E3 2011: Madden NFL 12 Trailer Revealed, Thoughts?

What I always hate is the over said commentary and same intro’s every time? Like in the begining they always give the QB matchup and say “these guys have lots of experience and been through it all” even though its Sam Bradford vs. Mark Sanchez.

I will still buy the game in a heartbeat and play all the time, but why do you like this one better?

EA could be half as innovative with Madden each year as they are with FIFA. Truly one of the best sports simulations around…Apples and oranges a bit, but still.

I still have played every single Madden, the last few years especially, but a lot of work could be done. The problem is the yearly development cycle, the developers are somewhat limited in what they can do. Unfortunately skipping a year isn’t really an option.

first off, I’ve always wondered why people care about the sports center type broadcasts and espn stuff that 2k5 had? I loved 2k5 but all that crap just gets in the way of playing the game. who are you people that actually watch that stuff? it bears no impact on game play. seriously, when it comes on, all i do is push the button to speed through it to actually start the game again. I wonder if it actually slows the game down (or does it give the game time to load for further game play?)

For game play, one nice thing in Madden 10 is gang tackling. I did not like that they took out the acceleration button because playing running back and running routes is more than just about pure speed, it’s about when to kick on the speed and gain a step on the defender. Computer AI. If you establish the outside run game with an offset I formation the computer will freak out and start to frequently send double corner blitzes. with some manipulation of motion you can get the computer to show blitz, then audible and hot route some 9/go routes and you’ve got 40+ points by the end of the game. Linebackers still intercept way too many balls in deep coverage.

Weight seems to play a very little role in the game. You can have a 240 LB sure tacking strong middle linebacker and with the right block shedding skills and strength he can be an elite Defensive Tackle. Or OLBs that convert to DEs that are 230 lbs and are suddenly elite.

Recognition of Offensive Football systems. Recognize the difference between a 3-4 Nose Tackle and a 4-3 Defensive Tackle. 2-gap vs. one gap. read and react vs. penetrate (it’s all penetration in Madden), bump n run zone corners like in the Tampa 2 vs. man corners (Ronde Barber went to some pro bowls as a Tampa 2 Corner but he’d never make it as a cover corner). OLBs rush backers vs. chase and coverage (DeMarcus Ware vs. Derrick Brooks). Nimble Zone blocking offensive linemen vs. Power man blocking offensive linemen. speedy Air Coryell receivers vs. YAC WCO receivers. Basically what I’m saying is that a 90+ player for one team isn’t going to be the same player for another team depending on the football systems in place.

Franchise: Oddly enough this part of the game has gotten worse over the past 3-4 years. The old generation (PS2 and XBox) had a better Franchise mode than the XBox 360 and PS3 which EA basically imported the Head Coach game into Madden. In the old games you had a preseason that mattered with player progression, training camp where players could get better, player and coach personalities that increased and decreased the chances of a player signing and/or holding out.

Some things I’d like to see in Franchise Mode:

1. In season progressions (like in older Madden).
2. Training Camp to improve players
3. Practice Squad
4. No more Player Potential Grades. What’s the fun of knowing if your player sucks or is a future superstar as soon as you draft him?
5. Future Trades. I wanna be Bill Belickeck and stock pile future picks.
6. Better control of contracts, there are some years when I have lots of cap space that I might as well use so that I might actually want to front load a contract and minimize the financial impact in the future.
7. No more 30 year Franchise Mode with the same players. You can only play it once. After that you stand a good chance of remembering who all the good players are and drafting or trading for them. Change the names around so that the star players don’t always have the same name.
8. Weekly Game Scouting. Be able to look at game film of your up coming opponent to better understand their offense and defense so you can tailor your game plan accordingly.
9. Coaching Progression that works (it worked better in older gen games)
10. Offensive and Defensive Football systems that follow coaches.
11. Hire Position Coaches that develop into Coordinators and Head Coaches.

its funny because i didnt get an xbox 360 until last november so i had been stuck playing a very outdated madden 06 so the graphics were pretty bad and each off season i had to spend copious hours modifying the roasters and finding player ratings to accurately reflect the new madden. that said i miss my 06 for a simple reason, it was simple. the defenses on the harder difficulties would eat you up if you didnt play smart, and some of the rediculous things that happen in 11 didnt happen in 06. players moved a little slower and felt like they had significantly more weight in 06, where as in 11 players could easily breeze back and forth which is a little annoying because i feel its too easy to miss tackles because an opponent just twitches, where as in 06 when you saw a defender you really had to look at the angle he was taking and his speed because you couldnt just run around him (this is on all pro difficulty, all madden cheats) you actually had to think to yourself and ask “ok do i try the spin or juke and risk not getting the first, or do i try to keep running and hope i can edge him enough to move the sticks, or do i go cannon ball style and knock him out?” it was fun and could be tremendously frustrating but was rewarding more so than 11. passing in 06 was much more difficult, pure and simple. dbs would play the receivers much more tightly and some of the midfield crossing routes you didnt dare hit unless you knew you could and you were spot on, like wise with deep routes. in 11 you can pretty much throw anywhere and the players will make rediculous catches and stuff. in 06 you really had to be smart with you throws and couldnt just go all whilly nilly with the passing, if you see a saftey drop for an 8 man blitz, you better have davis running a deep/seem route and as soon as he clears the linebackers, boom, he has it. same with any route you have to look at the defense and hit the receiver at the exact moment. madden 12 looks like it is going to trump 11 and hopefully get back to a better overall quality, i never played 2k5 but it does look great. oh and the lombardi aspect was super cool