| Filed : 04/13 18:59 Exclusive ScreenshotsMadden 2006 screenshots discussion
Posted by Damon
April 15th is here and it’s time to get excited about the upcoming football season, Madden football, and NCAA football. This day marks the start of the information that will be released over the coming months. This is a landmark year. It is the first year we have first hand impressions on the new features and even hands on time with the game very early.
Let’s start with Madden news. I think this will be a landmark year for Madden as well, as EA Tiburon is going to concentrate on the passing game play. Most Madden fans know that each year Tiburon takes a part of the NFL game and concentrates on making it better. This is the first year in about ten years that the passing portion of the game has had a significant change. With the passing numbers that were put up in the NFL, especially everything that Peyton Manning was able to do, it fits well. If you are worried that passing is going to take over Madden with this new feature please read on and you will find that is not the case. We will call the feature that has been added “Vision and Precision” or “QB Vision” as I am not sure yet of the official name just yet. First, I will tell you about how the feature is implemented and then I will get into my thoughts and impressions of using it.
What QB Vision does is add a virtual field of vision to represent the real life field of vision an NFL QB has. It does this on screen by adding a lighted cone starting from the QB and getting larger as the distance increases. Everything outside of the lighted cone is shaded darker and the passing icons are dimmer. Each QB’s rating affects how large or small the cone is. Manning, for instance, would have a large field of vision and Vick would have a smaller one. If you decide to scramble, the cone will get smaller as you run and then go back to normal size as you slow down and come to a stop. Your QB is set to look at your primary receiver (orange) upon the snap of the ball but that can be changed pre-snap by simply holding the R2 (PS2) and tapping the receivers assigned button. After the ball is snapped you have two ways you can change the QB’s vision to another area. You can hold down R2 and push the button corresponding to the receiver you want to look at or 2. You can use the right thumb stick to manually move the cone across the field and back. Here is how the QB Vision affects the passing game.
1. You can only use precision passing if the receiver you are throwing to is in your field of vision. Meaning, if you want to lead a receiver using the thumbstick as your throw that receiver has to be in the lighted cone projecting from your QB. Note: you can still throw to a receiver out of the cone but the pass is less likely to be accurate and you cannot use precision passing. Also note that you may be looking directly at receiver X who is dead center of your cone of vision but other receivers close to him may still be in your cone of vision.
2. The second rule to remember is that the receiver icons are now on a timer (the length of time on the timer was not final yet). What this means is if you decide to take off with your QB and scramble around and then bring back up your passing icons only receivers inside your cone of vision will have a passing icon above their head and the option to switch the cone by using the R2 selection is gone. You now have to use the right thumbstick to move the cone around. What this simulates is if you get flushed out of the pocket in the NFL and take off running you are going to lose site of your receivers and not know exactly where they are when you look downfield again. Note: You can still throw to any receiver without the icon above their head and not in the field of vision but the pass will most likely be a really bad pass. (I tried this and it was a really bad pass)
This feature also adds something to the defensive side of the ball. It will now be beneficial to play as a DB and try to read the QB’s eyes like a NFL DB; if he was playing a zone. Of course a good QB will look off a safety or corner to fool them. It will add a new strategy and hopefully get a lot of players off the Dline on defense.
The biggest thing to remember about this feature is in the NFL QB cannot throw where he can’t see. QB’s in the NFL do throw quick slants and such by looking one way and quickly turning and throwing another direction to the slant. That was something being decided while I was at Tiburon, so I assure you they have thought of everything when designing this new feature. What this feature adds to the game of Madden is that choosing a good pocket passing QB now has its advantages too. Before, those playing with a scrambling QB had the big advantage at the QB position. This evens the playing field.
In the first game or two you will be overwhelmed by the new control of passing, but you will get the hang of it quickly. My hands on time with the game probably equaled about the time it would take to play two or three games and by the end I was catching on. I did spend some time in the practice mode just to get my fingers used to the new controls. If you are open to change and innovation you won’t have a problem adapting to this new system. It definitely makes the game more realistic.
Now for NCAA 2006. "Race for the Heisman" is one of the new features for NCAA football. The headline of the feature says it all. You will be a High School Senior football player looking for a University to attend with the ultimate goal of playing through NCAA football and eventually winning the Heisman. You will have to pick a position for your player before you start, and some positions are harder to win the Heisman (just like in real life).How well you do with a mini game that is based on what position you choose will determine what schools you have to choose from to start your career. This then takes you to the dorm room which is an area to view stats and adjust different things with your player getting ready for his Heisman run. My thoughts are this feature will be great for guys that aren’t as interested in the traditional dynasty mode and add something to the dynasty for the guys that are already big fans of it. This is just a preview of this feature and we will be doing an in-depth look around the beginning of July.
|
