Madden NFL 11 Review

[Dan Marino]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Review

LOL @ this review. Another typical EA friendly review given by OS. How can they rate this game a 9 when a very very important aspect of the gameplay (the play action pass) is basically taken out? Hearing about the play action pass glitch made me sick.

OS you really set the bar with this review. Great job.

[acidraindrops08]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Review

Ok, so they want to gear this game towards the casual game... Why? For a game that has such a large fan base, why not just worry about advancing the game. Why can't it be geared towards both? NBA 2k11 has 4 different gameplay options, Default, Casual, Sim, and forget the last.. Yet, the highest selling sports game can't figure out a way to reach both sides. Untouched franchise mode? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! Last gen, 2001 on had upgrades, maybe minor but they did update. You're telling me in 2010 that you couldn't possibly change anything?? It would almost make sense if they added some kind of groundbreaking feature, or state of the art gameplay. Nope... Jus gameflow, autosprint and locomotion. Passing may be touched up a bit, better blocking, sideline catches, but what after that? Look at NHL 11 for example, some of the best gameplay if not the best on the market. They managed to make huge upgrades to gameplay, enhance offline dynasty, eashl, an utimate team mode that makes maddens unplayable, and their not even done announcing info.... What a joke

[Klocker]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Review

It is not about the review not matching what people want it to say, it is about the review not being objective. Further more people have the right to an opinion about something that seems to be better suited for the back of a box, rather than a review breaking down the game.

Sidenote: I wish folks would stop saying people want Madden to receive low marks....nothing could be further from the truth. We simply want the review to be genuine and the standard to be upheld across the board...no special treatment.

the guy who played it admitted there were some flaws but said it was ENTERTAINING and he LIKED playing the GAME.

so that's what he reviewed... how the game made him feel, not every minutia of detail that some people can't sleep at night.

Personally I like the features that he outlined and I want a reviewer to tell me if the game is fun because that is ultimately why i play games. (I'm old and my time is valuable)

[joec63]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Review

the guy who played it admitted there were some flaws but said it was ENTERTAINING and he LIKED playing the GAME.

so that's what he reviewed... how the game made him feel, not every minutia of detail that some people can't sleep at night.

Personally I like the features that he outlined and I want a reviewer to tell me if the game is fun because that is ultimately why i play games. (I'm old and my time is valuable)

That's the disconnect I believe. The expectations, for at least the diehard fan base on OS, is looking for a detailed review of every nut and bolt where the majority of Madden sales are casual gamers looking for their football fix and they don't want or care to know about everything in the trenches. Maybe they should add a discalimer to all reviews. " This is a high level birdseye view of the game"

[tonnyrat]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Review

What people fail to realize is that this business (reviews and all) has an inherent conflict of interest. OS and other large gaming sites are given exclusives, interviews, early access and media by major gaming companies like EA. Do you think OS would have the same type of access if all of a sudden they started trashing the game? The things provided to OS by EA are often key drivers of site hits and are often major 'selling points' of the website. EA can cutoff access at any point in time or simply not provide inside scoops on what is arguably that best selling sports franchise of all time. Do you think OS would be happy if they didn't have anything exclusive to offer in order to increase viewership? This has been very apparent with IGN over the past few years but it shouldn't surprise you that OS might also be affected.

It's the same thing with investment research and the companies they're supposed to 'review'. I have seen it first hand where a company cuts off access and seizes to provide information because a 'sell' rating is issued. That company also refuses to use the bank's other services and, as a result, the bank loses clients and $$. While every research department issues 'sell' ratings, most of those 'sell' ratings are of companies who have no other connections to the bank/company and there is nothing to lose.

OS has a lot to lose if they piss off EA. This is why you should take site reviews with a grain of salt and focus on impressions from the forums. There is no bias there once you consider a large number of impressions and avoid the obvious trolls and fanboys. Remember hearing about paid reviews in GamePro and other magazines? This is just a more disguised version of the same problem. Nothing new and nothing out of the ordinary.

[DGMikeBarker]

if it's good it's, but a 9 is for great games. Makes you question

[Presswithsafetyshade]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Review

That's the disconnect I believe. The expectations, for at least the diehard fan base on OS, is looking for a detailed review of every nut and bolt where the majority of Madden sales are casual gamers looking for their football fix and they don't want or care to know about everything in the trenches. Maybe they should add a discalimer to all reviews. " This is a high level birdseye view of the game"

I don't think it's casual fans vs. sim fans. I want my football as realistic as possible and I think Madden 11 was a huge step in the right direction. People criticizing a review based on their own experiences is foolish, because every player may not have the same experience. I've read several posts on "broken" play action...the more I've played I think the PA is fine. I just threw a 60 yard dime off PA in the demo a few minutes ago. I won't bash those who have a hard time getting the ball off or think the rush is on their QB too quick. The best judge of a game experience is yourself, and any review that doesn't jibe with your own feelings about the game should be respected as if you wrote it yourself. I would give Madden 11 a 9...that doesn't make me any less a sim football enthusiast than the guy who would give it a 6.

[THREADCLOSED]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Review

Really, second year of a suspect OS Madden review with glowing reviews. No wonder this game never improves.

Careful there my friend....and i agree

[adembroski]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Review

It is not about the review not matching what people want it to say, it is about the review not being objective..

A review is one man's opinion, and thus is is necessarily subjective.

Previews and 'fact sheets' are hard news. They state the simple truth. Whether a game is good or not is subjective, thus a review must be looked at as editorial. The idea is to look at a myriad of reviews and base an opinion on how your tastes fit the reviewers tastes.

Fact: Gladiator is a pseudo historic piece set in Imperial Rome during the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus, circa 161 AD. The main character is a fictional Roman general who's family was unjustly murdered in order for the new emperor to secure his throne.

Opinion: Gladiator is a great film, with great acting, outstanding action sequences, and deep, sometimes disturbing characters.

A review is made up of both, usually, but a score on the quality of the game is a subjective opinion. A review is necessarily bias toward the writers opinion.

[BezO]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Review

I had a long response typed up, responses to a few folks, but I doubt the post would've come off well. I'll just say wow, that was a very incomplete review. Not what I would expect at OS.

[haljordan73]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Review

OK, I've been warned about this, and I definitely want to abide by that warning, but I have an honest question, why is it that Madden naysayers always come off as "OK, this is what I think, and this is what you should think too, oh you like the game? no, you really don't, you're just too dumb to realize you shouldn't like it!"

I mean come on, that review was out for 5 minutes and the conspiracy theories started flying, is it really so hard to let others opinions breathe air as well?


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[bh446066]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Review

You have to almost apply a statistical regression analysis on the reviews (and the reactions to the reviews). You let the statistical outliers be just that, and discard them, and get a best fit line. I think the "best fit line" here is that the game is fun, good looking, and generally an improvement over the last version. This is particularly pleasing to me b/c this will be my first Madden on the current gen, and I have no preconceived notions about what to expect. If I have half as much fun playing it as I have NCAA, it will be well worth the purchase. I can always settle the offenses down by laying the slider hammer on them, so I'm not too concerned about that at all.

[DGMikeBarker]

I read another review that covered every aspect of the gameplay and gave the game an overall okay. I read this review that covers every aspect of the game and you say it's great even after you mentioned Superstar and Franchise modes are lack luster. Note, I would have a problem with this review and score if they had left off important aspects of the game.

[steelernation28]

The main problem to me is that based on the radio show last night the reviewer didn't seem to spend a whole lot of time with madden 10, not being able to remember if some features in '11 where brand new or had been in last year's game. To me, really a lot of the point of a review for me is to see what has gotten better from '10 and what has stayed the same. This review certainly lacked that perpective. Most comparisons were to ncaa 11. I would have been a lot more interested to hear about the fixes made from last year's madden and the improvements made to the features introduced in madden '10

[SBartlett]

well, last year i was super critical of this title. you can see my blog and go over the Madden10 review. i am high on this year's madden. i went into depth about the control of the game because i feel that is the most important aspect of the game - i touched on that a bit last night during the show. if you don't have tight controls, the rest of the career modes don't matter.

as far as defense, i think the locomotion and pro-tak discussion all ties together into the discussion of defense. it isn't changed drastically, but there are new animations and the control feels good. not really much else to be said.

i especially enjoy defending deep passes like we discussed last night. i just took that section for granted i guess and got caught up in how much the offense plays so well now with a balanced attack. i think Madden11 is better than NCAA this year, and Chris believes NCAA is the best football game of all time. while NCAA has the best dynasty mode for football, i strongly feel that madden's controls this year trump NCAA in many areas.

thanks for reading though!