[Illustrator76]

My take on this new semi-debate is this: I know for a fact that there are people that are getting tired of falling victim to these overused OS "buzzwords"; it's like being in High School all over again. The hot word to use now is "agenda" (or it's variant "agenda post") taking the place of the now defunct buzzwords "earmuffs" and "placebo effect". I understand that there are people that come here on OS that really do have a motive to be sarcastic idiots and then leave, but there are guys such as myself (and others) that are afraid to be constructively critical of Madden because we will be quickly accused of having an aforementioned "agenda". I know it has been said that this isn't the case, but it sure does not feel like it, and I am far from the only one that feels this way. I also have to agree with others and say that it sure doesn't seem like the guys who are OVERLY defensive about Madden and want to shoot down every negative comment get the same treatment as everyone else.

With all of that being said, regardless of who is taking over the Madden franchise or what EA's plans are, the game needs a lot of work from a gameplay perspective. I am an admitted 2K8 lover, but that is because it is flat out a better game, not because I hate EA, I actually loved Tiger Woods 12, and NHL 11 this year and I am thinking about purchasing Fifa as well. After seeing all of the Madden videos, I am probably NOT buying Madden 12. The game graphically looks awesome, but the Defensive/Offensive line play is absolutely abysmal (along with other areas) and there should be no excuses for it not being properly addressed in years. With me being a Lions fan, I have zero to look forward to on defense because of the ineffective line play.

As I stated in another post: Pretty much every coach in the NFL says that games are won/lost on the Offensive/Defensive line (also known as "The Trenches"), yet this critical area of football is totally broken in Madden, and has been for years. Bullrushing is weak and generally ineffective, the Defensive Linemen are not aggressive enough in general, the 4-3 Defensive Ends play like 3-4 Defensive Ends in that they look to ENGAGE the Offensive Linemen instead of going around them and try to kill the QB (effectively making the 4-3 defense useless, that's why everyone in Online Franchises play a 3-4 Defense), Defensive Linemen (especially) don't have the proper technique when using their moves, Offensive Linemen (Centers especially) "warp" to pick up guys who are about to kill the QB, Offensive Linemen routinely miss simple blocking assignments or just flat out block the wrong guy in general, Defensive Linemen get CONSTANTLY pancaked at the line-of-scrimmage....the list goes on and on.

I think people get so upset and angry over this game and the people at EA (Phil, Ian, etc...) because even things as simple as ball trajectory are (and still seem to be) broken. Super-Linebackers weren't the main reason why too many passes were getting swatted when they shouldn't be, the ball trajectory was, and no one noticed that? Or it was too hard to fix that? I am sorry, but I have a very hard time believing that. Again, I think that is where the hardcore fans are getting upset; it is one thing to say it is too difficult to fix major areas of the game with the snap of a finger, but quick-snapping, ball trajectory, super-Linebackers and the other "smaller" issues that begin to build up should be able to be squashed pretty quickly. I simply can't buy excuses for this stuff when games way older than Madden are STILL doing fundamental football things much better than Madden. Then the problem is that when new things do get implemented in Madden, they are not implemented in the correct "football" manner (see the new "Bullrush" animation for NCAA this year), which again leads many gamers to believe that the people making Madden simply do not know what they are doing.

Again, I can see why people get frustrated and upset when it comes to Madden and the people behind it. I have never personally attacked Ian, Phil or anyone else at EA and I will continue to be that way. With that being said, for football's sake, I hope that whoever is in control of the franchise from here on out will do their best to work on the CORE football issues plaguing Madden, and focus less on all of this fluff that seems to get pushed more and more each iteration (e.g. Gameflow, Online Team Play, Madden Moments, etc...).