Next Gen Football...where's the "fun"?

[Vikes1]

Quote: Originally Posted by IStillDoWhatIDo

The game of football, x's and o's, is not exciting at all times. GREAT HB's average 4 yards a carry. Bad offenses punt often. Good defenses play field positioning. Big plays and big hits are infrequent. The loss that EA takes making the game purely SIM is that you lose that constant, non-stop fun-factor. True sim individuals get their "fun" out of gameplanning, strategy, skill, and outsmarting the opponent. Some games may be ugly. EA is caught in between a mix of the two. They claim to be moving towards SIM, but they are still stuck in the gaming world of fun" and what it creates is a half-sim product that is distorted by fluke/cheese occurences because it's not a finished product.

Great insightful post.

In my opinion....hammer meets nail head.

[BezO]

Quote: Originally Posted by IStillDoWhatIDo

The game of football, x's and o's, is not exciting at all times. GREAT HB's average 4 yards a carry. Bad offenses punt often. Good defenses play field positioning. Big plays and big hits are infrequent. The loss that EA takes making the game purely SIM is that you lose that constant, non-stop fun-factor. True sim individuals get their "fun" out of gameplanning, strategy, skill, and outsmarting the opponent. Some games may be ugly. EA is caught in between a mix of the two. They claim to be moving towards SIM, but they are still stuck in the gaming world of fun" and what it creates is a half-sim product that is distorted by fluke/cheese occurences because it's not a finished product.

I guess some feel simulation=relistic results. I disagree. IMO, simulation is how the game looks and plays, not the results. Just like a real game, backs need not average 4 ypc for the game to be realistic. No one says "cheese" when Fitzgerald jumps over 2 DBs for a catch.

IMO, simulation refers only to the gameplay, not the difficulty. When EA learns to separate simulation and difficulty, everyone can potentially be satisfied.

[zeroice]

Quote: Originally Posted by Glenn33

I spent the past week playing both Madden 2003 and NFL2K5 and I had a revelation as to why I think we have as a community have been so "lackluster" [to say the least] about Madden on the next gen. Quite frankly it's just not "fun". Gang tackles, DB AI, animations, etc. are really important to making an accurate sim football game. But somewhere along the line football games have lost their soul for pretty graphics and 60FPS. To put it more succinctly - Madden is boring. After all - it is a game we are playing As such, here is my list of things from the last gen of sports games that I desperately wish would make it's way back into our beloved Madden Franchise: injury cutscenes - Injuries on the football field are a big thing and they should be treated as such. I would like to see trainers come out, the players wincing in pain and the announcers commentate on it. Truth be told - I would love it we could go old school and have the emergency vehicle come on the field like it did back in the day with Madden ;D Play by Play - I won't lie...the announcing team for 2K football is my favorite all time like ever. You know why? Because they actually sound like when they recorded their lines they were in the same room and actually had some chemistry. The problem with these "big" name announcers is that 1) their time is money and very limited and 2) they are not actors..so they sound like they are reading from a piece of paper. Play by play is like officiating - you don't pay attention to it when it's good but when it's bad it sticks out like a sore thumb. Late hits - I swear - nothing eases the pain of getting waxed royally in the game [by the CPU or your buddy] than a late hit. Yes I know it cost 15 yards..but it sure as heck felt good PLEASE NOTE - YES I know the No Fun League made Madden take this out of their games...but a man can dream can't he? Chain gang - In 2K5....when you have a play that is close to the marker - the indicators for the down all dissapear off the screen....the refs come out to measure..and for about 7 seconds you have to watch the animation and wait. Those 7 seconds are pure joy as you wait in anticipation. We need the chain gang back..it's just not football without them. Player Chatter - Players talk trash..alot of it. I want to hear it on the field. The 2K baseball series was really good at this as well as 2K3 (my favorite with regards to trash talking) Fans - Remember them? The screaming 75,000 or so people in the background? We need to see their reactions to big plays, touchdowns and momentum swings. I wanna see the banners, the naked fat guys, and emotional little kids in the stands. NCAA football (and Madden for the matter) used to have alot of these scenes...bring 'em back please! Player Reactions - A great example would be NBA 2K series....the players on the bench react realtime to big shots and big plays during the game. In NBA Live 09 and MLB 08 there are several cutscenes with players reactions to plays that happen. Not just the players on the field/on the court...but the bench players reacting as well. Lets see that! In 2K5 after touchdowns you see cutscenes of players high fiving, QB's talking on the phone with the coordinators and players saying "hi Mom!" That stuff is great! Coach Reactions - If I screw up..or do great for that matter..I wanna have my coach let me know one way or the other. Can we motioncap the Bill Cowher growl or the John Gruden squint? Touchdown celebrations - I wanna chose them. In 2K5 I could choose what celebration I did [from a list of like 20 different ones]...and I didn't have to go to a certain blue spot on the field to do it either. I can't remember exactly which hockey game it was - but there was one where you could choose your celebration as well. Let me have my own TO/Chad Johnson moment..don't prescript it for me :P A little over the top - YES...YES - I know it's a football sim. But again - we are playing a game..have a little fun with it. Don't make every animation so stiff and by the numbers. Have a ridiculous over the top tackle every once in a while, a circus catch, or a goofy looking running animation thrown in. My personal favorite was NFL 2K on the Dreamcast where the tackler would literally pick up and body slam the guy with the ball. Now I know these don't compare to fixing glaring gameplay issues (so spare me the hate post). But the fact is - if the game isn't fun then all that good stuff will get overlooked because people won't want to play this game over the long haul. That's my 2 cents anyways.

Well put, i agree for the most part....