Madden 21 Beta: The Most Negative Takeaways

[Steve_OS]

What are the most negative takeaways you had after playing the Madden 21 beta? Kevin Scott:...

Written By: Chase Becotte

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[michaelhawj]

On Defense is very frustrating to me : man coverage is horrible.. Safety and Cornerback are lost on any plays.. i played as Ravens against Chiefs on all star difficulty.. Patrick Mahomes had insane stats : 31-30 for Att-Comp : 96%.* it not worth 60 bucks on day one

[canes21]

It's easy to agree with their takes. Running the ball is still too easy for the user. The blocking as a whole in the game needs a rework. There are pretty animations along the line and some plays look good, but overall the line play is just not where it should be. The OL still gets too much push. A hole clogging DL isn't really a thing still as the only real way for a DT to slow the run game down in Madden is to shed a block quickly and make the tackle themselves. I would like to see Madden reach a point where the trenches look and feel like a physical battle.

I want to see interior defensive linemen that have impacts in the running game constantly without ever shedding block. Guys that require double teams and limit the amount of push the OL gets or even push their man into the backfield themselves forcing the run play to be blown up without insta-shed being the reason why.

OL logic is also still mess. I absolutely hate seeing my pulling players splitting defenders because they seemed to get overwhelmed and blocked nobody because they couldn't figure out who to block at all. I also hate seeing the open field blockers because they still seem to greatly struggle making the smartest block. It's infuriating that in 2020 we still see OL that are in the open field with you and there is 1 or 2 players that have the angle to stop you, but the linemen decide to turn around and go block a trailing player that had no real shot at doing much.

I don't know what is the cause of the mental struggles with the OL, but I hope the new generation allows EA to fix it. I don't know if their logic is too complex which results in the OL getting overwhelmed and blocking nobody, or if the issue is just some type of calculation error that results in them not recognizing the real threats per play.

One other thing I hate seeing the OL do is if you drop back into pass protection, the LT takes the end, the C gets the DT, and the LG is sitting there not touching anyone yet. Instead of them assisting with one of the two OL by his side, he will sometimes do nothing at all which is irritating, but what I absolutely hate seeing even more is when they have eyes in the back of their head and they will turn around and cover ground quick enough to pick up the free runners on the other side of the line. That's even worse than them not helping either the LT or C. At no point should the LG be able to cover so much ground that he is on the outside shoulder of the RG or even RT making a block to protect the QB. It's very confusing as to why they are able to make those blocks, but constantly struggle to pick up the correct defender when pulling or lead blocking in the open field.

Another issue I hope to see ironed out is that Lamar Jackson was a great running QB until I spied/contained him. When I ran those plays he broke and would revert to NCAA 14 Scrambling QB mode and too often did he just take off into the back of the RT or into the arms of the DL on that side of the play for easy sacks. I don't know what causes that, but when I didn't spy or contain, he'd take off running to the right, to the left, up the middle, etc. and rip off big gains. However, when I ran a play to contain his running ability it would break him and cause him to always run right and run into the traffic just like the scrambling QBs in NCAA 14.

My last big issue from the beta is the pass coverage and the awful 2-man animations. It is time EA implements true coverage techniques that reflect real life and to get rid of the awful 2-man animations that constantly break physics and disregard all momentum and whatnot. I hate seeing two guys running full speed on a deep ball immediately jump up vertically completely disregarding all of the momentum they were carrying, I hate seeing a WR go into an animation that causes him to somehow be at the apex of his jump, but then jarringly get even higher into the air as if he was Mario and double jumped. The 2-man animations were a great idea, but they wee horribly executed. And DB's in the game really don't play with proper technique. They don't understand what safety help is and how to play off of it. They basically mirror the WR in video-game fashion and not with proper technique of a real life DB.

This is the one area that if EA ever took notes from 2k8 this is where they should look. In that game the DB's use real technique, the backpedal properly, position themselves properly, mirror properly, in man coverage they are actually programmed to stare at the WR and only when the WR turns for the ball do they look back and even then they don't always locate it in time to make a play if they are in position. They understand shading inside and out, they play to the strengths of the playcall knowing when a safety is helping them over the top or inside. They trail properly when the backers have the inside help. These are all things Madden needs to have done and the game would immediately go up a tier or two in the gameplay department, even with all of the other issues I talked about earlier.

Rebuild the block, rebuild the coverage, fix the scrambling QB logic and Madden is a heck of a game on the field even with other issues like the inability to pick up loose fumbles or the passing game still feeling tethered to the WR more than to the route, or the lack of physics felt in tackles anymore.

[patsfan1993]

This article pretty sums up where I ended up with the beta. Defense leaves way too much to be desired. At times the user feels completely helpless and as if what play is selected really won't matter anyway, since the coverage is so loose and lacking in awareness.

[misterkrabz2]

Until EA implements a passing mechanic that requires end user input for the location of the pass (e.g. passing cursor which you control with the right stick for example) playing defense is always going to be totally dependent on AI coding and how the CPU/AI controlled players respond....and at this point, no one is happy with how that works. I've been hearing people complain (and rightfully so) about bad DB AI for literally decades. IMO it's because the passing mechanic/concept in Madden football is flawed. The QBs throw deadly accurate passes nearly every time with a simple push of a button only to see that pass morph though a defender (in some cases) or the defender not nothing to respond to the pass. It's "Maddening". The user experience in this scenario is aggravating beyond imagination and it's the reason I don't play the game anymore and won't buy it this year. I'm convinced now more than ever that it'll never change. If the user was forced to control the location of the pass there would exist the possibility of a bad or inaccurate pass, which would alleviate the dependence of spot on DB AI to play defense. And I'm not talking about a randomly coded inaccurate pass that happens for no reason which is what happens now from time to time...that's equally frustrating on the offensive side.*

Simply put, put the user in control of the action and require skilled based user input aided by player attributes to make those actions easier or more difficult. Tom Bradys short/mid range passing cursor would be easier to control (for example) than Can Newtons. Cam Newtons deep ball would get there quicker (with more pace) than Tom Bradys....doesn't seem like that difficult of a concept to implement. But EA would have to change the entire mindset of their product and change that from a online slot machine /gambling application (Ultimate Team) to a mindset focused on the end user experience. And we all know that's not gonna happen anytime soon.*

[Hshaw810]

The thing that kills this game for me is the same big problem madden has had for a long time and it was mentioned in this article. Bad AI programming. The fact that the AI dont have concept of time and score kills it IMO since im not really an online player. I have to help the cpu beat me lol

[goillini03]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hshaw810

The thing that kills this game for me is the same big problem madden has had for a long time and it was mentioned in this article. Bad AI programming. The fact that the AI dont have concept of time and score kills it IMO since im not really an online player. I have to help the cpu beat me lol

Yep. When you have competitors whose sole game-plan is exploiting the game mechanics, you know it is bad programming. The lack of AI players awareness of a huge driver for many faults.

[MBizzle13]

Has the ability to assign a defensive player to man coverage on someone been removed? or you're just saying it doesn't work well?