Free Madden 2011 Demo is an acceptable appetizer
One week and counting until boyfriends everywhere get a little more absentminded, children are neglected more than normal, and gaming console workloads increase exponentially. That day — Tuesday, August 10th — is known as Madden Holiday, and it marks the debut of the latest installment in the greatest football video game series the western world has ever known, Madden 2011.
But you don’t have to wait that long to get your Madden ‘11 fix, thanks to the free online demo!
While demo is easy-as-hell to download, be prepared to wait. There were over three hours of load time when you combine both the download and installation process, as well as the system update required to access the network. Hey, nothing great comes easy. Did I mention that you get to play Madden for free before it hits the shelves?
So I took the advice of the Phoenix, I downloaded the Madden ‘11 Demo from the Playstation Network. Luckily for me, I had other things to do during this time-consuming process and took the opportunity to offset some of my girlfriend’s uneasiness about Madden’s return into our lives. We watched some of HBO’s Sunday night lineup we had DVRed, including her show, True Blood — which I’m embarrassed to admit I kind of like now. It was the least I could do to soften the blow of losing her boyfriend to hours and hours (and hours) in front of our 42-inch HDTV.
Around 11:30 p.m., all my hard-work and patience finally paid off and I’m sitting in front of my TV at 11:30 p.m., remote in hand, and playing Madden ‘11. Thank God for the Internet!
Before we get to the gameplay, here is some info on the key new features of the 2011 model:
New Features in Madden 2011
So you know how we’ve been able to sign and fire offensive and defensive coordinators for the past few years in franchise mode? Hiring/firing coordinators made little sense, other than to aid the progression at some positions if the coordinator is good enough. This is the year it finally matters as you can now organize a gameplan!
GameFlow
By selecting “GameFlow” from the play-calling options, you no longer have to wade through every single play call. Instead, you “gameplan” several plays for different game situations. For instance, you can select some plays for first downs and others for second and long or third and short, and so forth, so when you’re playing a game, your coordinators select a play for each situation.
I gave this mode a try, and it works pretty well. You have the option of switching between GameFlow and the old fashioned play-calling method after each play, so that’s cool. My early guess is that this is a new feature that will make it into future Maddens. Of course, I also liked the passing cone in Madden ‘07, and that didn’t pan out.
Madden Online Multi-User Team Play
Online users can now play Madden as a team. Apparently this was a feature in previous Maddens, back before I was playing online. This would be the greatest thing ever if it weren’t for the fact that I play Madden on PS3 and my boys back in New Jersey play it on XBox 360. $#%&@!!!!!!
Madden 2011 Gameplay
So now that we’ve covered the new features, let’s do what we came here to do and play some Madden!
The two teams available for the Madden ‘11 Demo are the New Jersey, excuse me, New York Jets and the Indianapolis Colts. You can play in both Lucas Oil Stadium or in the brand new Meadowlands Stadium, whatever the hell it’s called. Since my last Madden experience on the 2010 game was when I created a quarterback in Superstar Mode, I was in the mood to run the ball and chose to play as the Jets.
Now maybe it was because I played this game on pro difficulty, but I absolutely dominated the Colts, 39-0. The young trio of Shonn Green, Mark Sanchez, and Dustin Keller were the stars on offense as I ran and threw the ball down the throat of Indianapolis defense. Maybe I’m just that good. Maybe it was the difficulty level…
Running on Offense
The running game has improved from Madden ‘10 to ‘11, although you can no longer use the D-pad to control the directions your players run. Time for me to finally convert to the left analog stick. Bummer there.
As for the gameplay itself, it seems very realistic. I was able to wait patiently behind my blockers for holes to emerge and then explode through for big gains with Green. The new GameFlow setting even gave me tips from my offensive coordinator on how best to run the play. Green finished with 22 carries for 97 yards and two touchdowns, so I’d call it a success!
Passing on Offense
Mark Sanchez can’t be rated too high in this game, but he was able to shred a good Colts defense for over 250 yards, three touchdowns, and no picks. Using the left analog, I was able to properly lead my receivers as Dustin Keller and even Braylon Edwards had big games. Just like with the running game, coordinators give you some useful tips before the play and tell you when you should time your throws. Pretty cool.
Defensive Gameplay
Unfortunately for this review, I didn’t spend a whole lot of time on defense. Between the dominance of Rex Ryan’s unit in this game, Mark Sanchez and Green’s ability to control the clock on offense, and the pro difficulty level; I only played about a fifth of the game on defense. GameFlow blitzed on almost every play, and it worked as I shut out the high-powered Colts offense. Revis came away with a pick as well on the game’s first series.
Overall, I’d give the Madden ‘11 Demo a solid 8.5 rating out of 10.
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