When Josh Looman was brought on board to become senior designer for Madden 12, I was excited. Looman's previously work on NFL Head Coach 09 and several past generation versions of Madden, including 05, were generally well-received. The end result was a game that was stable, fully-featured and with reasonably intelligent CPU AI. Customization was left in the hands of the end-user which was represented by custom playbooks, fully functional gameplay sliders, and the ability to fully edit rosters. In other words, the game could be tailored to an individual's liking. However, Madden 13 put an end to much of what made 12 such a great game with the introduction of "Connected Careers Mode". While the reasoning behind making such a change seemed solid, the end result was a game filled with bugs and removed features. Madden 25 has seen even more egregious errors, including disappearing players. Attempting to lump both offline and online players in the same boat has not proven to be successful and, in my opinion, truly marked the end of the road for those wishing to play this game "sim-style" offline.
In Madden 12, everything worked. While custom playbooks took some patience, they were a welcome addition and finally usable in franchise mode. The CPU AI was vastly improved and reacted to what the user was attempting to do with regards to playcalling. While I didn't use the gameflow feature, the gameplan experience was welcome. Having plays grouped for situations and having them come up at the appropriate times was a great addition if used properly.
Each team had it's own dynamic gameplan which made each game you played against the CPU feel quite different. The Giants would pound the ball and attempt to beat you with playaction while the Dolphins relied heavily on running the ball from the wildcat formation. The addition of dynamic player performance allowed for the top players, especially those on a hot streak, to really stand out above the rest. Throw at Revis in tight coverage and it's likely 6 points the other way.
Complete player editing was possible. As a Cowboys' fan, you could draft a quarterback and name him Troy Aikman if you wished. You could also change names and numbers of players on opposing teams. Ratings could be altered as well. In other words, the user had complete control of roster editing.
Sliders were fully functional and allowed the user to fine tune the game. By tuning the user side sliders only down to a total of 295 points, gameplay was as realistic as possible for a sports video game, without seeing warp-like animations from the CPU.
While Madden 12 was not a perfect experience, free agent bidding was poorly designed, it was a very playable and enjoyable game. So much so that I am still playing it. For that, I am truly thankful to the folks over at EA.
The reason "Connected Careers" was born was so that both offline and online players would equally benefit from any feature additions and improvements. In theory, a great idea. However, the reality is that this game plays offline far different from online. Horrible playcalling from the CPU resulted with regards to offline franchise mode. Also, the removal of some of the slider groups made the game even harder to tune. The secondary, especially with regard to zone defense, is highly ineffective. Players appear rooted in the middle of their zone responsibility and have little awareness to receivers coming in to their area.
A number of problems with the saving of gameplay settings have also been reported. The simple ability to have situational substitutions save is also missing. Who wants to have to constantly set their substitution packages every single game? Simple common sense was sorely lacking here.
Player name editing has been removed. Why? Well, the good folks at EA decided that you and I have no imagination whatsoever and introduced fake twitter feed comments and background stories to enhance the role-playing experience of the game. With regards to presentation, wouldn't it have been more important to simply make sure that the correct team was shown celebrating a Super Bowl victory?
I believe that the direction that EA has decided to go has alienated the offline franchise mode player. While Josh Looman's hard work on Madden 12 makes it still an enjoyable game even now, EA's vision for the future of this series is clear. It's all about online, fluff, and an arcade play style. Being that Josh Looman is the current lead designer of "Connected Careers" mode, it's a direction I didn't see coming. As a result, EA hasn't seen my money coming for the past two editions of Madden.
Some claim that EA Tiburon is simply lazy. With no competition, it has been claimed that the initiative to create a solid game just hasn't been there. I would somewhat agree, however I do think it's more about simply being misguided as to how important the actual gameplay experience is for hardcore NFL football fans. Prettier graphics promised in future generations of this game, background storylines, and a new feature added here and there will not make up for the fact that these appear to be invoked at the expense of the core, fundamental basics that have been the foundation of this game, going back to the last generation.
Was Madden 12 king of this generation? Well, we will all have our opinions on that. One thing we're all likely to be in agreement on is that this series has been a major disappointment throughout the entire current generation as a whole.
In Madden 12, everything worked. While custom playbooks took some patience, they were a welcome addition and finally usable in franchise mode. The CPU AI was vastly improved and reacted to what the user was attempting to do with regards to playcalling. While I didn't use the gameflow feature, the gameplan experience was welcome. Having plays grouped for situations and having them come up at the appropriate times was a great addition if used properly.
Each team had it's own dynamic gameplan which made each game you played against the CPU feel quite different. The Giants would pound the ball and attempt to beat you with playaction while the Dolphins relied heavily on running the ball from the wildcat formation. The addition of dynamic player performance allowed for the top players, especially those on a hot streak, to really stand out above the rest. Throw at Revis in tight coverage and it's likely 6 points the other way.
Complete player editing was possible. As a Cowboys' fan, you could draft a quarterback and name him Troy Aikman if you wished. You could also change names and numbers of players on opposing teams. Ratings could be altered as well. In other words, the user had complete control of roster editing.
Sliders were fully functional and allowed the user to fine tune the game. By tuning the user side sliders only down to a total of 295 points, gameplay was as realistic as possible for a sports video game, without seeing warp-like animations from the CPU.
While Madden 12 was not a perfect experience, free agent bidding was poorly designed, it was a very playable and enjoyable game. So much so that I am still playing it. For that, I am truly thankful to the folks over at EA.
The reason "Connected Careers" was born was so that both offline and online players would equally benefit from any feature additions and improvements. In theory, a great idea. However, the reality is that this game plays offline far different from online. Horrible playcalling from the CPU resulted with regards to offline franchise mode. Also, the removal of some of the slider groups made the game even harder to tune. The secondary, especially with regard to zone defense, is highly ineffective. Players appear rooted in the middle of their zone responsibility and have little awareness to receivers coming in to their area.
A number of problems with the saving of gameplay settings have also been reported. The simple ability to have situational substitutions save is also missing. Who wants to have to constantly set their substitution packages every single game? Simple common sense was sorely lacking here.
Player name editing has been removed. Why? Well, the good folks at EA decided that you and I have no imagination whatsoever and introduced fake twitter feed comments and background stories to enhance the role-playing experience of the game. With regards to presentation, wouldn't it have been more important to simply make sure that the correct team was shown celebrating a Super Bowl victory?
I believe that the direction that EA has decided to go has alienated the offline franchise mode player. While Josh Looman's hard work on Madden 12 makes it still an enjoyable game even now, EA's vision for the future of this series is clear. It's all about online, fluff, and an arcade play style. Being that Josh Looman is the current lead designer of "Connected Careers" mode, it's a direction I didn't see coming. As a result, EA hasn't seen my money coming for the past two editions of Madden.
Some claim that EA Tiburon is simply lazy. With no competition, it has been claimed that the initiative to create a solid game just hasn't been there. I would somewhat agree, however I do think it's more about simply being misguided as to how important the actual gameplay experience is for hardcore NFL football fans. Prettier graphics promised in future generations of this game, background storylines, and a new feature added here and there will not make up for the fact that these appear to be invoked at the expense of the core, fundamental basics that have been the foundation of this game, going back to the last generation.
Was Madden 12 king of this generation? Well, we will all have our opinions on that. One thing we're all likely to be in agreement on is that this series has been a major disappointment throughout the entire current generation as a whole.
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