by: William Abner

I've had the retail version of Madden NFL 11 for the better part of a week and EA Sports has allowed impressions to be posted before the game's release and pending review next week. Before we get started I need to throw out a few important items of note:

This is not a review. The testing process for a game like Madden takes time and not enough time has been spent to give you a set in stone impression of the entire game. Things like online team mode, and other features have not been fully tested at this time. This is more of an overview of the gameplay. The full review will be posted next week after it ships.

When in the main menu screen a bit of text scrolls across the bottom saying something to the effect of, "Welcome to the Madden 11 Beta. In game content is not final." What does this mean, exactly? Well, could mean a lot of things. Could mean that we get a day 1 patch much the same way NCAA 11 did. It could mean nothing at all. But I think it important to state this up front -- what I am seeing in this current build may or may not be what you see on August 11.

First, the good stuff:

The Run Game and the Blocking Schemes

I like the run game more in Madden than I do NCAA 11. It's easier to see holes develop and the shedding of tackles feels a bit tighter and less random. I've had to make a few slight slider adjustments but I am getting very good rushing results with Cleveland. By "very good" I don't mean tons of yards, but Jerome Harrison can run behind Joe Thomas with pretty good success, which is fine by me as Harrison remains the most under rated HB in football. EA rated him correctly. I strongly suggest messing a little with the blocking sliders as on default it's a bit too easy to run the ball (much like the demo) but with a little experimenting you should be able to find a good mix.