Some tidbits on gang tackling (and a few other things)

[bkrich83]

Quote: Originally Posted by Only1LT

It wasn't just this gen though. I've seen it on PS2 also. Probably more so than on this gen. Used to play my cousin on PS2 all the time back in the day before online. He was all about running and always took the best running teams. I remember countless times wanting to throw the PS2 out the window because there would be plays where my ENTIRE defense was on the ground lol. Again, it didn't happen a lot, but over the years since Madden 2000, I have seen it enough that I could film a pretty length documentary lol.

Now that I think about it, other than Madden 2001 for the PS2 and maybe Madden 2005, I didn't play much Madden on the previous gen either. I pretty much played the 2k series on my Xbox or DC, previous gen.

I haven't seen a play like that yet. I guess we'll see if I do.

[ajb3313]

I've had several instances where one defender will hit a runner, who will then enter an animation where he's stumbling an off balance but still upright. Meanwhile, the guy I'm controlling will run over. But because the runner is in the midst of an animation, I can't hit him. The result is a defenseless, off balance runner who gets a free pass from additional hits that would surely take him down. And in this particular animation the runner almost always regains footing, so you basically have to run up to him and then wait for that to happen if you want to have any chance at all.

[Only1LT]

Quote: Originally Posted by bkrich83

Now that I think about it, other than Madden 2001 for the PS2 and maybe Madden 2005, I didn't play much Madden on the previous gen either. I pretty much played the 2k series on my Xbox or DC, previous gen. I haven't seen a play like that yet. I guess we'll see if I do.

You may not see it.

I'm very vocal with my criticism of Madden, but I have played a ton of Madden in my lifetime. If you skipped most of Madden the last decade, it doesn't surprise me that you haven't seen it. And you may not, because again, it happens very rarely.

Anyone that has played Madden extensively over the last decade though, HAS seen this happen. Whether they noticed it or not. Of that, I'm sure.

[bkrich83]

Quote: Originally Posted by Only1LT

You may not see it. I'm very vocal with my criticism of Madden, but I have played a ton of Madden in my lifetime. If you skipped most of Madden the last decade, it doesn't surprise me that you haven't seen it. And you may not, because again, it happens very rarely. Anyone that has played Madden extensively over the last decade though, HAS seen this happen. Whether they noticed it or not. Of that, I'm sure.

Yeah I am not doubting it. Just haven't seen it, but that's probably because I just haven't played much Madden..

Now when Madden 2001 came out for PS2 I played the crap out of that. Actually I bought a PS2 so I could play it. I may have even seen it then but that was like 8 years ago, and I am old, so I can't remember that far back.

[Only1LT]

Quote: Originally Posted by ajb3313

I've had several instances where one defender will hit a runner, who will then enter an animation where he's stumbling an off balance but still upright. Meanwhile, the guy I'm controlling will run over. But because the runner is in the midst of an animation, I can't hit him. The result is a defenseless, off balance runner who gets a free pass from additional hits that would surely take him down. And in this particular animation the runner almost always regains footing, so you basically have to run up to him and then wait for that to happen if you want to have any chance at all.

Lol. That's funny. I've seen this happen too. Usually the runner falls down though, but it's still frustrating that he stumbles forward for another 5yds and no one can stop the runaway train. Especially if it is 3rd or 4th down.

I do the same thing also. I will hang back and not try to engage a runner that is already in an animation. I learned long ago that trying to gang tackle is asking for trouble to the tune of having everyone on the ground when the runner, inevitably it seems, breaks the one tackle.

[ajb3313]

Quote: Originally Posted by tazdevil20

This all goes back to my core issue with Madden and why I got away from Madden while there was competition. Tiburon does not build on their games. They turned, what was a good idea/concept in Pro-Tak, into a complete fail because they let a whole development cycle expire without making a single enhancement to it. I don't know many other sports game franchises that do that that are successful. All of the successful ones really embellish a feature and complete it and polish it. Those who know me around here know that I am a really harsh Madden critic. I have openly said that Madden 11 is a good game on the field, and I still feel it is. Much improved. However, it is things like this that garner my criticism from year to year and have resulted in my buying the game only once since 2001. Once Tiburon realizes that it's the lack of polish in most of their game elements that prevents them from being respected, and they actually complete something in a dev cycle, they will be respected again. Until that happens, it's going to be the same situation with angry customers. Tackling is such a basic fundamental to football, and this is the ONLY NFL football game intended to simulate the real game. It's not really acceptable to have this problem, especially when it's been done before by other games, and it's been done before by Madden. It's been noted by several others that there are problems on defense, however, by fixing this problem, they could alleviate half of the issues. Unfortunately, like I said earlier, this renders pro-tak a completely useless feature. It's purely aesthetic. How the developers could be playing the game and testing it and not see this glaring issue is very concerning and upsetting.

It's not even that they just don't polish their existing programming, it's that it sometimes vanishes completely. Case in point: muddy uniforms. They obviously programmed it into the game a few years ago. Why did that coding get removed? I mean, if something is horribly faulty and you can't manage to fix it, get it out of there. But I think you'd have trouble finding someone who'd say pristine uniforms in the fourth quarter of a heavy rain game is better than uniforms that are too mucked up. But mark my words: at some point down the road muddy uniforms will come back and they'll tout it as a new addition.

Same thing with gang tackling. They've had it before. Adding it back in now and promoting it as a new "Pro-Tak" system is insulting. They could have been polishing that feature all this time so that today it functions really well. But now they've put themselves back at the starting gate with it.

[ajb3313]

Quote: Originally Posted by Only1LT

Lol. That's funny. I've seen this happen too. Usually the runner falls down though, but it's still frustrating that he stumbles forward for another 5yds and no one can stop the runaway train. Especially if it is 3rd or 4th down. I do the same thing also. I will hang back and not try to engage a runner that is already in an animation. I learned long ago that trying to gang tackle is asking for trouble to the tune of having everyone on the ground when the runner, inevitably it seems, breaks the one tackle.

When I say he spins and loses balance, I'm not even referring to where he stumbles forward for an extra 4 yards. You know how if you hit stick someone and they shake it off, they kind of bounce to the side or sometimes spin around while they regain their footing? That animation. I mean, I understand my hit stick missed. But while that dude is out of sorts is the perfect time to come in with another guy and knock his head off. But you can't.

[SA1NT401]

The tackles and they way they are handled along with other annoyances have made me decide to shelf this when/If a patch comes out. There are just way too many issues with the AI in general and the WIDE OPEN concept on offense is definitely there.

Some have gotten better games...But even tweaking sliders to the advantage of the CPU while nerfing myself has still led to every game being a shootout unless i play 6 mins qtrs without accl clock.

Gonna take a break...Really frustrated.