Kushmir's Blog
1. KillShots - This might not be anything we see until Madden 12, but its almost embarassing the way gameplay invites players to cross the shallow and deep middle of the field like its filled with free prizes or something. The majority of people run crossing routes all over the field without any fear of what would happen in reality if they did this. I wonder if this would be the offense of choice if it were filled with dislodges and hits that made your receiver sit down for a few plays/series? What about the "chucks" within 5 yards that you always see from LBs in reality? Its not the person you're running AWAY from in zone, its the guy your running TO. Our safeties frequently come up to make hits and Lo and Behold! bounce off because of poor hit detection because a tackle animation has already started. These same tackles on receivers (especially by safeties) focusing on the ball are often some of the biggest hits in football, where are they in Madden? Why do our defenders have the opportunity to"run through" some of these guys and instead do a tackle you wouldn't see in Powder Puff? Our Madden defenders must be worried about chipping a nail or something--because they sure aren't punishing receivers. Gameplay not having zone defenders unload on vulnerable receivers entering their area just isn't football. You wouldn't make a basketball game without blocks would you? Let's see the difference between guys that sometimes hold on despite the big hits (Hines ward) and guys who'd have to go see the trainer for a few plays (Djack) here's an example of a dislodge: http://tinyurl.com/2fqsu5g
Here's a GREAT clip of some of the hits you see as a result of zone defenses. Hits like these happen ALOT--and its not just good players that do this, defenders just out of range of making a play on the ball are taught to try and prevent the catch with violence.We need this kind of aggressiveness in gameplay or guys like Polamalu, Ray Lewis and other big hitters just aren't as effective--and neither are defenses in general. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwJNBwupCYM&NR=1
2. Ducks - This is easy. Reward the defense for making good plays, there isn't anything more silly than watching a defensive player hit a QB right as he releases the ball and see his wounded duck go 20 yards for a completion because defenders don't react to the ball. From henceforth and until Madden is no more--lets see passes like these go harmlessly into the ground at the QB's feet.
3. Attack the ball - Why are defenders failing to react and simply watching receivers catch the ball? There's a frightening trend where defenders will basically allow a receiver to make a catch instead of attacking the ball. This needs retooling. Defenders should always try to take an angle to attack the ball. Even defenders not close enough to prevent the catch should make an attempt at dislodging it. I went into practice mode, dropped back 20 and 30 yards from the LOS (still easily doable) and threw the ball to offensive players with defenders in their direct vicinity. Know what i saw? Defenders flow to who the ball was GOING TO instead of attacking the ball. Try it for yourself, i'm serious. Defenders would do this a good 50-60% of the time. They would have ample opportunity to attack the ball, but decided tackling the offensive player as soon as the ball got there (sometimes they'd even wait BEHIND the receiver as the ball flowed toward them) was priority. again--don't take my word for it. Go in practice mode and see for yourself.
4. Reaction time - We're not certain if this is the locomotion or simply coding, but too frequently defenders taking missteps before going to their assignments. This has made man coverage laughable and even safe coverages like 2 Deep Man unable to prevent deep passes into double coverage. we also see defenders watching the ball coming straight at them and simply failing to react. We've tested turning up the Reaction Time Slider offline (Reaction Time 62, Ints 40) and have gotten a much better product--so maybe this is more of a tweak than anything else. Zones are another story, we need to see defenders more aggressive playing people about to enter their zones and properly releasing them when they leave. Will zones still have holes? certainly...but my corner has to know he's not going to be able to press his WR as long when he's got a FB flaring to his side in a Cover 2 Zone at the first-down line.
5. Dislodges - The big hits/strips that prevent catches need to go up CONSIDERABLY, there are simply too many passes completed in coverage due to the lack of defense. Dislodges are valuable because they allow defenders to make plays on defense without making gameplay sloppy with too many INTs and won't give us super defenders that knock down everything. the animation where defenders slap the ball out at the last second is wonderful.
6. Fairplay Rules - Nothing has shown us how much we truly miss Fairplay than Madden 11. With defenses being inept cheesers can not only play their brand of football--but excel at it. Fairplay kept football at a pure level and actually prevented things like Quitting and other nonsense. We simply can't wait for their return.
7. Backs as Receivers - Quick, give me 5 halfbacks who can make plays downfield in the passing game. I'm not talking screen or the standard flare-out and sit-down routes these guys run within 3 yards of the line of scrimmage, i'm talking fly routes, slants, digs, all of that stuff. Let's see you got Reggie Bush, LT (although he does it alot less now) hmmm...Westbrook, errr....that's it folks. you CAN'T name five. 95% of the backs in the league lack the hands, body control and route running necessary to even THINK about bringing balls in away from the line of scrimmage. Madden 11 did a great job of finally limiting the check-downs that were grossly over-effective. But when we see cheesers send guys like CJ, Mcfadden and other backs blessed with great speed downfield and them outrun everyone for easy bombs? WE FROWN. While we need to see a much higher rate of dislodges on backs in general, these guys sometimes drop routine passes, so seeing them hauling in bombs, and hold on in coverage when getting pummeled by LBs and Safeties just doesn't make sense.
8. D-Linemen Knockdowns - Although these have caused me alot of heartache, Quietly, its of the best, underrated gameplay mechanics in some time. Now we can show another way good linemen affect the game and realistically lower pass percentages without adding unrealistic drops or super defenders. It's also the perfect way to lower the completion percentages on "money" short passes like slants, check-downs and flare-outs. we need to see MORE OF IT.
9. Zone - Defender in zones should alter their drops based on the receiver's route. 3rd and 1 on the goal-line and a LB drops back 5 yards as a TE runs a drag across his face? NEVER HAPPEN. Now does this mean that this may create a hole somewhere else? OF COURSE IT DOES. but zones aren't perfect, and they aren't supposed to be. Someone tell Sheldon Brown he's supposed to drop back as a receiver comes into his zone. Then we'll never get to see this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9jgP...eature=related
10. Speed Burst - The little extra gear offensive players get when the ball is about to reach them? TAKE IT OUT. that is all.
11. Pursuit Angles - Why do D-Linemen run to engage OLs when the QB drops back outside the pocket and they can continue upfield and make a bee-line for him? players should always take the shortest route to the ball and should use pursuit lanes instead of running in some silly, single-file line of defenders. Madden 10 was largely solid in this regard, what happened?
12. Tackling - Making the running game better. GOOD. Making it nearly impossible to tackle people? BAD. Here's Desean Jackson in the fourth quarter of a game against the ravens online. (http://tinyurl.com/3xsf5f4) Yes--that was Ed Reed first, and Ray Lewis second. Disgusting I know.
Lets make sure this is done, CORRECTLY and COMPLETELY. Complete lack of defense has made the state of Madden Online abhorrent. Its a no-defense-never-punt-the-ball-arcade-style-shoot-out that resembles Arena Football more than anything else. It just looks bad--i highly doubt this is the vision John Madden had when he spearheaded 11-on-11 football for gamers. Here's to correctly patching defense, ASAP.
Kushmir
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No way this crap slipped by EA. They pretty much told us that they are catering to the "Arcade" crowd with all the hype about Gameflow. When you play the game the proof is in the pudding. Madden 11 will be remembered as the year that "Madden" essentially died.