Madden NFL 10 Preview: Five Things to Know (ESPN)

[carolina_boi]

Quote: Originally Posted by polamalu82

The amount of interceptions is something that still has me worried. Every season my team has a ridiculously high amount of interceptions. Interceptions should be rare maybe 1 or 2 a game if any. Hopefully we see more swat animations and less picks.

1 or 2 a game - if any? lets be real here, it all has to do with your game play decision and how skilled you are. NOW I KNOW THERES ALOT OF UN_NECESSARY INTERCEPTIONS ON MADDEN DUE TO DEFENSIVE AND QUARTERBACK MECHANICS. but lets give these guys a chance to clean that stuff up *like they say they're doing* before the idea of 1-2 if any interceptions. Its all about the game, if your trying to use the Jaguars playing like you would with the colts or patriots on a denver broncos secondary then of course theres going to be a phew picks with champ bailey in the secondary and Jacksonville having NO "STAR" recievers on the team (madden 09 - i know they will have Holt this year on madden 10). So it all has to do with game time situations and decisions. I can agree with you on more REALISTIC swats though !

[burne]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA

This was key to the early design though...the meter actually drops out but you can keep hitting buttons to gain possession. You don't truly know who wins until the ref gets to the bottom of the pile....the meter disappears a good 2-3 seconds before he "finds out" the winner.

Can we at the least have an option to not have any control and just have it decided by stats/random chance after just watching the pile? There are some things in the game I just don't particularly need interaction with.

My issue is this:

Can you really design a mechanic that I just can't get so good at that I'll win at it an unrealistic proportion of the time? If I learn to ram whatever button it is really quickly, what prevents me from winning every single fumble pile?

It's the same way I feel about field goal kicking. I wish there was a way to just have the CPU kick my field goals for me and have the result be decided by the relevant attributes, the clutch level of the situation, etc, so that the kick is made the same percentage of the time it would be in real life. It would be like turning on "Real player FT%" in the 2k series of basketball games.

I see the downside of less user control = you just watching the CPU play. But on the other hand, I think it would be great to drive your team as far as you can and then feel the suspense and drama of watching the kick fly just like all the players on the sideline do in a real NFL game. Driving my team to the 30 in the closing seconds of a game and missing a kick because I mistimed pressing "A" (the old mechanic) would just be frustrating, and knowing that I'm going to make it because the mechanic is so easy (the new mechanic) is just boring. IMO, the drama of watching my kicker kick without my control trumps both of those situations.

Sorry to have gone on a tangent with Field Goals, but the analogy is a fair one and all of the same arguments apply to the fumble pile.

[carolina_boi]

Quote: Originally Posted by jvaccaro

This is a concern for me... It seems like whenever EA comes up with a new feature, they overuse it. Some crazy catch animation, or camera flashes come to mind. Also, the hit stick and how any player could land a big hit basically anytime. It loses all appeal because it's happens all the time. I'm remember hearing something about how the devs would want to make sure the new feature gets noticed so the reviewers write about it, even after playing only a game or two. They also mentioned how the refs get knocked over all the time. I'm glad they don't interfere with the players, but they should have better avoidance AI. Ditch the fumble meter, and limit the rare plays to keep the suspense high when they do happen... everything else sounds great!

if you guys read the article correctly they brought up the fact that this wouldnt happen all the time, just in crowds, not in the open space when its clear that theres one guy nearest to the ball. Re-read it.

[carolina_boi]

Quote: Originally Posted by dave374

My biggest gripe with the fumble feature is that not all fumbles are fights for the ball. Many times, a fumble happens and another guy simply picks it up. In the alpha version of the game (and I stress alpha, because the guys at EA know this criticism I mentioned), there were way too many fights for the fumbles, which I think is stupid. 9 times out of 10, the only time you see a fight for the ball is in crowds ... not open space. Hopefully, this is something that is rectified by game release.

"The ball hits the ground, and this doesn't happen with every fumble, but if there is a situation where two or three guys are right there, then they'll jump on the ball. " - Phil Frazier. Those are the words from the producer himself. so dnt worry, im pretty sure they got this thing under control. If not.. they still have 2 months to fix things. And once again, people are crying and talking about "there should only be a limited amount of interceptions and a limited amount of fumbles" , etc in a game, NOOOO ! thats not how Madden works, thats why players have RATINGS ! if you have a Chris Harris (Safety), a roy williams (Safety) or a pass rusher like Harrison (Steelers) , guys who speacialize in causing fumbles and who's ratings are more favorable to cause a fumble just like in a real game then why take that away?? That defeats the purpose of having that shut down corner or that hard hitting lb or safety. So lets not take this for granted and appreciate it.. !

[big_larry]

leave the cut scene and button mashing for control of the ball, just take out the meter, simple.

what i mean is when a pile up fumble happens you should know just to keep mashing x (to represent fighting for the ball) theres no need for different buttons popping up to press or anything like that, just keep it simple.

[PGaither84]

I just want to remind Ian that I am on the record on being against button mashing and having "control" of the pile. I want the game to decide as long as it is "fair." My freind I play Madden with a lot over the years complained that he almost never reocvered fumbles, and when we went back over time and looked at the various fumble stats [caused recovered, lost etc] we found that I was winnign a great many of these. not becasue of skil or anything, that's just how things worked out. I hope the system is more fair and balanced determined by players involved and what not.

Please no button mashing at all, and if you must, at least have the option to turn the meter off. there should be a directions/instructions on how and what to do to give you the best shot when it happens so you can do your job and enjoy the on screen action.

[RGiles36]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA

This was key to the early design though...the meter actually drops out but you can keep hitting buttons to gain possession. You don't truly know who wins until the ref gets to the bottom of the pile....the meter disappears a good 2-3 seconds before he "finds out" the winner.

Ah, I see. Well that makes more sense certainly...

[big_larry]

thats better.