Madden NFL 15 News Post

Madden NFL 15: Why The Presentation Hasn't Quite Arrived into Primetime

12:47 PM - August 31, 2014 by RaychelSnr

Madden’s presentation has always been a spot where the franchise simply didn’t measure up against the competition. This lack of quality presentation seems to, at least partially, be the result of a disastrous start on the last generation of consoles where a TV-style presentation simply wasn’t even included in the game in the first edition.

This year, Madden finally arrived with a broadcast presentation which is much more believable to the eyes, unfortunately your ears will leave you wondering what went wrong.

Read More - Madden NFL 15: Presentation is One Step Forward, Four Steps Back

Game: Madden NFL 15Reader Score: 6.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 42 - View All

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# 61 Mechcaniq @ 09/01/14 09:36 AM

If you've ever played this game (real football) you know that the only thing(s) you hear, is field and crowd noises. TV presentation works when you're just watching a game on TV. So for me, commentators in a video game doesn't work, because my attention is on the field of play. I know the down & distance without being told by a canned announcer. So if you want a really good presentation experience playing a video football game, turn off the audio!

# 62 falconfansince81 @ 09/01/14 10:49 AM

Good read, I don't think it's so much 4 steps back as it an awkward stumble forward. The little presentation progress made is something positive I guess, but until they mold the cut scenes and replays into something more realistic and not the super turbo-zoomed fixed ball cam, I'll be mashing A as fast as possible to avoid a potential seizure.

# 63 d2001dstanley @ 09/01/14 11:22 AM

Ok, I feel like I need to chime in here. While I have had issues with the quality of the commentary, I can't get why people think that adding more commentary teams would make it better. This is arguably the worst solution to the problem. I am all for multiple commentary teams to make games unique, but that definitely needs to wait until they get things right with one team of announcers.

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# 64 Lawdog1897 @ 09/01/14 11:30 AM

I love the presentation it 10x better then recent years i actually feel like im watching football on CBS or Fox at times and i personally haven't had any weird or annoying issues with commentary?? Yes it get repetitive and could use some pep but over all i cant really complain.One issue i will comment on are the zoomed in camera replays....it gets annoying so leave that for T.V please. frame rate slows down and gets gritty so to say it makes the actual replay not worth watching.Love the player match-ups in the into to the game and the QB intro with video feed is a nice touch,and the half time shows are entertaining! they actually talk about big/cool plays that took place over the first half.Over all im pleased and feel like EA is headed in the right direction.

# 65 JKSportsGamer1984 @ 09/01/14 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by statum71


	You miss the radio guy? Are you drinking?? We don't EVER want that again. Don't even get that started. And by the way.....he was ATROCIOUS!! The worst ever, easily.

No more atrocious than Jim Nantz is right now lol. At least the radio guy sounded like he was alive lol. To each's own though. That's why we all have opinions

# 66 BreakingBad2013 @ 09/01/14 11:51 AM

They need to bring in radio pay-by-play guys and just have them record every situation, and put the triggers in as soon as theres an event. Sick of this after the fact calling.

I don't think I've ever heard " Nick Foles drops back, hits a wide open Jeremy Maclin, no one is near him, thats an easy touchdown, the 15, the 5, he's in there. Oh my goodness, how'd he get that open!" And then break down the play in a replay, I'm sure its difficult, but thats what you get paid to do, ITS IN THE GAME!

# 67 Desolationmike @ 09/01/14 12:28 PM

I would say they need to tone down the replays a bit, I don't need to see the replay of a 3 yard run on first down, I also find that they won't show other more important replays such as a sack. I hate that the intro to halftime is basically always a tackled guy eventualy getting to a celebration animation, and they still don't put any emphasis on what makes a play good. For instance if my CFM linebacker sacked the QB and forced a fumble that was picked up for a TD, it will only show the guy running into the endzone, with no context to why it was play of the game. Obviously the commentaryis terrible, and I think it's completely fair to say it's four steps back, the simple programming of the commentary is basically broken. I don't know how many times I've heard Simms say a pass was placed perfectly for a first down when in actuality it was a pass that lead the receiver out of bounds and now it's fourth down. I mean the overly enthusiastic guy was kind of a joke but at least he was interesting. Even last year which still had ho-hum simms and nantz the commentary wasn't so misplaced. Infact I'd say everything about the presentation lacks the polish I'd expect from a AAA title.

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the game dispite all of this. I just wish I didn't need to mash A in between plays to skip over the constant replays of nothing interesting, especially in a player CFM. I've had some intense games and been really immersed in the game but not because of the presentation at all. I agree that this madden is better than the last few but that hardly puts it on par with FIFA or NBA2k as far as presentation goes.

# 68 NYBorn81 @ 09/01/14 12:40 PM

We clamor for realism but have no issue with make believe guys on play-by-play? Keep Nantz & Sims, just develop a more suitable way to have the announcing seem legit and seamless. Do what 2k is doing with the new WWE game, have the two record their lines simultaneously, in the same recording booth, while watching gameplay, and recording their legit reactions to what they're watching.

# 69 dfwrazorback @ 09/01/14 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robo3687


	i made it through one drive before I turned the commentary off...and there were several repeated lines in that one drive. Jim Nantz is fine but I just cannot stand Phil "Captain Obvious" Simms. Even when he's calling an actual game I switch to some other commentary option so I don't have to listen to him. I would rather have Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth back....Hell, I'd rather listen to Buck and Aikman than another line out of Phil Simms' mouth... Actually to take it further...I'd rather have Ian Eagle (the worst NFL commentator ever) do solo commentary on Madden than listen to Simms again. right....that's out of my system now...lol...

I too am not a big fan of Simms, so I turned off the commentary a few games in. Like a few others here I would prefer Michaels/Collinsworth or Tirico/Chucky, but having the option to either listen or not listen is fine.

What is going to drive me away from this game within a month is not having the option to turn off or at least quickly zip through the interminable cut scenes - the team huddles before kickoff, lining up for the kickoff, the halftime show and the replays between plays. There really needs to be an option to turn this crap off.

# 70 headzapp @ 09/01/14 02:49 PM

I'd like for replays to be like real broadcasts instead of the zoomed in magnet cam. Have it out like it's on wires. Have an "announcer" mark and circle on replays like they block here and here having lines drawn on, and it opened up this lane for a 8 yard gain.
Halftime show plays and info on other games played if you're in franchise show more games that matter to you.

# 71 Acts 4 12 @ 09/01/14 03:02 PM

I honestly acknowledge that the visual aspect of the presentation has been advanced but that really doesn't say much. They're finally doing subtle things that should have been in Madden games years ago. The lack of a real halftime show which shows highlights of other games (or at least scores) is head scratching to me at this point. The only way the audio will be improved is to allow for custom sounds much like every other sports title does.

# 72 statum71 @ 09/01/14 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JKSportsGamer1984


	No more atrocious than Jim Nantz is right now lol. At least the radio guy sounded like he was alive lol. To each's own though. That's why we all have opinions

Yeah you're right. We all differ in our opinions.

But its safe to say there's a reason that radio guy lasted one year. The backlash was enormous. EA figured out pretty quick that it was a bad bad idea.

# 73 HealyMonster @ 09/01/14 04:28 PM

Make the overlays stay up longer and fix the announcing, I don't think there would be much holding it back

# 74 statum71 @ 09/01/14 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HealyMonster


	Make the overlays stay up longer and fix the announcing, I don't think there would be much holding it back

Yes indeeed.

The stat overlays are a great addition. But they are entirely too quick. Maybe another 4 to 5 seconds each.

# 75 T5063 @ 09/01/14 06:54 PM

No kidding about the stat overlays...

1) They're great but there isn't enough time to read most of them.

2) Why are we seeing the player rating at the beginning of the first cfm game?? If you can't get previous season stats up there at least show the players height weight, college, years in NFL, etc etc. Showing player ratings KILLS immersion.

3) What happened to percentages? I have yet to see a banner that show the teams 3rd down conversion stats or redzone %.

4) The stats bar that show a teams season rank (passing defense, rushing defense, etc.) vs "today's game" is pretty useless. Ex. it says so and so team is 2nd in the league in rushing defense and that it allowed 124 yards rushing today. That doesnt really tell me anything. Is it a lot, is it a little. It should show the average yards per game allowed with league rank in () and then the total for today.

# 76 jwilphl @ 09/01/14 09:00 PM

I haven't played M15 so I can't comment specifically on its presentation, but I always thought that just as real video footage should be used for intros, stadium flyovers, cut-scenes showing outside the stadium, commercial break B-reel, perhaps even the commentary team ala NHL '15, real audio should be used to supplement what they record in-house. Pull lines from real broadcasts. These are tremendous time-savers as you don't have to render all that extra video, only edit it in, and it would be the same for the audio.

Two separate commentary teams should be the standard at this point. However, as others have said, the underlying code dealing with the commentary probably isn't up to snuff to make multiple teams worth it. Once they fix the code, get a Monday Night Football broadcast with Tirico and Gruden, a CBS broadcast, and add one more graphical variant, either FOX or NFL network. I know they don't have the FOX license, but I imagine they have the latter, so no extra money spent.

It would be great if they just went all out and got three commentary teams minimum. I know it is possible; FIFA has two English commentary teams plus those for other languages. It really comes down to a matter of resources (time, money). Unfortunately, I don't expect to see this anytime soon. EA has never really gone all-out on presentation. They probably don't see spending a ton of time on it worth the return. That and there isn't much incentive to make such improvements with no competition.

# 77 Pezell04x @ 09/01/14 09:45 PM

I just wish the overlays weren't so quick to go away. I'd like to read them.

# 78 Sheba2011 @ 09/01/14 11:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by statum71


	Yeah you're right. We all differ in our opinions. But its safe to say there's a reason that radio guy lasted one year. The backlash was enormous. EA figured out pretty quick that it was a bad bad idea.

The backlash over Gus Johnson, Chris Collinsworth and the present clowns is a lot worse than anything from the Radio announcer.

The problem with the radio announcer wasn't that he was bad, it was that for the first time in a long time, Madden wasn't in the game. If they added a color guy and introduced him today instead of Simms/Dr. Robot the presentation would be a 100x better.

# 79 life4eva @ 09/02/14 02:43 AM

When the players just pop up on the field before a kick off or change of possession really looks awkward.....

Also after every play the camera pans around the stadium and fans and that just drives me crazy.....

I sold the game, but overall just really poor imo

# 80 DaSmerg @ 09/02/14 03:19 AM

I agree that the team conintues to move the 'Madden' product in a forward direction and as a whole, presentaion is part of it and has also improved in the strictest sense...that is...it is better than last year.

But Madden still doesn't match the presentation of other genre leaders and when talking audio commentary, when compared to "gaming" as a whole, the entire sports genre is still just stuck. While not an apples-to-apples comparison but to illustrate...SW:TOR (Star Wars: The Old Republic) released December of 2011 and "...beyond the main dialogue, thirty-thousand lines of alien-speak were recorded...To put this in perspective, [that's] more than the entire script for Mass Effect or both KOTOR games combined. Just in aliens...".

Now I'm not saying we need an anthology novel on tape for commentary but thousands and thousands of hours of commentary is the norm in most AAA games today yet we still settle for bargin bin in our sports games. How long you think that's gonna last for?

A couple pages back a poster suggested going no-names and a whole new approach to commentary. That might be a plan cuz I totally agree with another poster in this thread, nobody is buying Madden cuz Nantz & Simms are the game's commentators LoLz.

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