Previews: On Bended Knee
My problem with previews, particularly previews of sports games, is that the writers never seem to be looking out for us. 90% of previews read like the publisher wrote them. So what could be a useful look at a game becomes totally worthless instead--it turns into a big Entertainment Tonight love-fest.I was reminded of that problem last week when I saw three different previews of Madden NFL 08. They dropped within days of each other--Gamespy on April 30, IGN on April 27, and Gamespot on April 28.
It's pretty funny, actually. Let me show you.
The first preview was written by Patrick Joynt over at Gamespy. Look at a few things that he mentions:
--"It's important to note that all EA presented at its preview were slides, with the occasional short chunk of illustrative but rough gameplay footage."
--"No hands-on or gameplay to verify mile-high claims; no real word on hard feature sets."
The rest of the preview is glowingly positive (of course):
--"...it's definitely exciting to see how high EA is aiming."
--"...having even a moment more of control during a play is going to be huge for serious players."
--"The entire set of systems -- animation and AI -- help create what EA is calling truly "dynamic" gameplay, a fancy way of saying that situations will unfold the way they should in a realistic football game."
--" I can't really emphasize enough how much promise these changes have."
Well, hell, the changes always have promise, don't they? Tiburon is the same developer that has underperformed year after year after year with Madden.
What I like about this preview, though, is that at least Patrick had enough integrity to admit that he was writing an article based on a Powerpoint presentation and "short chunks" of "rough" gameplay footage.
Fair enough. At least we knew what we were getting.
IGN posted a preview on almost the same day, and so did Gamespot. Gamespot says they attended "a recent EA Tiburon press event featuring an early look at the game." They don't mention the exact date this press event occurred, but given that all three previews mention many of the same topics (branching animation and "dynamic" gameplay, improved running game, improved A.I., etc.), I think it's fair to guess that the press event all three attended was the same one.
That's interesting, because neither IGN or Gamespot mention that they basically saw a Powerpoint presentation and almost no gameplay footage. They do both refer specifically to a short video of LaDanian Tomlinson, and IGN references two other video clips that sounded very brief, but that's all. Even being very very charitable, they might have seen, at most, half a dozen brief gameplay clips.
So as far as I can tell, these guys went and saw some Powerpoint slides and scraps of gameplay footage ("early in-game engine videos"), and IGN is foaming at the mouth. Positively foaming! Look at some of these excerpts from a three-page preview:
--"With a difficult console transition finally out of the way, Tiburon headman Steve Chiang said there are no more excuses with Madden. There will only be results. After visiting Tiburon to take an early peak at Madden 08, we're starting to believe him."
--"Remember that old "If it's in the game, it's in the game" line? Tiburon is taking that to heart."
--"In short, EA is bringing sexy back." [note: I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.]
--"The stellar Superstar mode returns." [another note: "stellar" at 15fps last year.]
--"...it's clear that Cummings and the rest of the development team care about Madden 08, gushing that this year will be the biggest jump in quality over the previous version that we've ever seen."
Who wrote this preview, Sally Field?
They care! They care! Hooray!
The IGN preview is three full pages of adoration. They must have really liked those Powerpoint slides.
Now IGN does say, right at the beginning of the preview, "Let's get it out of the way now. Madden NFL 07 was a disappointment, pure and simple." What makes that misleading, though, is that it's a sleight of hand. Sure, they can criticize last year's version, because it's not going to sell any more copies.
What did they say last year when they reviewed the 360 version of the game, though? They gave it an 8.5 ("Great", it says under the score) and said this:
The more I played Madden last year, the less I liked it. I've had the complete opposite feeling for Madden 07. Sure, there are still some flaws, but even if you just played Superstar mode, Madden is worth the money. This is the year EA Sports finally shows 360 owners what the series is all about...This is the Madden gamers have come to know and love.
Well played, IGN.
I should talk about the the Gamespot preview now, but it's not nearly as annoying. It's glowing but not blowing.
Like I said, though, Patrick Joynt of Gamespy should get big points for being truthful.
The others, not so much.
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