OS Roundtable: Is Madden's Focus Where it Should Be?

Feature Article

Submitted on: 06/10/2014 by

With Madden being a more defensively focused game this year, it appears the developers are trying to fix one big part of what has made the game feel stale to many the past few years on the field. Will the additions on the defensive half of the ball lead to more fun or will Madden still feel stale in your non-hands on opinions?

Matthew Coe: No. All of the announced additions on defense have fallen flat for me. Part of that is the reality that in past Madden games, marketed features didn't work properly. Another part of that is that so many current features don't function properly (penalties, anyone?). In no way do I think that adding a defensive camera is a game changer. We had player lock in the NCAA Football series and the view here seems to be similar. The new disengage moves for defensive linemen seem likely to be overpowered out of the box and exploitable online. And while this may seem like a petty complaint, I'm worried that the moves will be too "gamey" and might result in individual player ratings mattering less in the trenches. The tackling cone amuses me to be honest, and seems to be a feature designed with new players in mind, which is fine, I'm just glad that I can turn the visual cone off. Finally, we don't really have any details about the new coverage improvements or specifics about Real AI 2.0. I'm a bit encouraged that they brought in real NFL players and coaches to help with these two features, but I wonder if any of that will translate to Madden's defensive gameplay.

Count me as a skeptic until we see real 11-on-11 gameplay of Madden NFL 15 in a single player vs CPU environment.

Jayson Young: No. The new defensive mechanics that were announced today may help the one defender who's being user-controlled, but what about the 10 other defenders on the field?

Will those computer-controlled defenders still give up huge gains by taking illogical pursuit angles? Will they continue to sit in their tiny zone circles, even when no offensive threats are near the area they are "covering"?

Will man coverage still be beaten by basic curl and out routes, regardless of the wide receiver/defensive back matchup? Will the secondary regularly outjump receivers and catch contested passes through traffic, creating an unrealistic amount of interceptions?

Will play-action passes still fool the entire AI defense, even on obvious throwing downs? Can you still have success running the same two to three money plays all game long, without the CPU defense making any adjustments?

Given the track record of developer EA Tiburon, it is hard to have any optimism that Madden NFL 15 will capture the strategy, atmosphere and emotions of pro football any better than past unimpressive editions -- a losing streak that started with the super-disappointing Madden NFL 11, and has continued, uninterrupted, all the way up to last August's mediocre Madden NFL 25.

Dustin Toms: No. To be honest, I'm not impressed at all. Like both Jayson and Matt have just said: back-of-the-box features from Tiburon mean nothing to gamers anymore. We're ready for more of the same from that standpoint. If all of the announced features are legit, then yeah you can count me as an excited kind of guy. But...

...That trailer looked awful. Sure the graphics are vastly improved, but it looks like it's still being built off of the same game from last year. Watch the player movements and you'll see they still have the stiff robot look and feel to them. When Richard Sherman is doing his typical "crowd-pumping" move, his arms look like it's nothing but a motion - not lifelike at all. Last year was fine to build off of 360/PS3 build, but we're in the new generation now. Make us a whole new ball game.

Chris Sanner: Someone has to be the voice of dissension and I guess that is going to be me. Madden has been a boring experience on the defensive side of the ball for years now, so anything done to give gamers more of a choice and more control when trying to rush the QB are good things. That plus the toning down of QB accuracy and the improvements to DB/WR interactions all sound like they will add to the experience.

Listen folks, Madden is what Madden is. The game will not radically change from year to year just like every other sports game in our genre, this has very little to do with competition and more to do with the simple fact a one year development cycle is going to lead to incremental improvements year after year. At this point, you either like the brand of football EA is putting out there or you don't -- but you can't expect Madden to be something it simply isn't. At this point, I'm convinced that Madden will never satisfy a portion of football fans no matter what it does, but for the rest of us the improvements on the defensive side of the ball are much needed and could make defense a little more fun this year.

Madden NFL 15 Videos

Member Comments

# 1 Hooe @ 06/10/14 11:35 AM

Given how offense-oriented of a game Madden has been has historically been, I don't understand how the answer to this question can possibly be "no".

# 2 jmurphy31 @ 06/10/14 11:47 AM

I think part of Madden's focus should be on the defensive side but the ball, but I think its the implantation that has everyone skeptic. It seems like the usual EA back of the box gimmick that is:

Either Overpowering or Doesn't quite work right
Never improved on
then removed form the game a year or two from now.

I am glad some of the focus is on Presentation, but again it needs to be built on each year. It seems presentation isn't improved each year and just changed every 3 or 4 years. How many different attempts at pregame has EA tried, but haven't had a weekly update show ir post game wrap up.

Stadium Overviews
Head to Head QB Match-ups with specific dialogue
Real Team entrances
Phil and Jim
Movie Sequence from last year

# 3 jmurphy31 @ 06/10/14 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cre8


	It would be nice if CFM actually showed some sort of continuity from the commentary perspective. If not commentary, maybe in the 'news feed' we could see some sort of life in our respective CFMs.

I couldn't agree more. It seems as if youre playing 16 play now games with stats. Last year, they did try to tie in things from last week, but it was so bare bones (but its a start).

# 4 m1ke_nyc @ 06/10/14 11:57 AM

Yes they are focusing on the right thing. But they had 3 huge issues with the game. Defense, AI, Animations. We get told every year AI is better but then the same exploits work. So its still a wait and see.

# 5 JKSportsGamer1984 @ 06/10/14 12:09 PM

I'm all for the defensive improvements. They sound good on paper but let's be honest, Madden has been touting zone & man coverage AI improvements for years now so we'll see (although I thought last year was improved). On of the biggest improvements that seems to be flying under the radar is how both WR's & DB's will make an attempt to catch errant passes this year. This combined with the toning of QB accuracy can be a game changer. My biggest issue with Madden over the years is how they continue to sell us football in compartments. One year it's this, the next year it's that, etc...How about they just focus on getting the core fundamentals of football down 1st (strategy, player movement, weight & momentum being factors, penalties, etc..). Focus on getting the animations at a Next Gen level quality. The reason why 2K basketball is so successful & is quickly becoming the best selling sports game is because how realistic the game looks & animates. 2K has all of the players signature animations & mannerisms down perfect. Each player has a sense of individuality. Madden needs this to take it to the next level. I don't want to see all RB's carrying the ball the same way. All RB's should not be able to do the same jukes, cuts, moves, etc...If Madden would just prioritize by getting these things right then I believe they could be back on top.

# 6 grodbetatted @ 06/10/14 12:20 PM

I see nothing wrong with EA's areas of focus.. And on the stiff robotic movement, I definitely don't see that. I feel that most people that speak on madden just want to seen a new NFL 2k. Even when 2k was out, yes it had great aspects of football, but it played a rather slow game of football. The speed and of the game and some animations just looked like overkill. That's just my opinion though

# 7 BigBadTom @ 06/10/14 12:27 PM

Here is the reality: yes the direction is good but there isnt enough meat and potatos in the changes. To the round table, it sounded like a bunch of skeptical gamers (not unfair when dealing with Madden) but they did say that they addressed the WR issues and the exploits in out routes and curls claim to be fixed. Here is the thing everyone is forgetting, Madden 25 was put out in November and was patched through the year. That is 3 less months in the Dev cycle for this game and as a result we don't see a massive overhaul attempt like the past few years. I imagine that any major system or engine changes come next year as they likely realized any attempt to implement them this year would result in a disaster.

# 8 Blue12 @ 06/10/14 12:31 PM

My biggest problem with the game is that even with all-madden I can pretty much score at will, but I rarely stop the computer from scoring. I would think that if they fix the defense properly, moving the ball while on offense would be more of a challenge, and playing on the defensive side will be more fun.

Just because they focus on the defensive side doesn't mean it will affect the difficulty going up against the computer A.I., but I really hope that is the case. I also hope they greatly reduce the number on interceptions by the computer defense, as that was usually the only thing that ever stopped me.

As for controlling the defense while the computer has the ball, I just hope there's a balance where the controls are effective and responsive without being too effective. While I want playing defense to be fun, I still want to be challenged.

# 9 bxphenom7 @ 06/10/14 01:12 PM

All I know is there's absolutely no excuse this generation for Madden. There's no way you can't nail a realistic football experience when a game, NFL 2k5, did it on PS2. That's that.

# 10 twogotwingz3 @ 06/10/14 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bxphenom7


	All I know is there's absolutely no excuse this generation for Madden. There's no way you can't nail a realistic football experience when a game, NFL 2k5, did it on PS2. That's that.

E-mothafuggn-xactly!!!!!!! How is a game pretty much perfect built on xbox and ps2, but we have to give EA time....smdh madden been around 25+ years!!! Took Visual Concepts 5 years to make the perfect game!! That almost looks on par with next gen madden! Lol

# 11 LorenzoDC @ 06/10/14 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue12


	Just because they focus on the defensive side doesn't mean it will affect the difficulty going up against the computer A.I., but I really hope that is the case. I also hope they greatly reduce the number on interceptions by the computer defense, as that was usually the only thing that ever stopped me.

This is what really bugged me about M25. No matter how I tweaked the sliders, or whose slider set I used, I could not find a sweet spot in CFM.

For my defense, I either shut down CPU opponents pretty handily OR gave up a ton of yards and scores. On offense, I was able to tone down my run game, even lower than my team ratings would suggest I should get, but my passing game was only ever really stopped by interceptions, which came at a high rate.

I learned to be much more cautious with the throws I would attempt, but it was still a battle. If I toned down the INT's too much, then I could not otherwise be stopped by the defense, or I would reduce WR catching and see 8 drops per game. . .. it all killed the sim style I wanted to play.

I just want the game balance to be more like a real game if I play 15 minute quarters. Working with sliders, I can never get a real balance that does not create cheese one way or another, or tip the balance too far out for either the user or the CPU.

# 12 Beardown @ 06/10/14 03:04 PM

I like the focus being on the defensive side of the ball as I tend to be old school. However, I wish they would fix the things already in the game before adding new tackle cones and such. I am glad they fixed the wind meter (about time) but what about penalties, why do I hear that I lost the game last week when I won, I play as a coach (Mike Ditka) and then in season 3 the Browns hire a new coach MIKE DITKA, I guess they cloned me.

I am all for gameplay improvements but presentation and franchise need major overhauls. The only thing I know for sure is that all of the features presented at E3 will not play half as good as they sound.

# 13 SVCbearcat10 @ 06/10/14 03:14 PM

I think the focus on graphics and defense this year is fine. If they don't work on redoing all their animations (running, DB/WR, authentic QB throwing motions, etc.) then I'll be upset. I wasn't planning on buying this and from what I saw, still probably won't unless it goes on sale. I don't think it will be a bad game, but I'll wait the few weeks for NHL to come out and play that.

# 14 malky @ 06/10/14 03:37 PM

Its all about implementation and until Madden figures that out, these are the conversations we are going to have, it's really sad because a lot of their ideas have been great.

# 15 Blue12 @ 06/10/14 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beardown


	I wish they would fix the things already in the game before adding new tackle cones and such.

Going back to the original question, this is my biggest gripe. We don't need gimmicky features, we need a more realistic game. They should focus on the aspects that impact realism of the game. The gameplay, schemes, player likeness (not just visually but individual throwing, running etc) and even atmosphere affect realism. They touted living worlds last year, but I haven't heard anything about that yet. It looks to me like the crowd may be slightly enhanced, but the sidelines still look bad.

I agree with Beardown, they shouldn't be investing in vision cones until the fundamentals are up to par.

I will give them credit, I'm happy they shored up pass coverage, wind, re-imagined the kicking game, and made it graphically up to par with other next gen games. My biggest problem is that "features" aren't enjoyable when the game is lacking fundamentals. The resources they spent on the vision cone and halftime show could have gone into the areas I mentioned above.

I know it's a shorter development cycle this year, but I guess I'm just getting tired of waiting until next year, every. single. year.

# 16 newtonfb @ 06/10/14 04:40 PM

Dustin Toms...thank you for hitting the nail right on the head. Its embarrassing to see how madden looks and moves compared to every other video game..nevermind sports games. I wish more of the media would stop giving madden a pass.

# 17 testudoaubreii @ 06/10/14 05:29 PM

Is Madden's Focus Where it Should Be? Sure, maybe.
Is Madden's Focus Where it EA/Tiburon wants it to be? Yes.

I like what I am hearing thus far, but I am not going to pre-order it or buy it right away. I will have to wait a bit to see how it is going to be at release.

I would have accepted, or even loved to have heard, that EA/Tiburon decided to gives us roster updates and technical updates for Madden 25 for the next 2-3 years, tear down the entire football code or engine and build it from the ground up for this generation of consoles. Hell, I would not even be opposed to paying for some of those updates.

I know that probably will not and cannot happen, but that is what I think they should be focused on.

# 18 totalpoop @ 06/10/14 06:46 PM

as many of the other posters have already stated i dont think madden's focus is where it should be. sure adding new little gimmicks like more ultra realistic grass (which they seem to tout literally every single year), new kicking and wind dynamics, and a tackle cone sound great and get NEW and POTENTIAL customers excited what about the loyalty to the people who actually buy this every single year?

And even though it's been beaten like a dead horse five years ago, 2k had the technology to make a better all around experience for users in 2004. TEN YEARS AGO. they had a better singular superstar mode, a better and more in depth franchise mode and this was working with a station that is two generations old!!!

How in all honesty can Madden say, we can't compete and bring the same attributes that a game ten years old could? You can shell out a boat load of cash for an exclusive license but you cant really spend a little more cash on making your game more re-playable to the people who support you EVERY SINGLE YEAR.

but then again, Madden wont, and their sales will continuously decline.

# 19 wordtobigbird @ 06/10/14 06:58 PM

Quote:


	FG kicking is going to be a struggle this year. #Madden15 #E32014

I'd say yes. They are focusing on fixing a lot of minor issues (minor in that they can be fixed within a year and should've been fixed a long time ago) that make a MAJOR impact on the game. When was the last time anyone struggled to kick a FG in Madden?

Don't look at EA's headlines. Look at the little things. We hear the same major headlines all the time. If their focus is attention to detail then everything will be fixed eventually.

# 20 sticks323 @ 06/10/14 11:20 PM

Non of the announcements or CG trailers matter until we see someone on the sticks playing.

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