Madden 15; impressions of impressions - Lieutenant Dan's Blog

Lieutenant Dan's Blog

Madden 15; impressions of impressions

Posted on June 11, 2014 at 12:27 PM.

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As someone who played a ton of M25 on 360 (and then a ton more on PS4) I can say that I'm excited about M15, but let's take a look at how the game is coming along so far and where it still needs to go.

--Graphics

I really liked the step that M25 took up from the 360 to the PS4 version, and it helped my enjoyment and immersion in the game. The issue is that we weren't necessarily seeing how sexy it had looked in the promotional clips w/RGIII approaching center and all that glorious detail. What we DID get was some improved lighting and textures, better color, great shadow effects, and a nice smoothness to the gameplay.

For M15, based on the E3 footage revealed so far I'm seeing a much closer alignment with my expectations for what M25 was SUPPOSED to deliver. Maybe a version late, yes, but the early footage is shaping up very nicely, graphically speaking. It looks like it's going to deliver on the promise of the 'hype' footage we saw for M25, IF the final build holds up to what we are seeing from E3 and doesn't take a downgrade at release due to coding issues. Don't talk to me about 'hardware constraints' for at least four or five more years, EA

--Presentation

EA is promising NFL Films style replays in their presentation package this year, and from the video I was actually excited to see that happening. I'm hoping that if you play using GameFlow like I do, the replays won't be obscured by the playcalling screen, and otherwise that they re-arrange the playcalling screen so you can better see these great replays.

I also was a big fan of the player's dynamic reactions after a play, but let's not go over-the-top and have a moment after EVERY tackle, or a two yard gain to leave 2 and 8, or a tackle after a 30 yard punt return, etc. I hope that it will be contextual. This might be picking nits...I just know that EA in the past would have a good idea and then run it into the ground.

So....looking GREAT so far! But what else is there for us offline franchise guys?

Again, information is still coming out so I hope this changes, but so far I'm not hearing much about the off-season aspects of CCM. I figure if there was some overhaul to the Draft or training camp that we would have heard about it in the bullet points so far. I think these aspects need more love and would bolster the immersion into the NFL experience (see Head Coach 09 as the standard bearer for this).

I am glad defense was a focus, and knew it would be after the Seahawks showed what a dominant defense can do to even the BEST offense in the Super Bowl. I allowed myself to dream that since the Legion of Boom was such a big part of this that DB/WR interactions might finally happen this go around but, sadly, no. I am looking forward to checking out the changes this year, but I will have to wait a little longer for a WR/DB overhaul (and then pray it's not overcooked when it happens).

My final thought today is an old one: pass interference. I am not expecting anything to change in regards to PI being called until WR/DB interaction and AI is overhauled. This will be a lot of work to get done right, and so I hope it will be the focus going forward for Madden 16.

Good!
--Improved graphics
--NFL Films presentation on replays
--Dynamic halftime show (your game only)
--Fatigue (hopefully) should affect auto-subs this year correctly

Bummer!
--WR/DB interactions still not overhauled
--No word of penalties being addressed, especially PI
--No word of improvements to CCM offline experience during offseason/the draft
--Talk of improvements to kicking, but not kick/punt returns

Thanks for reading! Again, this is all based off information from E3, so this bird isn't fully cooked yet

There may yet be additions/improvements, or regressions, so keep that in mind before getting too happy or too cynical