Madden NFL 15 News Post

Three Keys: Madden NFL

08:38 PM - December 5, 2014 by DustinT

Madden NFL 15 has had a pretty solid year, with many regarding this year as one of its finer efforts in quite some time. More than three months into my time with Madden, I tend to agree.

However, as with all sports games, there are still some areas the game really needs to key in on next year to have a successful season next year. Here are three keys for the Madden NFL series for 2015:

1. Improve the Commentary and Audio: This is a huge sore spot for the series. The camera angles, movements, etc., are actually pretty good this year � but the commentary is just so terribly bad.

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Game: Madden NFL 15Reader Score: 6.5/10 - Vote Now
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Member Comments

# 21 evanreyes @ 12/06/14 04:38 PM

In CFM, can there please be Andrew Lucks, John Elways, RGIIIs (as a prospect) and Sean Taylors? There are occasionally players that are like an 82 or something, but there is never that once in a generation prospect. Make those prospects, and have news stories that follow them almost every week of the season. Also, there have been no A speed QBs or TEs, and I check every draft.

# 22 bukktown @ 12/06/14 06:24 PM

#1. CPU QB A.I.
#2. A.I. Play calling

# 23 phenom2311 @ 12/06/14 08:27 PM

I don't know how someone can have 3 keys of improvement for this game without mentioning the TERRIBLE physics. Ball carriers with the ability to cut back/cut against the grain are useless in this game. This makes every single play predictable.

# 24 StefJoeHalt @ 12/06/14 08:31 PM

Game plans in Playbooks need complete rework..CPU teams need to be able to use the whole playbook..currently they only use prob a 1/3 of each

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# 25 Jershy88 @ 12/06/14 09:48 PM

My three things...
1. Play Madden 2002 Franchise...replicate then bring to the modern era with realistic progression, downloadable draft classes
2. Play NBA 2K15...replicate the graphics quality...I don't care that there are 22 players on the field vs 11 on the court; this is next gen...act accordingly
3. Play MyGm in NBA 2K15...add all the amazing things about this to #1

# 26 JKSportsGamer1984 @ 12/06/14 10:22 PM

Eliminate morphing/player clipping with players limbs fusing together & players walking right through players laying on the field after the play (I can't stress this enough).

Clean up the physics & the overall sloppiness in the game especially after the play.

Make physics matter at all times. Improve player avoidance & intelligence after plays.

Give us real sidelines with player names on jerseys & player accessories.

Give us cheerleaders & mascots.

I know gameplay is most important obviously but all of these things I mentioned are sorely needed in Madden to improve the immersion of the game.

# 27 Mdnghtmgcn1 @ 12/06/14 11:54 PM

My three keys, if I could choose just three (trust me, there are plenty more that I and many others listed in the Madden 16 wish list):

1. Robo CPU quarterbacks on All Pro and All Madden difficulty and just the difficulty in general of the game "out of the box". No reason we should have to look forward to tweaking sliders so much every year to make the game somewhat realistic. Earlier Eli Manning was like 7 of 7 passing against me, I sacked him twice in a row (sacks in immediate succession of each other against CPU is another problem) and he got injured. In comes a cold Ryan Nassib, who goes like 5 of 5 and moves the Giants right down the field as if it doesn't even matter that Eli got hurt. I, and many others, can recreate this issue 9 out of every 10 games. Surely the guys at EA would play their own game and realize at least some of these issues, or no?

2. Defenders need to stop swatting down passes without even looking back to see the pass coming their way. This has been an issue for years. Even worse is the fact that the wide receivers usually just sit back and watch the defender, who basically run the receivers route PERFECTLY alongside them when in man coverage, make the play on the ball that they didn't even see coming towards them.

3. Make CFM more interesting. Allow us to create our own draft boards to keep things organized. Give us the option to mix up the divisions. Allow CPU vs. CPU games. Fix auto subs. If my team has a retractable roof stadium and I have a home game, allow me to choose whether it's open or closed, don't just have it closed every single game by default. On and off the field issues should affect players and team chemistry.

Seems like a lot to pack into just three suggestions, but obviously that's because there are tons of things to choose from.

# 28 tril @ 12/07/14 09:12 AM

The Madden team needs to key in on more than three things. but if I were to choose
1. penalties,
2. fix the passing game-improve the dynamic lead passing. overhaul the entire passing game
3. make user catch an option on the controls. I believe they had this back in 06.

everyone makes valid suggestions for Madden. Based on all these suggestions, Madden would have to scarp more than 50% of their current build. so all these suggestions arent happening.

no more excuses about how an EA sports title has turned the corner. we've been giving EA this pass much too long.

they need to just get it right next year!!!

# 29 spankdatazz22 @ 12/07/14 11:46 AM

As someone that's only purchased Madden once in the past 9-10yrs, I'd say the area the game needs to improve the most is animation quality/player distinctiveness - I'm surprised no one's really said that as needing to be THE top priority. The players have little to no individuality to them imo. I haven't frequented this forum much but it's a mistake for people to think those of us that are old NFL2K/APF fans are simply "haters" - I was a Madden fan before I became a NFL2K/APF fan. I simply shouldn't be able to pull out video of a generations-old game like APF and have players look/feel more realistic than they do in Madden today. I'd buy Madden if I felt it were a worthy purchase; it's the animation quality more than anything jumps out at me the minute I see the game being played.

As long as the gameplay aspect of the game was copasetic I could put up with shortcomings in other areas. I've seen the game make improvements in areas such as presentation and franchise options, but imo it's still really lacking in animation quality. I'd list that as priorities 1, 2, and 3.

# 30 jfsolo @ 12/07/14 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spankdatazz22


	As someone that's only purchased Madden once in the past 9-10yrs, I'd say the area the game needs to improve the most is animation quality/player distinctiveness - I'm surprised no one's really said that as needing to be THE top priority. The players have little to no individuality to them imo. I haven't frequented this forum much but it's a mistake for people to think those of us that are old NFL2K/APF fans are simply "haters" - I was a Madden fan before I became a NFL2K/APF fan. I simply shouldn't be able to pull out video of a generations-old game like APF and have players look/feel more realistic than they do in Madden today. I'd buy Madden if I felt it were a worthy purchase; it's the animation quality more than anything jumps out at me the minute I see the game being played. As long as the gameplay aspect of the game was copasetic I could put up with shortcomings in other areas. I've seen the game make improvements in areas such as presentation and franchise options, but imo it's still really lacking in animation quality. I'd list that as priorities 1, 2, and 3.

The animation quality is actually pretty solid this year, IMO. No it doesn't have that 2K fluidity, and with the speed of Madden's gameplay, I doubt that it ever will have that visual aesthetic that VC football games had.

The A.I. flaws, for the CPU QB's, KR, PR and for WR's for both User and CPU, as well as the lack of Penalties and still too accurate QB's are simply crushers.

I really, really like the game this year, and would of course like it even more with the improvement in animation quality that you're speaking of, but if those issues listed above were still the same, I would still have stopped playing it when I did.

# 31 stos5363 @ 12/07/14 06:10 PM

Players need traits to make them feel like individual player

Player loco motion needs improved like a cross between Madden 25 and 15

Qb footwork needs to be improved and needs to factor into throws (throwing off your back foot should make throw inaccurate. pocket formations need to be improved to go with that .qb shouldn't be able to drop back 15 yards.

Lastly ...TECHNIQUES NEED TO MATER FOR DB'S. Let's us pick which one of our db's plays the other teams top receiver and let's us set how we want to play him. If I see t.y. Hilton can't get off press that good. I should be able customize coverage for all of my dbs so that whenever ty is on the field he gets bump and run coverage.i know u can do it know through player audibles but that would make it easier. We need be able to also be �ble to use the trail techniques.

More animations need to be added as well I never see any animations that wow me . when I play 2k I'm wowed even months later into the release madden needs more WOW moments.

# 32 stos5363 @ 12/07/14 06:24 PM

Madden is an improvement this year but it could be better as you've said before here are my ideas and feedback Rex . I think presentation and graphics are phenomenal and made a big leap this year. When I saw the QB run outs using CBS presentation I jumped off my sofa yelling because its one of things I've wanted for a while. I know some would say its not important but I disagree its the small things that count. The only thing that ruins it for me is that the stadium transforms when you start a game. Maybe we can get actual footage from around the stadium & city like NHL 15 does.

I would love more in depth commentary from Jim and phill (Ie. Player in jury's, pro bowl selections players have had, player roles in the game plan etc.). Crowd reactions are better this year but the energy from stadium to stadium should vary. When we play in Seattle the fans should be going crazy and crowd noice should be at highest. If I'm driving down field with 2 minutes to go on the road I should feel the intensity and pressure of the moment.

Also cleats for lineman should be updated Nike has a couple pair I see almost every lineman with and would love to see under armor cleats for Cam Newton.

Gameplay wise I would love to see authentic zone blocking where the lineman actually take there hedge steps. Zone chucking looked good but can be improved I think most people mentioned realistic penalties as well. We need more qb throws as well I would love to be able through back shoulder passes. That would go with db and wr interactions which are non existent I want to be able to fight for the ball in the air as a wr or db .

Weight,strength and height needs to feel like it matters during tackling & blocking as well. Also can you bring back DB assignments ? I want my best corner on Megatron every play! Lol. Goaline blocking should look like sundys as well everyone stands right up which i hate instead of making a pile for the hb to jump over.

Hurry up offense should have more of a negative impact on teams that don't run hurry up offense the hole game. Players should have more traits to distinguish them properly weather there hidden or not. I believe madden 08 had a great idea with the weapons traits players had.

Ccm needs to be more immersive let us sign guys to the practice sqaud who we don't want to go to another team or develop a not ready rookie with potential. Let us Build our own stadiums from scratch, build and draft for an expansion team ie. Madden 2002.. Coaches Scheme's should matter as well, and positively and negatively impact players attributes If I sign a free agent qb the week before a game and start him he should struggle because he hasn't been with the team long enough to learn our playbook this would make us choose our backups wisely and ad to realism. But those are a few of my ideas Rex hope you see this my man. You guys are so close to a truly great game !

# 33 Bigolenutz @ 12/08/14 02:17 AM

Three very valid points to work on for EA, just wanted to throw in my two cents on the matter.

1. Improve the Commentary and Audio: Multiple broadcast teams would be nice especially for CFM atmosphere, but I'd settle for the commetary actually matching up with whats happening on the field.

2. Make DBs and WRs actually interact: An absolute must for next year, and needs to tied into game planning, see CFM.

3. Connected Franchise Needs A Soul: CFM needs more than a soul, it needs a dedicated team that gets the NFL and all the on & off field things that makes it a sport we all love, teams worth Billions of dollars don't have owners worrying about hot dog prices & looking for an overdraft to pay free agent bonuses, owners are the 1%, even small market teams can pony up bags of cash to sign a impact player.
Enough ranting, some bullet points for making CFM an owners experience going forward.

Offensive & Defensive Co-Coordinators, Position coaches, Scouting department, General Managers with their own progression and traits.

Schemes - Players/Coaches should have familiarity rating or scheme fit rating with each scheme, Int/IQ rating to make adapting to a new scheme easier for some players and a struggle for others, coaches / players also improve their rating by playing/coaching in the scheme. For players physical attributes can be factored into the ratings as well, so a slow, low football IQ, bad tackling player won't be a 99 in the Tampa 2.

Stats / Player info - having the right info at the right time, contract details in the player cutting screen etc, on a side note menu optimization is a must, changing menus feels like it on a PS2 some times.

Dump the mini games give me a practice mode that's not tied into player progression so I can choose if I want to spend the extra time working on my team or not. Where I can choose what I want to do, Offense only, Offense vs Defense, Starters vs Backups etc.

Player Progression, let this tie into your organization & coaches, player traits and happen organically in the background.

Game Planning - You've got millions tied up in a shut down corner put him to work how you want too, shutting down one side of the field or all over you opponents #1 or #2 receiver, given some of the tandems out there now.

Player Stats - Correctly recording stats and displaying them, simulated stats that correlate to the QTR set length, QB hurries, thrown to for receivers & DB's (Actually record the stats for user games).

Contracts - More control over structure, team cap forecasting.

Draft - Draft board, make you scouting team matter with their player rankings, no more points of common knowledge like 40 time, just have the EA team watch the draft process, I here it's on TV these days.

Presentation - Less is more, don't give me a bunch of alternate Jersey posts, a bullet point from last weeks games, key injuries etc, but keep it about the league. Multiple commentary teams are a long shot, maybe if they splash out a bit of that Ultimate Team money it might happen.

Moving Teams, New Stadiums etc, Make it more about negotiating deals, eg. leveraging moving your team to another city to force the local city to pony up more cash towards that brand new stadium, Levis stadium was a four year process from approval to opening, so none of this instant build carry on.

Hall of Fame - Five years of retirement before eligibility, enough said.

Special Teams - Let me choose my special teams players.

Long Snapper - Time for some love, give them their own rating and depth chart position, I'm tired of cutting my long snapper in pre-season the first year of a CFM and taking a cap hit.

Waivers - A key component required for the next item to be implemented.

Practice Squad - Also know as the place Arian Foster started his NFL career from, CFM needs this with full waiver integration, and opposing team poaching.

# 34 Mizzou24 @ 12/09/14 02:10 AM

Cfm-

Combines, pro days, send scouts to players and get teports instead of points with letter grades give them hours and traits of skills. Working gm mode. Practice squads, ability to draft from a cpu or phone app that madden has for online leagues. Draft boards. Coaching staffs.. Use something to make a weekly game wrap up, bring the ncaa concepts in to allow players to see how other teams are doing throughout games. A dynamic progression system get rid of the xp crap. Fix the regression of players... 30 year old WRs don't go straight to retirement home speed ratings. Please for the love of god formation subs and the ability to match up defenders with certain wrs. Rivalries!!!! Where are they!? I feel like there is no significance to any of the big rival games. Make players have true dynamic real life style traits and tendencies.. More in depth contract negotiations.. Players that are loyal to the franchise reworking contracts to keep other players from having to leave etc. More of a real life feel to the draft.. Why can't they add announcing to this.. Have the actual draft podium with the commish coming out to announce picks and when a player goes stats for the player pops up certain achievements etc.. If ur gonna keep the confidence system at least make it reset the confidence somewhat from season to season players don't come into a new season saying well I suck packing my bags up for the year right off the bat.

Game play-
Realistic no huddle, OL and dl interaction upgrades.. I would like to see WRs fight for the ball and knock down picks.. One of the most aggravating things ever. Oh and if a defended is a top press defender why is tavon Austin blowing right off his press non stop???? Little things like this make ratings matter... Also would love if defenses played more realistic.. Hate seeing too defenders get smoked in man coverage or zone coverage in years past.. Just fix the issues and stop making new issues. It's always two steps forward and one back with madden.. So many more things I could mention.

Mut-
Jk.... Please stop focusing on this as the soul of madden that's my third wish lol.

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# 35 playajay98 @ 12/09/14 05:44 PM

My Sincere apologies if this has already been said. I cannot take advantage of playing Connected Franchise as a player (esp on defense) if super sim continues to be broken. By broken, I mean that there is no late game clock management on offense or defense. Example, I play SS on defense. Its frustrating when you have a 1 point lead and your offense has the ball with less than 2 minutes to go and the other team has no timeouts and instead of downing the ball, they actually run plays, take off no time on the clock and then punt the ball, giving the other team another chance to come back and win. This happens a lot more often than it should. This shows up in regular games as well. I got beat in an exhibition game that i played through and tried to supersim the last 1:30 of the game since i didnt have any more time outs and was surprised i got the ball back with 33 seconds left. Lots of great things in this years game but this is bad and has been this way for the last few years.

# 36 mathteacherct @ 12/16/14 12:28 PM

Penalties definitly need fixing. I have not seen a pass inteference call yet. I have seen some roughing calls, players being tacked out of bounds!

I would love to see CFM start with a draft (be a player), OC, DC, or HC (be a coach). In either sense, being drafted or hired as opposed to just choosing a team. Would make working your way up the ranks more dynamc. They did this with be a player years ago and it was great!

I would also agree withthe comments about moving a team to ANY location and creating the logo and color scheme. They used to do that too. I could put a team in a city near my home (Richmond or Norfolk) and create their own logo to "fit" the location.

Game play have improved, but the experience has gone down as the MUT has become the focus of the game creators. That's my 2 cents!

# 37 jeremym480 @ 12/16/14 03:08 PM

I could pick just 3 things, so here's my three things for Gameplay, Presentation and CFM.

1) WR/DB Interactions
2) Penalties that work
3) Better/more effective Special Teams play

Gameplay wise those are the three things I want to see thing most and everything else is just a cherry on top.

I would love to see things like better presentation,
1) better commentary
2) more stat overlays,
3) more dynamic weather (and added element like just a cold weather game), etc.

And for CFM I mainly want to see
1) editable draft classes/the return of editing players
2) the confidence completely reworked.
3) I also want to see thing like hiring coordinators and staff's return. Basically just look at what NBA 2K has done with MyLeague and copy that.

# 38 timhere1970 @ 12/17/14 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rabid_Beaver


	My list has over 85 things that have been ignored since 06.

I feel ya bro! 2006 was great with the game planning and such. The franchise mode was fun. When the 360 came out everything went down hill and they still haven't caught up nine years later as far as the off field activities go.

# 39 BSmiff @ 12/19/14 05:28 PM

Anything that makes connected franchise feel like more than just games.

Like
-player discipline
-suspensions
-more small injuries
-lingering injuries
-NO DRASTIC SPEED DROP FOR WRs AT AGE 30!!!!!!!!!!!!
-home field advantage actually meaning something
-stars playing like stars and taking over the game
-the wind issue fixed
-the finances fixed in owner mode
-better coaches meaning more to the team
-bigger difference in player interaction with different field surfaces and weather conditions
-tone down psychic all madden DB play

# 40 slick1ru2 @ 12/19/14 09:27 PM

I think #3 would be served with a weekly highlight show that includes actual clips from user games the week before. It should talk about injuries and play offs. Obviously they are using CBS graphics like NFL network does,,along with CBS announcers so use NFL Network to help devise a weekly show.

One thing I thought of was a game within a game. Bring Fantasy Football to Madden with a kind of side game in CFM. That could lead to another weekly show for Fantasy speculation and previous week highlights.

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