Madden's Current Gen Has Not Been a Success

[ch46647]

Quote: Originally Posted by Segagendude

Unfair comaprison, I know......but...... When I take a look at The Show, Madden seems like a PS1 game still in developement. I agree with this blog 100%. I just hope Ian and co. can FINALLY change this.....

I have been a Madden fan since 92' and used to follow this board religiously since 07' hoping that Madden would return to the game I loved as a kid. Unfortunately, I have all but given up on Madden for this generation. I have not played "The Show" much but I play NHL 11 all the time. The gameplay in NHL 11 is LIGHT YEARS ahead of where Madden is at the moment. Other sports games like "The Show", FIFA, NBA 2k11, and NHL are absoulely amazing when compared with Madden.

I put in Madden 11 the other night for the first time since September and was disgusted by how poor the gameplay and presentation are. I am not a Madden basher by any means but anyone who grew up playing Madden like I did has to be ashamed by the current offering. Madden has literally nothing to hang their hat on at the moment. The gameplay and presentation are bordering terrible, and the franchise mode has not been touched in years and is an absolute joke. The only thing you could say is acceptable in Madden are the graphics. However, the fact that the players move like robots, and after the play is dead they just wander around the field with no real direction or reactions make the graphics go to waste.

My .02

[hitstreak13]

Sigh- I remember the days of having to choose between gameday, madden, NFL 2k, and blitz. Each game brought on a unique perspective/experience. I highly doubt we will ever see that again. Good analysis by the way.

[fistofrage]

Operation Sports always gives it high scores.........

[guaps]

Quote: Originally Posted by Nab_Impervious_XII

EA's FIFA rarely gets competition, but I feel like that game has already maximized it's reality (It's not tremendously hard to simulate people running with the occasional tackle).

You must never have heard of Pro Evolution Soccer (PES). FIFA had a hard time keeping up with PES on the last-gen machine in terms of innovation, which got PES get a bigger market share with every release. This in turn forced EA to create a super game engine for the current generation consoles.

But as regards to the positive about competition in video games, FIFA and PES are prime examples, because they constantly copy and improve each others features/idea. Delivering two fantastic soccer games each and every year.

[Nab_Impervious_XII]

Quote: Originally Posted by guaps

You must never have heard of Pro Evolution Soccer (PES). FIFA had a hard time keeping up with PES on the last-gen machine in terms of innovation, which got PES get a bigger market share with every release. This in turn forced EA to create a super game engine for the current generation consoles. But as regards to the positive about competition in video games, FIFA and PES are prime examples, because they constantly copy and improve each others features/idea. Delivering two fantastic soccer games each and every year.

True, I know about PES. I'm talking about recently though. They've been subpar for the past 3-4 years and for the most part, they've given EA little to no competition this generation. (To PES's credit though, EA has similar exclusive agreements with the top tier tournaments - so they're partially limited). But my point was that this relative lack of effective competition doesn't anger me as much with Soccer because I feel the 'locomotion engine' is already an accurate depiction of soccer. Players pass the ball most of the time, and tackling can be pre-scripted (without the need for a real-time engine like euphoria) because it's so straightforward and doesn't happen very often.

Locomotion is only 40% of the equation in American football. The tackling engine and "player interaction" are the parts that need real innovation. And it's a huge task that requires huge risks to overcome. And I'm not sure if EA will take those risks without the necessary competition.

[Only1LT]

"What's even crazier is that Backbreaker actually looks more like the 2006 'next-gen' Madden trailer than the real Madden."

I thought that was hilarious.

[KingV2k3]

I am somewhat surprised and pleased to see this article on OS...

I agree with the majority of it's content and tone, but have steered away from this sort of critisism of the title, because I figured all it would do is get me a "yellow card" or "pinked"...

I also, have to admit that I'm "part of the problem", because as disappointed as I have been with the product since '05, I've purchased it every year since...

I don't balme Ian and Phil, there intentions are solid, they just have to report to an entity that values "New" features over core (sim, offline) gameplay...

What vexes me is the fact that it loses customization and desireable features (like the control over the sim stat engine and CPU gameplay through Coach Philosophy adjustments a la '05, custom playbooks in franchise, run / pass commit) to focus on Gameplanning, which may have been a success if they didn't break it with their own patch...



I don't buy Hockey or Soccer games, so I'll take OP's (and others) take on those, but as a guy who buys The Show every year, NBA2k most years and was blown away by this year's NCAA, the Madden franchise has to admit that in overall quality, it's barely scraping into the Top Ten for Sports titles, despite sales and it's "Household Word" factors...

The skeptic in me realizes that folks "phone it in" at work and school in every walk of life and are rewarded with passing grades and job security (for simply showing up), but this sort of work ethic would, as a freelancer, just kill my ability to make a decent living...

That being said, I'm going to enjoy my (highly flawed, but enjoyable) Bills fanchise...

Like I said, I'm my own worst enemy for folding every year on my planned Madden embargo...

Ugh...

[Gagnon39]

This is truly sad to me. I used to absolutely love Madden and NCAA Football. They were my most anticipated games of the year. I would play them together, alternating between NCAA and Madden. I would usually complete 5-6 seasons and sometimes maybe more, importing my draft classes and having an absolute blast.

If I was to think, back in 2005, that I would be at a point where I did not even buy Madden anymore, I would have had to question my own sanity. However, that day is definitely here. I haven't bought a Madden in a while, let alone play it for more than a week or two.

As far as the article, I thought it was interesting for a couple reasons. Number one, I agree Madden has not been a success. However, I don't think that a sports series must be "innovative" to be a success. I'd be perfectly happy with a company developing a stellar core engine and simply building on it year, after year, after year. There was no need to scrap the Madden 2005 engine that already existed. EA did it anyway and started over from scratch. Good idea, in theory I guess but it didn't work.

I think the best example of a solid core (in gameplay) and consistent anual improvements in MLB The Show. That game has gone from average to superb without HUGE changes in gameplay. I say that with an understanding that there has definitely been improvements, don't get me wrong. But there's not been (at least that I remember) any kind of ground-breaking improvement in gameplay over the past 3-4 years. All the changes and improvements have been subtle. Ironically this year is the first tiem I can remember SCEA incorporating a major change with their anolog controls. However, the user will still have the old options for hitting, leaving what wasn't broken, in tact.

Whatever the case may be, football fans have suffered enough. It's time for NFL games to be worth purchasing again. I don't know what exactly needs to change but getting rid of exclusive licenses would be a start.