Madden 09: Tackling Engine Blog & Video

[JRod]

It's still a lot of one-on-one tackles. Not a lot of football "swarming" going on here.

[PVarck31]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scott

Shearer does an impression of Vin Scully in that episode, but its not Vin Scully himself

AHH Gotcha.

[Sef0r]

Nza.

I agreed with everything you say. They had a similar blog video from last year which was edited to show some "great" tackles and animation.

"Fool me once, shame on you....fool me twice.....umm......umm......you can't fool me twice" G.W Bush.

The tackle system has not changed, pure and simple. I am complaining, yes...but only because I am hoping they change to a new engine altogether.

For now I have to live with what we are given so here is to next year. This year is in the bag.
I don't want to argue with those who are going to tell me to pee off but those people will see come August that the product they will be playing is the same as 2008 with few changes in the core gameplay engine to make that much of a difference from 2008.


Disclaimer:
* Not a 2k Fanboy
* Not an EA *****
* A realist
* Loves NFL

[BezO]

Sweet! At the least, EA has improved their 1-on-1 tackling. They looked great. I saw exactly what the rep was referring to regarding momentum of the "victim". When the ball carrier had momentum, the tackle moved forward. When the tackler had the advantage, the tackle went backward.

For not having a true physic engine, it looks like they're doing a good job this year. But...

Quote: Originally Posted by Nza

...but the video clearly shows the phenomena remains in 2 or more vs 1 situations. About a quarter through, Jacobs is down the sideline and a Pats defender takes out his legs, while the other is knocked over like a bowling pin. Hey, it can happen in real life. But what also happens in real life is the 2nd defender hits the free falling body in mid air and changes its direction with a collision.

And this was apparent in earlier videos too. I hope they paid as much attention to the mult-tackler situations as they did the 1-on-1, as well as blocking. Earlier videos say no, but I didn't notice the improved 1-on-1 tackling in those videos either. That would be a pleasant surprise.

[sva91]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sef0r

Nza. I agreed with everything you say. They had a similar blog video from last year which was edited to show some "great" tackles and animation. "Fool me once, shame on you....fool me twice.....umm......umm......you can't fool me twice" G.W Bush. The tackle system has not changed, pure and simple. I am complaining, yes...but only because I am hoping they change to a new engine altogether. For now I have to live with what we are given so here is to next year. This year is in the bag. I don't want to argue with those who are going to tell me to pee off but those people will see come August that the product they will be playing is the same as 2008 with few changes in the core gameplay engine to make that much of a difference from 2008. Disclaimer: * Not a 2k Fanboy * Not an EA ***** * A realist * Loves NFL

Could not have said it better myself. Also the lighting looks cool, but not lifelike. It seems as if they put a gray filter to make it look a little more cinematic. Some of the shots look like the movie Invincible. Still looks much better than last year though.

[Deltron]

I'm happy to hear that the runner should be able to break tackles easier and it looks like jukes can be executed from a shorter distance too. Those are good things but I'll remain skeptical about this until I actually try it for myself.

I feel as if this article is a subtle or not so subtle attempt to undermine Backbreaker's newly touted ragdoll animations. While that game won't be a true competitor to EA, it does seem like an EA practice to preempt any competition in their sector which may be burgeoning.

The explanation offered for how this is a new animation system doesn't really sell me on the fact that it is truly a new system. If anything it states that motion captured animations are still present, but they are 'physics informed' -- whatever that actually means. For my money, it sounds as if the motion capture animation code was simply optimized to be faster and do away with some of the delay. The article also didn't really delve into how suction tackling figures into the gameplay mechanic other than stating it occurred via stalling out one player's momentum while a canned tackling animation was being searched for.

The fact of the matter is there still appears to be no gang tackling in the sense that other players can "add-on" to the tackling animation and change or shift the momentum of the pile and the runner. Until that update occurs, we will have to be satisfied with optimizations of their current mechanic. Which realistically, that's all I'm expecting after reading this article.

In reference to suction blocking, I'm also hoping that will be gone but the article doesn't really get specific about it. From the videos which are out, the pass blocking and the pocket formation look very similar to previous versions and the interactions between the dline and the oline still appear to be very stagnant and Tecmo Bowl like. In other words, I'm not getting my hopes up too high about improvements here. And I still feel as if this game will never really come close to replicating X's and O's football until they allow defenders to take on more than one blocker. You can pretty much throw out most real life defensive fronts until this change is present in the game.

All in all, it's nice to see the game becoming more responsive because that was one of my main gripes over the years. Running backs like Barry Sanders simply couldn't run they they could in real life because the tackling animations almost always started to take over when they were within 3 yards of any defender.

[buttsakk]

Two things...

1) Patrick Willis will be Awesome to play with this year!

2) With all the LT tackle breaking animations, I wonder how GODLY Marion Barber will be. *thinks about 2k5 and Ricky Williams*

[spankdatazz22]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sef0r

The tackle system has not changed, pure and simple. I am complaining, yes...but only because I am hoping they change to a new engine altogether.

I'm not a fan of the engine myself. The system looks improved; there's just something about it all that still looks off. It'll be interesting to see extended gameplay video - what was shown was a compilation, and so they were trying to show cool stuff. For me it's weird seeing so many of those flip tackles they seem to be in love with. I don't think every play needs some ESPN-highlight occurring regularly; sometimes the most remarkable things are better when they're subtle and more lifelike.

I also want to see if the system addresses player interaction on the whole. Figures they'd go with their own proprietary system versus implementing Euphoria; in the right hands something truly special could've been created w/that imo