OS Roundtable: Is Madden's Focus Where it Should Be?

[RaychelSnr]

With Madden being a more defensively focused game this year, it appears the developers are trying to fix one big part of what has made the game feel stale to many the past few years on the field. Will the additions on the defensive half of the ball lead to more fun or will Madden still feel stale in your non-hands on opinions?

Read on to find out our responses and add your own in the comments!

Read More - OS Roundtable: Is Madden's Focus Where it Should Be?

[Cre8]

Re: OS Roundtable: Is Madden's Focus Where it Should Be?

The focus is where I expect it to be. They are improving some aspects that need to be improved such as the tackling system, etc.

However, the fact that they are just now fixing things like wind and throwing accuracy meaning anything makes me SMH. These are integral aspects of football on a base level and should have been implemented back in Madden 10-25.

This game has made me annually go .

[Hooe]

Re: OS Roundtable: Is Madden's Focus Where it Should Be?

Given how offense-oriented of a game Madden has been has historically been, I don't understand how the answer to this question can possibly be "no".

[bucky60]

Re: OS Roundtable: Is Madden's Focus Where it Should Be?

If the CPU AI is greatly improved for the 21 (or 20) players not controlled by the user (or 22 in a coach mode), then part of the focus is where it should be.

[jmurphy31]

Re: OS Roundtable: Is Madden's Focus Where it Should Be?

I think part of Madden's focus should be on the defensive side but the ball, but I think its the implantation that has everyone skeptic. It seems like the usual EA back of the box gimmick that is:

1. Either Overpowering or Doesn't quite work right
2. Never improved on
3. then removed form the game a year or two from now.

I am glad some of the focus is on Presentation, but again it needs to be built on each year. It seems presentation isn't improved each year and just changed every 3 or 4 years. How many different attempts at pregame has EA tried, but haven't had a weekly update show ir post game wrap up.

• Stadium Overviews
• Head to Head QB Match-ups with specific dialogue
• Real Team entrances
• Phil and Jim
• Movie Sequence from last year

[Cre8]

Re: OS Roundtable: Is Madden's Focus Where it Should Be?

I think part of Madden's focus should be on the defensive side but the ball, but I think its the implantation that has everyone skeptic. It seems like the usual EA back of the box gimmick that is:

1. Either Overpowering or Doesn't quite work right
2. Never improved on
3. then removed form the game a year or two from now.

I am glad some of the focus is on Presentation, but again it needs to be built on each year. It seems presentation isn't improved each year and just changed every 3 or 4 years. How many different attempts at pregame has EA tried, but haven't had a weekly update show ir post game wrap up.

• Stadium Overviews
• Head to Head QB Match-ups with specific dialogue
• Real Team entrances
• Phil and Jim
• Movie Sequence from last year

It would be nice if CFM actually showed some sort of continuity from the commentary perspective. If not commentary, maybe in the 'news feed' we could see some sort of life in our respective CFMs.

[jmurphy31]

Re: OS Roundtable: Is Madden's Focus Where it Should Be?

It would be nice if CFM actually showed some sort of continuity from the commentary perspective. If not commentary, maybe in the 'news feed' we could see some sort of life in our respective CFMs.

I couldn't agree more. It seems as if youre playing 16 play now games with stats. Last year, they did try to tie in things from last week, but it was so bare bones (but its a start).

[m1ke_nyc]

Re: OS Roundtable: Is Madden's Focus Where it Should Be?

Yes they are focusing on the right thing. But they had 3 huge issues with the game. Defense, AI, Animations. We get told every year AI is better but then the same exploits work. So its still a wait and see.

[GiantBlue76]

Re: OS Roundtable: Is Madden's Focus Where it Should Be?

Once again, I don't believe their focus areas have been bad - even in the past. The implementation is where it goes bad. Nothing really works right or it's sloppy or buggy. I'm not sure how anyone could be annoyed at what is being added to the game right now, but I certainly can understand why people are skeptical. We've heard things like this before, including last year with M25 on next gen. Pursuit angles, player sense, war in the trenches. Most of those things were "better", (somewhat), but they still didn't work right.

Personally, I'm impressed with Rex Dickson and a few of the other designers, but I am not impressed with the implementation each year. Higher quality and making sure the changes all work need to be just as much of a focus as the ideas that are going in.

[JKSportsGamer1984]

I'm all for the defensive improvements. They sound good on paper but let's be honest, Madden has been touting zone & man coverage AI improvements for years now so we'll see (although I thought last year was improved). On of the biggest improvements that seems to be flying under the radar is how both WR's & DB's will make an attempt to catch errant passes this year. This combined with the toning of QB accuracy can be a game changer. My biggest issue with Madden over the years is how they continue to sell us football in compartments. One year it's this, the next year it's that, etc...How about they just focus on getting the core fundamentals of football down 1st (strategy, player movement, weight & momentum being factors, penalties, etc..). Focus on getting the animations at a Next Gen level quality. The reason why 2K basketball is so successful & is quickly becoming the best selling sports game is because how realistic the game looks & animates. 2K has all of the players signature animations & mannerisms down perfect. Each player has a sense of individuality. Madden needs this to take it to the next level. I don't want to see all RB's carrying the ball the same way. All RB's should not be able to do the same jukes, cuts, moves, etc...If Madden would just prioritize by getting these things right then I believe they could be back on top.

[grodbetatted]

I see nothing wrong with EA's areas of focus.. And on the stiff robotic movement, I definitely don't see that. I feel that most people that speak on madden just want to seen a new NFL 2k. Even when 2k was out, yes it had great aspects of football, but it played a rather slow game of football. The speed and of the game and some animations just looked like overkill. That's just my opinion though

[BigBadTom]

Here is the reality: yes the direction is good but there isnt enough meat and potatos in the changes. To the round table, it sounded like a bunch of skeptical gamers (not unfair when dealing with Madden) but they did say that they addressed the WR issues and the exploits in out routes and curls claim to be fixed. Here is the thing everyone is forgetting, Madden 25 was put out in November and was patched through the year. That is 3 less months in the Dev cycle for this game and as a result we don't see a massive overhaul attempt like the past few years. I imagine that any major system or engine changes come next year as they likely realized any attempt to implement them this year would result in a disaster.

[Blue12]

Re: OS Roundtable: Is Madden's Focus Where it Should Be?

My biggest problem with the game is that even with all-madden I can pretty much score at will, but I rarely stop the computer from scoring. I would think that if they fix the defense properly, moving the ball while on offense would be more of a challenge, and playing on the defensive side will be more fun.

Just because they focus on the defensive side doesn't mean it will affect the difficulty going up against the computer A.I., but I really hope that is the case. I also hope they greatly reduce the number on interceptions by the computer defense, as that was usually the only thing that ever stopped me.

As for controlling the defense while the computer has the ball, I just hope there's a balance where the controls are effective and responsive without being too effective. While I want playing defense to be fun, I still want to be challenged.

[Cre8]

Re: OS Roundtable: Is Madden's Focus Where it Should Be?

Here is the reality: yes the direction is good but there isnt enough meat and potatos in the changes. To the round table, it sounded like a bunch of skeptical gamers (not unfair when dealing with Madden) but they did say that they addressed the WR issues and the exploits in out routes and curls claim to be fixed. Here is the thing everyone is forgetting, Madden 25 was put out in November and was patched through the year. That is 3 less months in the Dev cycle for this game and as a result we don't see a massive overhaul attempt like the past few years. I imagine that any major system or engine changes come next year as they likely realized any attempt to implement them this year would result in a disaster.

I still believe (as I did in November) that they should have delayed a Madden release on next-gen until this year. NCAA did this with 07 on 360 and it was a smart decision. Madden would have been better served to do it with 06 - I don't think anyone would argue with me on that point.

[bxphenom7]

All I know is there's absolutely no excuse this generation for Madden. There's no way you can't nail a realistic football experience when a game, NFL 2k5, did it on PS2. That's that.