Madden NFL 11 News Post

Is Madden's Gameflow a Revolution or a Gimmick?

03:05 PM - August 10, 2010 by RaychelSnr

The question I keep asking myself is whether Gameflow and the Game Planning features are a revolution in Madden NFL 11 or just another gimmick which is sure to go by the wayside in future years not unlike Weapons, the Vision Cone, and any number of other features.

It's not like we haven't been given a bevy of reasons to believe Gameflow isn't indeed another gimmick.

Read more - Is Madden's Gameflow a Revolution or a Gimmick?

Game: Madden NFL 11Reader Score: 6/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 96 - View All

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Member Comments

# 61 kenlovin @ 08/11/10 12:05 AM

Gameflow is a gimmick, i have the same thought as Bill Abner. Why on earth would I want the cpu calling plays for me. Now gameplanning is a welcome addition

# 62 marktwain77 @ 08/11/10 12:35 AM

The "my gameplan" option is nice.

Gameflow is seriously a joke. I'll bet it joins the passing cone in the "one and done" bin. People are playing with it to try it out, but it gets old VERY fast.

It just does not feel right when you are not calling the plays.

One neat Gameflow touch would be if they added actual coach's voices. Or even 20 different voices to read those lines (for some variety). It's not that many lines to record. It would be cosmetic though, and I would just scrap it altogether.

# 63 boxboy99 @ 08/11/10 01:51 AM

Gameplan could be **** if they flesh this feature out to what FPS Football had in the 90's. I wish we could have some control over the situations. The game gets way to aggresive before the end of the first half. I wish we had the option to go conservative or aggresive play calling at the end of a half. I also would like to see play success tracking like head coach and have the computer adapt their gameplans based off continueous data and tendencies.

# 64 infamyice @ 08/11/10 01:54 AM

It's a keeper, if used properly.

# 65 boxboy99 @ 08/11/10 01:56 AM

Can a gameplan be loaded for my computer opponet? When I edit the gameplans I assume the default teams playbook stays the same. I seen a couple people mention tweaking the computers playcalling but I am not sure how to do make this work.

# 66 Instant C1a55ic @ 08/11/10 02:32 AM

I like using it when im in a hurry...so i guess it lives up to its purpose. Like everyone has said before me, it does have its problems. I made a gameplan and ranked all of my pass plays higher than my run, and i still run close to twice as many runs as passes.

However, i changed things up and made no gameplan and the game seemed to adjust to my teams strengths. Game flow properly set me up with plenty of play-actions and boot legs to set up the run. I was 19-25 for 270 with Kyle Orton on All-Pro.

# 67 blackceasar @ 08/11/10 03:31 AM

I can't help but feel its a gimmick by EA to dumb down the game for the casual masses. Like I said in a post before, if you could Youtube or look up the commericals over the past 5-7 years they are always about new features/gimmicks EA has dumped into the game. You dont see commercials just about the game in general anymore. It's like Ian and the gang sit around in a board room every year and say "What 2-3 new gimmicks can we add to the game this upcoming year so we have a reason to make new commericals? These will be our new selling points". I honestly really feel this way. I think some of the crap they have put in OR changed in the game is just as much for selling points that can be talked about in commercials than anything else. Could you imagine a year where they actually really just fix everything thats broken and jacked up and gave everyone the Madden they really deserve? Good for us, but nothing to write home about for them.

The public turns on the TV and sees a Madden 11 commercial "quicker, simpler, deeper" and it gets the lemmings out there all hyped up as if to say "OMG! Madden does it again! hellz yeah I cant wait for this game to come out" It's marketing. Marketing and $$$ are the reason why every year madden feels like a patch of the previous year. Now some years the patch is larger than other years, but it's still really a patch. Underneath it all its the same game engine, same graphics engine, same controls etc that just get tweaked and spruced up but they have never been torn down and rebuilt from scratch since next gen hit. They will tell you it has been in some years but the smarter people know better than this.

Overall do I like Madden 11? Sure I do... its a fun NFL game...the ONLY NFL game. Do I feel like every year feels more like a super patch than a true evolution or revolution of gaming football? You bet. EA, you have a cute dog but for the most part he's been doing the same tricks since 2006. Sure you give him a trim here and there, a new cut, sometimes you spend a little time to get the wet dog smell off of him that the year before might have had but at the end of the day, it's still the same dog, but he's aging... and rather than give birth to a new puppy you try to get a few new tricks out of the current dog every year. I get that it's smart for your business and bottom line but don't BS the public. I mean the people that are truly important to you are still going to buy the game even if you're honest about it because they just want new rosters and the ability to throw 80 yard bombs from a 20 yard drop back all day online.

# 68 Dog @ 08/11/10 03:35 AM

i think it could be the start of a revolution, but not right now

# 69 TheMatrix31 @ 08/11/10 03:37 AM

I didn't know about this feature going into it (didn't/don't pay attention to much to previews and all that) and turned it off almost immediately.

# 70 simeoncam50 @ 08/11/10 05:50 AM

Is gameflow a form of the NCAA version of family play? where the plays are picked for you and you just play. Maddens is spiced up a bit but is it not the same type of feature? I think it worksfor kids,my five year old played it well but for real gamers it is definitely a gimmick.

# 71 Apollo @ 08/11/10 07:09 AM

The problem is there is nothing to game plan for. All the defenses in Madden, in their current form, play similar. It does not matter what formation I call a running play from, no matter the down or distance, I will have some what of the same results.

As far as game flow for kids, I purchased the WII version for my 5 yr old nephew. The first game he played, he hated having the plays called for him and we had to set it up so he can call his favorite run plays.

If they had custom play books, like in past versions, you could set up plays you like to run and that would streamline the playbooks.

# 72 johnprestonevans @ 08/11/10 07:36 AM

I like Game Flow for the simple fact that it really cleans up and boosts the presentation of the game. Watching instant replays and those moments between the whistles is a big part of watching football. I like being able to take it all in - more like i do when watching the game on TV, but also having the ability to plan my games beforehand like they would do in real life. The option to call a specific play from the playbook is needed in certain situations and it's nice to have options.

# 73 Exonerated @ 08/11/10 10:18 AM

Evolutionary

# 74 Nyghtwulf @ 08/11/10 11:09 AM

I played with Gameflow on for the first half of my first game. Turned it off in the second half. I don't need the games to be played faster. When I sit down to play, I'm off work and ready to relax for a few hours.

This so called "feature" is fine for beginners, but I want control of the playcalling in all situations.

# 75 TalenT @ 08/11/10 11:58 AM

I think it depends on what point of view you like to play the game. If you're the coach/player type you'll want to pick your own plays but, if you wanna feel like you're a player and have the plays called in to you you'll play with gameflow. I see people saying it's basically just an advanced "Ask Madden". My thought on that is Ask Madden was the A.I. picking a random play from the playbook for you. Gameflow allows you to set up plays for a specific situation. So if a play is chosen that you don't think is a good choice...isn't that your fault?

# 76 BezO @ 08/11/10 12:40 PM

I just thought about something. Maybe someone has already mentioned this. If so, my bad. But...

Game Flow is for casual fans & to speed up games. But the default game plans... well, they suck. You almost have to game plan if you're going to use Game Flow.

Casual Fans: If EA thinks they are not sophisticated enough to call their own plays, how they hell will they game plan?

Game Length: Yeah, the game is shortened by using Game Flow, but you have to spend all this time game planning. And EA made it as tedious as they could.

# 77 buzzguy @ 08/11/10 12:41 PM

Anything to speed-up the games while keeping it as realistic as possible.
I, for one, welcome our new gameflow overlords!

# 78 NoFear @ 08/11/10 12:43 PM

I definitely thought of it as a gimmick judging from the demo and have yet to use it...

When I do though, I'll certainly set up a Gameplan, because regular Gameflow is just like Ask Madden.

I think it would be revolutionary IF they added a Play Editor into it...

# 79 dsallupinyaarea @ 08/11/10 12:44 PM

Gimmick. Hands down.

# 80 Rules @ 08/11/10 01:07 PM

What is the difference between Gameflow and Ask Madden? I am really not into having the CPU call my game for me. Instead of them working on this gimmick, they should have worked on bringing back working weather that actually changes during the game and impacts how you play. There is more strategy involved when you have the weather to deal with. I just don't get why EA has not addressed this after all of these years. Is it because they are unable to program it? If so, just ask Sega who put it in Joe Montana's Sport Talk Football on the Sega Genesis!

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