Playcalling and Playbooks Must Be Top Priority for Madden and College Football

[Steve_OS]

The power of a good playcaller can't be overstated at this point in football. Last year,...

Written By: Chase Becotte

Click here to view the article.

[canes21]

Love OS highlighting this. Very good article. The AI playing accurate to life is my biggest question with regards to both the new football games coming this summer.

Even with the 3-4 depth chart issues and the sliders not being quite sensitive enough, I still felt this was the best playing Madden ever, but this play calling issue made it too difficult to keep playing my franchises.

[Kramer5150]

I agree with this 100%, I would also add in that EA either....

1-Have penalty sliders that actually work (not just roughing the passer) OR go "under the hood" and tweak the frequency in which they happen, they have shown they can all but eliminate penalties as they claim "penalties are not fun"...

2-Have ALL the sliders be more responsive...I have witnessed no difference between coverage and reaction at default, zeroed out or maxed out, this is just an example. If there is a difference, it is so minimal that it's not really noticeable.

Madden (imo) was graphically pretty decent, but it's all the other aspects of the game that (for me) are lacking, the game is all style and no substance.

[Hammerhunker]

"...it’s about lacking the tools to be an adequate coach on the sidelines calling the plays."

This quote captures what I've always felt while playing Madden. The Playsheet doesn't exist in Madden making playcalling a spin of a wheel. The coach's playsheet IRL is organized by the result of an opponent's scouted fronts, coverage, personnel, blitz, etc. tendencies.

Could you imagine the levels of emersion a gamer would experience playing that game of chess, which is essentially still spinning the wheel, but with an educated spin.

[Gotmadskillzson]

I want to the AI to be able to execute said plays to matter. Don't matter if you have every real life play in the game if the AI don't run it correctly. That has always been the problem with Madden and NBA 2K. It is also the reason why I don't like call zone in Madden, the AI don't execute it correctly.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hammerhunker

"...it’s about lacking the tools to be an adequate coach on the sidelines calling the plays." This quote captures what I've always felt while playing Madden. The Playsheet doesn't exist in Madden making playcalling a spin of a wheel. The coach's playsheet IRL is organized by the result of an opponent's scouted fronts, coverage, personnel, blitz, etc. tendencies. Could you imagine the levels of emersion a gamer would experience playing that game of chess, which is essentially still spinning the wheel, but with an educated spin.

I really, really loved when "Coachglass" worked and would show you opponent tendencies when playing online. I mean, I'd be happy enough if the game would let me scout my *own* tendencies, by showing me how many times I call specific plays and the results.

[jerwoods]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kramer5150

I agree with this 100%, I would also add in that EA either.... 1-Have penalty sliders that actually work (not just roughing the passer) OR go "under the hood" and tweak the frequency in which they happen, they have shown they can all but eliminate penalties as they claim "penalties are not fun"... 2-Have ALL the sliders be more responsive...I have witnessed no difference between coverage and reaction at default, zeroed out or maxed out, this is just an example. If there is a difference, it is so minimal that it's not really noticeable. Madden (imo) was graphically pretty decent, but it's all the other aspects of the game that (for me) are lacking, the game is all style and no substance.

this will never work in madden because EA does not want a million dollar prize determed by a bad snap or bad hold u can blame MUT for this

[Kramer5150]

Quote: Originally Posted by jerwoods

this will never work in madden because EA does not want a million dollar prize determed by a bad snap or bad hold u can blame MUT for this

Completely agree, this is why EA needs to up the frequency AND make sure the sliders actually do something...as it stands, in the description of the penalty sliders, it says something along the lines of being based on NFL data, which we know is a flat out lie, if the sliders actually did anything, this would be a complete non issue.

But getting back to the initial point of the topic, if playcalling and playbooks are not corrected, it won't matter what EA does with anything else, playcalling is something that simply cannot be ignored, and is obviously a HUGE part of football.