Anyone else feel uninspired?

[Lisa_Bonami]

I personally wouldnt use NHL 09 as a reference for immersion in Franchise play. While the gameplay is very good ( not as great as everyone claims) It's franchise mode is very underwhelming and uninspired...Talk about feeling alone in a virtual franchise, NHL 09 trumps Madden in that department easily. NHL 09's franchise does not let you view other teams around the leagues boxscores, schedules...You cant play other key matchups around your league ( one of my favorite things to do in Madden when I get bore with just playing all my team's games)

Sorry...I just wanted to get that off my mind


Anyways, in regards to Why Madden feels unispired. To me it's quite simple and it ties into alot of the feedback topics that I and alot of others have posted many times. The game has a numbing repetitious feel to it's gameplay. Regardless of which team you control, you see the same animations, the same gameplay tactics over and over and it starts to dull your sensation for craving the game.

Regardless of the team I choose to play with, its usually the same strategy that I employ, run some HB dives, mix it up with some over the middle short crossing slants, ect. Carbon copy. The passing game isnt very wide open with good seperation and Yards after the catch excitement.

And once you add the repetitious animations on top of this routine, it becomes a recipe for boredom.

The game would ultimately shine if it had a new physics engine that rendered the results on the fly with tightly controlled ragdoll animations and uniquely based on variables such as mass, force, weight, angle of pursuit...ect. Real life results based on impact and surrounding variables each play.

Right now, Madden...and all other sports games, are nothing more than an advanced series of motion captured animations that are automatically triggered based on a 'best match' basis to the user input.....This is so LAST GEN


Gives us NEX GEN PHYSICS and sports games will be revolutionized once and for all

No 2 games or plays, will ever be exactly the same...and that will ultimately trigger the unlimited spontenaity we all want in our sports games

[tmulk]

Yea I do, but smoking dope and playing Madden all day will cause one to be uninspired I guess. Maybe I should get a job??? Ehhh, screw that.

[Auslander]

Quote: Originally Posted by Lisa_Bonami

I personally wouldnt use NHL 09 as a reference for immersion in Franchise play. While the gameplay is very good ( not as great as everyone claims) It's franchise mode is very underwhelming and uninspired...Talk about feeling alone in a virtual franchise, NHL 09 trumps Madden in that department easily. NHL 09's franchise does not let you view other teams around the leagues boxscores, schedules...You cant play other key matchups around your league ( one of my favorite things to do in Madden when I get bore with just playing all my team's games) Sorry...I just wanted to get that off my mind

The franchise of NHL may not be like the one Madden offers. But with all the bells and whistles ho good is Maddens franchise when it freezes at random times? At least I know the game will not freeze up and ruin the progress I made...

[notque]

It's something to do until NBA2k9 comes out. Huge waste of money. Wouldn't have bought it had I known. They have my money now, so whatever.

NBA2k9 can't come soon enough.

[thornie]

I LIKE Madden this year, but I certainly don't love it. I find it to be, well, dull & forgettable. The commentary is dull, the animations are repetitive, I hate the way the menu's look, and there is ZERO immersion factor. The funny thing is, the game on the field is actually pretty good, best in years IMHO. The thing is I really don't have any idea how they could ramp things up to get me more into the game...

Make the crowd "smarter"? Re haul the terrible menu design? Getting new commentators?, or at the very least dumping Hammond. I guess these would make it better... but I'm not so sure. There's something missing that I just can't put my finger on. It just feels very bland, or for lack of a better word "soulless".

P.S. Mega Man 9 has now taken up all of my available gaming time.

[notque]

I've played 1 quarter since the patch. I was going to play madden quite a bit, but it was the same crap. I'd rather play All Pro Football. I never should have bought Madden.

But, Rock Band is great.

I'm playing Rock Band, and Penny Arcade's game waiting for NBA2k9 to come out.

Hopefully All Pro Football decides to come back, says screw the NFL and makes a fully customizable game with a franchise mode.

They got everything right. They just needed to tack on a franchise mode.

[Vikes1]

Overall I like Madden '09'...but I do understand what many are saying.

Yes, there is a repetitive feel to it, and just kind of...blah. But I am a bit concerned that too much attention will be focused on ramping up the presentation for next years game...and allow the core gameplay to fall to second place in importance. Which in my opinion should never happen, unless you have the gameplay pegged. Which I personally don't believe they have done.

I too would love to have a deep immersion factor to the game, but there's just too many other things that must be solved first. The freezing issues that for many have plagued the last few editions MUST be resolved first. The logic within franchise mode is another issue IMO that should be a priority. But again...the core game play should always be first and foremost. As an example, even playing on All-Madden level, I've had to "House rule" out two of the most basic plays in football...QB sneak, and FB dive.

It's just not right that these two most basic of plays vs the cpu are cheese. On the games most challenging level, I would score on every drive using either of these two plays the entire game. That to me is gameplay thats in need of much attention.

Maybe the best example I could give would be....on 4th and 2, from my own 30 yard line, I choose to punt not because I'm afraid I WON'T convert...but because I know I WILL. That in a nutshell knocks a lot of the fun and excitement out of this game.

I'm all in favor of improved presentation. But in the end, I believe lasting replay value comes from solid gameplay...not rehashed pre-game and halftime shows. I do have high hopes that Ian and his all new team for Madden 2010, will focus on basic repairs of stability, gameplay and logic. Then the back of the box..."All new presentation".

[av7]

Franchise as of late has no life to it.. it's pretty much black and white but during games I enjoy it.