Madden NFL 15 News Post

Madden NFL 15 Gauntlet Mode Teaches You How to Play Football, Get Better at Madden

08:56 AM - July 11, 2014 by jpdavis82

EA Sports released a brief Madden NFL 15 video featuring the new Gauntlet mode yesterday. A couple of sites have posted their previews this morning. If any more show up, this post will be updated.

Madden NFL 15 Wants You To Be A Student Of The Game (Game Informer)

Quote:


	The Skills Trainer mode features 48 new drills, but beyond teaching you the controls of the game, they go deeper to teach you core football concepts like recognizing defenses. "When we playtested," says designer Danny Doeberling, "we found out that people call cover 2 defense, people call a smash route. They have no idea what that actually is. So, we're actually taking them through how to recognize a cover 2 defense. And once you actually see it on the field, we'll have you attack that. When you're calling different pass plays, what actually makes up a pass play? What's a cross? Outs? We basically teach you the foundation of the coverages, and we also [teach you] the most common pass concepts. We basically teach you football." Accordingly, there are also drills in the mode where you call red zone plays, for instance.

Madden NFL 15 wants to teach you about football to make you a better Madden player (Polygon)

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	As Cam and I crafted this vision to take the game toward 'more realistic and more authentic,' what we realized is, if we don't teach people how football works, they're never going to understand this game," Dickson continued. "That's really why the Skills Trainer mode was developed, is because I basically pitched that we need a tutorial system if we're going to keep going in a realistic, authentic direction.

Game: Madden NFL 15Reader Score: 6.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 42 - View All

Madden NFL 15 Videos

Member Comments

# 61 HC0023 @ 07/12/14 09:06 PM

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Originally Posted by JaymeeAwesome


	That voice actor is Carolina's Cam Newton.

JAYMEE it was my voice i just had a really bad cold that day LOL

# 62 CM Hooe @ 07/12/14 11:01 PM

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Originally Posted by juduking


	Keep tooting that horn brother. You are the exact type of gamer that EA and Tiburon loves because they can just shovel incremental improvements down our throats and call it a day.

I admit, I enjoy playing Madden NFL as it currently exists and I have no issue spending $60 on it each year. That's why I'm here on OS, to talk about Madden and play against other people in Madden. I never realized enjoying a video game was such a problem or made me a lesser person.

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	I do respect your opinion

Yet you effectively just called me a proverbial "sheep" in the previous sentence. You sure? I don't mind if the answer is no, I appreciate honesty more than anything.

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	I just fail to see the light of honest improvement from Tiburon when they have a very nasty track record that proves otherwise.

Then don't buy the game and don't pay attention to it if it doesn't meet your standards? I don't see what's so hard about that.

# 63 yardz23 @ 07/12/14 11:03 PM

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Originally Posted by bucky60


	As long as the drills are ruly optional and not required for CFM progression. This Gauntlet may be outside of CFM, but if the same type of drills are going to be required for CFM progression then we lose "optional". I'm all for options and I don't mind them adding the Gauntlet. Additions are not to be complained about as long as the additions are truly optional and don't force us down an unrealistic path. I don't care at all about this Gauntlet, but I don't at all mind them adding it. I see this as something that many others will probably enjoy.

Different strokes I guess, but I'd actually prefer these drills to progress specific skills to whom exactly I want in CFM as opposed to just playing 11v11 full game against a generic practice squad (who often prove to be better than my starters).

Mainly because i think its nice to not have to play a game in between playing games in the regular season.

# 64 CM Hooe @ 07/12/14 11:21 PM

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Originally Posted by bucky60


	You said Fun doesn't require realism. I say that's very subjective.

Pointless semantic bickering. The statement "fun doesn't require realism" does not rule out "realism is fun".

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	Did you seriously just compare things that don't actually exist and are based on fantasy (sci-fi, fanatasy, medieval), to things that actually exist (sports)? Of course things based on fantasy doesn't require realism. Last I checked traveling to other planets in spaceships to meet aliens doesn't actually exist. So of course those genres aren't going to be based on realism. You're trying to make comparisons between incredibly dissimilar genres. I'm talking about SPORTS games. Based on something that actually exists. Specifically Madden. Why are you even mentioning genres so totally unrelated to Madden on a Madden board?

We're talking about video games, they all ultimately fall under the same umbrella. Once again, to use your words, fun is subjective. What you seemingly aren't allowing is that that statement necessarily goes both ways.

A sports game doesn't have to be realistic to be fun. Last I checked, NFL Blitz and NBA JAM are two of the most loved sports franchises to ever exist. To a lesser extent, people enjoyed Mutant League Football (which has high fantasy content), The Bigs, NBA / NFL / FIFA Street, and so on. Hell, some people want a Quidditch video game on account of how popular Harry Potter is. These games aren't realistic whatsoever, but I know virtually no one who would ever claim that those two games weren't enjoyable. Maybe you didn't enjoy any of them, in which case I hope you didn't waste your time with them, but many people did. Thus I've provided basis for the fact that sports games don't need realism for people to enjoy them and your blanket statement doesn't apply for everyone en masse. Fun is subjective, your statement doesn't apply to everyone.

As to rope this back around to being remotely on-topic, there's no problem with Madden's gauntlet having "boss battles", even though they aren't going to begin to approach realism. It's adding a gameplay scenario to a game purely for the enjoyment of the challenge using a set of already really solid gameplay mechanics. Why is there anything wrong with that? Does it really matter that the gauntlet isn't "sim"?

# 65 DNMHIII @ 07/12/14 11:25 PM

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Originally Posted by yardz23


	Different strokes I guess, but I'd actually prefer these drills to progress specific skills to whom exactly I want in CFM as opposed to just playing 11v11 full game against a generic practice squad (who often prove to be better than my starters). Mainly because i think its nice to not have to play a game in between playing games in the regular season.

Holy cow did you actually play an entire practice game instead of one of the other 9 choices that you had to choose from to get XP?

# 66 jpdavis82 @ 07/13/14 01:10 AM

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Originally Posted by jbd345


	How is trying to teach gamers football strategy not honest improvement?

For some the track record distorts reality. If you see things as they are now and not as they were in the past, the improvement is clear with Madden 15. Some people here have to see the things they want to see before they will give EA credit, that's fine, but don't sit here and criticize those of us who see things with a here and now vs the way things were back then mentality. I see most people on here are starting to understand the shift that has been put in motion, for others I think 16 will have that effect.

These games will never be perfect and we will never see everything we want, but a clear effort and improvement each year will yield great results over time. Lets all hope Cam and his team are around for many years and we can actually see this vision that he and Rex have for authentic simulation football fulfilled.

# 67 JaymeeAwesome @ 07/13/14 08:47 AM

It does kinda irk me that tuner sets have been an add-on for a few years and were never used. Don't understand why they haven't done any.

# 68 reyes the roof @ 07/13/14 12:57 PM

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Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	I've hammered on this on here. More than anything else, sports games' biggest failing to this point has been accessibility and teaching its users how to play. This is evident in the fact that no gaming-oriented people around me will even attempt to play Madden, NBA 2K, The Show, or even WWE with me, because I'm a veteran of sports games and a hardcore sports fan in general. I know how to play these games, while they are helplessly behind with few to no in-game mechanisms available with which to catch up. This is a necessary step for expanding the pool of potential customers for the Madden series, particularly as the NFL's popularity continues to grow. One they probably won't see any credit for on this message board, but - assuming the mode is well-executed - one they deserve credit for nevertheless.

I downloaded demos for the EA NHL game and the NBA 2K game a few years ago because I heard they were great games, but I don't follow the sports at all. I know the general rules of the games, but there is just way too much detail in these games for me to be able to play them without them having a detailed manual that explains every feature and mode in the game

# 69 yardz23 @ 07/13/14 01:15 PM

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Originally Posted by DNMHIII


	Holy cow did you actually play an entire practice game instead of one of the other 9 choices that you had to choose from to get XP?

Of course not! I'd play the shortest one possible because it was so boring.

It wasn't any different than the core game and I thought it was pretty boring.

# 70 yardz23 @ 07/13/14 01:22 PM

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Originally Posted by bucky60


	You're right, different strokes. I prefer realism (more realistic control) over things that are arcade and unrealistic. I prefer to have to hire a mix of coaches with a mix of attributes, draft the right players, and setup a practice schedule (both individual and team drills) and have players progress the way football players progress in real life. I don't like my teams progression based on me deciding who runs through drills to force progression on just certain players and force how much progression. A more realistic progression makes me feel immersed in the game (like I do in The Show and NBA2K) the other just constantly makes me feel like I'm sticking a quarter into a machine. I'm very glad for you if you end up with what you want. I understand why you would want it and I would be upset if it were taken away from you. But I also want an option for something much more realistic.

We don't know the extent to how this plays into cfm. For all we know it could be implemented just like how the drills are in NBA 2k.

I want all those the coaching options you mentioned above as well. I'm just saying honing your skills in specific areas through concentrated drills is a more fun way to do "practice mode" in between games

# 71 juduking @ 07/13/14 02:49 PM

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Originally Posted by MajorSupreme


	Remember when we had paper guides that came in the cases?

Those were the days, weren't they? Getting a Novel on how the game worked with my brand new game, man I really like that as something I could read when not playing a game I really enjoyed.

# 72 CM Hooe @ 07/13/14 02:59 PM

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Originally Posted by yardz23


	We don't know the extent to how this plays into cfm. For all we know it could be implemented just like how the drills are in NBA 2k.

The one thing we know about CFM right now is that the drills from the Skills Trainer replace the contrived practice scenarios with respect to player progression via practice. That's already been stated by the developers outright and was revealed at E3 and in the media released last week on Skills Trainer + Gauntlet.

From the GameInformer.com piece published Friday:

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	Skills Trainer minigames will also appear in your weekly game prep in career mode where you can assign players to drills to earn XP.

# 73 NicVirtue @ 07/13/14 04:08 PM

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Originally Posted by jpdavis82


	These games will never be perfect

We are not looking for perfection. We're looking for excellence. It's achievable. It has been achieved. It's time for football gaming to get there again...or for EA to just simply finally get there.

# 74 DNMHIII @ 07/13/14 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	The one thing we know about CFM right now is that the drills from the Skills Trainer replace the contrived practice scenarios with respect to player progression via practice. That's already been stated by the developers outright and was revealed at E3 and in the media released last week on Skills Trainer + Gauntlet. From the GameInformer.com piece published Friday:

Personally I think it'll be a nightmare if they don't have at least on skills option for across the board roster progression with a drill like keep the lead from the 25 practice mode for example. If you have to complete drills for each individual player or position it'll be so time consuming especially in a league where some guys have limited time.

# 75 CM Hooe @ 07/13/14 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNMHIII


	Personally I think it'll be a nightmare if they don't have at least on skills option for across the board roster progression with a drill like keep the lead from the 25 practice mode for example. If you have to complete drills for each individual player or position it'll be so time consuming especially in a league where some guys have limited time.

I don't think it's going to be so much like that as much as you have to pick and choose who to improve in a given week. I.e. either A - you get one QB drill, one RB drill, one WR drill, etc. (i.e. mini-camp in Madden 2004); or B - you get X number of player drill slots to use a week (IIRC this is how the 2K basketball games handle individual player drills).

I doubt you'll see a situation where you have to run 53 player drills a week. Could be wrong, but I'm with you that that would be very time-consuming and overdoing it.

# 76 CM Hooe @ 07/13/14 06:13 PM

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Originally Posted by bucky60


	Doesn't every player in the NFL try to improve? Don't coaches try and improve all players on the team every week? I guess I'll just have to wait til their CFM blog comes out and see if they have a mechanism for realistic progression for all players and maybe this is just a way to boost certain players at each position through these drills. Seems to me like having that extra bonus progression through drills would end up killing progression balance with the other CPU teams. That's if Madden starts off with balanced progression between user and CPU teams. They haven't been the best at that either.

The current practice implementation in Madden 25 - which as I understand from the released blogs is being replaced outright, though we'll see when the blogs come out - is already imbalanced in favor of the user in a one-player setting because the CPU never attempts practice whatsoever. Ergo the user's players get somewhere between 40,000 and 48,000 XP that CPU teams' players never see (given 2000 XP for a successful practice for each player each week from Preseason Week 1 potentially up through the Super Bowl).

If the CPU continues to ignore practice - I assume they will - limiting the number of players the user may practice in a given week actually works to correct the current game design imbalance by greatly reducing that massive XP gap.

# 77 wordtobigbird @ 07/13/14 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	If the CPU continues to ignore practice - I assume they will - limiting the number of players the user may practice in a given week actually works to correct the current game design imbalance by greatly reducing that massive XP gap.

Bingo Madden has a lot of small yet killer problems that we won't know about until someone gets their hands on the game. if they haven't fixed this, still a huge problem in CFM. If SIM stats/CPU decisions haven't been improved CFM still won't have depth. I don't expect to know about any of this until late August.

# 78 CT Pitbull @ 07/13/14 07:55 PM

Im interested to see how deep they go with this. I know the game. I've played it in real life. So its probably not going to do much for guys like me who LIVE football.

I do think its a good idea as long as they stay true to making Madden a complete simulation in the future. Ive said before they(EA/Madden) have their foot in BOTH buckets right now. The have a few simulation aspects but they still have more weight in the arcade bucket. It has made some nice strides in the last few years, its just at a snails pace.

They need to get the game to the point where the gamer is FORCED to play football, not play "Madden" football. I would say this mode would help those who lack basic football knowledge and maybe if more people actually knew how to play football, they're would be less players learning to cheese/glitch/ and exploit the AI.

# 79 CM Hooe @ 07/13/14 08:20 PM

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Originally Posted by bucky60


	That was/is a huge problem with M25. If they're attempt to fix this is to greatly limit the users team progression, then I STRONGLY feel that is a bad solution to the problem and in fact no real solution at all. Feels like breaking one area to offset the broken part of another area.

There's a big difference between a balancing issue and broken game design. You can't just conflate the two so brazenly.

In fact, assuming that it's one of the two implementations I suggested above I see it as adding an interesting gameplay choice for the player (who to use in the drills each week) and working to partially rectify the balancing issue all in one fell swoop (greatly reducing the amount of XP available to the user team which the CPU never has an opportunity to receive).

# 80 reyes the roof @ 07/13/14 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	There's a big difference between a balancing issue and broken game design. You can't just conflate the two so brazenly. In fact, assuming that it's one of the two implementations I suggested above I see it as adding an interesting gameplay choice for the player (who to use in the drills each week) and working to partially rectify the balancing issue all in one fell swoop (greatly reducing the amount of XP available to the user team which the CPU never has an opportunity to receive).

It's just mind blowing to me and I'm sure a lot of other people too that they would ever implement a progression system where the user has the ability to gain XP in practice, and the cpu teams aren't simulating practices and having the same opportunity to gain XP

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