“4th And Inches” PART 1 - Kushmir's Blog

Kushmir's Blog

“4th And Inches” PART 1

Posted on August 23, 2009 at 02:21 PM.

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Periodically, Columnist Kushmir Hassan, an Avid Gamer, reports on everything related to the discussion of the Sports Gaming. Focusing on, but not confined to, Highlights, Improvement, Past, Criticisms and Bright Future.

Now some of you are no doubt wondering, “Who is this Clown and what’s his Column about?” Here’s the long and short of it: I’m a GAMER plain and simple. Specifically ONLINE—you’ll never find a bigger SOCOM, Madden, Star Wars Battlefront or Splinter Cell fan. Formerly, I was one of the founders of MaddenWishlist.com, ran CFBWishlist and NBA2KWishlist, was an EA Community Leader and made regular appearances on the MaddenNation (now Sportgamer) internet radio show. Titles like SOCOM, NBA 2K and Madden, and any other games with great online aspects are games that I play religiously. So the brilliant guys over at Operation Sports have decided to let me contribute regularly. Honestly, I’d like a forum where Developers and Gamers can indirectly communicate. Do you know about a glitch that needs fixing? Here’s where we need to hear about it. Got a must-have feature that you need to see next year? Here’s where we need to HEAR about it. Maybe you want to suggest some ways that online play could improve? Again: THIS IS THE PLACE FOR YOU.

How fitting is it that Madden’s theme this year is “Fight For Every Yard”. I wonder if the game’s producers know how truly close they are…I REALLY DO. This game is inches from competing for best sports game out (NBA 2K holds that title now—and there hasn’t been a game that has been close for some time) While i’ve given Madden a hard time for some time, and even boycotted the game for two years (2007 and 2008) because I felt like it wasn’t up to par. This year is different, the game is not only PLAYABLE…it’s GOOD. REAL GOOD….now is it perfect? NOPE. But I’ve been gaming long enough to know the perfect game doesn’t exist. I’ve decided to focus on a few gameplay elements that could be better, and even some issues that can hopefully be patched (don’t you just love living in the times of Next-Gen?) but first off, let’s give some Kudos to the Madden Team for a job well done. Here’s to hoping no game-killing glitches are revealed in a couple months (I’ve got my fingers crossed—TRUST) without any further ado….

1.Fair Play Rules – This was easily one of the best features that Madden Online ever devised. Some argue that it was too restraining. NOT TRUE. In the spirit of real football, Fairplay made the game have much less of an arcade feel. It’s almost funny, but another reason it was implemented was to save idiots from themselves. Anybody who’s played Madden Online knows what happens after one of the CHEESEBALLS fails to convert 4th and 26 from his own ten yard line (in the first quarter no less)…you guessed it! “Your opponent has quit the game.” HOW LAME…with FairPlay, users are restricted in going for it on 4th down during certain periods in the game, and let’s be realistic, they’re periods when no real NFL coach would take a chance turning the ball over on downs. Let’s see the return of Fairplay in Madden 10!

2.Eliminate CPU Online Games – Sigh…this one has been a thorn in the side of Madden players for some time. EASY QUESTION: Would I really be online if I wanted to play the CPU? PROBABLY NOT. It “seems” simple and the laughable question is this: How many people can consistently beat the CPU anyway? (chuckle…NOT MANY) So lemme get this straight: we’re left with a situation where the person who quits/disconnects gets a loss for being a quitter and we got a loss for?….not being as good as the CPU? Strange if I do say so myself…I’d like to propose a third option. Why not give us the option to get the win with no rating/leveling points involved. Simply another win on your record. This way we can please everyone…and at the same time we won’t have to worry about that creepy guy with two PS3’s whose life goal is to be rated #1 in Madden Online—even if it means playing himself.

3.Full Rosters – We’ve wanted this for some time, but now it’s important. REALLY IMPORTANT. Before the days of players getting tired and subbing out regularly this wasn’t such a big issue, but now? ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. Now does this mean Donnie Moore gets a raise since his job just got harder? MAYBE. Here’s the thing…there couldn’t be a better way to display team depth, not to mention it’s sooo annoying when we have a player who is playing “lights out” for our favorite team in reality only to find that he doesn’t exist in the Madden Universe. And before you even ask…YES, we want the long-snapper too…

4.Man Lock On/Off– Another PS2 feature we thought would make the next-gen transition, but sadly it still hasn’t. This was a very useful and critical tool for players who wanted to disguise what they were doing defensively. And c’mon…who doesn’t like to get under the skin of that guy who runs motion on every play just to see if you’re in man coverage or not? Hmmm….Man Lock Anyone?

5.Receiver Shading – Another PS2 feature that still hasn’t made the transition yet. While we love the way man defenses play better based on matchup, this is the perfect tool for those players who employ the good ol’ “same play, all day” strategy. We should have the ability to have our players attempt to take away inside or outside position (with the appropriate consequences if we’re wrong of course).

6****n/Pass Commit – Here’s another feature that hasn’t returned, but quite honestly we’d like to this one revamped a little. This was an “after the snap” feature in the past, but the way gameplay is setup shouldn’t this be more of a “pre-snap” feature? Say I just knooooow my opponent is going to pass on third and three, right? I Commit to the pass and presto! We just created a situation where HB Delays aren’t just taking up space in our playbook. Our linemen would get upfield and our linebackers would get caught backpedaling and probably allow the first down. Just imagine, this would give users an advantage if they knew what was coming because offenses didn’t vary their gameplans enough. While we’re excited about how play-action and screens are used this year, we’ve always been a proponent of “Don’t fool the CPU…fool ME.” We’ve all groaned in frustration as we watched our 90-rated DE tackle the RB on 3rd and 20 while the QB sits in the pocket unmolested on a play-action fake. Or when a player runs four screens in a row and for some reason our players forget how to defend it on 4th and 10. Let’s make those things a day of the past. R3 could be used to commit and then the D-pad can offer us choices like run (down) pass (up) screen (left) and play-action (right). Our players should have higher chances of success when we’re RIGHT—and suffer consequences if we guess wrong, and believe me, giving users more control over what their players do and adding more of a “Chess Game” to Madden gameplay can only be a good thing.

7.End of Half/Game Penalties – This one’s a little funny, but that depends on where you sit—TRUST ME. Playing an online game last week, I led 8-7 with 3 seconds left and my opponent barely in FG range. He kicked the FG and made it, but Alas! There was still hope….a FLAG was thrown. It was HOLDING! As I laughed and prepared to call a pass defense, something funny happened….the game ended. The CPU, seeing no time left on the clock, thought the game was over. Now as a Philly fan (I was playing Dallas) seeing that happen to the cursed Cowboys was justified. The Cowboys are demonspawn. They are hated, evil and vile and things like this SHOULD happen to them…..I doubt he felt the same. Let’s see this issue gets fixed with a patch much sooner than later.

8.Individual Coverage Audibles – Another PS2 feature that we’re shocked hasn’t made the transition yet. This one’s easy though…press coverage against TJ Houshmandzadeh? SURE…what’s he gonna do? Stone me with his 9 yard average? Bump and Run on T.O? Ummm….probably not a good idea, champ. And yes, I’d like the option to give Moss about 5 MORE yards—you know, just in case.

9.Wildcat – Like most players I was a little nervous about this being implemented, but “It’s In The Game” right? Unfortunately it’s a little too effective and has turned into the early “CHEESE” of choice. To defend it effectively, you have to TOTALLY COMMIT to the run and this shouldn’t be the case. The Wildcat is imbalanced enough to pose a serious threat to the most important aspect of the game: BALANCE. Let’s see it toned down via patch if possible.

10.Formation Subs – How nice is it to have an online profile where we can save our Depth Charts? WOW! Let’s hear it for the guys over at EA! (Thunderous Applause in background) But do you know what would reaaaaally be nice? If we could save our formation subs as well. That’s right, if I want Chris Clemons (who isn’t on the Eagles roster for some reason) to be my RE in Quarter, Dime and 3-3-5 formations I should be able to save it on my online profile. What’s that you say? You want Andre Johnson in the slot in one of your three receiver sets? GREAT IDEA. Talk about a time saver! SIMPLE RIGHT? On a related note, some formations (Shotgun in my experience) sub your chosen players for SOME plays, but not for others. Hopefully this can be rectified ASAP.

Comments

# 1 bigsmallwood @ Aug 23

There are numerous ways to stop the Wildcat without totally commiting to the run.
*and Madden 10 has numerous ways to go before it is on par with 2K....IMHO