Madden NFL 15 News Post

Madden NFL 15 Trailer and Screenshots - Player Sense 2.0

05:37 PM - July 17, 2014 by Steve_OS

EA Sports has just released another Madden NFL 15 trailer, along with some more screenshots featuring Player Sense 2.0.

Defenses are now smarter when it comes to going for a swat vs. an interception or a tackle. This improved logic will be broken down by individual player traits.
Zone coverage ratings now have a much bigger impact on how quickly defenders break on throws.
Defenders with higher ratings in Zone Coverage will react much quicker to throws, often times before the ball is thrown.
Improvements have also been made to zone defenders responsible for the flats.
Look for smarter principles, head tracking on all players, increases in press and chuck interactions between DBs and wide receivers, as well as improved pursuit and tackling abilities.
Man Coverage ratings have also been tweaked to impact how much separation receivers are able to get on cuts in their routes, resulting in improved behavior of the defensive backs.
Also new to Madden 15 is the addition of disguised defenses, where opposing secondaries will show you one coverage but give another.
Madden NFL 15 represents the most fun and engaging defensive gameplay in franchise history.

Source - EA Sports

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Member Comments

# 21 SoxFan01605 @ 07/17/14 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kehlis


	It's a fair concern. It's not unrealistic for a DB to break before a ball is thrown in anticipation but with computer programming involved you never know.

I agree. If that is indeed the concept (getting a good read/jump, so to speak), I'd think that would be better suited towards the play recognition rating or, better still, a separate trait related to DB aggressiveness to make it a risk/reward based system (i.e. a higher rated defender is more likely to make the right jump vs a lower rated guy).

Tying it towards the coverage rating itself (and making such reaction a product of higher rated defending) is what I'm concerned with since it would seem to eliminate the risk of making a bad jump and merely make such early reads the norm for high rated defenders).

Hopefully further details explain it better and can allay my concerns.

EDIT: This was posted while I was typing:

Quote:

Originally Posted by RexDEAFootball


	Actually this came from Cortez Allen from the Pittsburgh Steelers and Stevenson Sylvester from the Buffalo Bills. We had both guys down here for a week working with us on coverage. They explained to us that in zone coverage, they break as soon as they see the QB locks his shoulder to throw. We scale break time by the zone coverage rating, so you will really only see this from 90+ rated zone coverage defenders. Trust me we are well aware of psychic DB concerns and this will NOT be in the game.

That sounds like a reasonable explanation. I'll be interested to see how it's executed, thanks!

# 22 4thQtrStre5S @ 07/17/14 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GiantBlue76


	Unfortunately for me, it didn't do much. I immediately saw two situations where a defender was standing completely still, flat footed doing nothing. That would never be the case. Even if that defender, in this case it's a corner, is responsible for backside contain, he's going to creep up near the line of scrimmage or he's simply going to attack it. If not that, he would help out in coverage. I just don't understand how they don't see that happen and don't address it. It's been in the game for years. This clip was only a couple of minutes and I saw it twice. EDIT: if you look at the 31 second mark, the corner and MLB are standing still. Graphics look really nice.

I get what you are saying and have no argument against your position, but I do have a question that I hope may be answered here and may even shed some light on the flat footedness of at least the CB....The CB is question, the one on the right sode of teh field was at the first down line, correct? just wanna make sure we're focusing on the same CB....

Now my question is, was there previous information in regards to the ability to move defenders to play in front of or along the first down marker line? Could that be what the CB was doing? I am not justifying his flat footedness, just curious if that may have been an example of this apparent feature of defending the first down markers?

# 23 TeixeiraFanatic @ 07/17/14 06:39 PM

The plays at 0:12 and 0:55 with the Broncos and Chiefs respectively stood out to me the most.

In the first, you see the Broncos defender with his back turned away, stop and turn on a dime speed up instantly and pick the ball off.

And on the second one, you see the Chiefs defender move diagonally at full speed, even faster than the wideout going on a slant.

It seems like they are working on making defense better but tbh these little things are what get overlooked and cause the most frustration for me.

They need to re-haul the way players move and only then will we see a real improvement in gameplay.

# 24 newtonfb @ 07/17/14 06:42 PM

Wow animations are awful. Everything looks so clunky moving.

The graphics look great and the idea of smarter AI is always welcome but I personally cannot get past how bad the animations are. Looking at all the next gen games (sports and non-sports) and then looking back at how madden looks in motion is just awful.

# 25 The GIGGAS @ 07/17/14 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	EDIT: also, the Jaguars' new video board is goddamn gigantic.

I do believe you mean video boards. There's one over each endzone.

# 26 jmurphy31 @ 07/17/14 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kjcheezhead


	All in all not too bad considering wr/db interaction wasn't worked on much. The vid shows alot of aggressive db play, but the wrs attempts look half hearted still. That Jordy Nelson curl route was my least favorite. He leans back away from the ball and let's the db undercut him. He should attack the ball and lean into the pass. Not run back 5yards toward the line of scrimmage like they do now, but lean in and go after it.

I thought the same thing when I saw this. Nelson just stands there and never makes a play on the ball.

On a side note. Not sure if they do this alreay, but I dont think they do. I would love to see the WR attempt a break up a pass if it looks like an INT.

# 27 XXstormmXX @ 07/17/14 06:53 PM

This seems all good except for one part saying the best zone coverage guys will sometimes jump before the ball is thrown. I hope this is done realistically instead of the return of the psychic LBs.

# 28 Senator Palmer @ 07/17/14 06:55 PM

Just off first glance, some of this stuff looked good; anything to improve upon the logic last year that had corners completely lost as curls were completed in front of them. But for me the true test is going to be how it functions on the highest difficulty levels and if they've done anything to improve quarters coverage and how the safeties react to intermediate and underneath routes.

Also, I hope this player sense 2.0 impacts more than just the secondary.

# 29 jpdavis82 @ 07/17/14 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Senator Palmer


	Just off first glance, some of this stuff looked good; anything to improve upon the logic last year that had corners completely lost as curls were completed in front of them. But for me the true test is going to be how it functions on the highest difficulty levels and if they've done anything to improve quarters coverage and how the safeties react to intermediate and underneath routes. Also, I hope this player sense 2.0 impacts more than just the secondary.

It does http://www.easports.com/madden-nfl/n...e-player-sense

Player sense also applies to how players react in post play

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

# 30 Senator Palmer @ 07/17/14 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpdavis82


	It does http://www.easports.com/madden-nfl/n...e-player-sense Player sense also applies to how players react in post play Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks. This wasn't in the original post info or the link to the blog. But I was hoping for a bit more detail, namely second level defenders on run plays and such: inside out pursuit, linebackers actually reading the pull of the offensive guard and fitting to their gaps, etc.

# 31 wordtobigbird @ 07/17/14 07:33 PM

My question is: When they say "___ ratings have been tweaked" does that mean they actually changed how the ratings work or did they just change the ratings to give bad corners much lower MCV rating?

Because a lot of Madden's rating system could use some tweaking.

# 32 Poke @ 07/17/14 07:47 PM

Sounds good but I learned to never trust EA's hype a long time ago and just wait for the game. They ALWAYS have good features in advertising but they very seldomy actually ever turn out as expected. However, it's the only game on the market so of course I'll be buying it. I'm a huge Madden fan and was a bigger 2K fan. I hope they really bought thier A game this year. With no college game I am pumped up for some grid iron!

# 33 Cowboy008 @ 07/17/14 07:48 PM

I have two question about disguising your defense. Will the CPU do it? Will it matter if we disguise or defense against the CPU or will it already know what play we are going to run?

# 34 RogueHominid @ 07/17/14 07:51 PM

The swat animations look a bit awkward to me, but I really like the more consistent implementation of head tracking. I also like the idea of interpreting the man coverage rating as degrees of separation at route breaks. This has me wondering, though, how MCV was interpreted and rendered before, if not this way.

# 35 SageInfinite @ 07/17/14 07:58 PM

I didn't like it. I don't like how the receivers run their routes and break down with more realistic steps, but the db's take one step and turn on a dime. I don't like that receivers have to go through the animation, but the db animation is shortened just to make plays on the ball. It's better than what we've had, but still kinda cheap.

This new defense definitely doesn't work well with the receivers being on "rails". I can see myself being frustrated, not because the defense is tougher, but because it doesn't seem fair. DB's are attacking the ball, and receivers are just on their predetermined path.

# 36 CT Pitbull @ 07/17/14 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GiantBlue76


	Unfortunately for me, it didn't do much. I immediately saw two situations where a defender was standing completely still, flat footed doing nothing. That would never be the case. Even if that defender, in this case it's a corner, is responsible for backside contain, he's going to creep up near the line of scrimmage or he's simply going to attack it. If not that, he would help out in coverage. I just don't understand how they don't see that happen and don't address it. It's been in the game for years. This clip was only a couple of minutes and I saw it twice. EDIT: if you look at the 31 second mark, the corner and MLB are standing still. Graphics look really nice.

Yup. This is my #1 pet peeve in Maddens zone coverage for years now and it is clear that flat-footed defenders have made their way to M15 as well unfortunately. As a former player I was always taught "once you stop your feet, you get beat!" Standing still flat footed is a cardinal sin on a football field it doesn't matter if the play is 30 yards away. A good defenders feet are always moving from snap to whistle.

# 37 bxphenom7 @ 07/17/14 08:10 PM

Graphics are really nice but this is looking like an ugly game in motion. WR/DB interaction looks better though.

# 38 strawberryshortcake @ 07/17/14 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBleedingRed21


	I'm sorry but how in the world did the browns play look awkward? That was a perfect swat.

"Bicep Curl" Forearm Swat vs "Arm Extension" Finger Tipped balls.

It's not about the play itself but the way it's animated.

It's the way the overall animation looks. It's awkward. The forearm, upper arm position relative to the torso, and legs positioned. I would liked to have seen a left hand extension tip in the instance (browns). Not a swat, but a tip.

Most of the swat animations lack arm extension is what I see. I often see the "bicep curl" preceding the swat is what's awkward with a lot of these Madden defensive back or even linebacker swat animations. If you can do a "bicep curl," it means the ball is usually in a position where an interception could have been made. I personally would like to see fully extended arms with their hands/finger tipping the ball rather than these swat animations.

Finger tipped balls would look more authentic in the sense that the defender was not in position to intercept. Tipped balls means he was out of position and had to recover as best as he could.

Play 2 (seahawks). This is a good example. More difficult to tell on the browns play #3. The seahawks defensive back was in position to make an interception, but has that initial bicep curl pose to swat the ball.

Side Note: (Unless I'm mistaken, I also tended to see more right hand swats than left handed swat in Madden gameplay footage. I might be wrong here.)

# 39 NicVirtue @ 07/17/14 08:23 PM

Everything sounds great in concept, but immediately the robotic movement stuck out to me in just the 1st few seconds. Looking at how Sherman broke on the ball, actually speeding up inside the animation. Looks nasty. But hey, maybe nxt year they'll do player movement, or the next year

# 40 wordtobigbird @ 07/17/14 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SageInfinite


	I didn't like it. I don't like how the receivers run their routes and break down with more realistic steps, but the db's take one step and turn on a dime. I don't like that receivers have to go through the animation, but the db animation is shortened just to make plays on the ball. It's better than what we've had, but still kinda cheap. This new defense definitely doesn't work well with the receivers being on "rails". I can see myself being frustrated, not because the defense is tougher, but because it doesn't seem fair. DB's are attacking the ball, and receivers are just on their predetermined path.

Here's where we come back to the problem of a yearly release. They clearly had to do something to improve the defenders but like you said they took a shortcut instead of overhauling the entire receiver/defender engine. I am glad they did something though because we all know how useless defenders were on default settings last year.

But you see like when Berry (i tihink) intercepts Gronk. Gronk just goes into a catch animation at the same time as Berry but he's clearly in no position to catch it with berry in front of him. In real life Gronk would use his Player Sense 5.0 to realize he just got cut in front of and attack the ball or the defender.

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