Five Things EA Sports must do for Success in Madden NFL 13

Feature Article

Submitted on: 01/25/2012 by Phil Varckette

Ever since Madden landed on next-gen consoles, there has been a plethora of issues that seem to go unfixed every year. As gamers, we cannot seem to get an answer one way or another as to why these issues persist -- Is it just not possible to fix these issues given with what the developers have to work with? No matter the answer, the issues remain. With Madden 13 possibly being the last Madden to be exclusively on the current-gen systems, will we see some of the fixes we have been clamoring for, or do we simply have to put this generation behind us and hope for best on the upcoming new systems?

Without further adieu, here is the top five fixes EA must make for Madden NFL 13.

Newton throws over the middle and it's...blocked by a linebacker leaping 11 feet into the air?

1. Pass Trajectory

Look, it’s a bird, no, it’s a plane, wait…It’s a SUPER LINEBACKER!! Well actually it isn’t. Its not that the linebackers jump too high, it’s how the ball does not arc properly over the second level of the defense. Its like the ball travels on a single plane without variation. Sure, the ball can still be high or low, its just that there is no middle ground. If you are trying to throw the ball over the middle of the field, and if there is anyone within five yards they can easily bat the pass down.

This is an issue that has plagued the series since its debut on the current systems. My fear is that there is simply no way to fix it with the current game engine. I think as Madden fans we have made our voices heard for long enough to reasonable expect a fix this year. If not, then we surely must chalk it up to the unfortunate fact that it is unable to be fixed

2. Revamped Foot planting/Momentum engine

One of the single biggest complaints from Madden detractors and fans alike, is how the current foot planting engine needs a huge upgrade. Since the inception of Madden on our current generation consoles player movements seem to lack momentum. It also seems like a player can zig and zag to avoid contact way to easily, along with being able to turn on a dime. I should not be able to be running towards the sideline as I catch a pass and turn it up the line on a dime. My momentum should carry me out of bounds.

If only this were rendered in real-time...if only.

3. Real Time Physics

The mother of all wish list items. Real time physics could be a game changer if done right. Canned animations, or canimations as the community affectionately likes to call them, are getting old in most gamers eyes. The fact that Madden doesn’t seem to have a large number of them anyway is enough to make you want to pull your hair out. Real time physics could make every tackle, block and interaction unique.

4. The Little Things

Like MLB: The Show, Madden needs the little things. To be blunt, there is no excuse for some things being left out. I want all the penalties. I mean heck, we waited untilMadden 10 to have officials on the field. I want to see an illegal block in the back call on a punt or a kickoff return; I want illegal motion, defensive holding, illegal contact, and for the love of all that is football, make pass interference work. Basically, every penalty in football should be in the game. The challenge system also needs redone. Too many times it doesn’t challenge what you want it to. These are all things that should have been in the game since day one.

Totally willing to settle for less of the same, and more variety too. Deal? DEAL!

5. Animations

Madden suffers greatly from lack of animations. It takes away from the immersion factor. A football game needs to have enough animations where you don’t see the same things over and over. For example, catching animations are so few that you can pretty much see all of them in one game; the same could be said about blocking animations. What might be the biggest area where improvement is needed is tackling. Simply put, there needs to be a ton more tacking animations.

I shouldn’t see the same animations over and over. This, however, brings us to improvement No. 3, real time physics, and the ultimate problem solver to tackling. I want to see specialized animations as well. All 32 starting quarterbacks should have signature throwing animations, and at least most running backs should have their signature running animations, or as close to their real life movements as possible. Wonky running animations have been an issue for years.

Final Thoughts

If there is a negative tone to any of this, it is certainly not my intention. I am just a football game lover like all of us. These five improvements, while mostly gameplay based, are a very small amount of what we, as a community, want to see. I will be very interested to see where the Madden team takes us this year. With next-gen systems looming, will we even see real improvements, or will most of their focus being on the future. With the Super Bowl match up set, it shouldn’t be long before the first info starts to trickle out.

What are your top 5 keys to success for Madden NFL 13?

Madden NFL 13 Videos

Member Comments

# 121 ajs41072 @ 01/29/12 01:03 PM

1) Special Teams.........the Ravens/Patriots game ending would NEVER happen in Madden. No one misses a 30 yard FG, even 40 is tough to miss.
2) Ball Physics........The ball goes in the hands of whoever the game wants it to. Doesn't matter if he's not in position, if he's close the ball will find his hands for a catch or interception.
3) All penalties called......as mentioned in other posts, we've all played years and years of Madden without seeing this among other penalties.
4) Pass placement........Every pass caught by a receiver winds up in the numbers. No one ever has to reach out or behind to catch a ball. This makes receivers able to run in stride with every pass.
5) Home field advantage......not sure how this would be implemented, but I never feel an advantage now.

# 122 Still2REal @ 01/29/12 01:39 PM

A REAL ONLINE FRANCHISE

# 123 mlucas0021 @ 01/29/12 09:45 PM

I agree with all of these, and would like to add a revamp to the ratings system. DO AWAY WITH OVERALL RATINGS! It would help the CPU make personnel decisions in the offseason based on skill that pertains to their scheme, rather than just overall rating. If i play bump and run man coverage, i'm going to value a bump and run corner over a zone cover corner, regardless of whether the zone cover guy is three overall better. same thing with linebackers and D-linemen in 3-4 and 4-3. it just makes more sense to look at a player's individual skills to make a decision rather than one number.

# 124 cmidd @ 01/30/12 01:21 AM

I don't buy the "Its a memory issue".. Its an exclusive rights problem.. Compare both games that were made under exclusive rights deals, Mlb 2k and Madden. Both have had legacy issues, where their counterparts, NBA 2k, EA's NHL, see improvements. Never gonna buy their excuses

# 125 raiders18 @ 01/30/12 01:31 AM

Practice squad added, Passing trajectory needs to be fixed, Tired of the defense not able to get off blocks.

# 126 mirrored32 @ 01/30/12 01:37 AM

personally i would like the game to be represented better. meaning fix errors like holding penalties that are on 1st and 10 that end up 1 & 5. that is what angers me. why put in commentary if it is not working? why does the audio 'snap' causing my ears to hurt?

madden 12 was fun and it is a video game for $60. I just hope they don't' reinvent the wheel every freaking year and the same crap errors happen.

I am tired of repeated crap animations entrances that i skip over. halftime shows? what? always the same. the creativity of quarter intermissions and halftimes suck.

now for positive truths, the game IMO has franchise mode finally back where it needs to be.

to keep it simple: SIMPLY DON'T REINVENT THE WHEEL! just fix the issues that are present in this version. i am tried of getting new games that fix somethings, remove things that use to be there, and then always have a 1/3rd f the game not working correctly.

# 127 B-Lo-Z-Ro @ 01/30/12 03:39 AM

Thinking of new things that havent been in madden games

1. Custom Stadium Music (using our own music from our consoles)
2. Custom Uniforms (being able to change colors of pants, jerseys, helmets using team colors)
3. Editing of Players Already In game (being ablt to edit everything like a created player)
4. Team Logos on Jerseys in ProBowl (if helmets cant be used atleast place team logos on the jerseys where the superbowl patch is placed)
5. Face Editor For Create A Player (something similar to what is used in Fight Night to create custom Faces)
6. Option To Add Photos to Player Profiles (instead of using frankenstein players, lets us be able to install photos to the white jerseys of players or created players that have no photo)

I have more but not on the top of my head right now

# 128 at23steelers @ 01/30/12 03:32 PM

@TNT: Im confused at what you're getting it. the bottom line is, whether on replay or game speed - the WR slid one foot without dragging the other a a yard or two instead of properly dragging his feet. The main point is this should have been a catch IRL but because of a sloppy animation in Madden, the user is punished.

# 129 gamerk2 @ 01/30/12 08:24 PM

I'll say it again: The Backbreaker engine was FAR ahead of anything EA has. Yes, the game STANK, but that wasn't the engines fault.

Canned animations forever limit you to what the developers can implement animation wise. This limits you farther, due to disk space limitations. A realtime physics engine is almost a necessity now. Baseball you can maybe get away without one, but for every other sport, its time to ditch canned animations for good.

# 130 huskerwr38 @ 01/31/12 12:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TNT713


	What you have just done is a common misconception. The REPLAY system ADDS frames that never occur in the real game as part of the slo-mo. The FPS for slo-motion replay is NOT the FPS for game-play. The replay engine uses frames from the actual game as key frames - then fills in the in between slow-motion with frames that never actually happened in the game. The real speed action may have simply been a fast movement, but the slow speed footage shows things that look vastly out of whack. If you've ever wondered why after smoothly moving from one frame to another you all of a sudden get a short awkward jerk before returning to smooth movement in a slow-mo it's because the slow smooth stuff didn't happen at real speed. It's been inserted for replay only... When I watched this video at full speed, it didn't look like he 'slid' all that much. But at slow-motion, he drags his foot across the surface between one keyframe and the next because the replay engine sees it at the most logical progression from one point to the next. It's better to watch replays at game speed to evaluate whether something looks 'right' or not. Later

Well if you watch the replay in normal speed, the WR actually shuffles his feet clearly "planting" two feet on the ground before going out of bounds. But for some reason the foot contacts never really register because it needs some serious work.

The players and field are not synced like they should be. I think what is happening is that they have so many canned animations take from over the years, that it's hard to sync up all those animations to the field. Clearly, the field and the players are not really connected and the field is there just for looks.

# 131 bobtrain @ 01/31/12 01:18 AM

I don't believe we're going to see major changes until the developers get XBOX 720's in their hands. The developers aren't going to invest in any overhauls on this current generation seeing as it's the last year. I also think that us football sim'ers are probably in the minority. The douche-bag's that play this game for money in tournaments ruined this game in my opinion. Now EA caters to them.

# 132 KBLover @ 01/31/12 01:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TNT713


	What you have just done is a common misconception. The REPLAY system ADDS frames that never occur in the real game as part of the slo-mo. The FPS for slo-motion replay is NOT the FPS for game-play. The replay engine uses frames from the actual game as key frames - then fills in the in between slow-motion with frames that never actually happened in the game. The real speed action may have simply been a fast movement, but the slow speed footage shows things that look vastly out of whack. If you've ever wondered why after smoothly moving from one frame to another you all of a sudden get a short awkward jerk before returning to smooth movement in a slow-mo it's because the slow smooth stuff didn't happen at real speed. It's been inserted for replay only... When I watched this video at full speed, it didn't look like he 'slid' all that much. But at slow-motion, he drags his foot across the surface between one keyframe and the next because the replay engine sees it at the most logical progression from one point to the next. It's better to watch replays at game speed to evaluate whether something looks 'right' or not. Later

Watching it a couple times...it looks exactly the same to me. Heck, on that frozen frame youtube makes as a preview, that's a catch right there. Ball is secured, foot down, toe on the turf.

If the WR "dotted the i" and dragged his toes (which it looked like he did both several times...) it looked the same in both game speed and slowed down. Now why it would add frames in to "make up" something else...that is one of those things that seems like it's harder to put in that it would have been for them to leave out - kind of like warping/morphing/whatever you want to call it when hit boxes are ignored for some situations but not others.

What gets me is that the receiver doesn't have feet down until the foot is "flat", which is ridiculous. In the real game, toe drags and "dotting the i" is so common that even most average receivers at least attempt it. So the fact that either is not in the game, or is not considered performed until the foot is completely flat is ridiculous.

I don't even blamed "canned animations" for this. If the "canned animation" can consider the "flat foot" as "foot down" it can consider a toe in contact with the field as a "foot down" just like in real life. Physics on top of bad football is still bad football - it just looks better. A physics engine can still screw this up if "foot flat" is the requirement just like it does now. The problem is less the engine and more what the programmers tell the engine to regard things.

# 133 7up3345 @ 01/31/12 02:44 AM

This game need to have in in game saves and im golden

# 134 Smirk22 @ 01/31/12 08:36 AM

I am a every year buyer even though i know i will complain about every little thing my brother said to me today the reason i stop enjoying them as much is cause i critique every little thing. WHO IS TESTING THESE GAMES some might not agree but i was player allpro football and 2k5 and i must say even back then i like what they did with presentation and the passing game you can actually put the touch you want on your throws and the wholes are realistic Yes it has its moments but its a old game if those games would of stay and got some work done i think ea would pay attention to what we say. Ea just show effort that you care and i wont trip. another thing nhl put in something to make size and strengh matter out of all sports you would think football would be the first brandon jacobs should not get rocked by Asante samuel!!!!!

# 135 scoonie05 @ 01/31/12 11:18 AM

^^^^asante Samuel is fantastic at tackling look at his stats. Just because Jacob's is bigger doesn't mean he will run over every little Guy. He doesn't even do it in real life. lol

# 136 Smoke6 @ 01/31/12 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smirk22


	I am a every year buyer even though i know i will complain about every little thing my brother said to me today the reason i stop enjoying them as much is cause i critique every little thing. WHO IS TESTING THESE GAMES some might not agree but i was player allpro football and 2k5 and i must say even back then i like what they did with presentation and the passing game you can actually put the touch you want on your throws and the wholes are realistic Yes it has its moments but its a old game if those games would of stay and got some work done i think ea would pay attention to what we say. Ea just show effort that you care and i wont trip. another thing nhl put in something to make size and strengh matter out of all sports you would think football would be the first brandon jacobs should not get rocked by Asante samuel!!!!!

This is the issue I have aswell and I also have come to the realization that the 'testers' dont play the game the way most of us complain about. Most of us here are online players and for the ones who are not I have something to share with them too...

Online players,

I dont think there is anyone at EA Tiburon who plays lobby style ball or "freestyle". For the most part everyone plays 'football' and dont try that gimmicky crap to break the game to gain an advantage over others. You got guys that go to the community day events at EA and some of them are 'freestyle' players and they do lend some advice towards the game but its too little too late by that time. They go there, figure out these exploits hoping EA listened to fix them, once they get their copy of the game and see those same exploits still exists, they use them and share them online with everyone for a fee. There frame of mind is "hey, if EA didnt fix, then we can use it".

Offline players...

This goes for both sides actually but the battle starts in the trenches and for EA to keep catering to the casuals like they do is getting old with vets who outnumber the casuals sales wise. Want immersion?

How about we have things in the game that trigger actual NFL penalties, for instance illegal motion. When you are playing head 2 head or offline, this should be the case the CPU too. Too many times these guys play flawless on the field "penalty wise" when some teams have led the league as always with penalties per game and whatnot.

When you go to motion someone on offense trying to make something work, you should really get penalized for it in the game if its illegal. The thing is, I dont think any of us here truly knows whats illegal and whats not in the game, if we did, then those same NFL teams who try different schemes and things wouldnt have them called on them.

If you truly want authentic football and we actually get it, I sure as heck dont wanna hear any complaints outside the norm of people taking advantage of programming issues online and off or features and things not working correctly.

# 137 Tyrant8RDFL @ 01/31/12 12:41 PM

You can list a 100 things they need to do to make Madden a Success, but the truth is there is one thing they must do.

Change the engine. Other than this we will be going in circles with the Madden franchise,as we have been for years.

With this engine they can correct the 5 things, but unforatuntely other things get ruined. What I have seen through the years with Madden is a pattern with things being broken and then corrected , but other areas suffer. I also have seen where this engine just can't get certain aspects right.

Just change the engine. Give us something fresh , and that offers more promise in the future. This current engine doesn't offer promise.

I strongly suggest using the Fifa engine. I can see that working out very nicely.

# 138 pegout @ 01/31/12 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scoonie05


	^^^^asante Samuel is fantastic at tackling look at his stats. Just because Jacob's is bigger doesn't mean he will run over every little Guy. He doesn't even do it in real life. lol

you telling me theres a reason they call him the tip top giant?

# 139 BezO @ 01/31/12 05:16 PM

Generally speaking...

1. Engaged Player Animations (blocking, coverage & tackling)
2. Realistic Foot Planting Animations
3. Signature Animations
4. AI based on real football... assignments, reads, ect, especially on defense
5. Special Teams Focus

Every major complaint I have is related to one of those 5.

# 140 DeuceDouglas @ 01/31/12 09:21 PM

The main thing I would like to see addressed is the passing game. That is the only major thing for me right now. The commentary is bad but on the field stuff is the big issue. The entire passing game needs a revamp from WR/DB interaction to pass protection to ball trajectory. I like the way the running game works and with the stuff they added with the defense last year, defense plays better also. Special Teams could also use an overhaul so it is an actual part of the game.

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