[Big FN Deal]

I guess this is the best thread to get this off my chest since it's a collection of all the M15 videos thus far. I can remember a time when I didn't pay much attention to the nuances of video game football yet that has changed dramatically over the years. Part of it is due to consoles becoming more powerful, naturally making graphics become better and more realistic and another part of it is having nuances in other football video games, lacking or missing in Madden.

Even though I'm tired of the piecemeal approach to improving Madden every year, I could stomach if they just focused on animations and animating football for M16, in regards to gameplay. No new gameplay mechanics or fixes, just a whole dev cycle for the gameplay team to replace and add animations.

I'm not just talking about the running, general movement, penalty, position and player specific animations that should be a given but every nuance and transition they can possibly animate. There are a host of reasons Madden seems so soulless and one of the key ones I have been noticing more and more each year is the lack of mundane football animations.

In videos of M15, once the ball is snapped there is an absence of things like defenders making varied contact with receivers, hand fighting, hand checking, passing players off, incidental contact like feet getting tangled, players off balance, stumbling, frustration, players sucking wind, players walking gingerly after an awkward fall or favoring a body part, confusion and determination, just to name a few.

Every play in Madden should fool us into thinking it's organic and dynamic, making each game, no matter Play Now, CFM or MUT, seem unique. As it stands right now, if you've seen one Play Now game of Madden, you've pretty much seen every game, no matter the mode, just with different surroundings and apparel.