How to fix online team play mode for Madden - DUDERMAN's Blog

DUDERMAN's Blog

How to fix online team play mode for Madden

Posted on March 13, 2012 at 06:58 AM.

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[I recently wrote this in a thread but apparently nobody was interested enough in the mode to keep the thread alive. So instead of letting these ideas die out, I figure they can live on in blog form.]

I have been enjoying team play since the first time I played with a friend on the same system and the same team. It brings a great level of fun and cooperation not seen in other modes for me. Online team play is also fun but could definitely benefit from a couple of improvements. Here are a couple ideas I have come up with.

1. Allow more players

-back in Madden 10, they had a coop mode where you and a friend could play together against the PC. I had a blast with this but it obviously was lacking one feature... 2v2. Well Madden 11 comes around and surprises me with not just a 2v2 but a 3v3 feature. I has been fun but the naturally evolution of the gameplay suggests it could be bumped up to 4v4 or 5v5 (I doubt we ever see an 11v11... but who wants to block on every play anyway)

2. Defensive Player Lock/Defensive Camera View

-I was disappointed to say the least this year when I found that they scraped they defensive camera from team play. It's a decision that still doesn't make much sense to me and bugs me to this day. That being said, I understand some people have a problem paying from the defensive camera so in order to make everyone happy, just incorporate the player lock feature from NCAA.

3. Fair play rules

-Few things are more frustrating in a game of team play than to see someone try to go for it on forth down on their first possession, fail, then immediately quit... which then makes their teammates quit. Also, don't you hate when people go for 2 after every touchdown or always try an onside kick? I know I do. Fair play fixes all that.

4. Import Superstar

-Much like how NBA 2k11 worked, allow us to import our superstars into a team play game. This would require a complete overhaul of superstar mode in order for it to work, but it's about time they rework that mode.

5. 'Create Team' and tournaments/Rankings

-Simply allow us to name our 3 play squad (or 4, or 5 player squad) so that we can then compete against others. This may bring in the hardcore crowd to what many consider a ****** game mode.

6. *Fix Route Running*

-Right now I could play against a receiver who makes 5 cuts and does two loop de loops around the field and yet the ball will still be accurately thrown to him. Reward players who play like they are suppose to. If a player gets too far off their 'route track', have the ball be thrown inaccurate. This would solve many issues people have when playing team play. It helps add in realism, while making defensive coverage worth playing again.

7. Home team chooses Dark/Light Jersey

-I doubt I'm not the only one to start up a game only to see the other team chose their home jersey's during an away game. This bugs me to no end. The fix is simple... Have the home team lock in their jersey color (dark or light) and then the away team's jersey will be locked out of choosing the same. Your could still change your helmets, pants, etc, this just predetermines the jerseys like in a real game.

8. Allow away team to be controlled by human players in a human vs cpu game.

-doesn't need much explanation. As of madden 12, you can only play the cpu if you are the home team.

9. Camera View

-I've already talked about the defensive camera so I won't get into that again. However I do want to talk about how the camera view has changed. In Madden 10, the camera was up close on your player like it was in superstar. It gave you a feeling that you were on the field and made it difficult but rewarding to play. In madden 11 and now Madden 12, they moved the camera back. It no longer feels like I'm on the field, rather it seems like I'm playing any other game mode. Make team play unique again or at least give us a 'pro' option to play with the up close camera.

10. Defensive stamina presnap

-One thing you may see often in a game is when a person controlling a blitzing defender keeps going back and forth before the snap in order to mess with blocking assignments. This, to me, is a form of cheating. Yes, you see blitzers move around in the real NFL, but not to this degree. It's simply done to take advantage of a flaw in the blocking schemes in Madden. The one way I can think of fixing this is to add a stamina bar for the presnap. If they move around to much, their player will be tired and therefore will not be as effective when blitzing.

11. Boot player vote

-I know, I know... this could end up being a bad thing. I can see legitimate players getting booted because they made a mistake. That being said, I'm tired of being matched up with someone who is purposely sabotaging your team. This happens way more than you would think or ever want. So either give the option to vote amongst your team to boot a player, or maybe add the option to boot once a player deliberately goes against his assignment X number of times.

12. Stats, Stats, Stats

-Keep track of our tackles, sacks, interceptions, receptions, TDs, rushing yards, etc. Allow us to view the history of players in the lobby to get an idea of their skill and best positions. Which brings me onto my next point...

13. Team Play skill rating

-Team play is way different from online 1v1 play, have a separate rating to reflect that so you can be matched up with players in your skill level. This could also be used with the 'team naming' suggestion from earlier.

14. Private Slots

-Right now you either have to option to have a private game or public. Sometimes you want to play with a friend, put it on public and the room fills up before they can join. Simply allow us to choose how many spots are private in the room.

Conclusion

Team play is a good, but not great, game mode that currently only attracts a small percentage of gamers. I've tried to gather a number of ways I feel would improve upon the mode and bring in a more diverse audience.

Cooperative play is a huge selling point today for games. Even sports titles like Fifa and NBA 2k saw their sales spike after adding fun and polished coop modes. I think the same could happen with Madden, they just need to put in the time and effort.