How Madden Can Better Itself In Time for 12 - jWILL253's Blog

jWILL253's Blog

How Madden Can Better Itself In Time for 12

Posted on August 2, 2010 at 03:26 AM.

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It's a shame that I have to type up this article A WEEK AND 3 DAYS before Madden NFL 11's official release.

But, I just got through reading IGN's "Madden NFL 11: My Final Impressions" article. It was a decent read. Nate Ahearm highlighted a few key areas of improvement for Madden 11: Locomotion, Rewritten AI O-Line Blocking Logic, GameFlow, Gameplanning, Audio Presentation, and Online Team Play. However, he also pointed out the flaws (albeit, not in the same manner as most of the comment posters on IGN, or even some on OS) that include no major Career Mode improvement (ie, Franchise & Superstar Mode), and AI problems. But he ignored some issues like Tackling (defenders roll off the ball carriers WAY TOO MUCH in the demo), game speed (the game just feels sluggish), DB AI (swatting a pass away without even LOOKING for the ball first), and the overall presentation (cutscenes occur out of context in the demo, ie, watching your offensive players sitting on the bench as you BEGIN A DRIVE.) There are also some that say the game feels largely unchanged from Madden 10. And, while that's true, to a certain extent, Madden 11 has made some strides.

But, not enough strides to warrant another $59.99 purchase for me. Especially considering the improvements to NCAA Football 11 (although, that may be because of the fact that NCAA 10 was so damn horrible).

I've been taking an objectionable look at things, and I've notice a few glaring problems with Madden 11's progress this year"

1. The devs are not nearly as interactive with the community as last year, at least not directly. This may be because of the usual beatings that devs can take from the posters on forums. That said, if this is the case, then they need to suck it up, because it's not gonna change anytime soon.

2. At the beginning of NCAA 11's dev cycle, they made a list of ideas for improvements to the game, and presented them to the community for a vote. The Madden devs did no such thing, which is a shame, considering both teams work in the same building.

3. They made changes to things that didn't really need changing: playcalling, the audible system, presentation upgrades from Madden 10 (which were taken out COMPLETELY from 11), and said that the changes were for casual/new Madden gamers (although one can argue that the Strategy Pad will make it even harder for said gamers).

4. They relied on data from online users, instead of direct interaction with the community (although, it has been said that they use data from "internet-connected consoles", and not online-only gamers. Whether or not that's true is up for debate).

5. Madden NFL is a FOOTBALL game. Which means there's tackling. Which means collisions between players. Which should mean physics. And yet, NHL 11 (a hockey game), and NBA Elite 11 (a BASKETBALL GAME) are getting Real-Time Physics before Madden 11, which is supposed to be their flagship franchise.

After reading all of that, you can see why the community is in uproar over the way things have turned out.

I will be typing up a three part series of blog posts on OS on how EA Tiburon can make Madden 12 the game Madden Enthusiasts, 2K5 Fanboys, and casual gamers have been waiting for ever since the E3 Madden NFL 06 Commercial Spot came to town. I will be focusing on 3 aspects of the game:

1. Developer Focus

2. Community Interaction

3. Much-Needed Improvement, and Features to the Game Itself

I'm not gonna be bashing Madden, nor will I be rejoicing in the "BOOM!". This will be an objectionable look at the ways Tiburon can prove it's more than capable of delivering a playable football title.

See you in a few days...

-jWILL

Comments

# 1 ak47jared @ Aug 2

Owwch pod madden. All true : madden is probably the most updated when it comes down to rules and relgulation like penalties. Last year, madden 10 franchise was by cap penalties make it impossible to rebuild by trading away stars. Also, superstar mode was terrible. Commentary less, constant pratice made this extremely boring. If you finish pre season you are boring. 2 hours of that and you wanna die. They should copy some ideas from NBA 2k10 that superstar mode was great. After playing madden 11 demo, I noticed that s still no single arm tackling which I was really hoping for. But, I can't complain about madden 11 because it was awesome with gameflow and the other features that it you probably know about. The thing that most impressed was the blocking it was some much better than last year. Can't wait to August 10, hopefully it doesn't disappoint me.

# 2 jWILL253 @ Aug 2

With Superstar Mode, I have no problem with the practices. For me, it's that all the practicing has no impact on the gameplay, and that the user interface was so damn bland.