Madden '11

[Oznogrd]

Im not a complete Madden fanboy and actually enjoyed the 2k football series the most out of all of them but for some reason i'm really psyched about madden this year. Im completely unsure as to why. Is anyone else up for this? Or are yall sticking to alternatives like Backbreaker and NCAA (which felt exactly the same as last years gameplay wise in the demo...even though last years presentation wise is weak compared to this years)

[JaoSming]

stickin with backbreaker with NFL rosters

hopefully the upcoming patch makes the game harder and fixes the interception BS, even though there is a PC roster editor by finn that lets us get past those issues as of now anyway

[Oznogrd]

demo dropped today..played one game as jets and one as colts...very very intriguing. Feels alot more real than it used to

[Andrew]

I might have to check out the demo at some point, but it's probably just going to once again confirm how little I understand gridiron.

[Oznogrd]

I might have to check out the demo at some point, but it's probably just going to once again confirm how little I understand gridiron.

Hence why you play on rookie and just enjoy hitting people. Do you enjoy the arcade styles more? Like Blitz etc?

Also: This Ultimate team mode thing is intriguing to me. If they brought it to NBA, it would almost be enough to convince me to buy Elite and not 2k

[Andrew]

I've only ever played Madden demos. I don't follow the NFL but occasionally I'll give a Madden demo a try to see if it's something I could get into. I've tried playing on rookie difficulty and still have no idea what's going on.

[cavs4872]

Thanks for the heads up Oznogrd, I just started downloading it a few minutes ago. I actually used to prefer football games over basketball ones, but the Madden series has never seemed to make any improvements over the previous year's game other than enhancing the graphics and presentation. Then again, I've always sucked at football games and have only seemed to win online out of luck.

[Andrew]

It's funny, for years people were saying that NBA Live should be more like Madden in terms of its depth and quality, but it seems there's just as much discontent amongst Madden players.

[Oznogrd]

Well...back in the day there was this thing called competition. When 2k started churning out games that were just as good (if not better than) as Madden, they went "OH SHIT, WE NEED TO WORK!" and put effort into the game. But once they bought the NFL license: they stopped giving a shit and at least on the last gen of consoles: Madden '06-'08 were purely cosmetic and roster changes with a few failed new modes thrown in for the lulz. This is the time when even alot of EA Fanboys started to go "well damn...2k kinda knew what they were doing huh?" (sort of like we're starting to see on the basketball side of things)

I never play most of my games online unless its with people I know, so i dont really care about those modes as much. Im all about a deep dynasty/franchise mode and some minigames working as drills to improve players and the like. I wish they'd come out with something like "the Crib" 2k had back in NFL2k: added hours to my playtime.

Since I didn't explain above: The Ultimate Team mode is sorta like an RPG/Dynasty/Yugioh Hybrid mode. You buy cards and booster packs and try to build the best team (using all time greats like Kurt Warner from the Rams or Favre from Green Bay). When i first heard this i went wait..this is dumb. But the more i think about it the more i realize its sort of a never ending legendary mode. You never have to purchase anything with real money if you're patient and take the time. You can even take your ultimate team online to try to top others. I'm starting to like the concept of this mode and i heard it came from FIFA. Anyone wanna comment on that/how it runs?

This year has a gameflow feature Andrew (dont know how much you've seen/heard) where before each play the coaches not only select a play (that you can audible out of) but halfway explain what you should attempt to do and sometimes even why they're doing it. So it may be much more accessible and help you learn unlike previous iterations where there 400 plus plays put at your disposal the second you stepped into the game. Hell i love football and i only ever ran a total of about 10 plays on each side of the ball (if that many).

Ill explain American football to you in as basic terms as I can.
Offense: Run or throw and try not to get hit or drop the ball
Defense: hit the guy with the ball as hard as you can
Kicking: it goes through and over

Yeah i think thats it

[koberulz]

Does the demo become available on XBOX Live Silver at any point?

[Oznogrd]

last year it was about a week between the gold and silver release dates so it should be soon: cant find a concrete day though

[JaoSming]

Does the demo become available on XBOX Live Silver at any point?

If you dont want to wait you can burn it to a CD

http://digiex.net/downloads/download-ce ... nload.html

[Doobie]

This game is a must buy too me.. I can't wait to start playing with Chargers, even though its gonna be weird without LT.

[JaoSming]

tried the demo finally (buddy kept egging me on)

maybe it was because I played BB right before, but it was a lot of meh for me. Awesome presentation but I just couldnt get "into" it if you will. I hit a 5 year pass with Peyton that left me with a few yards left and 4th down and they started celebrating....huh? "Warping" into tackles just doesnt cut it for me anymore after BB either even if it is vastly improved.

[koberulz]

a 5 year pass

Holy shit. How far did it go?

[koberulz]

Finally got the demo, but how in the hell do you kick this year? I've missed almost every kick I've taken, and have no idea what I was doing right on the two I managed to connect on.

[Oznogrd]

Finally got the demo, but how in the hell do you kick this year? I've missed almost every kick I've taken, and have no idea what I was doing right on the two I managed to connect on.

hit a when the indicator is at the end of the bar (power) and when it comes back to the little dark line (accuracy) hit a again

[koberulz]

Ah. I figured the power thing, but had no idea what I was meant to be doing to set the accuracy.

Play of the day, Mark Sanchez taking a knee. Righto.

[JaoSming]

a 5 year pass

Holy shit. How far did it go?

I dunno man, it glitched and I had to unplug the 360 from the wall....but then it pulled some "The Ring" shit and came back on.

Going to wally world right now to exchange it.

[koberulz]

Reminds me of the time playing NBA 2k9 when a shot just kept rolling around the rim. Went on for about 30 seconds, I was considering intentional offensive interference to get one with the game when it finally dropped. Weirdest thing ever.

Anyone else had a 'play of the day' other than the last play of the game?

The awareness of staying inbounds this year on catches is a hell of a lot better. Came back from a 21-3 halftime defecit to lead 25-21 with a minute to go, Manning flung it into the back of the endzone (into double coverage) for, barely, a touchdown with 19 seconds to go, which likely would have been out of bounds incomplete last year. Bastard. I managed to get a field goal with five seconds left, win the toss and drive for a touchdown to open OT, though, so I can't hate it too much. Probably the best game of videogame football I've ever played.

[Oznogrd]

Anyone else had a 'play of the day' other than the last play of the game?

Yeah i think they cut some features out to make the demo smaller (crowd noise, play of the game mechanics)

[koberulz]

Not a fan of the removal of the sprint button, good to see it's optional. Not big on the kicking system either, even after working out how to use it. Strange that Madden seems to be going in the opposite direction to NBA Live/Elite in that regard.

Am I missing something, or is there no way to select which fake kick to use in GameFLOW/Gameplanning? The game called a pass on fourth and inches when I opted to fake the punt.

[Oznogrd]

Not a fan of the removal of the sprint button, good to see it's optional. Not big on the kicking system either, even after working out how to use it. Strange that Madden seems to be going in the opposite direction to NBA Live/Elite in that regard.

Am I missing something, or is there no way to select which fake kick to use in GameFLOW/Gameplanning? The game called a pass on fourth and inches when I opted to fake the punt.

See i'm completely digging removal of the sprint button. A sprint button loses its purpose if you hold it down the entire game (which most players i know do). It being optional is fine but i love that acceleration now matters as much as speed.

I think you'd have to do the option of open playbook and call the one you want but i'd have to look again

[Andrew]

The turbo button has been removed in NBA Elite 11 as well.

[koberulz]

Can't really say I'm a fan of the removal of control. GameFLOW I care a bit less about, since that was pretty much how I played the game in previous years due to my insufficient understanding of football, but that seems to be the theme this year for some reason.