Madden NFL 12 Reviewer: First Impressions

[ChaseB]

Madden NFL 12 is a new hope for gamers desperately waiting for a great football title on this generation of consoles. Prior history of the series reveals a history of big promises followed by merely adequate execution. While Madden has been good in prior years this generation, it has not been great, and most fans expect greatness.

One could argue that's a creation of the EA hype machine, but in reality it could just as easily be attributed to Madden being the only NFL game in town.

But we aren't here to talk about that. Instead, I'm here to talk about initial impressions of the retail version of Madden 12, so here are some quick-hitting initial thoughts from my first experiences with the game.

Read More - Madden NFL 12 Reviewer: First Impressions

[awr0430]

What i gathered from this first impressions is the game is an improvement over last years, but its worth $40 rather than $60. Just my opinion....

[NoTrouble]

I don't understand how people claim the O/D line interactions are improved every year when all I see is the same "oops, you beat me so i'll move out of your way" or "lets just stand here and slap hands" animations that have been around for years. I still don't see double team pass blocking, I still see pulling guards and fullbacks getting lost and not blocking anyone.

Am I missing something, what exactly has been improved? I never see anything specific about what exactly is better about it, just "it's better".

[mva5580]

Quote: Originally Posted by awr0430

What i gathered from this first impressions is the game is an improvement over last years, but its worth $40 rather than $60. Just my opinion....

This game, in my opinion, will NEVER be "worth" more than $40 because it comes out every single year and there's only so much they can change in it year to year.

They update the rosters, uniforms, stadiums.........and then what? Little things here and there that people may like, but along the way they manage to break/change 3 or 4 things from the past year that worked. It happens Every. Single. Year.

I don't doubt that the people who make the game try. I really don't. This is their job, their life. They don't WANT to ship something that has the perception like Madden/NCAA does here. But in the end, they're catering to who the company wants them to cater to. And it isn't us. It's the people out there who buy the game and really couldn't care less how realistic it is, how many "little things" are included. They just want the 3 updated things listed above, and they're good for another 365 days.

Funny thing is, it's not like Madden is a HORRIBLE game. It's not. But, and these people are going to have to live with this until it's not true anymore, the fact is people like us are going to expect A LOT more than is even reasonable when your company has decided to go in on a deal that makes you the only option. I don't even care if people think 2K was better, Madden was better, etc. Don't give a crap. When there's competition, there are very real and immediate reasons for the games to get better quickly. And there's also something for everyone. If someone liked 2K's presentation better, Madden's gameplay better, or whatever, you had the ability to choose. Now you can't, and therefore any errors are magnified x100. Maybe that's fair, maybe it isn't. But that's life.

The people of this website though need to accept that they're the minority, and the things that are complained about on here aren't going to change. They're just not. So you can either keep buying the game and deal with the problems as they come, or you can say that it isn't worth it anymore and skip it. It's your choice. But these problems that are discussed with EVERY yearly release of these games just aren't ever going to go away. Face it, football is the most popular sport in America. And along with that comes the fact that the people who buy football games are going to be, let's say.....not some of the smartest people in the world. You've played online....you know what I speak of. THESE people are the majority. THEY are what EA Sports cares about. If this game all of a sudden became Front Page Sports Football '95 (you old schoolers know what I'm talking about,) the game would tank. NHL, FIFA, and MLB are high quality games because there is a larger segment of "hardcore" fans of those sports who have that high expectation of realism. I juts don't think it's there with the football gamers. They just want to turn it on, go for it on 4th and 20, and throw bombs all day.

[THREADCLOSED]

mva5580 hit the nail on the head

[ven0m43]

I haven't bought madden since 2008 and i thought i was going to get this one, but I think I might have to pass again. EA would rather add some dumb feature that isn't needed than fix the game play/problems.

[zoguloth22]

you would think after 20 odd years Madden would be a top noch football game, But it isnt even close to other sport games. I would think after 20 years it would be as good or better then mlb the show ea NHL or even nba2k serries but the truth of the matter is its not even close to any of them games i mention.
What i think should happen after 20 years of madden is they should just give up let someone else take over and maybe stick to Fifa and maybe make a new baseball game becouse they cant seem to get football right.

[BIGFOOT999]

lol, thats always my first game too, but I usually play as Tampa.

[DJ]

Chris, a big THANK YOU for bringing up the lack of a Player-Lock camera for defense in Madden. Aggies and myself were campaigning hard for PL to make it into Madden this year, but were unsuccessful. I really don't understand why it's not there, when as you said, it's in NCAA and as Aggies (and others) have pointed out, a version of that camera DOES exist in Madden, only it's tucked away in Superstar Mode.

I agree that without Player-Lock, playing defense is not a lot of fun.

[coolcras7]

Madden 12 the game you buy not the game you want.