Madden 12 News Post

Madden NFL 12 Gameplay Preview

04:38 PM - May 11, 2011 by ChaseB

We recently took a look at the upgrades that have been made to the presentation in Madden NFL 12. However, this preview is all about the gameplay.

While there is not a singular feature EA is trumpeting on the gameplay front, it’s clear that plenty of time has been spent trying to fix up and enhance what was on display in Madden NFL 11. The early results are intriguing, but with a lot of tweaking and tuning yet to come, it’s hard to draw too many conclusions at this point.

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# 21 Only1LT @ 05/11/11 05:46 PM

A few thoughts/ questions on your write up.

QB movement in the pocket in Madden is atrocious, and I’m disappointed to hear that this is still the case, although I could tell this much from the vids. You touched on a point that has long been a frustration of mine, and that is the notion that we get a lot of these nonsensical animations, because Tiburon philosophy is, or they cater to those that think that, having total control at all times is a necessity.

“The game has to allow you to run backwards and throw the ball across the field; otherwise some gamers would be upset. “

Things like this really irk me and I’m not sure what it will take for Tiburon to understand that the game can have 10 billion polygons for every player, but it will still look like an 8bit arcade game if cartoony animations and weird interruptions are allowed. They need to decide if the game is really supposed to be a sim or if it is still an arcade tourney game. Add the realistic transition animations that this series desperately needs. People need to understand that it’s ok if the QB has to actually slow down, stop, turn, balance himself, set his feet, and then throw, when he was running away from the intended target, and not have it just spin and fire in a millisecond, because they can’t stand to be out of control for even a second.

“So far with this game, I feel much more in control of the situation on deep balls. I have been able to bat away deep balls on downs where I know they might be coming.”

Except that this almost never happens in real life. You rarely see balls swatted on deep balls. If you are talking about Fly’s, QB’s will rarely put a ball low enough that the defender can get their hands on. It will usually be overthrown, or the defender will make the play by stripping the ball as the receiver tries to gather it in rather than swat it. On deep corners, crosses, and posts, again, the ball will either be led too much, or the defender will break up the play after it has touched the receiver’s hands, either via a strip, or a crushing hit. There are too many swatted balls in Madden as it is. The number of passes defensed in Madden is so far out of proportion with reality that it isn’t funny. There are several reasons for that, but I won’t go into them now as they would be whole threads unto themselves. The bottom line is that it is HARD to play pass defense, and although, the way the defense was hamstrung last year wasn’t good either, it seems as if they are going about rectifying things in their usual manner of overreacting the other way in the next edition. That rarely ends well. Something needed to be done, but I think they should have done things differently, but I won’t go into those reasons at this time, for reasons I already mentioned.

Lastly:

“In addition, the removal of suction blocking and suction play in general has been something EA has tried to eradicate for years. While it’s probably not going to ever vanish completely during this generation, the tweaks made to the physics engine do have some clear benefits, as well as a couple potential shortcomings. All in all, the developers are not trying to win the war this year when it comes to the problems surrounding physics and suction blocking, but they do clearly want to win a decisive battle in Madden 12.”

So are you saying that there IS still suction and warping in the game?

Thanks Chase

# 22 bostonsports @ 05/11/11 05:48 PM

Is the 3-4 defense more realistic? do the de create an edge for the olb's or do they play like 4-3 ends? does the nt take away the middle and create room for those de's to make an edge?

# 23 Droopy03 @ 05/11/11 05:52 PM

iI'm tired of hearing about the feature. This was the feature 3 years ago.

# 24 TombSong @ 05/11/11 05:59 PM

1. Can you send more than one player in motion on offense ?
2. Has the Oline protection calls changed any ?
3. Are there any coverage shells ?
4. How many tackles did you make where YOU came in to finish off the tackle and not just go into a fall down animation ? Did you influence the direction the tackle went in ?
5. Is there a lot of warping by WR's/DB's ?
6. Since they changed the way tackling works, does this mean "PRO-TAK" is dead ?(Though I never saw it work as advertised)
7. Did they fix replays so you can see ALL of them.
8. Do WR's still get held at the LOS forever when press coverage is called ?
9. During man coverage are DB's still running the routes before the WR's ?

# 25 mrmass413 @ 05/11/11 06:02 PM

did you notice dive catches if so did they look good?

# 26 TimsGiants @ 05/11/11 06:10 PM

Chase when replying to questions here can you edit your original post with them? Make it easier to follow

# 27 PSRusse83 @ 05/11/11 06:20 PM

Throwing animations. How I wish they would add more and better throwing animations.

# 28 K_GUN @ 05/11/11 06:21 PM

in terms of defense......is the improved D artificial?.......as in more skating to cover more ground?

# 29 K_GUN @ 05/11/11 06:22 PM

also.....passing game.......from what you did play/pass....is there a marked difference in passing between 11 & 12?

# 30 Canes305 @ 05/11/11 06:25 PM

One question....Can you block a field goal or a punt.It was nearly impossible last year

# 31 CFTejada @ 05/11/11 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canes305


	One question....Can you block a field goal or a punt.It was nearly impossible last year

Block FG's & Punts don't happen often...

# 32 ChaseB @ 05/11/11 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TimsGiants


	Chase when replying to questions here can you edit your original post with them? Make it easier to follow

You mean just update the original post at the start of this thread? Sure, I can do that.

# 33 SageInfinite @ 05/11/11 07:16 PM

Enjoyed reading the preview Chase. Nice job.

# 34 TMJOHNS18 @ 05/11/11 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CFTejada


	Block FG's & Punts don't happen often...

Punts aren't hard to block when you're playing the CPU. Both with Offense and Special teams, they need to start making the CPU hard counting and running clock before snaps, cause it's too easy to time a blitz and jump punts the way it is.

# 35 DePounded @ 05/11/11 07:24 PM

Good read Chase. Now that you have seen both NCAA and Madden, at this early stage, which game do you think looks more promising? I'm only planning to purchase one, and I really enjoyed NCAA 11 but Madden looks promising so far.

# 36 goodygoody @ 05/11/11 07:43 PM

Quote:


	Things like this really irk me and I’m not sure what it will take for Tiburon to understand that the game can have 10 billion polygons for every player, but it will still look like an 8bit arcade game if cartoony animations and weird interruptions are allowed. They need to decide if the game is really supposed to be a sim or if it is still an arcade tourney game. Add the realistic transition animations that this series desperately needs. People need to understand that it’s ok if the QB has to actually slow down, stop, turn, balance himself, set his feet, and then throw, when he was running away from the intended target, and not have it just spin and fire in a millisecond, because they can’t stand to be out of control for even a second.

Exactly LT!.. Madden is supposed to be the game for those who want a life-like representation of NFL football. So why do the people who want that get pushed aside for the people that want to do spin throws? Tell the people who get mad that there are still a few NFL streets left. Its the game for them. Not only can they do a spin throw, but they can run off a wall while there at it! Geeez.

# 37 at23steelers @ 05/11/11 07:59 PM

Are there more different types of penalties this year? Are the challenges different, where we can pick what we want to challenge? Also, did you ever see the ball go through a body. This is one of the most frustrating things in madden, and why swatting sometimes didn't work, because the ball would go through your player's hands. Great read btw!

# 38 K_GUN @ 05/11/11 08:21 PM

i've been playing a ton of 2k8 lately....still don't like the QB movement in 2k either. When guys in real life need to slide left/right in the pocket....they backpeddle......that's not allowed in 2k...EA should keep the back peddle animation in there but NOT allow that backpeddle animation to play beyond the pocket.

# 39 RGiles36 @ 05/11/11 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thinking Out Loud


	[/i]Are you actually saying that the EA football developers admit to sacrificing basic FOOTBALL realism to avoid upsetting FOOTBALL gamers? I don't expect them to create a game so true to real life that it can only best be played in a VR suit and helmet but not representing the risk/reward of simple passing technique because of potential complaints, doesn't make sense to me. That's like making a simulation basketball game where half court alley oop dunks can be done successfully all game because that's what gamers are accustom to in NBA Jam.

Yea, but unfortunately there's no surprise here. If Chase didn't mention this in the preview, I would've still assumed you could do it. The devs aren't incompetent. They know it's unrealistic. I think they feel rolling and chucking is a staple of EA football games, and there's real hesitation in doing something about it. I don't agree with it, but I don't expect it to change. They've had years to do something about it...

# 40 WAT @ 05/11/11 08:28 PM

Basically it sounds like Madden 12 is a little better than Madden 11 as far as gameplay goes??? Am I right?

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