Here are my demo impressions:
I hope no one enjoys calling audibles or making adjustments on defense, because EA decided that both of those were way too easy to do in last year's game so that had to make them real inefficient. For adjustments, they changed it from using the bumpers, A and Y to the brand new "Strategy Pad". You have to hit the D-pad in any direction to bring it up initially, then one of the four directions to get to the proper category (coverage, D-line, LBs or hot route), then the corresponding direction on either the D-pad or the right stick to call what you want. It's not intuitive in the least and I found myself barely able to get in a single adjustment before the snap is made, let alone two or three.
For audibles, the generic audibles are no longer tied to the right stick. You hit X to bring up the first audible screen, where you need to use the left stick to move left and right between the four possible generic plays (like on defense: man, cover 2, cover 3, blitz), or you can hit X again to get to the second audible screen that has your predefined plays. Needless to say, it's significantly more difficult to get a quick audible in now. Moving left to right for the generic plays is especially inefficient.
Both changes feel like they were made simply for the sake of change, as no one could have possibly thought this is a better way to do things. In a year when they kept boasting about how GameFlow was going to make things quicker and easier, they really
ed this aspect of the game. I looked through the options and there was no way to go back to the traditional control method.
On defense, A now cycles to the previous player like it used to in older editions of the game. I found myself selecting the incorrect player pretty constantly as I was hitting A to skip through the presnap cutscene.
The controls for accepting penalties and putting injured players back into the game are slightly different, hitting X or A instead of moving up or down. More change for the sake of change.
I used the Colts offensive playbook last year and I didn't think it was possible, but it has even less running options than in '10. Actually, it seemed rather limited in general.
There's an audio element to the in-game advertising this year. The whistle from the Old Spice commercial, that stomp/clap song from one of the Gatorade commercials. Plus the Verizon drive summary and the Dorritos CrunchTime play of the game.
Revis is going to be a beast. He warped through Reggie Wayne to breakup a pass then later had a crazy interception on a deep pass.
