes a lot of time to make adjustments and of course eventually it will grow on us but there was no reason to change the old way. I really feel like Madden is trying to usher in a new class of Madden players this year with Gameflow, new controls, and new gameplay.
Gameflow: So what this is is basically Ask Madden but they renamed it and dressed it up to look like a new feature. Thats all it is. The guy who talks on the headset does it off gameflow as well so this is the most pointless feature ever brought to Madden. We need to let EA know that we arent stupid and recognize that this is pointless.
Run Blocking: Though it is improved its just as bad as it is last year. Why couldnt they just copy NCAA 11? NCAA 11 has run blocking down and honestly it is the most fun Ive ever had playing a football game. I really just felt lied to because they showed videos about improved run blocking (Which was clearly on pro) and they talked about that as a main feature but its just as bad as its always been.
Pump Faking: I feel like its there for show. Its almost useless and it seems to take forever to pump. NCAA made it a quick pump that has some effectiveness that comes out of it. Im not asking for it to throw off the whole defense like it does in NCAA but it should help gain some separation from defenders.
Commentary: Gus Johnson is great. He says some things that are funny and hes often very enthusiastic when commentating but why is Colinsworth saying the exact same thing as last year. It was bad enough to hear it all last year but now EA is telling me they couldnt take the time and add new lines?
Overall impression: I really have to see what they did to the game modes and I have to see the patch they make after this demo to make any real impression. As of now I would say its only a 5/10. This might be because I just flat out loved NCAA this year and Madden is nowhere close to it. But I love the NFL and want NFL players and I also love online franchise. The game made some great adjustments like the fade routes in the endzone and brought back the meaning of deep speed while making acceleration just as important. Then they also left the blocking just as terrible as its always been, added useless features like gameflow and strategy pad, and also left the commentating stale and played out.
I will have the game tomorrow so ill put up my full game impression on Thursday but as of right now Im not impressed and I walk away from this demo early and disappointed. I used to play Madden Demos until the game was released. As of now I have to motivation to play this demo and memorize the strategy pad or continue my streak of being a top 200 ranked player for 3 consecutive years. Maybe Im getting older and more mature or im just getting older and wiser.
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