Madden 09 - 10 unpredictability

[thudias]

I just read Bill Abner's review of the Show and I had a question for all you Madden fans out there.

Was Madden 09 unpredictable enough for you? I personally agree with Bill that for a sports game to have longevity there needs to be an aspect that sometimes things are out of your control..missed snaps, receivers run the wrong routes, bad Qb decisions, fumbles etc..

Looking forward to Madden 10 is there anything you could think of that could use more unpredictability or was the 09 model good enough?

My one request is that this does not turn into a wish list and that we stay focused on this particular topic.

[dman1976]

DB stubbling on coverages leaving WR wide open or vice versa, QB overthrows. But, randomness on both sides not use a bunch of fumbles or int for users.

[salbowski]

ian stated in his last blog that a wr with poor route running will slip in the rain now... hopefully the same will be applicable for dbacks... not too sure what rating will be required for dbacks to fall though?
any ideas?? maybe man coverage or agility.

this will bring some unpredictability to the gameplay.

[kmart2180]

The problem with coding stuff like this is how often does it happen? Also if it happens in a crucial point in a game wouldnt it be something more to complain about then to appreciate?

I think its a tough thing to add to the game without it feeling cheesy. If it was I'd not want to see it every game sorta like that Super Bowl catch in Madden 09. Its something that should only happen out of the Blue maybe 1 every 10-15 games. Of course in the bad weather conditions wouldnt mind seeing it a bit more.

[Vikes1]

Excellent topic.

One of my problems with Madden '09' is it's predictability.

At least in my experience...going into each franchise game, you can bet on a few things that will surely happen.

1. Robo QB.
2. Weak cpu run game.
3. Rubber band.. comeback AI.
4. Weak User team pass rush.

In franchise mode anyway...yeah, it would be welcome to have messed up snaps, players that have unexpected good/bad games. Dynamic weather changes that really affect the game play. [a storm moves in during game.] The game play at this point does seem kind of robotic, lacking the element of surprise.

[kcarr]

Quote: Originally Posted by kmart2180

The problem with coding stuff like this is how often does it happen? Also if it happens in a crucial point in a game wouldnt it be something more to complain about then to appreciate? I think its a tough thing to add to the game without it feeling cheesy. If it was I'd not want to see it every game sorta like that Super Bowl catch in Madden 09. Its something that should only happen out of the Blue maybe 1 every 10-15 games. Of course in the bad weather conditions wouldnt mind seeing it a bit more.

The key with these things and with unpredictability adding to the longevity of the game is that these things don't happen all the time.

APF 2k8 did this pretty well. If you go onto that games forum on this site you see a fair share of people discussing seeing animations for the first time after months of playing the game. They didn't have all these unpredictable things that I would like to see added but with the things that they had they did a good job of making things that happen a lot actually happen a lot and things that should be rare actually be rare.

[thudias]

Quote: Originally Posted by kmart2180

The problem with coding stuff like this is how often does it happen? Also if it happens in a crucial point in a game wouldnt it be something more to complain about then to appreciate? I think its a tough thing to add to the game without it feeling cheesy. If it was I'd not want to see it every game sorta like that Super Bowl catch in Madden 09. Its something that should only happen out of the Blue maybe 1 every 10-15 games. Of course in the bad weather conditions wouldn't mind seeing it a bit more.

It has to be random...Maybe it happens in back to back games and then doesn't happen again for the rest of the season. As far as being in a crucial point in the game well..that is usually when stuff happens again if it is truly random we can not pick the spots where it will or won't happen. the defeats the point of randomness.


Boy..I said random too many times just then.

[kcarr]

Quote: Originally Posted by thudias

It has to be random...Maybe it happens in back to back games and then doesn't happen again for the rest of the season. As far as being in a crucial point in the game well..that is usually when stuff happens again if it is truly random we can not pick the spots where it will or won't happen. the defeats the point of randomness. Boy..I said random too many times just then.

You did say random quite a bit but really randomness is key to unpredictability. If it was not random and only fell at certain points then it will be rather predictable and who wants predictable unpredictability anyway.