What Madden REALLY needs - labguy's Blog

labguy's Blog

What Madden REALLY needs

Posted on January 26, 2012 at 12:41 PM.

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I have read the OS staff's entries on what they feel Madden needs to add moving forward. Like many who frequent this site, I have spent many hours thinking about what my vision of the ultimate Madden game would be. I'll break it down in in three areas.....gameplay, presentation/misc, and online franchise. (Advanced warning...it is lengthy)

Gameplay
1) Ratings have to matter more. During the course of an entire game a mediocre RT should not be able to stone Demarcus Ware 99% of the time. If you single block a star pass rusher, you should pay. Same thing for a CB vs a WR. It is fine to leave your average corner on Calvin Johnson once in awhile and roll the dice. But to run man to man with no safety help over top 60% of the game? That should result in about 200 receiving yards and 2 td's in a hurry. The NFL is about match-ups. I don't EA has every grasped this. Do a test and put a 72 rated OT vs Ware and see what happens. The OT will handle him pretty much all day.

2) The DB vs WR interaction has to be improved. In short it is just plain bad.

3) The flight of the ball needs adjusted. The OS staff was 100% right with this one.

4) EA should add some pre-snap strategy. If it is 3rd and 6 and I just have a gut feeling that my opponent is going to run a draw play. I should be able to select run before the snap. If I am right my players get a slight boost. If I am wrong then they get a decrease. This would add another element of strategy. Of course if you play it straight up then no boost or decrease is given. My fear is if EA did add this it would be too dramatic like the old pass/run committ. The should also put the spotlight reciever feature back in. This is just another area where EA could add to the gamesmanship and make it a little more of chess match beyond playcalling.

5) Play-action has to be fixed. These developers should be intelligent enough to find a happy medium here.

6) Special teams needs to matter. Again the developers should be able to find a balance.

Presentation/Misc

1) Everyone and their mother knows that the audio from the booth needs revamped. I'm not sure about space issues or cost issues, but having multiple announcers that corresponded with their network would be great. I will give EA a pass if space issues prevent it, but they need to do something to spruce it up.

2) I have no idea why they put in the highlight show feature and then removed it? The groundwork was there to build on. It wasn't great, but it was a start. I'd like to see them take some big plays from each game in online franchise and post those to the league site.

3) I will be 100% honest and admit I have not played the offline franchise. Playing the CPU does not hold my interest. So with that being said I'd like to see the announcers make note of milestones (just collected his 10th sack of season), career notes (made the Pro Bowl last year, was a 1st round pick). If those are already in franchise mode then great. They need to be added on Online Franchise too then. MLB the Show does a great job with this.

4) Different intro's and overlays for different network broadcasts would be cool. Again I admit I do not know what the storage limitations are for the discs. I am guessing overlays would not present as much of a problem as audio would though.

5) NCAA draft class importing - EA should want gamers who are football fans to buy both titles. Well if a gamer does then EA should care enough that a gamer dropped $120 and at least make the effort to fix the draft class issue. The ratings should import WAY better than they do. It is like EA doe snot even try in this department.

6) Progression - I think it has improved some. I know EA will never please everyone in this regard because there are different camps as to what should cause a spike in rating. Some people say a 67 rated back who you rush for 1800 yards should be a star the next year. Some disagree. I think a balance can be had. Just because my rookie LB plays behind a star doesn't mean he doesn't improve by practicing and getting in on special teams. Especially if he was a high round talented pick. But I can also agree that just because a guy is a 5th round RB doesn't mean he shouldn't have any chance of stardom. So while admitting it is a difficult task, I think EA can improve this.

7) Atmosphere/crowd noise- There should be a different feel or vibe from regular season compared to playoffs. Same for different stadiums (and this should vary based on variables such as record, tradition, etc). Heinz field is not going to be 50% empty just because the team is 3-4. So it needs to be done properly. People might still show up but the noise maybe will not be there or something. EA can definately do a better job of capturing that atmosphere based on crowd reaction and volume. If my QB gets sacked and the guy gets a hitstick on him then I should hear an "ewww". Or if a guy returns a punt for a TD I should hear the home crowd errupt. I am amazed that EA has not hit on this yet.

Online Franchise

Online franchise is my true passion. I get that it is not the cup of tea for everyone. But EA has ignored it for multiple years now. It is time they devote resources to making it whole. I have many ideas that will make it totally immersible. Again some ideas might be too in depth for some gamers, so EA should let the comissioner decide which features to use.

1) Add missing features that everyone already knows are needed (i.e. salary cap, free agency bidding, draft pick trades, NCAA draft class importing).

2) Disconnections - This is a real problem with online franchise games. EA should allow the opponents to re-start the game where the DC happened. Nothing is more frustrating than having a DC in the late 3rd quarter when the game is close and having to start from scratch. If you want people to use the feature you need to eliminate as many things that turn them off from the mode. Time wasters like "do-overs" is a huge one.

3) Add more GM responsibilities. Competing on the field, during the draft, and free agency is enough for some gamers. I am in two online leagues though and I can tell you the 63 guys I know want more. Here is what I invision. Competing to hire and retain coaches. Everyone in the league should not be able to use the Jet's defensive playbook. So Head Coaches and coordinators should be on contract. When their contract is up the go into a coaching free agency like players. Your attendance revenue should dictate how much you can spend on coaches. The playbooks follow the coaches. I want to use the Steelers 3-4 then I better hire Lebeau or one of his disciples. The coaches should also have a small impact on the players just like offline. Singletary gives you LB group a few point boost.

4) Draft - No more 10 draft classes that everyone looks online to see potential. It needs to be varied and/or allow comissioners to import NCAA classes. A scouting feature throughout the year should allow users to gain more info. Some info should be standard though like speed, strength, acceleration (these are known from 40 times, bench press, cone drill). Intangibles like coverage skills, catching, throwing teams should have to use recruitment points to dig deeper into). Now this might be too time consuming for some leagues. That is why you make in-season scouting an option. This is a feature I would make web based, so users could scout at work or wherever and not be tied to their gaming console to do.

5) Track league history - The leading rushers, passers, etc should be tracked. This data should be able to be looked back at on the web. Now I am usually totally against paying for extra content, but I will throw EA a bone. Let this be an option for leagues. If they only want the current season's stats kept then it is free. If a league wants all historical stats kept then there is a small fee the commisioner must pay. That generates some additional revenue for EA. I think that is a fair trade off.

6) Awards voting - There should be an easy way for all league members to vote for MVP, Rookie of Year, Pro Bowl, etc. Again put this stuff on the web, so people are thinking about their leagues when they are not on their consoles. The more they are into it then the less likely they are to drop out.

7) Weekly highlight show - See above in Presentation

8) Fluff - a) Based on attendance let players generate revenue in which they can remodel stadiums, build new ones, move (with a league vote).

b) You can probably throw in the training and medical staff in here as well. All of this would be handled with the attendance pool of money though. So if you go crazy on your coaching staff then maybe your injuries increase if you have a poor training staff. I realize these items under #8 are fluff, but they would really add to the online franchise experience. Again think about why some leagues can't fill up. Nobody wants the Bills for example. Well now the owner of the Bills has a goal to not only win, but to build a new dome stadium. If he can scratch out a couple of 8-8 and 9-7 seasons and is frugle with his cash maybe that is something he can achieve that keeps him engaged. I see it with my league I know some guys who are not great at the game and maybe miss the playoffs a lot, but they enjoy competing still and the fellowship of the league. If you can throw them a bone and let them tinker with their stadium and coaching staff then you will keep them even more engaged.

Ok I know I ramble and I am not a journalist by any stretch, so thanks to anyone who has made it this far. I'd REALLY appreciate any feedback you have....especially ideas that I may not have thought of. I don't mind negative feedback if you have a point to make. I just ask that if you call me a douche bag, you at least take the time to tell me why you think so. Lol.

For all of my fellow online franchise mode gamers, I will leave you with the extreme hope that EA finally comes through for us.

Comments

# 1 dcal @ Jan 26

I would like to see a weekly highlight show as well. I think I read that the halftime show will be back in 13 completely overhauled. Looking forward to that.

# 2 stix101 @ Jan 26

Good read. Football and gaming are two of my biggest passions. And when you put the two together its heaven.. well almost. I too would like too see all of these things happen. Including major improvements in online franchise mode. But in all reality its a pipe dream.. EA will sell just as many copies next year regardless of what improvements are made. The NFL needs to get out of EAs bed and let other developers have a crack at it. there is alot of talented developers out there and i feel ripped of i get stuck with EA as mine. BUT i will buy the game next year, ON release day. AGAIN. so the jokes on me haha

p.s. i truly hope i eat my words when M13 drops