It’s that time of year again, so join us as we count down from eleven to one the top changes we want to see for Madden 11. For once, “online franchise” won’t have to be on this list … oh how far we’ve come
11 – Rethink the challenges – This will be a hotly debated topic, but challenges must disappear from soccer games forever. Alright … maybe that’s too harsh, but developers and players alike need to at least start rethinking the implementation of the challenges. The purpose of challenges in the NFL and other football leagues is to make sure the umpires make the right decision, because try as they may, they are certainly not machines. At Madden, however, our referees are basically machines, so why are we forcing mistakes in the way the game is refereed?
The game knows what the right decision is at all times, so why should it go wrong? Just for the joys? Sure, there will be times without challenges where you’ll notice how poor the call was and wish you had a red flag, but if the game is made in such a way that the correct calls are always made, then by its own engine. He wouldn’t have been overruled even with a challenge if that was his decision. Unless some kind of AI is implemented in the umpires themselves, where umpires are actually active characters on the field who have their own vision and awareness numbers, then there is no point in arbitrarily making the wrong calls and wasting everyone’s time. . At least make the challenges an alternate option please, or save the challenges entirely until we have a full referee AI to make it realistic. We are buying Madden NFL, not Sherlock Holmes: Case of the Failed Call. Yes, it’s in the game … but wetting one’s pants is in the game, and we’re not interested in seeing that either.
10 – Improved Casting – To be frank here, Madden NFL has had some of the worst sports casting in a few years. It is not so much a problem with the names they select, but with the execution style; too many vague global remarks and obviously canned enthusiasm. Madden would do well to take a page from UFC 2009 undisputed, which sets a new standard for streaming sports games. The comments at UFC 2009 sound exciting and interested, while Madden 10 sounds like announcers who were hired to read a script for fifteen minutes.
Soccer is a very broad sport, with thousands of players and dozens of teams, so it is not a fair comparison to expect the quality of casting seen in more focused games. But honestly, would it be so difficult to shorten the comments and stitch them together for unique combinations, rather than having us hear the same long and drawn out review? And why hasn’t Madden made use of that ESPN license yet so we can hear Mike and Mike live in the morning while we play Madden, or at least select from ESPN podcasts from that day? Puts the podcast on Madden. Can you hear us Ian Cummings? Puts the podcast … on Madden.
9 – No more passing over the line – Here we have another good example of EA overthinking. In the NFL, players are penalized when they pass the ball beyond the line of scrimmage, so it only makes sense to allow players in Madden to pass beyond the line of scrimmage and get penalized, right? Actually, no, it doesn’t make any sense. The problem with going beyond the line of scrimmage in Madden is that your passing controls are currently tied to your running controls.
If a player passes the line of scrimmage, their running controls are supposed to take over, but with Madden 10 giving you the ability to pass beyond the line of scrimmage, sometimes those running controls become passing controls. How many times have you tried to slide after crossing the line, only to throw a pick-six at catcher X? Or spin and get penalized for throwing a wobbler at catcher B? It just doesn’t make sense. Either untie the running controls from the passing controls, or don’t allow players to pass the ball once they cross the line of scrimmage. Yes, going over the line is part of the mistakes people should be able to make in football, but Peyton Manning has never accidentally thrown a 50-yard pass down the field while trying to slide back.
8 – Online tournaments – It seems like every year players ask for features that used to exist and then snatch them from them in a new edition of Madden. Online tournaments used to be one of the best things about Madden; no, not just officially sponsored tournaments that still exist to some extent, but tournaments that you can create or join on the go to rack up tournament wins and challenge yourself. Now as it stands, the tournament mode has become a forgotten legend alongside the original Rushing Attack drill.
7 – Spectator mode – Madden NFL is a bit like Animal Crossing (come with me here). On Animal Crossing: Town PeopleSo much of the fun comes from going from house to house and town to town just to see the kinds of styles you can find or the tips you can learn, and Madden is no different. The ability to see how other players play, what tricks they employ, or even just watch a healthy match between two good players is a long-forgotten luxury in the Madden universe. Spectator modes make it easy for online businesses to broadcast live matches and for users to get involved in the sports gaming community; It’s great for the tournament scene, great for the occasional fan who wants to get better, and great for advertisers who feed through Madden’s in-game ad system. There is little reason to keep us in the dark anymore. All we want is to be able to watch people play with your product, or let our friends see us!
6 – Exit the game solution – The “Quit Game” issue has been an issue that has plagued Madden for a few years. EA Sports doesn’t want people to discover flaws in order to disconnect people from games and receive wins at an accelerated rate, so the way they balance this issue now is by forcing players to beat the CPU to receive their victory. if your opponent disconnects for any reason. . However, by and large, all of this makes online games boring collections of computer battles and clock-burnishing techniques to pass time faster. What we need is some kind of solution that works both to deter cheats and not to punish players who don’t want to quit … so why not come up with one?
Why don’t we make it so you can’t freely give up and make your profit unless your account rating is high enough? For Xbox Live, this could mean that you must have a rating of at least four or five stars on your account. If players are failing other players for quick wins, then their account rating would drop quickly and the system would monitor itself. Additional parameters can also be set, such as allowing you to freely come out with a win if you have at least three touchdowns at the time. While it is not a perfect method, it would certainly be a great improvement over the current system.
5 – Avoid the Sack – Part of being a skilled player is knowing when to hold them, knowing when to fold them, knowing when to walk away and when to run. Okay, Kenny Rogers isn’t exactly Aristotle, but the man has a good point that translates well to football. Players like Peyton Manning are skilled at avoiding blows and will often fall quickly to the ground when all hope is lost in their pocket. Allowing players to fall in an attempt to avoid the penalty (and potential fumbles) created by sacks would go a long way toward enhancing Madden’s motto of “If it’s in the game, it’s in the game.” Perhaps even make the deployable ability limited to players with certain abilities, to help encourage choosing teams with less mobility, but high-quality quarterbacks. Or maybe even a global system, where each player has an “avoid hit” rating in their pocket, and their chances of successfully landing when attempting the maneuver increase by that rating; meaning players like the Jaguars’ David Garrard would be less likely to avoid capture when the correct button is pressed, while players like Peyton Manning would be more likely.
4 – Online practice mode – Practicing, or “labbing” is one of the most important prerequisites to becoming a quality player in Madden, but generally this means sitting alone in your room with two controllers or, at best, fighting the clock playing in an unrated game with a friend. With an online practice mode, players can team up with a friend to try out different strategies and schemes, and even set up situations within practice, such as “2 minute drive from own 30”. Being able to work with friends on new tricks of the trade is an important part of strengthening the Madden community, and EA Sports should recognize the ease of implementation of this feature.
3 – Custom packages – Every team is different in Madden, which is why some players prefer certain substitutions in certain situations. Allowing a select number of training packages in Madden would allow players to save time replacing the usual suspects on and off, and more time playing the game. Do you like to move your slot catcher to the outside when you are always in a certain formation? Would you rather have a heavy set by default when you come out on the goal line? Want your best RB to catch passes when playing four wide? Let players choose how they want their default packages to look like any coach in football can do.
2 – Online Cooperative – While not the most pressing issue at the moment, the ability to allow players to play together in a true online cooperative mode would add a truly fun experience to Madden NFL that goes beyond just a novelty. In many other games, cooperative features are simply content fillers that don’t add real value to the product. However, with Madden, being able to play online with your friends against others can provide some really interesting games and conversations as players strategize for their next move and plan their way up the leaderboard. A true online cooperative feature would be a great addition to Madden that would synergize beautifully with features like online practice mode.
1 – Scouting 2.0 – As briefly discussed in a previous article, there should be a full review of how franchise mode deals with the exploration process. The draft is the most important and most beloved part of franchise mode by many players, but currently searching for potential prospects is disappointing at best. With a revised exploration system based on watching the “game movie” (instant replays) of the players, the user can decide for himself what is good or bad based on the performance of the tape and as a result, truly imitate the evaluation process that many die. -that hardcore shooting fans crave.
Hire scouting agencies to provide you with more movies and send them out to register prospects and do your evaluations based on how the player actually grabs your attention on tape. Such a feature would revolutionize the franchise mode in Madden and, if necessary, it would almost be worth splitting Madden into two discs: Franchise and Online.