Madden 21 Beta First Impressions (Feel Free To Add Your Own)

[ChaseB]

With Madden 21 still a more than a month away, I did receive a beta code...

Written By: Robert Kollars

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[michaelhawj]

i got beta code so here are my impressions

Pros : open field tackling look so good, graphic/visual look so good, new scorebug look so cool with new font style text, passing feel pretty decent

Cons : Gameplay need more polished, animations are sometimes goofy on running, tackling and blocking. ai cpu play sometimes so dumb against me in few games i played as Chiefs, Ravens. Man and zone man coverag seem kinda broken to me

overall score for gameplay : 7/10.. i don't think it is worth buying on current gen. i wait for next gen console on this game to see if gameplay is different between current gen and next gen

[xSABOx]

THINGS I LOVE
-CPU throws on the move
-CPU making anticipation throws
-CPU aggressive downfield
-Throw out of sack innacc throws
-stretching for 1st is HUGE for cpu
-user movement in general is realistic
-Players feeling slower
-Catch in stride is smooth
-Cant cover entire section of field with 1 player
-Sped up/realistic bc moves

THINGS I HAVE TO MOD
-CPU bc doing the zigzag movement
-bc headtracking seems off?
-2 man catch is still unnatural looking and needs to be toned down
-play action fakes not effective enough
-cant lead WRs
-pass blocking blitz pickup feels busted
-4 man pass rush is non existent for both sides
-zone players, especially deep zone, are slow to break on the ball
-cover 4 logic seems busted
-barely any gang tackles
-too many hitsticks

[XtremeDunkz]

The biggest thing so far for me is getting very little love. The new change of direction rating. This makes the game as a whole much more realistic. HB and QBs moving in the backfield, usering a LB on defense are all much more realistic due to having to slow down when they try to flip direction.

[ripcandlestickpark]

I played a 15 minute quarter game last night as the Ravens vs. the Falcons (CPU). It was a high-scoring Ravens win (41-30), with each team punting only once. Here are some quick, small-sample-size impressions:

Good

• Most of the gameplay changes for this year seem to be working as advertised so far. I noticed some really good-looking open-field tackle animations (including an impressive gang tackle) combined with older, not-so-great ones.
• The "under pressure" QB throwing animations are apparent and welcome.
• Kickoff returns don't feel as futile as they have in years past. Instead of feeling like being tackled somewhere between the 20 and 30 was an inevitability each time, I felt like anything could happen on any return. In particular, I had a pretty nice return to midfield that felt pretty organic.
• It seems like they added a couple of new sideline cutscenes, which are always welcome.

Not-so-good

• Sideline awareness for WRs still seems lacking.
• Some long-standing issues with CPU QB AI still persist. Matt Ryan had periods of "Robo QB" and the majority of his incompletions were out-of-bounds throws, absurd overthrows or drops.
• The presentation changes are a mixed bag. The new score bar (and associated stat graphics) are great. The wipes are defnitely game-ey, but I can live with them (especially if they changed the text on them to make them team or player-specific as opposed to gaudy "Move The Chains" type text). If I had to compare them to something, they remind of of the wipes you see when using the MLB Network package in MLB: The Show. MLB does it better, though, by keeping them team and player-specific. The intros are awful, though. Like another poster alluded to, they're reminiscent of the worst parts of NCAA 14 (footage from the game you're about to play, for instance).

Miscellaneous

• Neither side had much luck running the football (apart from Lamar, of course). We'll see if that's the case as I get some more games in.
• I had one bug where Todd Gurley's stats were shown on a graphic, and Gaudin said he was a having a great day running the football even though he had negative yardage at that point.

I'm going to to try to get in at least one or two more 15 minute quarter games (as well as some shorter ones) before the beta period ends.

[jfsolo]

A lot of AI logic needs work, but like the article says the fluidity and contextual appropriateness of most of the animations both with one and multiple players is greatly improved.

It would be too jarring for me to go back and play any of the previous Maddens of this generation because of how much cleaner this game is compared to any of them.

[Brooke2011]

-Lighting is def brighter
- player models are tweaked a little
- WR have new stances
- zoom camera is much better now that passing cam has been fixed
- tackling is much better than last year
- new button layout has a big learning curve to it
- new moves on the defensive line are awesome on all pro.
- much better WR /DB interaction
- Played on All pro simulation and it was a nice balance.
- game does feel smoother but there are some issues when trying to switch directions quickly .
- u can choose your celebrations by hitting a choice of 4 buttons for offense and defense.
- as of now I would say it is a much more polished version of madden 20 .

[Critical Kills]

I loved it after playing a bunch, specifically the way you can rush the Qb now. Players have a better weight to them too. I went ahead and got my preorder in for Xbox One MVP edition w 20% off.

August can't come soon enough!