For Madden 11 EA Sports decided to take the approach of making the
game ultra-accessible and in doing so may have alienated some of the
dedicated gamers who buy the game on a year-to-year basis. Madden 11
certainly remains fun though and has its bright spots but at the same
time houses some nagging flaws and omissions. Continue on for my
detailed impressions of Madden 11 having taken a ton of notes through my
play time with the game. There are also additional screenshots and
videos to be had. All impressions are based on playing with All-Pro
difficulty. As always feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments!
Positives
The CPU AI seems to have been much improved. Even last year there were
games that got out of hand due to the CPU QB throwing bad picks. That
doesn’t seem to be the case now. They’ll throw occasional INTs but I
haven’t played a single game where I felt like the CPU was giving the
game away. They may even be throwing the ball away at times. That or
there are just some really bad looking passes that float out of play
over an intended receivers head. The CPU run game is also competent and
has to be respected.
General QB accuracy seems to be more varied than ever. It’s nice
seeing passes hit the turf or head out of bounds instead of always being
on target. There are still a lot of dropped potential INTs but at least
there are other types of incompletions now. The balance feels pretty
good to me though QBs like Tim Tebow don’t seem to be wildly inaccurate.
While there are still issues with the commentary I’m surprised by how
well it turned out compared to what I played at E3 and what was
delivered in the demo. Even if voice levels don’t match up all the time,
or player names aren’t said in certain situations, just hearing Gus
Johnson and his enthusiasm alone ratchets up the excitement and emotion
while playing the game. Overall better than I had anticipated
considering all that has to go into rebuilding an audio library.
GameFlow. Yes I’m putting GameFlow in the positives. It may not be
for everyone but I’ve enjoyed the quicker pace and being able to focus
on playing instead of sorting through the playbook. I have felt the need
to audible out of plays occasionally but overall the play calls have
been reasonably good. What I did though was turn off the coordinator
audio and coordinator subtitles. Cleans up the screen and brings back
the crowd noise.
I created a GamePlan with no play-action (explanation in the
negatives). I suspect that while GameFlow is intended to make the game
more accessible GamePlan will be utilized primarily by the more
experienced Madden players. Most likely the majority of those who use
GameFlow will just use it as implemented without creating a GamePlan.
The process is just a bit tedious. As I was creating my GamePlan it just
struck me that I have a better idea of what plays I like in-game when
in a rhythm and judging based on what the opposition has been successful
with rather than sitting on that screen and sorting through all the
plays. I really like however being able to tailor the calls to all the
different situations.
The advancement with locomotion definitely represents an improvement
though maybe less pronounced than was seen in NCAA Football 11. I love
having the ability to cut back across the field as it provides that
“anything can happen” feeling which is so important to have. The
dual-stick control enters into that too with much more control over a
player and in the open field that is exciting to have at your disposal.
The more I play the less I use the right stick for ball carrier moves.
Having the unique fight songs and chants implemented is just flat out
awesome. Now, I don’t have any emotional attachment to these, but
playing as the Packers I kept wanting to get first downs just to hear
“Go Pack Go”. Hopefully more touches like that to differentiate settings
and rituals will be put in going forward (12th Man flag at Qwest
please) though I still really feel that varied crowd noise levels and
home field advantage are necessary along with that. Love the “Hoooosh”
from the crowd at home after a Houshmandzadeh reception and I believe I
caught a “Suuuhh” after a Ndamukong Suh sack in Detroit.
The pass rush, on both the user and CPU side, can be quite
significant. In fact it seems like the CPU is throwing with a defensive
player in their face most of the time so that may be overkill with them
needing to get the ball out a bit quicker. However there have been a
decent amount of sacks and plenty of pressure to deal with and I think
that makes for a solid improvement.
The team styles seem to be better differentiated probably due to
GameFlow. Running teams tend to predominantly run, the Dolphins run a
little more Wildcat than other teams might, the Broncos bring in Tim
Tebow in his shotgun package, and so on. It doesn’t necessarily mean
those teams execute as well as they do in real life though. The CPU
Dolphins didn’t have much success running Wildcat against me. There also
seems to be a lack of urgency from the CPU when trailing until the two
minute warning hits.
Weather seems to have an effect on the games more so than in the
past. Players slipping when making cuts and an increased numbers of
fumbles stand out. Another thing I’ve noticed, which may or may not be
by design, is that false starts by the CPU seem to happen more when they
are playing on the road. If that is programmed in I like that a lot as
it would represent at least a small sort of home field advantage.
The graphics are terrific though the game lacks the progressive
lighting found in NCAA. I give Madden a bit of a pass on that because
it has to deal with replicating a lot more when it comes to individual
players so it is somewhat understandable, just hope they get that in
next year. I especially like playing games at night and in the snow.
I like the new style of kicking. Yeah it is simpler and makes it
really easy but I was never a big fan of the right stick method. This
seems to separate kickers better based on skill level also. However
just because the meter goes slower doesn’t necessarily make it easier
to use them. I’ve found going from one game to the next that sometimes
the meter going faster is easier to time. Another note: the Xbox 360
pop-up bubble (friends, messages) appears right on top of the meter
which could be a distraction.
Digging the presentation when penalties are called (replays show the
player committing them), after some questionable plays the LT symbol
comes up so you can signal the coach to throw the red flag and
challenge it without having to pause, and sideline catches are really a
relief to finally have working properly.
I’m not sure if there are blown coverages or what but there seems to
be a few plays where I find guys wide open downfield. Not often but once
or twice a game of course being dependent on having the time in the
pocket for them to develop. This is something that I haven’t noticed as
much of in the past. If they are actual blown coverages (and not just
poor AI in action) then it is a very welcome addition.
The soundtrack is great, and when I initially saw the list of tracks
it didn’t thrill me. But the songs are those associated with the NFL and
it adds quite a bit to have them playing in the stadiums.
NEGATIVES
Play-Action. This really kills me because I’d like PA to be a big part
of my offense. However in Madden 11 calling PA is basically just asking
for a sack. At best there is enough time to hit a button and get an
errant pass away but usually it just results in a sack.
Kick Returns. They are non-existent. Out of all the kick returns I’ve
had I think I’ve gotten beyond the 22 just twice. Usually I feel like
it is an accomplishment to get to the 20. The blocking is just horrid as
a wave of guys come untouched to tackle the returner. Punt returns have
questionable blocking at the onset but I’ve gotten a number of great
punt returns and it gets exciting in the open field. Usually cause of
the first blocks being whiffed you have to break a tackle right after
the catch and then the opportunity to make a big play emerges.
As mentioned yesterday
there seems to be one single game intro that gets played in most every
match-up. There are supposed to be unique ones (over 900 recorded)
depending on the QBs and storylines. So this would appear to be a bug
and a very unfortunate one at that. I even went into franchise mode and
the Vikings-Saints opener was that generic QB talk with no mention
specifically of Brett Favre, Drew Brees, or last year’s NFC
Championship. I have since found a couple intros including the Bears vs
Packers (Play Now) with discussion about the NFC North becoming a more
passing division and Jay Cutler and Aaron Rodgers being future Hall of
Famers. Jets-Pats, Chargers-Chiefs, Broncos-Bears, Browns-Steelers,
Giants-Colts and Jets-Colts are the others that I’ve come across.
Gus Johnson also mentions at the start of every game that there is an
intriguing storyline that they’ll be following up on throughout the
game. Nothing ever comes up though. The Redskins-Eagles game would have
been an obvious one to discuss but it wasn’t touched. Not sure if that
is a bug or if the storyline aspect just didn’t make the cut.
I had grown frustrated with the running game early on but since
figured out that there is just a big difference between good offensive
lines and mediocre or poor ones. The issue I have with the run game is
there are too many attempts that end in negative yardage. The average in
the NFL of rushes that lose yards is under 10% and I’d gather 20% or
more of my runs have finished up that way. This usually isn’t because of
a mistake on my part but instead some really questionable blocking
resulting in the back having nowhere to go. Obviously the great o-lines
avoid this more than the poorer ones. All that being said when not
getting hit in the backfield the run game is very fun especially when in
the open field.
Below is just a single example but it is representative of what I
have seen at times. Lineman just completely kicking blocks or letting
them go too early or defensive players coming in untouched leaving you
helpless in the situation. Certainly it happens in the NFL too but not
quite at the rate I’ve seen it in-game.
CPU kickers are terrible in bad weather games. Even the really good
kickers miss mid-range FGs that they would usually make while the user
doesn’t seem to face as much trouble. Kick success should drop in
weather games but they are missing mid-range FGs (25-40 yards) like
crazy. CPU Robbie Gould even missed an extra point in a snow game.
Broken tackles. Like in the demo there are a lot of them in
one-on-one situations. The CPU may break a string of tackles and go the
distance or just breaking a single one can sometimes mean a TD. One
example: CPU threw a screen pass to Steve Smith, got to the outside,
broke a tackle, and I couldn’t catch him. Not to say that’s out of the
realm of possibilities just something that has stood out. Players that
aren’t known for being tough to take down seem to break them at a high
rate making it especially notable.
Pro-Tak just doesn’t seem as prevalent this year. There are lots of
situations where players just bounce off ball-carriers. Still some gang
tackling but there seems to be a lot of broken tackles because of
one-on-one attempts and the inability of other players to contribute.
Not too bothered by the advertising integration (Old Spice, Doritos,
Verizon, Gatorade) but I’m sure some will be. Gus Johnson is quite
enthusiastic in his reading of those lines in particular. Hopefully this
means we won’t see the pop-ups or some other form of ads to invade
screen space but I’m not counting on it.
Saving and uploading highlight videos is still more of pain than it
should be. Once you start to watch a replay from a particular view you
can’t cancel out of it and must wait until it has played all the way
through. There is also no broadcast cam option like in NCAA. Still no
screenshot capture feature like in NCAA either.
There are a lot of injuries. This barely slips into the negative
column because many are significant and happen early in games. I think
the frequency is about right, players get dinged up in every game and
have to miss time. However it is hard to ignore when starters go out
early and for the entirety of the game. Still trying to judge this but
my personal opinion right now is that the frequency of injuries is fine
but maybe the severity needs to be adjusted. It would also help if minor
injuries that take players out for a few plays here and there were
noted by the commentators.
The Strategy Pad has been covered enough already so don’t have to go
into it again. Some people will come to like it or grow accustomed to it
while others will switch back to the old style once patched in. Not
going to dwell on it.
Supersim still seems to produce high scoring games with big
statistical numbers. Very little time seems to run off between plays.
What I’ve noticed most is big rushing games (oftentimes RBs going over
200 yards) and usually a kick or punt return for TD in there as well.
