Madden 09: Tackling Engine Blog & Video

[JBucc]

That was great. The finally got the look of the game right. Good player models, good lighting, good textures and stadiums. Definitely the best looking football game to date.

[LBzrule]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

If that is the case I know you will be like a hog in mud heaven cuz that's been your pet peeve for years Lbz.

Well if there is no suction blocking that means I can finally take my place in the middle of the D rather than playing Safety and yeah I'd be a hog in mud heaven if I can have fun playing in there.

[Nza]

Are the 'camera shakes' in the game, or did he add those for emphasis? they actually make a considerable impact IMO and without them the video wouldn't be the same.

I'm not meaning to be negative but I'm not seeing the differences very easily. Can someone sum them up? At slightly after half way through, Andre Carter tackles Vince Young with that ball strip attempt/potential 15y face mask penalty tackle that has been in the series since Madden 05 or so. How is this different now? and if it isn't, why is it in this video?

All the animations are nice, but I see nothing there that tells me this is a different animation system. I see little to no real gang tackles. I see absolutely no example of the engine handling momentum and velocity like a true engine should. I see no rag doll. I still see defenders bounce off tackles (e.g. Brandon Jacobs vs Pats about a quarter through). Every animation there could have been pre-rendered. For all we know, they just made a whole heap of new pre-determined animations and improved the system to load more suitable ones, as well as break animations when a new one is trying to be instigated. This is fine, but it isn't an ideal tackling engine.

When EA can happily proclaim "never see the same tackle twice" in Madden, then I'll be impressed. That marketing line is the true calling card of a proper animation system by today's gaming standards and funnily enough is starting to emmerge in most EA games that actually have competition.

[djordan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Nza

I'm not meaning to be negative but I'm not seeing the differences very easily. Can someone sum them up? At slightly after half way through, Andre Carter tackles Vince Young with that ball strip attempt/potential 15y face mask penalty tackle that has been in the series since Madden 05 or so. How is this different now? and if it isn't, why is it in this video?

Co-sign..thats what im saying....

[stmark]

Here comes the complaining give it a rest you dont like it dont look at it or buy it enjoy the video they improved a system in one year give credit where its due no video game will ever be perfect......live in the now wooooooooosaaaaaaaa

[adub88]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

My favorite part of the entire article: We have also eliminated the "explosion" phenomenon when the game couldn't find a tackle animation in time and characters bang off each other and both fall down. YES!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!! And I just watched the video - dang, it does look great, this could be the most responsive Madden in a long time from looking at those clips. No suction either from those clips, hopefully the whole game is like that (esp. on defense too).

I was about to say the same thing. Thanks goodness to the end of players falling like bowling pins.

[Skyboxer]

Looks beter than 08 for sure. I still see a few "shoulder tackles" in the video but overall it looks better

[Nza]

Quote: Originally Posted by stmark

Here comes the complaining give it a rest you dont like it dont look at it or buy it enjoy the video they improved a system in one year give credit where its due no video game will ever be perfect......live in the now wooooooooosaaaaaaaa

But did they improve the system? I want to believe it, I'm just not seeing it. Can you identify the improvements for me?

It seems to me they just added a bunch of new animations *shrug*. They look good, but the guy is acting like Madden 08 didn't have procedural animations, which it did. So what is new about the system?