Nitpicking Just Because I Can---Part 4 - Heroiczero13's Blog

Heroiczero13's Blog

Nitpicking Just Because I Can---Part 4

Posted on March 3, 2011 at 06:36 PM.

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The idea of a Create-a-Team (CaT) feature is one of my favorites in any sports game, mainly for two reasons. One, I can make a team that is a little closer to home and have a more personal touch to it, albeit as an Eagles fan I am rather obsessed about my team anyway, but it allows me to just have this sense that I am lifting my town up or whatever city I choose to base the team (Honolulu is one of my faves). Also sometimes when looking to start a franchise I realize that the teams presented to me are just not horrible enough (yes, even you Panthers) because there are usually one or two redeeming qualities to them. In my franchises I like to start with truly god-awful teams and work up from there. It is much more entertaining and challenging, and it puts the emphasis on the draft, which at times works spendidly (see part 3). The one problem I have with the CaT feature in Madden is its limited scope. I must clarify that it is Madden's one that is the problem because a very close relative to it has almost nailed it perfectly.

Madden was on the right path on the last generation, there were many logos from which to choose from when creating a team, at least 32 as I distinctly remember making 32 CaTs at one point (it was winter break, I was bored) and having a great time with that franchise, namely because I made all the teams awful (5-11 Super Bowl winner! Now that's what I call parity!). The stadium options were basic but got the job done, and it was a fun thing to do overall. However they must have lost their noted when transferring to the current gen consoles because there are barely half the number of logos, and half it again because everyone has a second one that is essentially the same thing. Now the team did this, from what I can understand, because with fewer teams they could add more personal touches to the stadium...like a giant f**king hornet statue. Now I don't know about you, but I'm not exactly itching for a giant f**king hornet statue. This does not make sense to me.

Now to actually try and be a productive member of the Madden society, I have a simple solution to this problem. Steal Teambuilder. Simple, I know. Almost criminally so, but just steal it, or "borrow" or whatever you want to call it, the point is that it is the single best CaT option in the field and with some improvements it could be damn near perfect. By giving control of the design to the player, it lessens the responsibilites of the Madden team who can focus on more pressing issues, such as taking franchise mode off the moldy, dusty shelf it tossed it on.