Define "built from the ground up."

[Skyboxer]

DISCLAIMER: I have not played Madden 360 so all statements are based off of video clips and screenshots


It doesn't really matter what it means. What matters is what have they done to make the game better and advance the genre. The only thing I've seen so far is better graphics and that's it. Same blocking, running etc.. as before.
They are the sole supplier of NFL games now, so now more than ever they should be critisized when they rehash the same stuff over and over.
I just get really tired of all the excuses made for EA.
All we've heard the last few years was "The engines too old , they've done everything they can"
Now a "built from the ground up" game comes out on a next gen system and it's the same exact game on the field with better graphics IMO.

I'll be anxiously awaiting some impressions on 11/22 from people I trust to be honest and not googled eyed over EA every year.

[Vince]

Quote:

DISCLAIMER: I have not played Madden 360 so all statements are based off of video clips and screenshots

Well there you go.

We will know for sure in a 7 days.

[taylor34]

I agree with Skyboxer. Whether they wrote the game from scratch or ported is irrelevant. All you need to look at is the end product and whether it's better than the one before. Think of it this way--I could have an essay graded at 90%, and was told to make it better. I could rewrite it and possibly make it better, but time constraints might force me to make it shorter. Or I could try and correct the mistakes I know are there and improve the weak sections. The end result is the same, and should be graded accordingly to what I had turned in previously. This is the way the new 360 games should be graded too--look at the previous xbox versions and see how they compare, and what tradeoffs there are. 'Not having enough time' isn't an excuse you can use with your schoolwork, and it doesn't hold any water here either.

Taylor34

[adembroski]

From the Ground Up, I presume, means that the meat and potatoes of the game engine was rebuilt.

Tiburon has a wealth of animations saved up over the years, to not reuse them would be stupid. No point in reshooting animations you already have? So, if we see the same animations, it's going to look like the game plays about the same... but that's not necessarily the case.

Another thing to keep in mind: Perhaps the engine was completely rebuilt, but it was rebuilt by the same guys who built the last one

[rudyjuly2]

Quote: Originally Posted by adembroski

From the Ground Up, I presume, means that the meat and potatoes of the game engine was rebuilt.

You would assume that but I think its a very false statement from EA. The code has to be re-written from scratch but the logic doesn't. With all of the AI coding that goes into a football game, its EXTREMELY doubtful they wrote it all from scratch and didn't use the logic from previous versions. The proof is that every single attribute from the old Madden versions is staying exactly the same in the 360 version. Why wouldn't they add a pass rush rating for defensive lineman, separate accuracy ratings for QBs (short/deep), etc if it was really built from the ground up? They didn't change any ratings because they just took the same code/logic and wrote it for the 360. Certainly they have tweaked things but no way this game engine was rebuilt entirely from an AI and gameplay perspective.

Edit: I should say that it would be stupid to build completely from the ground up. If it was so easy to create a football game from scratch, any company could try a generic title to compete. This is one main reason Madden has remained on top. No reason to have major changes as Madden has been extremely successful but most people wanted the physical interaction (suction blocking) between players to change/improve significantly.

[JayBee74]

Quote: Originally Posted by rudyjuly2

No reason to have major changes as Madden has been extremely successful but most people wanted the physical interaction (suction blocking) between players to change/improve significantly.

You'd think the improved animations, graphics and processing power would help to eliminate this problem.

[grunt]

I just think EA lied. From the ground up means what EA did with their baseball game. You knew MVP was a different game. MVP should be an example of ground up and continue to fine tune the game to the extent that it was one of the better sport titles of the year.

[forensicd]

Built form the gorund up is so hard to define. If you have the same people build the same exact thing over again, chances are its going to be the same darn thing. When you dont try to add anything new, chance are you will in essence have the same product, with only a few changes to the original product. Thats the problem im having right now with EA. Somehow, someway, someone needed to look at madden at ea and say, where can we improve? What needs to be done to make this game go to the next level? Obviously, no one at EA did that. No one there realized that gang tackling is needed, or suction blocking and mario running is not. I dont understand the thought process that went into rebuilding, but when you rebuild with the same flaws, what in the world is the point? I cant imagine a car maker come out with a brand new model, and yet include flaws to the design of the car the critically hurt performance in the previous model. We dont hold game makers to this.