Video Game Football Stinks, and No One Seems to Notice

[RaychelSnr]

Today at Operation Sports we have a very special guest writer, Todd Zuniga of 1Up fame. Zuniga is writing about a topic which has been heavy on his heart lately, the fact that Video Game Football Stinks, and No One Seems to Notice.

Quote:

"You’re all suckers. You’ve been waiting around for, what, seven months now, awaiting the next Madden -- or maybe you’re an NCAA guy. Regardless. And you’ll soon celebrate or condemn the tweaks, changes, fixes and faux pas in Madden 09, but you’ll still miss the big picture: American football is a terrible video game sport. And no one seems to notice."

[PSMD410]

Soccer sucks IMO.

[jkra0512]

I don't like soccer myself, but I wouldn't go as far as saying it sucks. Many people, especially in the NCAA world, believe it's a offensive-type game so the defense is supposed to suck. Well, that is true BUT when have you ever seen all of your DBs wait for the WR to catch the ball to do anything about it?

I rest my case

[BobbyColtrane]

the ps2 version of NCAA is great, i'm hoping a few minor things like the sim stats will be improved on madden.

if so, it's never been better for me personally.

[bucksfan07]

totally agree with this article; in Ncaa especially, I find myself just supersimming defense due to how terrible it is

[pike]

Uh...hmmmm....ok.....

so Football sucks and soccer is great, gotcha. We're suckers, I agree, gotcha.

But your comparison of controlling 11 men on defense in Football to controlling 11 men on a soccer pitch is very flawed. You said the 11 guys all have different assignments---isn't the same true in soccer? As for being absurd that you only control 14% of the players on defense.....um, that's how it is in nearly ALL sports games, not just football. Yeah, in baseball you only need to mostly control one player at a time, I'll give you that one.

As for playing defense not being fun.....fair point, but again I think that applies to most games. I personally love playing D---it's just as much a thinking game as any sport, including soccer. You are required to make an educated guess as to what the offense is going to throw at you. You are required to pick the right scheme, the optimal play, and then make adjustments at the line according to what you see on the field. ALOT of thought to that, at least for the players who care enough to play the game correctly. But playing D in whatever sport is not considered fun by most, not just football. I'm not understanding why you feel the need to point out the one sport. Yes, there's some twitch involved, though I find that it's not bad at all if I set up my defense correctly---and doing that is something I doubt many folks here are doing, and may be why some find defense too hard. Personally, I think it's fine so long as the CPU doesn't decide it isn't going to lose and goes superman on me (happens once or twice per season so far in 2009).

As for the suckers comment.....well you will find plenty of those in the baseball and basketball categories as well. Ask the folks who bought MLB 2k8 this year about that......or NBA Live the last couple of years.

And I really want to comment about your last paragraph ("starry-eyed..."). What's your point? That football sucks? That no one knows what's going on? Uh....maybe in New York my friend, but here in the south---or in many parts of the midwest, west, etc people know their football. It's ludicrous to suggest they don't. And for the moms and casual fans.....do you think they understand what the heck is going on in soccer? Or why the sport tolerates 0-0 ties? To most, it looks like a bunch of guys in shorts running around kicking a ball like a bunch of middle schoolers during recess. I realize there's more to it than that, but here in the USA that's the dominant mindset, and a big reason why the MLS hasn't really caught on. I'd love to know where you got your facts about this lack of knowledge among football's fans? If you need proof of my argument, get on AOL radio and listen to the call in shows around the country. And made-for-TV? What's that supposed to mean exactly?

Your article is interesting, if not a little non-sensical and flawed. Basically a football bash by a guy obviously more interested in other sports (which is fine)----if nothing else it's interesting to hear the point of view.

If I have completely missed the point of the article, I apologize.

[allBthere]

One thing that would make it more intuitive to me that I've wanted for years is to face 'up' on defense. In other words, to flip the camera around so that I'm running 'up' towards defenders. To me this is way more intuitive because you would be acting like you're in the defenders shoes. right means right and left means left.

People have told me that this isn't possible, but they just don't want change until it's thrown in their face and they see that it's better. Most common criticism is 'what about db's on deep balls, i don't want to back peddle, and how will we see the reciever?'

- my anwer is that there are multiple solutions one being like the offence of apf2k8 deep bomb pass - the camera zooms out the higher the ball goes and you can see much more of the feild. Also you should be 'backpeddaling' since you're running backwards towards your own endzone.

How is taking a MLB and pulling DOWN on the LS intuitive at all? It isn't...the whole 'camera stays the same for two completely different types of gameplay' idea sucks to me and has sucked for a very long time. We should at least be able to give it a try and put any camera angle we please in while playing.

[Blazix]

Quote: Originally Posted by PSMD410

Soccer sucks IMO.

soccer sux