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?