TNT, I don't know how many people are arguing that Madden isn't innovative. The problem is with their implementation. Very few of their innovations work properly... or stay in the game. It looks like you understand that too when you say:
Let's see what happens when I take apart your list:
- On the decision front, we can choose personnel, alignment, positioning, motion, and assignments on offense and defense. We had more decisions on PS2 era Madden that have yet to make it back in the game.
- 9-man Gang Tackles were innovative. Never existed in any game prior to Madden 10. Twas enough to win the technical achievement award at E3 that year. Where is it now? Instead of getting it to work better/properly, they scrapped it in favor of a new tackling system.
- Lead Blocker Control was also innovative. Useful but little used, this innovative feature was a nice idea that was removed to make room for something else. It was really a band aid for the poor blocking logic in the game. Now that they have improved the run blocking logic, they don't need it. The Blocking logic isn't perfect, but it's a lot better. +1 for EA.
To continue, they had a really nice presentation tool they
severely underutilized and then scrapped. I can't remember what it was called, but in Madden 09, when you made a bad play and had this feature on, Chris Collinsworth would run the play back, tell you what you did wrong, what play you and the defense ran, and what you likely should have done. Now, this tool could have been modified to improve the overall presentation of the game. Had they changed it from that"X-Men" war room/Madden Virtual trainer visual effect to more of a classic tellastrator look that the real John Madden used to use it would have been nicer. Also, it could have been used to highlight good plays, including good defensive plays. Instead it is in the garbage bin of forgotten ideas.