If You Could Change One Thing - Madden NFL 12

Feature Article

Submitted on: 02/24/2012 by

It seems like every year Madden is shipped with flaw after flaw, causing an uproar in the OS community. We see lists of forgotten features, underwhelming commentary and even missing players. But what if you could only choose one fix? What if you had to choose the single, most important problem in the game to change in your opinion.

What would that be?

Chris Sanner: The commentary. Now don't get me wrong, I'd love to have the gameplay fixed as well, but there are so many invdividual problems with gameplay that I can't name just one that'd have as big of an effect on how the game feels as just fixing the commentary. If I could take Madden's horrendous commentary and turn it into the best commentary in our genre, the game would have been perceived as a much better game. There would still be the gameplay quirks that we all know and hate/love, but we'd feel a lot more into the game with an immersive experience with great commentary.

Caley Roark: Broadcast elements. I know they added transitional scenes and real camera placement, but Madden 12's presentation still has a long way to go to match leaders like NBA 2K11 and NFL 2K5. I want to see more stat overlays, graphical drive summaries, timely and engaging replays, on-screen performance analysis, a halftime show, etc. Even though football is the game that seems to push broadcast technology, Madden is years behind.

Phil Varckette: Player weight. Players need to have more weight to them. It seems like every player, regardless of size, can cut on a dime. I can pretty much zig-zag down the field gaining yards at will. This especially hurts on sideline catches. When a player catches the ball and his momentum should clearly carry him out of bounds, he is able to turn and burn to the endzone. Until this is fixed, player ratings will continue to mean absolutely nothing.

Bo McCready: Scouting in Franchise Mode. The new approach to scouting was interesting, but there's no reason we shouldn't be able to see things like 40 times and bench presses for every last prospect. We need more than height, weight, school and position before the scouting process starts. I shouldn't have to scout a quarterback during a specific time period to know obvious things like if he's a scrambler or a pocket passer. It kills the realism and immersion of Franchise Mode.

Jayson Young: An online franchise mode that has all the same features as Madden's offline franchise mode. Online franchise hasn't received any upgrades since the feature debuted in 2009. With no salary cap, limited stat tracking and no support for gameplay sliders, online franchise is arguably the weakest mode in Madden.

Bishop Tart: In-Game Shows. A few years ago, EA tried to implement a pre-game and halftime show with several NFL Network personalities. That did not go over well and was poorly executed. They don't have to do exactly what 2K did with NFL 2K5, but if EA wants us to play an authentic NFL game, give us a better pre-game, halftime and post-game show. Also, Chris Berman is not required, Mike Tirico would work just fine (use the ESPN license you have).

Mike Kilroy: I wish it still had the rewind feature. That way when a crazy play that would never, ever happen in real life happened, I could rewind and pretend it didn't.

Dustin Toms: The commentary (Sanner and I are on the same page, as usual). If I hear how agressive Cortland Finnegan is agressive one more time, I might do something illegal.

What about you, OS? If you could change just one thing about Madden, what would it be?

Madden NFL 12 Videos

Member Comments

# 61 bobtrain @ 02/25/12 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cardot


	I want all the plays to have a realistic success/fail rate (based upon factors like the oppositions play-call & players involved etc). I feel guilty running slants, but I am scared to run an out pattern. I'll never run a play-action play in a critical situation....been sacked a few too many times before my QB gets out of his animation for that. The playbooks are loaded with End Arounds...those never work for me. These are just a few examples, but the end result is that there just aren't many different plays I end up calling, and the game gets kind of boring.

what's the point of playbooks when everyone only plays 2-5 plays in online ranked matches :/ Seriously though, do we all think gameplay issues are going to fix the major cheesing that takes place in these ranked matches?

# 62 SageInfinite @ 02/25/12 03:40 PM

Animations. Some are down right embarrassing for a professional football title.

# 63 Cardot @ 02/25/12 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobtrain


	what's the point of playbooks when everyone only plays 2-5 plays in online ranked matches :/ Seriously though, do we all think gameplay issues are going to fix the major cheesing that takes place in these ranked matches?

I was coming at it more from a me vs. the CPU perspective. I do try to play realistically, so I do mix up my playcalls....even though I know some of them are likely to fail. And while I suck enough that there are no true money plays for me, there are some that are successful enough that I don't feel right running them too often.

Cheesers will always be there. But balancing out the plays a bit certainly wouldn't hurt.

# 64 charter04 @ 02/25/12 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bulls321974


	I couldn't just pick out one thing that needs to be changed because there are so many other areas needing improvement. To me, "Madden" is just a mediocre football simulation that could only survive yet because of its exclusive NFL license. I couldn't be more disappointed of this game.

I don't disagree but, that wasn't the point of the original question posted. All of us could make a long list like you did.

# 65 MeanMrMustard @ 02/25/12 06:51 PM

Defensive assignments, hands down.

# 66 Lodeus @ 02/25/12 06:53 PM

Just make franchise mode better.

- I do not like how its seems in franchise mode, the game deletes lower rated FA's It seems to get rid of alot good lower rated young players.

- Players, including rookie classes are rated to high.

- Progression still needs some work.

Those are three things that would help me enjoy the game more.

Also I think I like the fake faces a lot more than these generated ones.

# 67 lwilkins @ 02/25/12 08:13 PM

Presentation �

in game audio, rebuild commentary, fix all sound errors (pops that randomly happen at the worst times), fix player model sizes across the board (accurate body builds to match height and weight), no players walking on air/above playing fields, add missing NFL equipment (horse-collars, gloves, cleats, wrist play-sheets (not ones that reach players� elbow) / remove wasted accessories (black and white high ankle tape, elbow pads with team color lines, majority of gloves in the game, colored visors, etc�), add actual players of teams to side line and allow them to react with player coming toward sidelines (not the cardboard pictures that are there now), rebuild coach models (make them proportioned to their true heights and weights, give the coached official NFL Team apparel), better play overlay (don�t want to see play art while at the line of scrimmage), less canned animation (on field, sideline, end zone, press box, or anywhere else during game play).

# 68 kingsofthevalley @ 02/25/12 08:33 PM

Player movement hands down. Check out FIFA, thats how a game should replicate human movement. Madden and NCAA come no where close to that.

# 69 tril @ 02/25/12 08:47 PM

exclusive rights

# 70 B-Lo-Z-Ro @ 02/25/12 09:26 PM

HOW BOUT SCRAP ULTIMATE TEAM SUPERSTAR MODE & ALL THE OTHER EXTRA CRAP THEY SPEND TIME ON THEY DONT NEED ON THE GAME & FOCUS ON THE BASIC GAME ITSELF FOR ONCE

# 71 tbook24 @ 02/26/12 12:46 AM

bring back the fair play so people have to play REAL football

# 72 johnprestonevans @ 02/27/12 08:49 AM

Com-Men-TAR-y. (using 4 different inflections to pronouce that one word).

# 73 Yankees_CT @ 02/27/12 11:14 AM

Hmmm...well if I had to pick one I would go with Player movement/Animations. It would be a good start anyway

# 74 Tyrant8RDFL @ 02/27/12 11:46 AM

My one thing would be the

ENGINE

Than many of the flaws would be corrected out of this one fix.

# 75 MMurda @ 02/27/12 12:45 PM

lack of realistic physics to govern motion and collisions on ball and off ball, ball trajectory, or wr/db interaction.. at this point all 3 are equally bad and equally killing the game on the field.

# 76 PGaither84 @ 02/27/12 01:23 PM

One thing eh? Tough question, but I would have to go with engaged player movement. That would affect the running game and the passing game in a dramatic way.

# 77 sblake217 @ 02/27/12 01:38 PM

Crowd volume!! I have never watched a football game and the crowd is just completely silent w/ occassional cheering. It's pathetic!!

# 78 Tdgsport27 @ 02/27/12 03:49 PM

Importing a draft class. They only have some players from the class and most of the players have the most ridiculous equipment on i.e. wide receivers with full cage face masks and not to mention the shoulder pads are all jacked up.
Other than that I agree with the licensing idea. Games like Madden and MLB2K(360) have just kinda swept things under the rug rather than actually fixing them.
One more thing I know most madden players dislike the NCAA franchise but I love it. Wouldn't you say the game play for that series(NCAA) is more solid than this(madden) one??

# 79 hawksruleva @ 02/27/12 04:06 PM

It's a small thing. But in Franchise mode, the names of players in the draft classes are really annoying. One, most of them can't be pronounced by the announcers. Two, 90% of the names are really odd.

Use the name generator from NCAA 12, which gives you a high percentage of pronounceable names, and lots of common names (Jones, Williams, Smith).

# 80 balljonesjr @ 02/27/12 08:02 PM

no competition its..... comenatry

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