Madden 08 impressions from a guy who has the game already

[MillerTime]

http://www.sportsgamer.com/content/979/madden-nfl08-sportsgamers-first-impressions

The best thing I read is that EA has finally brought back alternate uniforms that are available from the get go. He said the Bears have 5 of them. There is a whole lot more info there that is more important so enjoy the read. This guy is a credible source, EA gives him a copy of the game early every year and he posts his impressions on it.

[Pirate4Life]

This guy is legit. He always gets games early.

HOWEVER...he doesn't get the full, final, and polished version. He has more of a "advanced demo"

[MillerTime]

This guy is legit. He always gets games early.

HOWEVER...he doesn't get the full, final, and polished version. He has more of a "advanced demo"

That makes it even better since he is already liking what he has seen so far on what is nothing more than a watered down version. I love some of the things I read over there, especially coming from Fred who calls it like he sees it and doesn't cuddle EA like other people I have seen over the years.

[kickstand]

I called it a while ago from speaking to the EA team. They're trying really hard to make this game a lot more fun to actually play.

[The A-Plane]

IM still ****ed off devin hester got 100 speed. That was the first news i heard about madden 08 and i automatically said i would not be buying it. After hearing about how theyre adding in most of the features from last gen im definitely interested but still wary. EA has lied to me too many times. We shall see though, we shall see.

[Pirate4Life]

I called it a while ago from speaking to the EA team. They're trying really hard to make this game a lot more fun to actually play.


Wait...we're supposed to be impressed you called that they would try and make the game fun to play?

Congrats, Prophet.

[MillerTime]

Wait...we're supposed to be impressed you called that they would try and make the game fun to play?

Congrats, Prophet.

He didn't call it, he talked to some EA represetatives at E3 and they told him they were trying to make a better game. I bet If they didn't have any competition this year they wouldn't have done half the things they did on this version.

[Pirate4Life]

What have they done? Added some new animations (they do that every year), Hit Stick 2.0, and the weapons (jacked from 2K8--or vice versa, whatever).
Every year there is huge build-up from EA's advertising dept. This is no different.

Needless to say, I'm definitely not getting my hopes up whatsoever.

[Cadillac Kid 22]

Sounds like the best Madden yet

[kickstand]

Wait...we're supposed to be impressed you called that they would try and make the game fun to play?

Congrats, Prophet.

After talking to the EA folks, they were trying to make better gameplay. I suppose you overlooked that part of my sentence but after speaking to the guys, they specifically stated they were working on the tackling animations because everyone hates it when the RB gains 5 more yards because of the animation.

They were also working on the RB into the linemen problem. Of course, I don't think they're really going to succeed much because they haven't been able to fix that for 5 years.

[Pirate4Life]

After talking to the EA folks, they were trying to make better gameplay. I suppose you overlooked that part of my sentence but after speaking to the guys, they specifically stated they were working on the tackling animations because everyone hates it when the RB gains 5 more yards because of the animation.

They were also working on the RB into the linemen problem. Of course, I don't think they're really going to succeed much because they haven't been able to fix that for 5 years.

First, I'm not impressed you talked to the EA Folks, you can quit trying to rub that in my face. I've been involved in the video game industry for twenty years. I go to E3 as well, I go behind the scenes, sit in at exec meetings blah blah blah... nothing special.

You don't get it.

Of course everyone at EA is going to say "We're trying to work on gameplay" or something like that. EVERY YEAR they pick a new aspect and focus on it, and advertise the hell out of it. (QB Vision, Superstar Mode etc...)

Every year they've fallen through on their promises of "the greatest Madden ever" and sucker everyone into buying it. (Partially because it's the only NFL product out there now). Everyone is pretty much forced to play whatever trash they throw at us.

I'm simply saying, after years of being a Madden gamer, and NEVER playing 2K titles, I'm finally fed up with their promises. It's pathetic.

And if somehow this title is incredible, I'll happily eat my crow.

[kickstand]

I'm not trying to rub it in. My friend is in the EA designing business and that's it. I didn't take a tour or anything, we just chatted and he told me honestly what they were trying to do and the many flaws involved in Madden.

Trust me, I know just as much the disappointment every fall that Madden brings as it fails to live up to its hype but they're not focusing on some big overhaul this time. They're just trying to polish out all the glitches and ridiculousness of the small details that prevent Madden from being 'great.'

[UMiamiBucFan]

Sounds like the best Madden yet

Don't people say that every August?

[Dwight Smith]

After 3 years in a row of being disappointed , I no longer believe anything they say about their game, and will not be buying it this year.

I have looked at several of the gameplay videos, and to be honest it looks like the same things that made me angry about last year's version have not and will not be fixed...

People will still be dropping back 20 yards to pass, and throwing up ridiculous passes of their back foot with half their body angled to the sideline..

People will still exploit moving people in motion to take advantage of the weaknesses in the AI's defense.

The tackles this year look sloppy to me, again...

I'll try the demo... but to me it's looking like I'm just going to save my money for the other great games that will be coming out in a couple months.

[kickstand]

After 3 years in a row of being disappointed , I no longer believe anything they say about their game, and will not be buying it this year.

I have looked at several of the gameplay videos, and to be honest it looks like the same things that made me angry about last year's version have not and will not be fixed...

People will still be dropping back 20 yards to pass, and throwing up ridiculous passes of their back foot with half their body angled to the sideline..

People will still exploit moving people in motion to take advantage of the weaknesses in the AI's defense.

The tackles this year look sloppy to me, again...

I'll try the demo... but to me it's looking like I'm just going to save my money for the other great games that will be coming out in a couple months.

Taken from that guy's first impressions thread on the first link:

-i played as Vince Young and wanted to see how fatigue factors into the mobile qb. 1. He did get tired after holding down turbo and just running around. 2. if you dropped back far enough the pocket would collapse pretty fast. 3. if you aren't set when you throw it wont come close to your WR. 4. I was successful on a few plays sprinting out ala NCAA and just jucking it up. WIth the way you can control your WRs now you can make some nice catches and probably catch balls the CPU wouldn't. Like i said guys who play manually are going to have a field day.

I hate it when some ridiculous guy drops back with McNabb and Young, hurls it up in the air and says, "cool dude."

Anyways, the 40 minute demonstration did look promising especially the tackling animations, none of the silliness where you bounce off of people. The holes looked to open up better in the running game as well but the D-Line still gets some unreal penetration.

They still haven't figured out that receivers want to stay inbounds, not run out of bounds.

New games that are looking good:
-Killzone 2
-Bioshock
-GTA
-Brothers in Arms

[Dwight Smith]

Taken from that guy's first impressions thread on the first link:

-i played as Vince Young and wanted to see how fatigue factors into the mobile qb. 1. He did get tired after holding down turbo and just running around. 2. if you dropped back far enough the pocket would collapse pretty fast. 3. if you aren't set when you throw it wont come close to your WR. 4. I was successful on a few plays sprinting out ala NCAA and just jucking it up. WIth the way you can control your WRs now you can make some nice catches and probably catch balls the CPU wouldn't. Like i said guys who play manually are going to have a field day.

I hate it when some ridiculous guy drops back with McNabb and Young, hurls it up in the air and says, "cool dude."

Anyways, the 40 minute demonstration did look promising especially the tackling animations, none of the silliness where you bounce off of people. The holes looked to open up better in the running game as well but the D-Line still gets some unreal penetration.

They still haven't figured out that receivers want to stay inbounds, not run out of bounds.

New games that are looking good:
-Killzone 2
-Bioshock
-GTA
-Brothers in Arms

I watched an entire half of the steelers vs. the seahawks on a video and saw both team's QB's running all over the field (the 20 yard drop back just kills me) and all they had to do was set their feet for a half second and they could throw a bomb, just like last year's version.

I think 2K8 still has a long way to go, but one of the things they nailed is a QB throwing the ball. Unless you have Randall, you're not going to be able to run and throw with any accuracy. Also, if you are going to throw the ball 40 yards down the field, your QB will have a much longer windup.

The running game looked very arcady, especially with the hits and what not.

Of course, this is all based on me "watching" the game and not playing it... but I am seeing some of the same "issues" on the 360 version that were never on any of the PS2 madden games I played.

I will not remain loyal to any franchise that can't make fun games. I have stopped buying EA games in almost every sport because other people are doing it better.

Winning Eleven is a millions times better than any FIFA version ever made...
NBA2K is better than Live, especially recently
NHL2K is better than NHL 200X

The only thing EA really has these days that is the "best" in the sport is Fight Night, and that's because no one else has made a boxing game (the jap victorious boxers non ippo or whatever it's called doesn't count).

I'm about 99% on not buying madden this year, but if all of a sudden there are a million user reviews on how far the game has progressed, how much fun it now is, and I enjoy the demo, I might change my mind.

[kickstand]

That's so true. You think they could just set up a script where if the receiver is out of [x,y] parameters then the QB has to perform a long wind-up throw or set a delay after the QB has been moving for x seconds.

Of course, I don't know the specifications in all of this and whether one could actually do it and one has to give a little credit to the Madden team since they have to pump it out every year while 2K8 had 3 years to do their research and polish.

[Dwight Smith]

That's so true. You think they could just set up a script where if the receiver is out of [x,y] parameters then the QB has to perform a long wind-up throw or set a delay after the QB has been moving for x seconds.

Of course, I don't know the specifications in all of this and whether one could actually do it and one has to give a little credit to the Madden team since they have to pump it out every year while 2K8 had 3 years to do their research and polish.

Who says they have to pump it out every year? With the tech we have now, they could charge 20 bucks for a roster update on a previous game and work to really refine their product for a year or two before releasing another version.

Can the people who bought madden 06 and 07 for the 360 tell me they are really glad Madden rushed to get both games out the door in their yearly cycle?

[kickstand]

Who says they have to pump it out every year? With the tech we have now, they could charge 20 bucks for a roster update on a previous game and work to really refine their product for a year or two before releasing another version.

Can the people who bought madden 06 and 07 for the 360 tell me they are really glad Madden rushed to get both games out the door in their yearly cycle?

Good point save for the fact that EA would lose its yearly sales. So really it's dependent upon whether EA thinks money > quality.

We both know the answer to that one and we both know that while EA has their manhandle over the NFL license, the Madden sales are always going to be greater than the 2k sales unfortunately.

2K8 has been a blast by the way.

[Pirate4Life]

Of course, I don't know the specifications in all of this and whether one could actually do it and one has to give a little credit to the Madden team since they have to pump it out every year while 2K8 had 3 years to do their research and polish.

I just want to point out that 2K didn't have 3 years to work on it.
They really only started the project last January.

EA just needs to stop being a corporate monster and focus on what matters: The Fans.

They have built such a huge fanbase over the past 15 years that it doesn't matter what product they put out, it will sell. Unfortunately for them, that's beginning to wear off...
This game will sell another million+, but we'll see serious drop-offs in revenue for 09 if this game is another disappointment.