There has always been some criticism toward EAs Madden NFL franchise in respects to catering to the casual fan. We all know these casual fans and what they look like. Its the dad that throws the football with his son outside but has never played Madden. Its the guy who is a diehard Steelers fan but has never seen Troy Polomaulo hit stick a running back in Madden. Its the boy who watches football every Sunday with his dad but plays Pokemon White on his DS instead of playing Madden. Its these fans that EA has always tried to get to play their virtual gridiron football game by coming out with a new Sexy feature. You know what I mean by sexy feature right? Its that one feature that will get the casual fan interested in playing Madden. So in Madden 08 it was the Ring of a Champion. In Madden 09 it was the Virtual Training Center and the Backtrack and Rewind. In Madden 10 it was fight for the fumble and Chain Gangs. Notice how all those Sexy features have been removed from the game. So when I participated in last weeks Madden NFL 12 Community Day and Maddens Executive Producer, Phil Frazier started giving his opening presentation; I asked him one thing. Whats the new Sexy feature in Madden NFL 12? Phil took a couple of seconds and said There is no sexy feature. He later said, This year its really about focusing on the hardcore. And thats exactly what EA has done with their feature set especially when it came down to Gameplay in Madden NFL 12.
Suction Removal
The first thing I was looking for when I turned on the game was the removal of sliding and most importantly suction in the game. This has been a point of emphasis of many hardcore Madden players. I am happy to say that not only is the suction gone but its a Game Changer. Until you play the game you wont realize how much the removal of suction plays a part in the overall makeup of the game. Im going to break down some ways in which no suction makes a difference.
No Suction in the Run Game
In previous versions of Madden when a hole would open up for the runner you would sometimes get sucked in by a blocker that is already being blocked and it was so frustrating. There would also be times when you are running and you put a spin move in the open field and because the defender hitsticked it will suck you in. No more do things like that happen. Now you can not only run through the hole, but you can be dangerous and electric in the open field. There were many instances where I would run the ball with a guy like the Eagles McCoy and it was a nightmare for my opponent if I was able to make it to the open field. Spins, jukes, and just plain old manual stick will leave your defender in the dust if he used to suction tackling.
No Suction in the Passing Game
Usually when you are talking about suction, you dont even think about this in the passing game but this was a huge problem in previous Maddens. For instance, lets say you are a QB and you snap the ball and roll out of the pocket to your right. The DE should break away (disengage) from that OT and have a straight line to your QB. This happens in Madden 12 and it looks great.
No Suction Tackling
By far the biggest thing with no suction is the way you tackle in Madden 12. Now there is no tackling animation until you collide with the ball carrier. This is part of the new collision detection system in the game. There were times last year where you would have an angle on the running back but if there was a blocker nearby even behind you at times, it would suck you into the block and you would not tackle the player. This was very frustrating at times, but just because that suction is no longer there does it make it easier to tackle. This means that no longer can you depend on just getting close to the ball carrier to take him down. You have to literally run into the ball carrier to get him on the ground. Like I said earlier where you could hitstick while a guy was spinning and suck him into the hit, that is gone. This will take some getting used to as I was missing tackles after tackles because I was so used to getting close, but by the end of Community Day I was able to tackle pretty good. It was really hard to make a hitstick on players and when you did, you earned it.
Speaking of tackling, there is a new tackle button. Now you can press X (360) and Square (PS3) to make a wrap up tackle. It looks really good too. There was a moment when I was trailing a defender and instead of diving for the player, my player actually went for the feet and clipped the running back up and made him stumble and fall.
Collision Detection
One of the other gameplay addition I was looking forward to seeing in person was this all new collision detection system. Like I was explaining when I was talking about no suction, you have to really tackle someone. Not only that, but a running back or ball carrier is not down until he is all the way down. What this means is that those times where a back breaks a tackle and stumbles, you can still hit him. Before you could be right in front of him and he would stumble right through you for another 3 yards. The double hits collisions look good and the momentum of a player plays a big role in what happens at the point of collision. Big backs went forward and small backs didnt go anywhere but backwards if hit by a bigger defensive player. The interaction between the offensive line and defensive line was done very well where you actually saw the offensive line punch and shove the defense on pass protection. I cant wait to show you guys some videos of how it all looks.
Improved Zone Defense
The other very noticeable improved gameplay was definitely the improvement in zone defense. Any hardcore Madden fan will tell you that playing defense was a chore last year. If you played zone there was so many holes that it just wasnt beneficial and made it very hard to stop the offense this year. In Madden 12 the zone is sooo good that Im declaring the Cover 3 is going to be a dominant defense in the game. Not only does the defender stay with the WR longer as they pass through the individual zone, but the zone is smart also. Lets say you are playing a Cover 2 defense. Your DB who is supposed to bump the WR will bump him and immediately look to see if someone is coming out to the flat. If there is no flat responsibility the DB will ride that WR up the field longer making it hard for you to fit that ball in between him and the safety. So the next time you cancel your RB in the flat, remember that the DB is going to stay with the WR longer on that fly route. Thats not it though. Linebackers in yellow zones play the drag route even better.
Defensive Shading
If you were like me you got sick and tired of guys just going 4 wide and doing drag routes all over the field and you got tired of guys coming out in Snugs or a Bunch set and not being able to defend those quick flat routes to the outside, well EA has decided to bring back defensive shading and its working great. Using defensive shading on individual WR is a great way to foil someone who is constantly beating you to the outside on the same play or inside slants.
You will also be able to individual play off or bump a WR. Thats one thing that Im very happy to see in the game. The fact is there are some guys you want to bump and some guys you dont want to bump and now EA has given you back that choice.
No Auto Dropback
One of the biggest news of day one at Community Day was the removal of the auto dropback. This has been a hot topic in the Madden Community and especially among the Sim guys and the Tournament guys. Now before you go and think this will just ruin the game let me first explain how the no auto dropback works. What this means as in years past when you snap the ball, there would be an automatic dropback. This was sometimes frustrating when you saw where a blitz was coming from and you were unable to get out of the way. Now with this out of the way you can take control of your QB right away. So I know what the sim guys are thinking because I was thinking it to Now people are just going to do QB draws all day long and its going to be harder to stop. Well EA has made it so that you can not go forward immediately. You still have movement side to side and backwards at anlges you just cant go forward unless you call a QB sneak. Im very interested to see what the community has to say about this and how this will be received as a whole.
Update: If you do not press anything the QB will automatically drop back by itself.
Other things to note about gameplay:
The QB movement is so fluid. No longer does it feel jerkey when you are transitioning from a QB stance to a running stance.
Kicking seemed to easy to me but I feel like with the new camera angles depending on what stadium you are playing in makes it a little tough. I just dont know what things they could do to make kicking a little harder.
With the new collision detection making catches over the middle with someone waiting was a great interaction.
The offense creates a nice pocket for the QB and running out of that pocket is very dangerous, especially if you are not playing with someone names Vick. What I mean is that when you scramble, those DE get after you.
QB spy is much improved. In years past you could juke out a CPU player that was in QB Spy assignment. This year its incredibly hard to shake him free or even out run him if your QB is not faster.
In routes and Out routes are back. No more mirroring DBs that anticipate your WRs before they make the cut. But if you are late making that throw or that DB is shaded in the direction of your out, well you are in trouble and will get picked.
Pass rushing doesnt looked to have changed as far as new moves. You can still get pressure if you send more guys or overloads one side of the line.
I didnt see a lot of tipping of passes by linebackers but I didnt see a change to the the trajectory of the ball either.
EA still has a couple of weeks to continue to improve the game. Those that attended Community Day gave tons upon tons of feedback for the dev team and I cant wait to play the game in a couple of months to see how far they have come.
