How Close are we to a COMPLETELY NEW Madden ENGINE?

[Lisa_Bonami]

I know this generally pops up every so often, but it seems that EA never really faces the question with a legitimate response. It seems like every year they keep building features and tweaks upon a foundation that has pretty much been around since the PS2 came out.


I personally feel like I have reached an enjoyment peak with Madden and their current gameplay engine. This post is not a gripe in any way but more of an honest assessment and and suggestion to the developers. I watch football on Sundays, and I get that urge to load up a video game of football to get that football gameplay fix. The problem is, when I load up Madden, I can no longer enjoy it for more than a few plays.....Quite simply, it just doesnt hold my interest any more. It feels like too much of the same exact game that I have played over and over and over for the last 10 years.

The action on the field doesnt immerse me into the gameplay any more than it did, 10 years ago....This dissapoints me, because in those last 10 years, I have also played games from other companies that added innovative and refreshing new gameplay elements to make the game much more enjoyable and interactive for the player while Madden pretty much played it safe and made tweaks here and there to the same foundation.


Just to name some features and elements that have really made video game football refreshing and more interactive:

NFL Fever 2004: Passing Cursor System- Brilliant Right Thumbstick Cursor Controlled Passing System to throw the ball anywhere you want on the field without scripted and predefined passes and button based receivers. This was devilishly addicting, and made passing the ball in a football game as fun...and as interactively challenging as cursor based hitting in a baseball game....Great design.

BackBreaker: True Physics Based Gameplay- Once you experience the open and dynamic world of true physics based tackling, and interaction between players, it almost makes it difficult to ever go back to anything with scripted motion captured interaction ever again.

2k Sports: Detailed Attributes & Player Ratings- Anyone who has ever played this game for a few seasons can appreciate the attention to detail and variety that 2K Sports demonstrated with an Attribute and Rating profile for every player that realistically generated subtle differences between similar positional players. For example, a reciever like Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, and Tory Holt, had distinctions and variety in their profiles that really individualized them and their actions on the field.


Maybe I am in the minority here, but I think its well overdue now for the general sports gaming public to expect EA to take their Football Engine to that next level....whatever it is, and completely rebuild it with something new, and much more immersive and interactive.

Is there any news or anything in the works at EA that would give us hope?

I want to love playing Madden again, I want to feel that same sense of excitement and anticipation for this game like I had way back when this game was in its prime

[Sausage]

They supposedly did this in there transition to the 360/PS3 and look how long it took them to make it playable; and even then it has not been mind blowing.

So, if they decided to scrap the engine I am concerned that it will take a few years to get the game to play well. As well as lose an option we liked.

[roadman]

We won't know anything about Madden 12 until the SB and after.

[REDRZA]

Quote: Originally Posted by Lisa_Bonami

I know this generally pops up every so often, but it seems that EA never really faces the question with a legitimate response. It seems like every year they keep building features and tweaks upon a foundation that has pretty much been around since the PS2 came out. I personally feel like I have reached an enjoyment peak with Madden and their current gameplay engine. This post is not a gripe in any way but more of an honest assessment and and suggestion to the developers. I watch football on Sundays, and I get that urge to load up a video game of football to get that football gameplay fix. The problem is, when I load up Madden, I can no longer enjoy it for more than a few plays.....Quite simply, it just doesnt hold my interest any more. It feels like too much of the same exact game that I have played over and over and over for the last 10 years. The action on the field doesnt immerse me into the gameplay any more than it did, 10 years ago....This dissapoints me, because in those last 10 years, I have also played games from other companies that added innovative and refreshing new gameplay elements to make the game much more enjoyable and interactive for the player while Madden pretty much played it safe and made tweaks here and there to the same foundation. Just to name some features and elements that have really made video game football refreshing and more interactive: NFL Fever 2004: Passing Cursor System- Brilliant Right Thumbstick Cursor Controlled Passing System to throw the ball anywhere you want on the field without scripted and predefined passes and button based receivers. This was devilishly addicting, and made passing the ball in a football game as fun...and as interactively challenging as cursor based hitting in a baseball game....Great design. BackBreaker: True Physics Based Gameplay- Once you experience the open and dynamic world of true physics based tackling, and interaction between players, it almost makes it difficult to ever go back to anything with scripted motion captured interaction ever again. 2k Sports: Detailed Attributes & Player Ratings- Anyone who has ever played this game for a few seasons can appreciate the attention to detail and variety that 2K Sports demonstrated with an Attribute and Rating profile for every player that realistically generated subtle differences between similar positional players. For example, a reciever like Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, and Tory Holt, had distinctions and variety in their profiles that really individualized them and their actions on the field. Maybe I am in the minority here, but I think its well overdue now for the general sports gaming public to expect EA to take their Football Engine to that next level....whatever it is, and completely rebuild it with something new, and much more immersive and interactive. Is there any news or anything in the works at EA that would give us hope? I want to love playing Madden again, I want to feel that same sense of excitement and anticipation for this game like I had way back when this game was in its prime

You are not alone. Many of us have been saying this exact same thing. If you are a long time consumer and fan of this franchise, you KNOW it hasn't changed at it's core in many, many years. Graphics have gotten better, they have added more animations, and other than that, all they do each and every year is tweak and tune the legacy code that has driven this game for many years.

I'm not bashing Madden or saying it's terrible, im saying it's just gotten stale and old. How many years can we play the same game/engine(s). (I always have to write "engine(s)" plural for all the EA apologists who say Madden is more than one engine). Semantics aside, whatever you want to call it, we need a newer, smarter, more innovative game ground up.

EA has done it in the past with critical success. Triple Play baseball became MVP Baseball, Knockout Kings became Fight Night, and NHL didn't change names but definitely changed game engine(s) and we all know how all those games turned out.

I think with Madden they are in a weird predicament. I don't know if they are afraid to change the formula, or it's that they spent all that money for the NFL license limiting development funding, or the fact they have no competition. All i know is the game will never change unless it stops selling. It's just a shame that NHL fans, FIFA fans, MLB (The show) fans, NBA (2K) fans ALL get VERY solid representations of their favorite sports, and we get essentially the same game each and every year.

[REDRZA]

On a side note, and this is a perfect example, i felt that Madden 06 on the 360, which everyone hated because of its bare bones gameplay, was definately a step towards a new game. I remember Tiki Barber holding the ball "high and tight" just like he did in reality. The players definately ran/moved/animated differently. I am fully aware there was a serious lack of features and modes, but i felt they were at least going in the right direction. That is, until the fanbase outcried, and it seems they went back to the old legacy code.

[trufootball]

This is something that excites me and makes me nervous because the future of videogame football is completely up in the air at this point at least to those who aren't in the know which is the consumers (us). Mainly because of this whole exclusive license thing, it messes everything up. Who know where the technology would be if there was real competition across the board. That is the only way we will reallly ever see the bar raised to where it should be. But until then who knows...i would love to hear from the devs themselves about this subject, there has to be some technology like what we have in fight night and this upcoming nba elite that can be used for madden... it would make this game much more realistic

[REDRZA]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sausage

They supposedly did this in there transition to the 360/PS3 and look how long it took them to make it playable; and even then it has not been mind blowing. So, if they decided to scrap the engine I am concerned that it will take a few years to get the game to play well. As well as lose an option we liked.

Sausage, if you have played this game for any significant amount of time i don't see how you can believe that. This game currently plays exactly the same as it has for 10 years now. Again, graphics are better, more animations, some features are added and stripped, and the code is tweaked and tuned a bit different, but underlying all that it's the same game.

[EmmittSmithx22x]

Every year we call for specific game changes to be made. Most of the time that are reasonable, and can be accomplished as quick fixes before the next year. and every year EA ignores everything we say and goes in a completely different direction. I never heard anyone clamoring for "simpler, quicker, deeper" or wanting to take away plays or anything like that. This crap just came out left field. Just another example of how well they "Listen to their Consumers".