Madden 11 Demo Thoughts

Indy's book is crap. I have been running the Indy offensive book since 09 and they took so much out of it !

i dont know if this is true but i heard they cut some of the stuff out of the playbooks to keep the download size down since it was already big, we can hope!

secondhandsoxx wrote:

After several hours with the demo, I have to be honest.... if the defensive coverage in NCAA wasn't so broken, and they patched some of the other "issues" with the gameplay, I don't know if I would be buying a copy of madden right away, if at all I just turned the demo OFF halfway through a game out of frustration... none of it having to do with the actual on field gameplay :S

Even after memorizing the "strat pad" choices, I still find it frustrating and clunky to use... I don't know if its gonna be a deal breaker for me, but for a lot of people I'm sure it will be. Adjusting to what you see after the huddle is a huge part of the game, and that aspect of the game feels crippled. Hell, I like to run a cover2 or cover3 base defense on a lot of situations and adjust accordingly... that seems like its going to be VERY hard to do now, if not impossible... perhaps I'm over reacting?

I really like the feel of NCAA and a lot of the features. The game planning of NCAA (the conservative/balanced/aggressive choices) gives you a few different ways to run your offense or defense, The no huddle is awesome, (I can use the entire playbook) and the on field menus are just so much cleaner and logical.... I mean I can't even reset my play in madden if I pick the wrong audible for some reason. WTF is that? Also, when buddies are over I guess I'll have to have a house rule that everyone has to look away from the tv while formation audibles are called

Its a bit early to write a game off completely, so I will stick with it and make a decision on release day. I should, however, be EXCITED to throw on a demo game and check out all the new stuff, not turning it off with disgust I know a lot of people feel the same way as me judging from the general reaction of the madden community.

i agree Soxx! right now...NCAA11 is HOT!

sure, there are a few things that could still be fixed but, what do you expect...it's a videogame! having said that, EA didn't make us use the D-Pad for NCAA11. they added that "no huddle" feature which is just slamming imo; added some new uniforms to select, a few new plays in each playbook etc., and i am really digging it! when i played the Madden11 demo...to be honest....i was pissed that EA changed to the D-Pad for no apparent reason. now, since i am left-handed, learning the D-Pad will come easy as i practice but, that doesn't mean that i like it!

P.S. how will the D-Pad effect the "tournie" boys gameplay is what i am wondering. someone speak on this.

~Mili

Not buying Madden 11, unless the strat pad is out.

^^ why? it really isnt that bad, I actually like it now that I am learning it.. everyone is making this strat pad out to be soo difficult when in reality its the same as the other system just with all the hot routes on one button system. This is going to be the best NG Madden to date IMO.

I don't like the strategy pad even though I have it down pretty d@mn well..

It's the fact that I have to take my thumbs off of the left stick if I want to make an adjustment. In Madden 10, I could move my player with the left stick, press X [with my right thumb] and then press down on either stick..

I have to move my thumb from the left stick.. If I move my player, I use the left stick.. then I have to put it on the d-pad to activate first.. then hot routes [down], then whichever hot route I want.


Last year it was fine.. I'm not taking it back but at times, this demo makes me feel like not playing Madden anymore.. It's honestly ridiculous at some point..

The man coverage has been horrendous.. I'm on All-Madden; The CPU does a 5 yd out with Cotchery.. I have Bethea manned up on him.. Cotchery makes the cut after 5 yds of running straight.. Bethea turns his back to Cotchery, it looks like he's running away from Cotchery.. He runs 10 yds further than Cotchery until he finally realizes Cotchery made a cut so then he turns around but it's too late.. TD.. It's stupid.

secondhandsoxx wrote:

After several hours with the demo, I have to be honest.... if the defensive coverage in NCAA wasn't so broken, and they patched some of the other "issues" with the gameplay, I don't know if I would be buying a copy of madden right away, if at all
I just turned the demo OFF halfway through a game out of frustration... none of it having to do with the actual on field gameplay :S

Even after memorizing the "strat pad" choices, I still find it frustrating and clunky to use... I don't know if its gonna be a deal breaker for me, but for a lot of people I'm sure it will be. Adjusting to what you see after the huddle is a huge part of the game, and that aspect of the game feels crippled. Hell, I like to run a cover2 or cover3 base defense on a lot of situations and adjust accordingly... that seems like its going to be VERY hard to do now, if not impossible... perhaps I'm over reacting?

I really like the feel of NCAA and a lot of the features. The game planning of NCAA (the conservative/balanced/aggressive choices) gives you a few different ways to run your offense or defense, The no huddle is awesome, (I can use the entire playbook) and the on field menus are just so much cleaner and logical.... I mean I can't even reset my play in madden if I pick the wrong audible for some reason. WTF is that? Also, when buddies are over I guess I'll have to have a house rule that everyone has to look away from the tv while formation audibles are called

Its a bit early to write a game off completely, so I will stick with it and make a decision on release day. I should, however, be EXCITED to throw on a demo game and check out all the new stuff, not turning it off with disgust I know a lot of people feel the same way as me judging from the general reaction of the madden community.

haha aren't you the guy who broke his controller in half?

I'm liking the gameplay. Run blocking is great and the WR catching is even better.

The defensive side of the ball seems very unforgiving. Say if you call 'show blitz', with a bit of time your WR's are now able to behind the Safety zones for the deep ball. It wasn't possible to do in M10. I never saw it happen anyway.
I think defensive playcalling is gonna be huge this season

Theres still a question mark over the pass blocking and the tacling is awefull but i can live with that.

As for the Strategy Pad..... WOW!!!

The audible's are shite as well, what used to be 2 quick presses can now be up to 5 or 6 presses. Square to bring up the plays, D pad to cycle through them and then X to pick the play...


Also I am having an absolute nightmare trying to user the Safety. Towards the end of my M10 game, I got pretty decent at it but I cannot seem to do it in the demo. It just feels very light and loose.
Gonna take a lot of getting used to.

ubert123 wrote:

haha aren't you the guy who broke his controller in half?

Several. What does that have to do with anything lol

you can do the r-stick quick audibles still just press x twice to get to the menu with your preset audibles and u can do the r-stick run, PA, quick pass, Deep pass audibles

playing on all madden...tackling is bad..real bad..i swear manning's accuracy is messed up ...i ran a stretch out of deuce and the dt jus went straight through..thought that was a double team on the dt in that formation...its alot wrong with defense i jus hope the final game is better

yeah manning hasn't been making very good throws when i play with him, and also the cpu running backs and D Line are beasts.

After spending a fair amount of time with the game these are my thoughts:

The pass rush is fierce in this demo! By the time I go to my second read or check down, I'm gettin smoked a lot of the time! Gotta make quicker decisions I guess. Also the play action seems way less effective this year compared to last, I'm getting sacked a ton.

I don't really like gameflow so far, but to be fair, I haven't really tinkered around with my own gameplan, since it doesn't save... I definitely don't care for the coordinator audio and subtitles. Gameflow playcalling on D is horrendous lol

Seems like a ton of fumbles so far, even when covering the ball. Same goes for broken tackles...

All this stuff could be changed by sliders of course, I'm interested to see what the have the settings on for ranked games.

Strat pad is still awful

i get crushed on all madden cant tackle

on offense though can score at will