Pure dynamic gameplay. You control the animations -- the animations don't control you
Branching animations- It starts with overhauled animations, specifically tons of new branching animations. How many times in previous Madden games did you throw to a tight end or wideout near the sidelines, only to have the animation take the guy out of bounds when he clearly could have gained a few more yards by staying in bounds?
The big benefit of this new branching technology seems to be more animation "breaking points" wherein the player holding the controller regains control of the player on the field quicker than ever before.
No, you won't be watching Reggie Wayne execute triple back-flips into the end-zone, but on those crossing routes where he's heading to the sidelines, you'll likely see him plant his feet once he's hauled in the ball, and angle up-field to gain those crucial extra yards.
Branching animations will be visible in practically every part of gameplay, it seems.
Madden's new moves are made possible to a new animation system borrowed from the FIFA franchise and NBA Street Homecourt. The goal is to make players move as realistically as possible. Instead of turning in a lazy arc, players are going to plant their feet, drop their shoulder and make cuts.
First off, branching animations mean no more canned animations locking you into a bad position. The goal is to put control back in your hands faster, rather than locking the character into an animation. Instead of watching your receiver keep on trucking right out of bounds instead of heading up field, or watching someone "jetpack" up and not being able to do anything about it, all because the animation has begun and you can't do anything until its finished, you'll be able to take control of your players at virtually any time. Since what animation is appropriate is calculated more often, you can send your player upfield or tear that jumper out of the air. Branching animations might not be such a big deal to players who get through Madden in a haze of football Sunday beer, but having even a moment more of control during a play is going to be huge for serious players.
Branching animations also mean the return of the ability to "jetpack" and "hurdle," since counters now exist. Since it was possible to jump to guarantee a catch once you were in the "jump and catch" animation, "jetpacking" was simply removed. Similarly, you could just keep slamming jump to try to get over a pile, safe in the knowledge that once you were in the air you were safe, locked into the animation. To fix that in previous years, EA simply removed the animations, making the exploits impossible. Now, you can try to jump for that catch, or jump over that pile -- but your opponent can rip you from the air, since the animation is no longer one canned sequence but a constantly calculated ballet. And if you're hit in mid-air, that's more likely to injure the hit player. Gang tackles will actually calculate the effect of each player as they add to the scrum. Some of these changes are possible because of improved stat calculations (which I'll get into below), but a lot of them are due to branching animation.
The running game is also getting a reboot, with help from the
FIFA team. Improved animation means that different stride lengths for different players will result in different animations, and that means the improved physics systems will have more to work with. Another big part of what will change running is improved "inverse kinematics," meaning that instead of having your team move on the field as if they were paper dolls being dragged across linoleum, the physics system will actual simulate how much grip on the field a player's feet have. It's one of the few sequences that EA had video to illustrate with, as opposed to just PowerPoint slides, and the difference looks dramatic. And that feeds into the entire system of branching animations and stat calculations, since the game can now do a much better job of calculating how much grip on the field your feet have.
Gang Tackling- You can stand a guy up and come in with a linebacker to clean house. Yeah, it's been done before. But from here, Cummings said you can add on dynamically at any point. So maybe it takes two, three, four guys to haul Larry Johnson to the ground. Or if you're running in with a linebacker, you can actually knock the other defenders off the ball carrier with a poorly-aimed hit. Or blockers can come in and try to knock defenders off. Or you can try to strip the ball. A runner can cover it up. The list just keeps going.
As producers demonstrated in a video, tacklers can be added onto a pile at any point when trying to bring down a ball-carrier; equally important, tackles can be shed dynamically thanks to the aforementioned branching animation technology. One particularly cool video example of this showed Tomlinson, wrapped up by a defender, make a spin move, only to have an incoming defender run into the defender that first wrapped up LT, knocking him off the running back and letting Tomlinson gain a few more yards in the process.
There will also be gang tackles, so if you're the third tackler to the party, no problem! Just jump on in, and maybe even try to strip the ball. Plus, there will be more broken tackle
animations for offensive players, so they can drag the pile, or wriggle their way out of the grasp of two different players.
The ability to break down stats even further will make a change across the board, with catching being a great example. New stats will include ratings like separate catch and catch-in-traffic ratings, so that a receiver who's great in the clear may not be your go-to man in the thick of it. Basically, the computing power next-gen offers makes it possible to give players more stats, and while that's not as sexy as a gameplay video set to a rock song, it's those stats that really determine how the game plays out. Running into a friendly lineman from behind, for example, is no longer going to have your back simply running in place forever. Instead, the hit will take into account the players' relative sizes and strengths and resolve dynamically, with branching animations based on the results of those stat calculations.
WR position gets new ratings- You can also expect to see loads of new animations such as receivers falling down in the end zone during touchdown catches, lots of juggling animations, and more. Also, wideout-specific player ratings such as "spectacular catches" and "catch in traffic" will play a bigger role in how your receivers perform on the field.
What's more, you'll see them reaching out for one- handed grabs and leaping into the end zone for six. That's not to say a good corner isn't going to shut down some of these plays. But a scrub DB? "He's toast," Cummings said.
To do this, EA had to better emphasize the roles receivers play by looking at situational awareness and catch-in-traffic ratings. So expect to see a big difference with possession guys like Keyshawn Johnson and showboats like Terrell Owens. Johnson won't stretch the D, but he will do the little things -- in the end zone on a timing patter, he'll catch the ball with his hands and fall right to the turf to avoid the hit and secure the football. Along with highlight catches, you can also trigger possession catches that ensure you catch the ball, get the feet down and tuck it away safely at the expense of some speed running after the catch.
New attributes will also be a factor. There's now Ball Carrier Vision, Catch in Traffic, Spectacular Catch, Route Running and Hit Power -- all things that used to be handled by Awareness. This means star players really have a chance to shine, as there will be more distinctions throughout the game.
"Jet-packing," where a receiver always wins jump balls against defenders, should disappear thanks to new mid-air collisions. Now if you jump for a ball, a d-back can come across and put a helmet in your spleen. The result: dropped passes, broken bones, and plenty of "holy crap!" moments. And the hurdle's back! It was plucked from the
game two years ago because it was essentially broken. But now tacklers can meet hurdlers in mid-air (with mid-air collisions) resulting in fumbles, flipped running backs, and, again, plenty of "holy crap!" moments.
The team has also added a route running attribute this year.
Hit stick 2.0 - hen it comes to improvements for gameplay, it seems the team's essential goal is in finding balance--for every move on the field, there should be a counter move that a player can use to offset it. Going up against a receiver with a huge "spectacular catch" rating? Take him out in mid- air and hope for the ball to come loose. About to be bowled over by a rumbling, stumbling monsters like T.J. Duckett? Take advantage of what producers are calling "hitstick 2.0", where flicking down on the controller will cause the defender to go low and attempt to take out the legs of your much bigger opponent (pushing up will result in a higher tackle, which will be ideal for taking out runners who are looking to leap over the pile on short yardage situations).
f LT is going to hurdle to avoid a tackle, you have to be able to answer on the defensive side of the ball. Enter Hitstick 2.0. This will allow you to tackle high or low by flicking up or down on the right stick, respectively. This opens the door for all kinds of possibilities.
If you're an undersized corner and Lorenzo Neal is barreling toward you, you better take out his knees at risk of getting trucked. If it's Warrick Dunn dancing toward you, on the other hand, you may want to hold off on the hit stick altogether at the risk of losing your shoes. But if you're Zach Thomas and the situation is right, a high tackle is going to ring some bells.
When it comes to improvements for gameplay, it seems the team's essential goal is in finding balance--for every move on the field, there should be a counter move that a player can use to offset it. Going up against a receiver with a huge "spectacular catch" rating? Take him out in mid-air and hope for the ball to come loose. About to be bowled over by a rumbling, stumbling monsters like T.J. Duckett? Take advantage of what producers are calling "hitstick 2.0", where flicking down on the controller will cause the defender to go low and attempt to take out the legs of your much bigger opponent (pushing up will result in a higher tackle, which will be ideal for taking out runners who are looking to leap over the pile on short yardage situations).
Hurdles- They are back for two reasons it seems one. One to jump over fallen players and also to jump over people who us the hit stick low. This should add another dynamic to tackling rock, paper, siccors anyone.
The Line of Scrimmage- This season you'll see double teams, stretch blocking and linemen extending to the second level.
You can expect blocking improvements all across the game, according to producers. Double team blocking, zone blocking, pull/lead blocks, players pushing off to the next blocking assignment, stretch and reach blocks... dare we say this is "next gen blocking"? Running backs will also benefit from a distinctive lack of "Mario running" this year. Instead of jamming up against the line and running in place, how a back reacts will depend on his size; big backs like Lorenzo Neal will look to push the line forward for an extra few yards, while smaller, elusive backs like Warrick Dunn will wait for an opening, or spin and juke their way through the beefy linemen.
Fatigue- Player fatigue has been a sore point in the past few Madden entries and the team has taken that into consideration with Madden 08, blowing out the feature this time around. As producers put it, every action on the field will count against a player's fatigue rating. You spend time scrambling around in the background with Michael Vick, and sooner or later he's going to wear out. In addition, temperature and location will make a difference to your player's performance--think of the thin frigid air at Mile High in December, or the sweltering late-summer heat in Miami. Just as in real life, those kinds of conditions will have an effect on how your team plays. This improved focus on fatigue should definitely affect how you play the game--do you go run-and-gun in order to tire out your opponent's defensive backs, or grind it out with your running backs in order to punish your foe's defensive line? Furthermore, you'll want to stay aware of your player's fatigue ratings as the game progresses? Calling a no huddle after you just sent your wideouts on streaks downfield? Bad idea. In fact, taking your time snapping the ball will actually benefit your team, as they get a chance to catch their breath before the next play.
Guess what? Temperature and location play a factor in a football game. If you're a Green Bay Packer playing at Dolphin Stadium in September, you're going to feel the heat while the Dolphins are well-adjusted. And don't start on the Dolphins playing in Foxborough in December. Weather will play into the home-field advantage next season.
But fatigue is caused by a lot more than a hot day. Consider this: If Reggie Bush scampers left, then right, then backward, then left and right again and finally into the end zone as only Reggie Bush can, he's going to be tired at the end of the run. In Madden, you'll notice him slowing and, with a different set of running animations, you will see that Bush is gassed. But really, does that guy ever get tired?
For those of you that enjoy sprinting from sideline to sideline with Michael Vick, it's time to get a new strategy. Then again, the defense will tire too...
After a play, you won't see the same canned animations of 11 players jogging back to a huddle in unison. Players will huff and puff with their hands on their hips, longing for the oxygen tank on the sidelines. This will add a new dimension to clock management as you can't simply run Hail Mary after Hail Mary with a no-huddle offense. Those long patterns (and the jog back to the line) take a heavy toll. Instead, you'll need to complete a pass and -- dare I say it -- spike the ball to stop the clock. Just waiting a few extra seconds to snap the ball will have an effect.
Another issue that is finally being addressed is the fatigue. Now every single action on the field counts against a player's fatigue. If a monstrous defensive tackle lucks into an interception, and runs the ball down the field (we're imagining Robert Traylor here), he'll get completely gassed. So tired, in fact, that he might not be able to make it all the way to the endzone. The developers are also factoring in temperature and altitude -- so Miami and Denver have serious homefield advantages (as the Dolphins won't be affected by the heat, and the Broncos won't be tripped up by the height).
Ultimately this should all allow you to play to your style. If you grind it out for three quarters on the ground, the defensive line is going to have trouble stopping you in the fourth. If you pull a Peyton Manning and pick apart defenses, the defensive backs are going to run out of juice by game's end. If you don't huddle after sending your receivers out on a streak, they're going to be slower. And to remind you that these guys are all exhausted, you'll see them slump-shouldered, hands on hips, huffing and puffing.
05-01-2007, 04:40 PM
