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MVP
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Re: Official Wishlist Thread...
Ok, since I bought this game the day it came out, I've had a love/hate relationship with this game. Sometimes I think it is the greatest game ever, other times I want to smash it into a million pieces. These are the things I would like to see next year, in no particular order:
1. Defense, Defense, Defense - With default slider settings, the defense in this game is absolutely brutal. There are way too many 2 play, 80 yard drives by the computer especially, but also for the human. After using Jistic's all-madden slider settings, I feel like I have to put drives together most of the time, but the CPU still has too many 1 or 2 play drives. When a player is in a one on one situation, it seems like they always miss the tackle, and the CPU is off to the races. There needs to be better help from the AI on defense. They just don't seem to have much of a nose for the ball most of the time.
2. Slow players are a little too slow, make them faster - If you control a QB that is not named Michael Vick or Donovan McNabb, you can understand this. I usually play with the Chiefs and Trent Green. I think the longest scramble I have ever had in the game with him is 3 yards. It feels like I am in freaking quicksand when I try to scramble. I like it better in NCAA where even if you have a pocket passer QB, you can still make a scramble occasionally. Bottom line - Trent Green doesn't run the 40 in 7 seconds in real life, it shouldn't take him that long to run that far in real life.
3. Owner mode attendance - Stadiums should almost always sell out for opening day. I open up my season at Arrowhead with 70% attendance, what the hell is going on? I was at Arrowhead this year for opening day and it was packed full, 78,000 strong. I like the idea of building fan support, but I would rather have it be a situation where you have to win to keep fan support. By the end of the season, if I'm 4-11 heading into my last game, then I expect the stadium to be half full, not at the beginning.
4. Draft Class Imports - Last year I thought the draft classes weren't good enough when imported from NCAA Football. This year I think they are a little too good.
5. Player progression - People have complained about this for two years, ever since the progression became stat driven. A lot of rookies don't get a huge amount of playing time, and get their chance to make a mark in 4 wr sets, dime packages, or special teams. If your rookies in this game don't start and put up good numbers, they don't progress well, plain and simple. There needs to be some kind of automatic progression for young players that ride the pine until they hit a certain age, and then have it be based on stats. If it's already like this and I am just not noticing it, then never mind.
6. Crowd/Atmosphere - Crowds at NFL games are never as silent as they appear in this game. NCAA '04 took a big step forward this year with their crowd interaction, Madden should do the same. Seeing as how Madden is the bigger game for EA, I'm surprised it is trailing NCAA in this category.
7. Commentary - I've yet to see good commentary in a Madden game, so I'm not asking for too much. But can Madden ever make a reference to what is going on on the field? Just once? Also, Al Michaels never sounds very excited. I think Brad Nessler does a much better job with the NCAA series.
8. Ratings - I like the ideas being thrown around this board about not showing ratings, or at least presenting them in a more realistic way. I'm not sure how well they would actually work if that idea was implemented, so if something like that is done, the option to turn it off or on would be nice.
9. Special Teams Play - My main concern is the kickoff return aspect of this game. There is no wedge that forms, and there is no blocking whatsover most of the time. You can occasionally make a nice return but for the most part, you will just be starting at the 20 yard line. Punt returns are better, but could still use a little tweaking.
Overall, Madden '04 was a big step forward this year, and would have been a huge leap if it had not been for the lack of defense. I've seen people refer to Madden as "Big Play Football" and I must admit, I cannot disagree with them. The defensive back AI was a major change for this year, but it seems like tackling and overall play awareness was not improved upon at all. If anything, it is worse than it was before. However, almost every single other aspect of the game was improved upon. Perhaps with a different set of sliders, I can find some that are to my liking. Overall Madden '04 is a very good game, but there is still much room for improvement, as there is any game.
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12-19-2003, 12:32 PM
