Madden NFL 15 News Post

Madden NFL 15: What Worked and What Didn't Work

04:13 PM - March 20, 2015 by RaychelSnr

By most standards, Madden NFL 15 was the best game the series had seen in more than five years. It wasn't a giant leap forward, but it cleaned up some legacy issues and didn't introduce more than one or two (user sacks, we're looking at you).

Yet, the game's most noticeable flaw is that we haven't seen that leap forward that Madden so desperately needs. The series fails to take any big chances and the ones it does take aren't particularly loved by consumers.

With that in mind, let's look at Madden NFL 15's big back of the box additions and review what worked and what didn't work for consumers...

Read More - Madden NFL 15: What Worked and What Didn't Work

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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# 21 oneamongthefence @ 03/21/15 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speedtrucker


	Weather is another one. How could they have mvp 06 NCAA baseball that had changing weather and never use it again in another sports title. It was great to have a game start maybe partly cloudy and as the innings progressed clouds could roll in and sometimes you'd have a slight drizzle start by the 7th or 8th inning. It was amazing, that was a great game overall. I agree that the colors and weather in madden are just laughable. The Cowboys pants and others look like they are wearing plastic wrap... Others like the cardinals are muted where the cardinal red looks so bland and the black looks charcoal grey... Seemed like NCAA football went crisp and sharp while madden always went muted and afternoon games looked even more washed out with the strange looking sunset color shading

This used to be in where weather would change each quarter. It wasn't dynamic but at least it gave the illusion of realism with the passage of time.

# 22 Senator Palmer @ 03/21/15 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grodbetatted


	I enjoyed the game thoroughly and the war in the trenches was definitely a fun mini game inside of the game and it was effective. I agree the commentary could use some work, but honestly I don't pay much attention to it at all anyway, that's not just madden that's, 2k and live as well. It's just background noise to me. I'm just not sure what leap forward consumers are expecting, I couldn't imagine them changing the throwing mechanics, because right stick throwing would be too complex and more frustrating than fun. The game plays smooth for the most part, maybe they could change the running mechanic but I'm not sure that's the LEAP consumers are looking for. What would a NEXT GEN leap consist of is my question?

A NEXT GEN leap at this point is having a Madden that actually functions organically, so that each game feels alive and like a different experience. It's brining the minutiae to the forefront, and flushing out actual football fundamentals to make the gameplay work instead of artificially boosting a rating.

Example: this game STILL doesn't have run fits. That is ridiculous. This is why every year you can find a running play or two in the game that is just overpowered, because despite all the boasting of playes functioning with a bagilloin calculations per second, there are no fundamentals. There is no force defender, or cutback player. Linebackers don't attack downhill to the fullback deep on an ISO play. Instead that kind of stuff is "mimicked" by boosting pursuit ratings for instance to give a slight speed boost.

As improved at the line play is, it's still not realistic. Just look at goal line. No team in the NFL plays goalline defense the way it's seen in Madden. Every goalline running play should be a scrum with linemen fighting to get under one another. Short yaradge should be a pile of bodies stacked on the ground instead of just linemen standing up and pushing one another like every other play.

We should have fully functional penalties. I shouldn't go a 16 game season without seeing a pass interference call. That kind of things bring organic variables to each game.

To piggyback of off passing, we should have more ball physics at this point. No two quarterbacks throws the ball exactly the same, and I'm not just talking about animations. I'm talking about catchability. Some quarterbacks throw a more catchable ball. The nose of Phillip Rivers's ball rises just a bit on intermediate passes, making the ball that much easier to cradle. Michael Vick's ball used to be just the opposite. The nose on his ball came out pointed down. That, combined with his velocity, was why his intermediate balls where so difficult to catch when he first came into the league.

We should see different releases. There are quarterbacks with long releases and quick releases. That's a huge gameplay things because you have to factor that into your timing when throwing the ball.

It's those small things -- among many -- that would make the game truly feel like a leap instead of just an improved version of what we already have. Which is what a lot of use have maybe settled for.

# 23 evanreyes @ 03/21/15 05:42 PM

Worst thing about this game
When you scramble around looking for an open receiver, the button icons will go away. I've thrown so many picks this way, I will see Crabtree wide open after I run around for 5 seconds with Kaep (a lot like real life actually), but his icon won't be over him and I will throw it to Boldin instead, and it will be a pick.

Speaking of stupid interceptions, when your Safety of Corner is standing still, jumps up, and has the ball bounce off of his chest and drop to the ground.

As many have mentioned before, editable draft classes are need, and more editable relocations. Maybe even expansion teams.

# 24 azdawgpound @ 03/21/15 06:54 PM

one things that didnt work was the new camera angles yea u could use them against the cmp but if u play against another human no option to use it? why add it then?

i agree with what others posted as well hopefully in 16 we get all the sliders to work right half them dont work.... or do the complete oppsite of what they say they do.

and please take out the warping for 16 u had it fixed a couple madden agos just to add it back in.

# 25 PantherBeast_OS @ 03/21/15 07:09 PM

EA really need to over haul their replay system. Was playing against the AI today. The AI RB clearly fumble the ball when my guy stood him up. The ball fumble way before the AI RB hit the ground. But yet the AI challenge the fumble and it won the challenge and got the ball back. It was clearly a fumble. EA really need to fix it. It is a mess.

# 26 IlluminatusUIUC @ 03/21/15 09:41 PM

The players' AI is really confusing. Pulling blockers have no feel for which guy to pick up, receivers running routes will go straight into defenders without even attempting to step around them, wideouts need to be specifically told every single time "run your route to the sticks on 3rd down" etc. It's just a lot of trickery behind the scenes to mimic AI and we can all see the strings now.

# 27 Trick13 @ 03/21/15 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kjcheezhead


	They could add different types of passing mechanics just like the Show has 1 button pitching, or a more advanced pitching with a power meter. It's not necessarily the button style I dislike with Madden, it's the way the ball feels tied to wrs and they react to passing instantly. I'd rather they use a style like you find in All Pro Football and limit the users ability to take wrs off their routes and manually catch. It looks so unnatural. This pick up and play tethered style is too easy and its an eye sore to the game. I agree with the article, but legacy issues like the 15 year old passing system killed madden more than the new additions that didn't work.

Route based passing implemented properly would fix the current "passing system", making it far more realistic and is better than any of the ideas for new passing systems than I have ever come across.

If passes are "tethered" to routes, rather than receivers, then a lot of the childish BS you deal with in game simple goes away. Making routes, like double moves, have the receiver not look for the ball until after they make the second cut would greatly reduce the arcade feel of Madden. If you throw a out pass in M15 too early the receiver "magically" knows the pass is coming and makes a play on the ball - in route based passing if you throw too early the receiver would not "know" or even look until he makes his cut. This would result in more incompletions due to "pressure" give you throw the pass away options we have never had, it would open up the possibility of poor RR rated players being late or early on cuts, it would revolutionize the passing game, and yet keep the core "mechanics/controls" that would allow "******s" to still pick and play. Having the difficulty level dictate the impact of RR/AWR on when the receiver "locates" the QB/ball would make the most sense.

That is how you fix Madden's passing game, period.

# 28 extremeskins04 @ 03/22/15 12:37 AM

I like the Draft, the FA, and the Scouting. Everything else is pretty bad. The sim stats still need major work. At this point I don't even care about the presentation anymore. I realize that it's just never going to be good.

It's really awful that MLB the show, NBA 2k, and FIFA series have made so many great improvements and are a complete blast to play offline in owner modes, but Madden still has not made that leap yet.

Like I've said before, EA needs to re-write their Madden game.

# 29 balljonesjr @ 03/22/15 03:13 AM

Most definitely agree with the player sense not working CPU players have no idea what's going on. (Check cpu running backs on screens, cpu quarterbacks when the pocket collapse, check fbs and O-linemen open field blocking, check special team blocking 6 of the 11 are past midfield while you're getting brought down at the 20, check players catching the ball on 3rd and 5 on a drag or route out of the backfield going out 2 yards short, check Wr and Te not playing defense on poorly thrown balls, check cpu lbs on in routes and slants)

But what's worse is the fact that EA allows the CPU to get dumb when they cross the 30 or when it's winning in the 4th. I remember on a need for speed game you could turn off "come back" which forced cpu cars to crash and drive poorly to allow you to catch up. This is something in madden when you're losing the game allows you to comeback as if they don't want to hurt your feelings. I understand comebacks happen but geez. If you have played at least 3 season in ccf this has happened to you :down 20 in the 4th with 6 minutes left then you score now your down 13 with 5 minutes left in the game you kick off then the cpu fumbles. Now it's a 6 point game with 4 minutes left the cpu come out on there next drive and the qb takes 2 sacks then throws an pick 6 or fumbles for a defensive TD now you're winning by one with 2.5 minutes left and they turn it over again blah blah blah you win by 2 scores. What the heck is that easily the worst part of the game ... next to pre season games sounding exactly like the playoffs and super bowl.

# 30 stos5363 @ 03/22/15 03:23 AM

Rex Dickson doesn't value our opinions nor the company. Hell throw around analytic s, metacritic scores and what not, but at the end of the day the gamers decided your fate. He deosnt even interact with community he knew madden 15 was a subpar incomplete product and still billed as this new improvement. People are buying the TALK anymore PUT UP OR SHUT UP REX !!!!

# 31 sportyguyfl31 @ 03/22/15 12:37 PM

"Confidence" needs to be scrapped. It creates superstars out of ordinary players, and completely throws online leagues out of balance. The same handful of users stay at or near the top every season because the more you win, the more of a PED Boost, the confidence rating gives you. On the otherside, if you are struggling, trying to rebuild a bad team, or just plain not that good, confidence hits will just tank your team and make them virtually impossible to play with.

# 32 grodbetatted @ 03/22/15 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kjcheezhead


	They could add different types of passing mechanics just like the Show has 1 button pitching, or a more advanced pitching with a power meter. It's not necessarily the button style I dislike with Madden, it's the way the ball feels tied to wrs and they react to passing instantly. I'd rather they use a style like you find in All Pro Football and limit the users ability to take wrs off their routes and manually catch. It looks so unnatural. This pick up and play tethered style is too easy and its an eye sore to the game. I agree with the article, but legacy issues like the 15 year old passing system killed madden more than the new additions that didn't work.

So you don't like user catches? That's one thing i take pride in doing is user catching. I want control over my player and that's what I do. I take control of my players.

# 33 Trick13 @ 03/22/15 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sportyguyfl31


	"Confidence" needs to be scrapped. It creates superstars out of ordinary players, and completely throws online leagues out of balance. The same handful of users stay at or near the top every season because the more you win, the more of a PED Boost, the confidence rating gives you. On the otherside, if you are struggling, trying to rebuild a bad team, or just plain not that good, confidence hits will just tank your team and make them virtually impossible to play with.

Great point. I don't know if it needs to be removed, but it definitely needs some serious tweaking.

I would like to see the offseason bring about a normalizing effect - players' confidence would "gravitate" back to 50, no matter if they were above or below. Say a SB winning team - currently ends the season at 99 confidence nearly across the board - 99 confidence players should gravitate back to around 60 confidence. You should see a range in the offseason of 40-60.

To your point about the better teams/players always being "on the juice" the confidence scale should shift in a sort of way - meaning the guy who just won the SB would get less confidence for his success than a guy coming off 6-10 year for the same stats. Goals for players and teams should be dictated, in part, by the previous season. This would mean that a 7-9 team would have lower stat/win thresholds for improvement than a team coming off 10-6.

They could call it "Adaptive Progression System" or the "CFM's Parity Progression System"

This would be great as well for CFMs where there are a limited number of user teams and the CPU generally stinking at everything they attempt to do....

# 34 Trick13 @ 03/22/15 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grodbetatted


	So you don't like user catches? That's one thing i take pride in doing is user catching. I want control over my player and that's what I do. I take control of my players.

User catching in M15 sucks - no consistency in the control over the animation that plays out, too much ability to change a route without proper reaction from the defenders. User defense is also hamstrung by similar issues - you know you need to go high and swat a pass - you hit swat button different ways but get the same damn animation or worse - you hit the button consistently the same way and never get the same animation to play out twice, never mind with any predictability.

EA and their dumb as heck, convoluted, ridiculous, arcade style precision modifier suck.

The best days of Madden are long gone and included user control through button timing - tap, press, hold - correlating to the animations that played out. The hold LT for "precision control" is lame, lame, lame!!!!!!!!!

The lack of controls from legacy gen aggravate me to no end - cut moves being gone are especially irritating. Every time I watch an NFL game I see players do that very thing over and over and over and there is no way in Madden to replicate it - lame.

There are no true "stick skills" left in Madden - there are just exploits, no variances in the moves that force you to be precise in your controller input - just rocket catches, turbo bowel jet interceptions, super defense auto turbo at the snap crap. Heck, you don't even have any varying controls for pass rush moves anymore - just pick a button and mash, maybe you get lucky, maybe not - no skill there...

# 35 jethrotull @ 03/22/15 11:10 PM

Where this game fails is where many others like The Show succeed. There is no creativity allowed to the consumer, whether it is editing relocation teams or editing draft classes. I don't know if the NFL was the one that says "no editing, make sure we don't get sued" or the design team behind it but as it is now this is a skip in my book or a late season "cheap" buy once price comes down. The NCAA team was the one that got it right as far as replay value and editing not Madden.

# 36 billybong @ 03/23/15 04:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JHedges2


	I've owned every copy of Madden since 1999, but with the lack of being able to use 'real' draft classes, it may just be a series killer for me. I just can't get excited scouting 'fictional' players, despite their efforts at making those players stay real. I am too much a fan of college football to be scouting fake players to bring into my franchise. NBA2K allows custom draft classes. If Madden doesn't make strides here, I am likely done with this series--as I hardly touched Madden 15 (also due in part to discovering FIFA, lol).

amen to that. I'm sick of this connected career roster crap

# 37 SolidSquid @ 03/23/15 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billybong


	amen to that. I'm sick of this connected career roster crap

I have a firm belief that that reason we don't have custom draft classes is EA knows it will stop people from buying the next iteration of madden. If I can play a ccm in madden 15 for 5 years and have all the current players, why would I need to buy madden 16 unless they make major improvements to the core gameplay?

That being said I'd be perfectly fine not having custom classes if the created classes they ship with the game were done right. I'm tired of of the terrible equipment and gigantic shoulder pads. Also the stats attributes not matching up to the base roster.

# 38 tru11 @ 03/23/15 12:05 PM

what this game needs is some competition.

this game is arcade as it gets and ratings still dont matter at all.

# 39 oneamongthefence @ 03/24/15 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FaceMask


	They tried to do a number of things like fix passing trajectories (Madden 12), put in new pass catch animations and passing spaces (Madden 13), but the bottom line is, everything is fundamentally flawed from the snap, to the drop, to the set, how receivers attack space and interact with DB's, and how the o-line approaches pass blocking assignments. So my educated guess would be that in order to get to the point of having route-based passing, the entire passing game would have to be overhauled. I want that to happen badly, but realistically, I can't see it happening.

They could make it heavily timing-based based on drop back. For example at the end of a 3 step drop your accuracy would be at its peak since that's what's practiced and it shows a comfort level. After the drop back release window is closed their accuracy takes a hit since to simulate confusion or loss of awareness since the play will be "off script" at thAt point. Add a composure rating to determine the penalty.

# 40 m1ke_nyc @ 03/24/15 12:56 AM

The game did some things ok but it was still Madden. Theres so much wrong with this game. It all starts with the animations. They are terrible, especially the QB animations. Then the AI while improved is still pretty much a joke. They fix some things to a degree then break others. I mean every team had the same offense. CHECKDOWNS CHECKDOWNS CHECKDOWNS. I couldnt get into a franchise because I was sick of every QB refusing to throw beyond 3 yards.

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