Would you rather have all modes removed from Madden for a better playing game?

[GisherJohn24]

Or would you rather stick with what you got and have them keep adding game modes?


I look back at sports games of the past. Sometimes when modes were removed, they played better on the field (or court). Live 10 was pretty much gutted of modes, yet, as most of you know, it was probably the best NBA Live ever.


Me personally? I would rather have gameplay be the focus. Remove everything, till the gameplay is exactly how it should be. Somewhat what EA did for NHL 15 on Next gen. It's gutted, but like the article says, the new engine is a blast to play with and the game itself plays brilliantly.


I don't mind when developers take this route.

[BadAssHskr]

I for one would just have a game labeled nfl football.

when you pop it in, sure there are options to personalize your game experience, however, what you actually do is compete in a game of football.

yeah, i've never played a mascot game, a tutorial, mut, very little practice mode.

my copy has seen play now, all the sliders, rosters, load/save and online cfm.

[superxero27]

Neither. Work on gameplay yes, but don't strip out everything else. Remember the jump to Madden 06 on360/ps3?

Rather, stick with the modes we have. Work on gameplay and things like progression and customization.

But a couple years ago, I think it was Haumiller, mentioned that EA's approach was about new back-of-box features that wow reviewers because that is what drives casual fan sales.

In 2014 it would be extremely stupid for EA to strip out everything else in favor of Play Now. Even it it were the best playing game ever conceived, sales would be in the toilet and we'd never see another. And those "I'm more hardcore/zealous sim than you" gamers would be the first ones to cry foul.

[GisherJohn24]

Quote: Originally Posted by superxero27

Neither. Work on gameplay yes, but don't strip out everything else. Remember the jump to Madden 06 on360/ps3? Rather, stick with the modes we have. Work on gameplay and things like progression and customization. But a couple years ago, I think it was Haumiller, mentioned that EA's approach was about new back-of-box features that wow reviewers because that is what drives casual fan sales. In 2014 it would be extremely stupid for EA to strip out everything else in favor of Play Now. Even it it were the best playing game ever conceived, sales would be in the toilet and we'd never see another. And those "I'm more hardcore/zealous sim than you" gamers would be the first ones to cry foul.

But if you remove modes they can put all their effort to the gameplay right?

[superxero27]

Quote: Originally Posted by GisherJohn24

But if you remove modes they can put all their effort to tge gameplay right?

Sure, if everyone working on the thing all did the same things and didn't specialize.

They could also do that by focusing on fixing what we have instead of inventing new ones.

Not inventing new ones all the time would free up some manhours for those individuals to instead build a new engine and integrate existing features over time prior to release, but that requires a very longterm vision for the franchise which they don't seem to have.

[Jm0ney2001]

How did that work out for nhl this year?

[GisherJohn24]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jm0ney2001

How did that work out for nhl this year?

Gameplay is better. So I heard

[Jet Sufferer]

I think the real question you're asking here is do you wish Madden would just make a great football game, and the answer from here is yes.

This begs the question is why isn't a great game yet, is it because of the focus on the other modes and especially the huge focus on the cash cow that is Ultimate Team?

I don't think so, it seems to me that the problem is the talent to make a great football game isn't there at Tiburon, or they would have made one already.

What I'm starting to realize is that there just aren't that many great game developers out there and a lot of mediocre ones, just like any other profession.

It seems to me that the only 2 gold standard sports game makers are the guys who make the show and the guys who make 2k hoops. Additionally the guys who made NFL 2k5 and APF 2k8 are literally 10 years ahead of the guys who code Madden year in and year out.

That's not a knock on them personally, just how I see it from my sofa with a controller in my hands.

Not every basketball player is Michael Jordan, not every singer is Marvin Gaye. So in summation I don't think them stripping all the modes in Madden and just focusing on the gameplay would make it great, it would just be marginally better and just missing a bunch of modes.

Until EA Sports identifies and hires the very best at what they do and let them code Madden, we will have Madden Ball. This was my strategy from the beginning of the exclusive license if I'm the guy running EA Sports. Find the guys who made 2K football, offer them double what they're making at their current jobs and let THEM make Madden.

Unfortunately for me and a good percentage of the rest of the people playing or not playing Madden, I am most certainly NOT the guy running EA Sports.

It has always seemed to me that the focus on Madden has been to pretty up the graphics and spend literally tens of millions of marketing muscle on the game. Divert some millions away from the marketing of your mediocre product and put it into the product itself then you won't NEED to endlessly advertise and market your product up to and BEYOND the point of market saturation.