Ideas that haven't been explored in football games

[CM Hooe]

Cross-posted at WhoNeedsRules, but the topic is certainly pertinent to this message board as well.

Recently, I've not really been compelled to play either NCAA or Madden by my lonesome (my online NCAA dynasty being the only exception); I sorta feel like over the years the games have become just a bit stale. While football will always remain football by nature, the way that the football video game is played, whether it be Madden, NCAA, 2K, or what have you, effectively hasn't changed in years. By comparison, other sports games have come along tremendously in the next-gen era, particularly the EA games NHL 09, FIFA 09, and skate.; all of these have drastically evolved over the past five years or so in terms of how the user plays the video game representation of the given sport (compare the 09 NHL and FIFA games to their past iterations, or skate. to Tony Hawk, for example).

With nothing to do at this late hour of the night but suffer from insomnia, I pose this question: what can be done with football video games right now that could fundamentally change the gameplay experience and add to that experience at the same time, on and/or off the digital field?

I've a couple of my own ideas, but I'm hoping to read a few responses before I ramble.

[solson]

For me I got bored with Madden and NCAA (Although still a great game) because I got sick of out smarting the CPU run teams. Trading with them and out coaching them on the field just gets old. The solution is NO MORE AI. Play against humans and you get a better experiance.

That is why I was excited to find OPERATION SPORTS!! They have a great online football game. Of course it does not have multi-million dollar animation, but the you compete, trade with and gameplan against real HUMANS. No more will get a star player for a handful of scrubs. Here if the trade does not help BOTH teams there is no way it will get accepted. Also all the coaching logic comes from the human coachs, no more AI patterns to exploit.

I LOVE IT! It is very addicting.

[CM Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by solson

For me I got bored with Madden and NCAA (Although still a great game) because I got sick of out smarting the CPU run teams. Trading with them and out coaching them on the field just gets old. The solution is NO MORE AI. Play against humans and you get a better experiance. That is why I was excited to find OPERATION SPORTS!! They have a great online football game. Of course it does not have multi-million dollar animation, but the you compete, trade with and gameplan against real HUMANS. No more will get a star player for a handful of scrubs. Here if the trade does not help BOTH teams there is no way it will get accepted. Also all the coaching logic comes from the human coachs, no more AI patterns to exploit. I LOVE IT! It is very addicting.

Eh, that wasn't exactly my intention with this topic. I'll agree that playing against a human opponent is a more enjoyable experience than playing against an AI opponent, but I'm looking for ideas to fundamentally change the way that the user interacts with the football game, and for the better.

For example, in NHL 09, the game has evolved from simply controlling the players with the directions and using face buttons to pass and shoot, to using the right stick to have a great amount of control over the player's stick, particularly in shooting. It's a much more organic way to interact with the game, and it makes scoring a goal much more rewarding.

[rudyjuly2]

I'll say it here too - I think we need a defensive camera for that side of the ball. Rather than always watch from behind the QB, why not have a camera that shows a defensive perspective? As long as that camera is set about 5 yards behind the player you are controlling or behind the furthest defensive player so you can see things, I think it would make the game very different. Maybe the camera should be shifted and zoomed more to the player you control rather than just where the ball is.

Everyone always talks about the offensive side of things when they play from my experience. Whenever you read impressions, it's all refering to offense. the run game, inside vs. outside runs, passing game, man vs. zone (when you play offense) with very little attention to detail to the defense. Furthermore, many people here simply play with a DL all the time and just swith to players as the ball gets passed or the play breaks away from them.

If EA made playing defense more fun, the game would be a lot better. Most don't like playing with a CB since the camera isn't centered on them and it's hard. EA really needs to consider providing more position specific controls to these guys. If you play as a DL, the R-stick should have a bunch of moves mapped to it - rip, swim, spin, etc. If you play as a DB maybe the R-stick should have hand check, jams, back pedal mapped to help cover guys better.

Just my two cents.

[Shinyhubcaps]

I think it would be cool to direct-switch to a receiver and run the route yourself if you chose to do so... otherwise, icon passing would still be in effect.

I disagree about the defensive camera, simply because I wouldn't like either seeing behind the cornerbacks downfield or getting a close-up look at the defensive line. I'd much rather be able to do both on one camera.

[bvb24]

pass protection has always been broken. That's why everyone just takes mobile QB's and roles out every play. The idea of a passing pocket is lost on EA. Every pass play should have a designed drop and if you drop 8 yard back to throw a play that only has slant routes you should be seeing pressure from the outside because the line would be blocking for a 3 step drop. The same should apply to rolling out on non rollout plays, that should end in a sack the majority of the time. But that would make the game harder for the casual fan so you will never see it. I just wish the game played more like football.

[CM Hooe]

Bringing my own thought into the thread now:

One idea I'd like to see further explored is that of a passing mechanic that abandons the passing icons. One such way of doing this might involving using both a single button to pass the ball, with either the force of the button press or the length of time the button is held down determining the strength the user places on the pass, and the right analog stick to target an area of the field where a receiver may run a route (for example, holding the right stick straight up would target the deep post area, straight left would target a medium out route, and so forth). This would allow for true touch passing, and open up many possibilities for differentiating quarterbacks in the hands of the user, IMO.

It's been brought to my attention that an old XBOX football game, NFL Fever 2004, touched on this idea with a system called Read and Lead; seeing as I never played that game, how did that work? Was it implemented well?

[Stroehms]

Quote: Originally Posted by rudyjuly2

I'll say it here too - I think we need a defensive camera for that side of the ball. Rather than always watch from behind the QB, why not have a camera that shows a defensive perspective? As long as that camera is set about 5 yards behind the player you are controlling or behind the furthest defensive player so you can see things, I think it would make the game very different. Maybe the camera should be shifted and zoomed more to the player you control rather than just where the ball is. Everyone always talks about the offensive side of things when they play from my experience. Whenever you read impressions, it's all refering to offense. the run game, inside vs. outside runs, passing game, man vs. zone (when you play offense) with very little attention to detail to the defense. Furthermore, many people here simply play with a DL all the time and just swith to players as the ball gets passed or the play breaks away from them. If EA made playing defense more fun, the game would be a lot better. Most don't like playing with a CB since the camera isn't centered on them and it's hard. EA really needs to consider providing more position specific controls to these guys. If you play as a DL, the R-stick should have a bunch of moves mapped to it - rip, swim, spin, etc. If you play as a DB maybe the R-stick should have hand check, jams, back pedal mapped to help cover guys better. Just my two cents.

I agree. And I love your idea of the defensive side camera.