Pro-Tak Animation Technology
- Procedural tackle animations
- Steerable tackles
- Three to nine man gang tackles
- Ability to use R-stick to break out of existing tackles to get ball carrier
- Pile-Ups; Fight for the Fumble - Mini game/QTE used when there’s a pile up during a fumble.
Procedural Awareness/Emotions
QB Play Improvements
- QB Pressure/Avoidance System (”When your quarterback is under pressure, your controller will rumble. When you feel that pressure, you can flick the right stick and do an avoidance move.”)
- Changes to QB drop back (”For instance, in plays that utilize a three-step drop, that animation will play out before you have control of the quarterback’s movements.”)
- Actual Pockets
- New QB ratings
- More realistic/precise animations of QBs passing
- Ability to toss the ball during sack animations (w/ sack power determining quality of toss)
- All new QB drop animations
- Lowered pass speeds globally; fixed “moon ball” trajectory
- New QB Sneak system (fixed effectiveness)
- QB Throw Styles (over 30/adjustable)
WR/DB Play Improvements
- WR/DB Jostling (using body to keep receiver in check)
- Wrap Swats
- Extended chuck animation time
- Removed all animation compression on chucks
- Fixed issue where players wouldn’t align properly during the chuck animation; caused clipping
- Fixed “suction” bug where press animations could start from 5 yards away
- Fixed a bug with zone / man chuck animations
- Re-factored the logic for win/loss on chucks based on the route the receiver wants to run
- Chucks can now start from stand
- Improved Pursuit Angles
- Return of Defensive Assignments (Defensive Playmaker)
- Better Sideline catching (WRs don’t go out of bounds when catching passes near the sideline)
- WRs will make bigger strides to try and get the ball
- Tipped passes
- Better defensive steering/manipulation
- Defensive Assist
- Route Running Improvements:
- slip & fall receiver cut moves in bad weather (chances of slipping come from route running ratings)
- Re-factored all double moves to work correctly, including defensive cut moves that are companions to the WR cuts (chances of defender biting come from man coverage rating, play recognition rating, as well as boosts for correctly timed pump fakes)
- Added all new start play WR animations w/ more realistic acceleration
- Added “pop” animations where say a LB will hit a WR as he comes across the middle through his zone
Overall Running Game Improvements
- Reduced tolerance (i.e. yards away) for a defender to tackle a ballcarrier
- New blocking
- 50+ new block animations
- Added the ability for the blocker to turn and seal a run hole or a backside defender
- Added the ability for the blocker to drive a defender in a direction relative to the run hole
- New running animations
- Improvement to players disengage
- Improved turn rates for offense/defense
- Better/more realistic OL openings
- Player momentum and inertia physics
Wildcat formation
Assists and Half-Sacks
Signature Kick Styles
Better spin/juke animations
Ability to Drag Players
4-4 Defense
Improved Fatigue ("A player's "reservoir" shrinks based on how much effort he exerts on every play.")
Improvements to Online
- Online Co-op (2 players vs. CPU)
- Online Franchise (Full stats, full transactions, “you and up to 31 of your closest friends,” full access via your console, computer, iPhone/iPod Touch apps, cell phone, etc. Full NFL Scheduling, full rosters, full stat, full team management)
Hit Stick (3.0?)- Improved hit stick based on physics that’ll have a greater risk involved when using it. Because of pro-tak, you’ll be able to hitstick piles and existing tackles.
New Penalties [such as illegal forward pass, late hits on QB's, as well as late hits out of bounds]
Adaptive AI
- AI changes accordingly to users picking certain plays over and over
- “Money Plays” are almost impossible
- “Having individual defenders make realtime adjustments meant that we could implement Adaptive AI for online and head-to-head play as well (i.e. not just for the CPU players).”
- Number of same exact plays ran before the AI adjusts is based on difficulty level
Lowered global game speed + added game speed slider
- New slider for “speed difference”; used the ratings ranges for player speeds
Ratings are getting stretched out; “…the game feels more sim than ever before”
- Elusiveness rating has been toned down and has received a major overhaul for non-ball carrying positions, especially defensive players.
- The elite guys, they’re safe. Peyton Manning, Randy Moss, Larry Fitzgerald, guys like that are going to be saved. But the average guy is certainly going to come down. Guys in the 70s are now average. You may even see some guys in the 40s. And the gameplay impact is absolutely huge. Now the teams actually feel like they have a personality. When you’re playing as a team like the 49ers who don’t have that elite quarterback, you’re going to have a hard time throwing the ball. It’s going to feel like you have a problem at that position, and that’s a great change.”
Updated Graphics/Art
- Improved Player Models
- Improved Self Shadowing
- New Depth of Field (matches real world cameras)
- Single Digit Helmet #s
- Colored Cleats
- Super Bowl Patches
- Custom Super Bowl Fields
- (Team specific end zones, midfield logos, and player boxes that are dynamically configured whether you are reliving Super Bowl XLIII, or in year 30 of your franchise)
- Towels (fully animate)
- Hand warmers
- Referees on the Field (all 7 w/ animations of hand signals for TD, safeties, run clock, etc. )
- Iridescent Helmets
- Chain Gang on the Sidelines
- Captains Patches issues fixed
- Secondary Color Equipment
- Better Nameplates
- AFL Throwbacks
- Clubs/Taped up parts for hurt players
- Improved colors/lighting
New Injury System
- Choose whether or not to keep players in
- Harder/more painful injuries
- Injuries affect player ratings
- Progressive Injuries/Risk of re-injury
- Players show that they are hurt with in-game injury animations like limping
- Re-injury risk is increased for online and play now games
- Recreation of nearly every single injury type; replacing unrealistic legacy injuries like “bursitis” and “dehydration” w/ new ones
Superstar Mode Improvements
- More streamlined/straightforward experience (ex.: no mini games for ratings)
- Better play calling
- Better HOF logic
Franchise Mode reboot with help of Head Coach ‘09 team
- All coaches in Franchise mode have been re-rated and been set to act more true-to-life in terms of how they act on 4th down, specifically related to fakes and going for it.
- Better/easier interface
- Smarter player signing logic
- Better/more scouting comments
- Better draft logic
- New Draft Classes
- Progression improvements (”Older players will digress much faster. In fact, when a running back hits 30, he’s going downhill at warp speed. Younger players will progress quickly if they play well. We’re talking up 10 points in overall if he has a great year. Veteran players will still progress, but not substantially. They can also digress if they play poorly.”); elite coaches can effect player progression
- Better retirement logic / Players can become coaches after retirement
- Better scheduling (ex.: no more 4 straight Monday night games)
Presentation Improvements
- NFL Total Access Presentation w/ Fran Charles & Alex Flanagan
- Weekly Wrap Up Show called “The Extra Point” (Franchise)
- Halftime/Post Game Show (Both have a recap of stats, video highlights with banners, and some commentary along with different cut scenes)
- Fans tailgating and at concession stands
- Improved replays w/ no framerate drop
- Super Bowl is getting better presentation
- USAF Thunderbirds/ Ntnl. Anthem (along w/ super bowl art)
- Pre-Game Warm-Up
- New/Improved Commentary
- New/Improved Stat Banners (much more detailed showing more in game stats and records)
- New Score Bug w/ real time info
- Backtrack improvements (showing up in better instances)
- Multiple Cutscenes [over 100 showing player training, injuries (showing players go onto injury cart), refs bringing out the chains, fans, etc.]
- New Injury Report Interface
- 500 new pre/post play cameras (w/ weather effects on lens)
- Improvements to camera flashes (rate depended on game)
“Pure Football Feel”
- Player Weapons and Madden IQ on screen graphics are completley gone; Pre-Play controls are set to off by default
4 Player Offline Co-op
Madden Shop (info about it TBA)
Mix/Match Uniforms (jerseys, helmets, socks, etc.; 3D preview of the uniform to see how it looks instead of just having the front view like in previous years)
Accelerated Clock
New Gameplay Camera Angles:
New menus that are easier to navigate/ user friendly:
- removal of ring builder
- Customization/slider menus
- Return of last gen layout playbooks
- Loading screens w/ player rating info
06-15-2009, 09:13 PM
