Madden NFL 11

[cdj]

At least they're patching it back in. I don't get why EA would change it in the first place. Has anyone ever complained about the old system?

I think it all came down to those stats in Ian's blog on why they made those changes. However, as Mark Twain made famous: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." EDIT - I don't think Ian is lying, just saying that I don't think stats tell the whole story sometimes.

I know I'd get 'stuck' once in a while when making pre-snap changes, but they did have the Cancel button showing on the screen. I wonder how many of that 50% were people who started to make adjustments but were unable to due to time - foe snapping the ball. It's cool (though slightly intrusive) that they can look at all those user stats, but sometimes metrics don't tell the whole story and individual decisions need to be made via common sense. If they felt the old system was too much for users, then make a new system the default but have the old one as an option. The decision they made may (or may not) have been helpful for newer Madden players, but it was an unnecessary change for long-time Madden players.

[JeffHCross]

Not to mention that, if the entire reasoning behind the change is the statistics that Ian cited in his blog, there are many other avenues to changing the strategy pad over changing it completely. If one button press is really the fundamental problem, there are much better ways to avoid that button causing an issue.

What really got me about it is that he discussed the intrusive UI that fills the screen. He's right ... and it's getting worse. The UI on NCAA 11 is much worse than it was on NCAA 10. On 10, I left it on all the time. On 11, I turned it off as fast as I could so I could actually see my formation pre-play.

What I really don't get is that they've had effectively the same system for pre-snap changes, at least in NCAA, since around NCAA 2004. Other than a couple changes to which buttons do what, it's been effectively the same. For NCAA 2004 - 08, they never had an on screen UI. It's like they decided that the current generation of consoles was bringing in a group of gamers incapable of reading a manual ... so they got rid of the manuals and put everything on the screen. Using the UI as a reason to change the Strategy Pad is a stretch, in my opinion.

[Rudy]

It's a real stretch. In some ways I think Ian is out of control. He put himself out there like crazy last year - posting tons of blogs, posting a ton on OS, fielding and answering tons of questions on OS, boldly proclaiming that whatever you see on Sunday will be in Madden. He was the new sheriff in town begging to be the lovable hero. When Madden 10 didn't completely live up to those standards he got completely stressed out over the criticism and went away other than maintaining a twitter profile to keep his popularity up. I think he's a little too concerned with his image at times and I also think he feels if he says something is better he expects other to just accept it.

Last year's Madden had a ton of promising news but this year's Madden is full of head scratching. Look at how much time was spent on putting in the strategy pad and now is being allocated to patch in the old controls. How much time was spent adding OTP? I still think that feature will be incredibly underutilized as a 3 on 3 game. Game planning and gameflow? I really doubt many people will invest the time to truly make it worthwhile. A glorified Ask Madden system isn't something that should be advertised on the box. Tons of people love NCAA's online and offline dynasty but Madden won't fix anything until Madden 12.

NCAA deserves some heat for not adding fumble, injury and fatigue sliders as well as only one camera. People always expect NCAA to get Madden's hand-me-downs but is the larger budget Madden team too proud to borrow from the NCAA team? Tons of people loved the player lock camera so why didn't the Madden team borrow that technology? I still remember one guy at E3 stating that the NCAA team was really approachable while the Madden team seemed annoyed to be answering questions.

I don't know if Ian is leading some of these strange decisions or the marketing/business side is forcing his hand. Either way Madden 10 had enough cool things for me to buy it for the first time in years. I certainly won't be bothering with it this year, especially after how much I like NCAA 11. I'll check the demo out sometime soon but I doubt anything is going make me buy Madden.

[Rudy]

I downloaded the demo and played almost a half of Madden before I had to shut it off (just had some spare time before dinner). I have no conclusive thoughts on the gameplay. I will say I thought the presentation was pretty bad. No crowd audio at times which makes the gap in commentary seem really bad. You go from quiet to Gus screaming about a simple play. Gus sounds OK but I'm not sure his high energy will work in the long run. The commentary in NCAA is much better imo.

I thought the graphics looked good. The colours seemed fine on the PS3 and I think it may be smoother than NCAA 11. Some players are too skinny but it's not an overall problem - just bad art work for certain players imo.

Locomotion felt different than NCAA but in my short time it felt OK. Nothing about the gameplay stood out as bad. Seemed like a perfectly boring NFL game that lacks big plays and excitement. Just grind the ball down the field while the crowd sits on their hands.

I found myself hitting the L2 and hot routes to make instinctive line shifts and adjustments. Whoops! Have to use the strategy pad for that and I simply refused to use it. I tried a couple times and could barely read what I had to do before the QB was quick snapping the ball. Strategy pad blows. Ian should be smacked for not including the old controls as an option.

The camera is not good. It's too low on the passing game. The NCAA 11 camera is better for seeing downfield.

Gameflow blows. Maybe it works if you gameplan but I really hate the fact you don't even get a couple plays to choose from. It automatically selects one play and you have to run it. Terrible. I turned it off after 3 plays. What's even worse than gameflow is the co-ordinator audio and comments. That got shut off real quick too. I'd still like to know how much time did they spent on this feature that nobody asked for. I do like the default setup for calling plays better than NCAA 11 as I can pick from 3 plays at the same time without holding the L2 button down.

Overall gameplay - nothing stood out as bad. This may be refined and it may play a good game of boring NFL. But the new strategy pad and gameflow suck. I like the stat overlays but the commentary and sound were bad.

[jaymo76]

Rudy, the key to gameflow is taking the time to set-up your playbook. I agree that gameflow is useless UNTIL you take the tyime to set up your book. Since then, I have felt differently about the feature.

[morsdraconis]

Rudy, the key to gameflow is taking the time to set-up your playbook. I agree that gameflow is useless UNTIL you take the tyime to set up your book. Since then, I have felt differently about the feature.

But, as I've said before, I wouldn't have a problem setting up my playbook properly if it was actually done right where it gave me my entire playbook in a form that was easily navigable. When I have to sift through 50 shotgun plays to find what I'm looking for instead of being able to choose the exact formation I want to use, there's a problem.

[Rudy]

I think that's the key concept here that Mors and I have eluded to. I don't have a problem with the concept of streamlining a playbook and/or picking plays based on down and distance. But that could be more easily accomplished by a custom playbook OR improved by still giving us a few plays to pick from based on our criteria. Simply sticking you with one play when you use it sucks. Having to spend a lot of time customizing it isn't simpler, quicker, deeper. "Simpler, quicker, deeper" makes no sense and is a lousy marketing slogan too.

[Kingpin32]

I will agree that the new slogan is dumb, especially after trying to listen to different people from the Madden team try to describe why it is "Simpler, Quicker, and Deeper".

[sl8b]

Also, I'd like to add that of course you can play a game in half an hour if you are playing five min. qtr's with the accell clock on. Once I turned it off, it still took me just as long to play a five min game as it always did. I just don't get what they are saying, especially considering that 7 min. qtr's w/ the 15 sec. runoff was the default online last year. Lowering it from 7 to 5 isn't making the game deeper, it only lowers your stats even more. I was under the impression I could play a game with realistic stats faster.....I don't even expect to do it in 30 minutes, but quicker would be nice.

[jaymo76]

I think that's the key concept here that Mors and I have eluded to. I don't have a problem with the concept of streamlining a playbook and/or picking plays based on down and distance. But that could be more easily accomplished by a custom playbook OR improved by still giving us a few plays to pick from based on our criteria. Simply sticking you with one play when you use it sucks. Having to spend a lot of time customizing it isn't simpler, quicker, deeper. "Simpler, quicker, deeper" makes no sense and is a lousy marketing slogan too.

You will never hear me argue against custom playbooks. That is my #1 priority for both games. However, perhaps this new system was brought in because for 12-13-14??? they want to bring coordinators into the game and therefore make playcalling more realistic?

[Rudy]

But why spend time on a feature that nobody really asked for? You want custom playbooks. I want in game saves. Many people want those things and yet that time is being used to work on something else that isn't a priority imo. I felt the same way about Season Showdown last year. They added something nobody asked for and it's something I don't care about at all.

[jaymo76]

But why spend time on a feature that nobody really asked for? You want custom playbooks. I want in game saves. Many people want those things and yet that time is being used to work on something else that isn't a priority imo. I felt the same way about Season Showdown last year. They added something nobody asked for and it's something I don't care about at all.

Well we both know the answer.... ADD more casual gamers to people who buy the game. Hey it sucks but the reality is that EA exists to make money and the causal gamer market size is a lot bigger that the hardcore such as ourselves. I didn't turn on season showdown last year, I have played a total of two mascot games, etc. I don't do the gimmick thing at all. I would love to also have in-game saves but that's a feature I don't see in the near future because I don't think EA see's that as something they can market.

[SmoothPancakes]

I have played a total of two mascot games, etc. I don't do the gimmick thing at all.

This is another thing I in all honesty think they need to get the hell off the disc. If they want to have mascot crap (I have never played a mascot game because I couldn't care less about it) take it off the disc and make it DLC for those who want it. It'd open up more space (maybe not necessarily a lot, but more nonetheless) space on the disc to possibly put in the things that some of us hard core players would love to see.

[JeffHCross]

It's been reported consistently that mascot games take absolutely no space on the disc. The mascots are already there, and all the teams are 99 OVR.

[steelerfan]

It's been reported consistently that mascot games take absolutely no space on the disc. The mascots are already there, and all the teams are 99 OVR.

I've seen that too. I agree that the space is so negligible that it's almost nothing, but "absolutley no disc space"? What about all the "over-the-top" jukes and spins? No space whatsoever needed for those? I'm not arguing and I really don't care, but I'd think "absoluteley no disc space" is a stretch.

[SmoothPancakes]

It's been reported consistently that mascot games take absolutely no space on the disc. The mascots are already there, and all the teams are 99 OVR.

Ahh, well then, lol. I've never really done much searching or looking for info on what the deal is with the mascot games and stuff. I just figured it was it's only little section on the disc and took up even maybe a little bit of space. I guess you do learn something new every day after all.

[JeffHCross]

I'm not arguing and I really don't care, but I'd think "absoluteley no disc space" is a stretch.

Okay "practically no disc space"

[I OU a Beatn]

Online games this year are going to be incredibly high scoring if you know what you're doing. I was playing around with it last night on All Pro and I had no issue whatsoever moving up and down the field at will. Even the CPU had it's way against me, even though I was mixing in everything I possibly could. Zone defense is messed up, man defense is under powered and rarely is close enough to the receiver, flats defense is messed up, and the pass rush/blitz schemes don't seem to get there nearly quick enough to be effective. Not to mention it seems like the under center run game is severely overpowered. The RB will get hit and fall forward for an additional 2 or 3 yards every time, so unless you're hitting him in the backfield, you're going to have some issues getting off the field.

[Rudy]

My kids liked seeing the mascot game. I put it on a couple times for them and they laughed their heads off.

[morsdraconis]

My kids liked seeing the mascot game. I put it on a couple times for them and they laughed their heads off.

And that's something that people fail to grasp with that. It's for the kids guys. It's to help assimilate the kids into football junkies, thus increasing their marketability.