Sounds good, but would have preferred pro players and coaches to have given initial insights
and also to be proactively involved during the
entire development phase.
Meaning pro-players and coaches taking a look at actual gameplay footage including initial, initial-middle, middle, middle-final, near-final, pre-final AND pre-close to find build and dissect the football physics, football mechanics and football intelligence, and make crucial suggestions that developers take and implement. Basically, each and every step of the way. Personally, I hate to see the “final build” so close to release date. If the “final build” was 6 to 7 months out, at least the window of opportunity to fix any issues would be easier.
Quick points. Unbiased critics and even fans of backbreaker have noted is that OL/DL interaction, WR/DB interaction along with QB throwing motion and other things seems off. Here's hoping the final build is at minimum 10 times better than what we've seen in preliminary gameplay footage.
Developers (or anyone) can take notes of what experts/critics/pro-players/coaches have to say, but unless the experts/critics/pro-players/coaches see it in action (hands-on), they won't know how well their initial insights on paper will translate on screen.
Here’s one quick example (hopefully, and really needs to be fixed in the final build) of poor football intelligence, and it’s things like this where coaches/pro-players/experts would have caught this even before the “half-way build” of the game. Happens in the very beginning of the video:
@0:19 – 0:30 mark [ Missed Block ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xnmSCoQgIQ
1. QB#19 scrambles out of the pocket and commits to running the ball.
2. Offensive player (WR#?) allows DL#79 a free pass to tackle the QB.
3. Offensive player fails to make a block or even motion/attempt to make the block (or temporarily impede DL#79's progress, or simply change DL#79's pursuit angle)
4. Offensive player remains in static position, uncertain about what to do.
5. EDIT: Offensive player's should also be able to make "big hits" too, not just the defense.