Something that hurt Madden that no one knows

[cdon2k]

Thought i'd comment on this after reading this post from Radioactiveman:

"The fact that user controlled defense is next to impossible. Meaning you can't switch to a man and make a play on the ball...the control just isn't tight enough. It's been like that since "next gen"...until they fix that and get the control back to last gen quality, the game is just another pile of crap imo. Madden and NCAA. I'm done with both until that happens. I used to drool over the annual football releases, now I could care less. It's sad."

After reading this I thought back to a theory about something that negatively affected Madden. Here goes, when Madden was brought to next gen, the combination of EA being in bed with Microsoft as well as the 360 being the 1st console out led to Madden going to the 360 as the lead platform. EA then based Madden's control scheme around the 360 controller leading to the heavy reliance on the triggers and diminishing importance on what would have been L1 and R1 buttons to suit the 360 controller. I never have liked the game's reliance on analog triggers for twitch moves such as strafe and sprint. If sprint was analog, I would understand, but it's not. The changes to the control layout along with the poor engine led to what Radioactive man was talking about.

[XDECEPTION]

I don't know what that guy was talking about but I have total control of every player on the field that I play with. I can pick off basicly anything that doesn't go through my body. I can do this on the playstation controller and the 360 I don't think it really matters but maybe thats just me.. imo

[cdon2k]

I think part of it is that defensive player movement was much more twitch on ps2. A player could "speed strafe", that move was removed from next gen. I believe they were thinking realism when they reduced the overall player speed, but the transitional animations weren't there. Once they started putting them in (there still aren't many for defense), defense has gotten tougher.

Also, for some reason knocking down passes is very rough.

[sniperhare]

I like the control scheme but it does have problems, I mainly see the game switch to a player and he stops for a second before I gain control. Now it would be worse if Madden had momentum, but tackling RBs when they magically zigzag around on the field can be difficult at times.

I get annoyed typing responses now, every post I want to launch into a gameplan for the dev team to work on. It's frustrating that so much needs to be done to have a good game.

[icomb1ne]

Quote: Originally Posted by sniperhare

I get annoyed typing responses now, every post I want to launch into a gameplan for the dev team to work on. It's frustrating that so much needs to be done to have a good game.

That's exactly how I feel! I posted on this site so much last year with the hope that Ian would make things right. But I guess I set my expectations too high or something so Madden 10 ended up being a HUGE letdown. I just wanted a game with animations that are at least within grasp of what 2K8 has to offer. Unfortunately what we got was a horribly executed Pro-Tak mechanic and laughably bad animations throughout.

But anyways, I feel bad for the people that try and spell it out for Tiburon by going into great detail about how to make Madden great again. All these people have this false hope that EA is going to implement their ideas when in reality they are going to be let down in some proportion. Why did Tiburon seemingly end up adding terrible feature over terrible feature year after year? This is infuriat SPARTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS: I don't know if your theory is correct, but I sure do like the controls on the PS2 a lot better.

[Fler]

Not a problem with me. I let the computer do all the things I feel are necessary, on defense at least.

[Jump]

IMO, user controlled defense is too easy to control. You can be strafing at full speed going one way, and immediately, with no sense of momentum, you can be heading in the opposite direction.

[CreatineKasey]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jump

IMO, user controlled defense is too easy to control. You can be strafing at full speed going one way, and immediately, with no sense of momentum, you can be heading in the opposite direction.

This. I was thinking it's too easy also. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a user land hitsticks that were highly improbable in my eyes.

User picks are also super forgiving overall. It's super hard to juke a user if they have speed that's even somewhat close to your ballcarrier.

I come from APF where user D was brutally hard... and I loved it.