Video Game Passing Needs to be Reworked

[Maverick_SWAT]

I had a lot of fun playing first person football from ESPN2k5 on defense, but passing the ball was really hard.

[Rimfro]

They had a similar camera to what you describe on Madden 07, in Superstar Mode with the QB you had a zoomed in camera where you had to flick the stick to look off defenders and find your recievers. In theory it was cool, but in implementation, it failed. For one, you couldn't see if the reciever was making a play and you were constantly getting blind-sided, since you couldn't see anything but a little bit of the field. I also believe you are wrong about the vision cone, some quarterbacks have better awareness than others and tend to have a better standing of the entire field. That's what separates the good qb's from the great ones. You always hear announcers saying that on Sundays. Football is a tough game to nail in video game form, especially with the high expectations that these newer generation consoles have created. I think the first change we need to see is a complete physics overhaul. Backbreaker seems to have the right idea in that department, but, for me, it seems a tad bit corny. If it feels authentic, people will play, but, I don't think we will see Madden implement anything like that anytime soon.

[SomeStrangeSin]

i agree that passing needs to be reworked. in my opinions the pocket has a lot to do with it. apf2k8 imo had the best pocket forming/collapsing in a football game to date. my idea to make passing better is to give the player more controll using this as my idea for passing
R2 = pressure sensitive passing. R3 = vision cone(field viewing)
with this you can move the right stick to face the receiver you want to throw to and when doing that the camera shifts over to that side of the field to give you a better view of that receiver however you now do not know whose comming from your blind spot (the opposite side of the field) which means you can get sacked without knowing someone was comming from that side. to view the opposite side of the field requires you to move the right stick to that part of the field and now the side you were looking at becomes your blind spot if you are looking completely to that side of the field. using the R2 button to pass means you have more depth between pass types instead of just "bullet or lobb" you have different levels.

[ScottD413]

Quote: Originally Posted by sois

I always though a "double button press" mechanic would work well to simulate good/bad QB play. Remember how kickoff's used to be in the 90's? One press for the start of the kick, one to stop in the "sweet spot". If you nailed it, the kick would be perfect. If you were off, the kick would miss. I think this could work for QB's. Good ones will have slower meters or wider sweet spots. The meter would go crazy fast while scrambling, unless QB has good "Throw on the Run" rating. Maybe you could anchor the speed of the meter with a very faint heartbeat before the snap. That way you could estimate the speed of the meter. The only problem with this is it will have to be fast no matter what. You can't take a whole second to pass the ball. Maybe a matrix style slowdown? Also, you will have to build another lob/bullet mechanic.

Thats a really cool idea. I meter for accuracy would be an interesting thing to look into

[Andypoint12]

I agree passing game needs to be reworked. 3rd person cameras are not the answer, vision cones are not the answer, nor is double pressing buttons. First they need to make players non robotic, I hate how recievers run routes like a complete robot, I want to see them setup their guy with a jab step here and there, cut off their routes differently, be "looser". Then comes the pocket, so much wrong with it, blockers are always engaged with one person instead of working as a team or being able to push someone at anytime, for example, when a player jumps over another player nobody can block him while hes in the air...I have no idea why but its like that. Also, players needs to get pushed back into the QB sometimes too, I see none of that, the O-Line doesnt get pushed back, they can get pancaked or spun around but never just pushed straight back like big DT's and heavy blitzes do sometimes. It would put more pressure on QB's and make it more realistic, I like the zoomed out camera and one button throws because that is realistic(the one button throw since its an instant decision) and wouldn't work well anyway else(the camera zoomed out). Some tweaks would definetely help tho.

[frankrizzo380]

hmmmm, im thinking superstar QB????????????

[Charles77a]

How about a special controller for passing? Similar to how you used a mouse in the Amiga game Gridiron? You could point to what part of the field to pass to. That way you could lead your receiver and etc.

[rudyjuly2]

The passing game would be a lot more interesting if they accurately represented the different styles of QBs. Start rating QBs based on accuracy in short, medium and deep routes. An overall accuracy rating is terrible to differentiate between QBs. How do you accurately represent Chad Pennington's precision in short to medium routes vs. a strong armed QB like JaMarcus Russell? There have been tons of QBs that have been great short passers and not so good deep. Conversely, you had guys like Culpepper, Randall Cunningham and company that weren't so great at throwing short but great at the deep ball.

Let's look at another rating missing. QB release quickness. What does everyone say about Dan Marino? He had one of the quickest releases in football. What about Kerry Collins? His windup was super slow and yet no football game accurately creates this either. This would have a major effect on the game as getting that ball out on time would be something everyone would want.

I honestly think the passing game would be much better if they simply added attributes for accuracy based on areas of the field and quickness of release. Drafting or recruiting quarterbacks for your type of offensive system would get a lot more interesting if you had to decide between what type of passer they were and not just if they can scramble or not. EA needs to work on accurately portraying quarterbacks in order to improve the passing game first.