I had a chance to play 3 games tonight and while it’s hard to get an accurate take with only 1-minute quarters, the game does show some nice improvements over Madden 09 and the NCAA 10 demo. For starters, the graphics and presentation have been improved. Even without the commentary (not included in the demo), you can see that EA actually put some effort into the presentation this year. They also got rid of the vomit-inducing camera that would swing around as your team approached the line of scrimmage.
Like the NCAA demo, you can select different difficulty levels. I played on Pro. Here’s some quick impressions:
I noticed a ton of new animations right away, especially in the running game and they are linked together very nicely this year. The running game seems much improved and it’s nice to be able to break out of animation at any time. I got a chance to see Pro-Tak in action since I used the Giants and Brandon Jacobs. What’s nice is that gang-tackling doesn’t seem overdone either. The slower paced gameplay also helps open up the running game more than previous years.
The passing has seen some nice improvements too. It seems much easier to control the velocity and touch on your passes this year. I also haven’t seen linebackers making superman leaps to knock passes down. The QBs seem a little slow in the pocket, but I’m using Eli Manning and playing in the snow. I’m interested in seeing if other QBs play differently. Luckily, the offensive line does a decent job of forming a pocket.
On the defensive side, I like that they went back to performing line moves with the right-analog stick (something that was done back in NCAA Football 06). Also, players don’t seem to pause when switching defenders. Overall, the responsiveness seems tightened up this year.
I was also happy to see the return of the last-gen play calling screen. I’m not sure why EA changed this when it made the move to the new consoles, but I’m happy to see its return. I’m not crazy about the default camera in the demo, but the classic Madden camera will be available in the retail game.
More impressions to come after I play some more.