Over the last few weeks Madden Planet forum members have been exercising their collective brains coming up with suggestions, large and small, that
EA must work on for Madden 2006. As we know Madden 2006 will be the only officially licensed NFL game and that means we expect more of the
EA-Tiburon team than ever before. Our list is pretty large and pretty comprehensive and our moderator 'rvd2kewl' organised it into the following categories - gameplay, presentation, franchise and online. Here is the complete list below :
Gameplay:- Better run blocking. By better blocking I mean that they don't leave their man until either a pancake or the runner is by them. A lot of the time your lineman just lets his guy through then goes to the safety.
- Get rid of or tone down the juke glitch. In previous versions this was something you could basically do manually but it required manual dexterity with the analog (or Dpad) and not just a simple tap on a juke button. The thing about this juke is that it doesn't only affect the one player you're trying to juke, it affects the entire defense for a split second and changes their pursuit angle to the ball (I should say ball carrier since it seems like the defense moves in relation to offensive player and not the ball..
- On offense, if you throw a streak, you can manually control a WR "away and to" the ball enabling you to completely take the CPU controlled DB out of position to make a play...if you switch to the DB too late, you won't be able to defend the pass because the CPU will already have taken control and any movement on your part will have a slight delay...also you can pretty much abuse and push the CPU controlled DBs out of the way without having to worry about getting flagged for pass interference. Fix this.
- Make it a little easier to complete a deep pass. DB's should not always be leaping high into the air and swatting the ball down when the receiver has him beat by 4-5 yards.
- Have penalties occur more often. It seems there are only offsides, face mask, false starts, and the occasional pass interference called.
- Fix the stat problem where a defender isn't credited with a sack when he sacks the QB and strips the ball loose. As it is now, they only get credit for the forced fumble.
- Realistic Injury Rates
- Fix run blocking so that the blockers don't slowly rumble after a safety and completely ignore the Linebacker streaking right at the RB to close the gap.
- Passing Accuracy - You can throw deep all game and be accurate. the quarterbacks should have a distance accuracy rating. 0-15 yards, 16-30 yards, 30- 40 yards, 41+ yards. Each of those accuracy ratings should be lower with the more yards you try to throw in the air.
- Put in "head-tracking" for the Wide Receivers where they follow the ball with their eyes as it is in the air.
- More catching animations (sliding, diving, one-handed, etc.).
- Many more tackling animations.
- Fix the spin move. It's almost impossible to successfully execute it this year when a defender is nearby.
- Improve Defensive Line and Linebacker moves so that they can get pressure on the QB without having to blitz all the time.
- Ability to set controller configuration to whatever you want.
- Make quarterbacks that take deep drop-backs less accurate.
- Better blocking on punt returns. Far too often there are 3-4 defenders standing around the punt returner before he catches the ball.
- More effective replay challenges. The bad call is upheld far too often.
- More blocked kicks. Not overly excessive, but easier to block one than it is now.
- Bad snaps that sometimes goes over the head of the punter/holder
Presentation:Pre-game:
- Since it's pretty much been the same thing the last 3 years, how about opening up the game in the booth showing both Al and John? They could give their brief thoughts on the game based off of the stats for the season and feature a player or two. It wouldn't just be limited to stats, however, as it could also features several stories to watch. For example, say Peyton Manning is out for the game with an injury. John Madden could mention how one of the biggest things to watch today is how the Colts' offense responds to Jim Sorgi. If there's a young quarterback making his first NFL start, they could hit on that too. Madden could talk about how the defense is going to be throwing so many different looks at the the young QB. There are a ton of possibilities for this feature.
Overlays:
- Overlays showing the starting lineups with interesting stats for key players and player profiles after making nice plays
- Bar across the top of the screen that is similar to the one used by Fox Sports. It shows scores from other games on the right side, the score from the current game on the left side, and a ticker underneath that shows stats from your game every now and then (rather than having to pause the game to check stats).
Replays/other additions:
- More camera views on replays.
- The addition of the telestrator pointing out blown coverages, holes that sprung a running back on a big run, a DB reading the QB's eyes the whole time before picking off a pass, etc.
- The chain gang coming out with the sticks to measure a first down.
- Game Breaks: Once or twice per half someone could break in with a game break to show highlights from another game. It might not be that difficult to come up with 30-50 plays (could be the same plays just substitute the teams/players) showing a running back taking one all the way for the TD, a DB picking off a pass and killing a drive in the redzone, or the QB hooking up with his receiver for the score.
Commentary:
- It's only natural for the commentary to become repetitive and somewhat boring on a game that we play as much as Madden, but a lot of the stuff that is said during the games was put in 3-4 years ago and it gets us to that point that much quicker. Besides the usual additions, I think some of the older commentary should be re-worded and re-recorded, even if Madden is getting the same point across. I know it's not an easy job (especially with the limited time of Al Michaels and John Madden), but it gives us something fresh to listen to because a lot of us know what Madden and Michaels are going to say even before they say it.
Crowd/Celebrations/Music:
- A crowd similar to the one in NCAA Football 2005. Sure the college game has more passion to it from the fans but overall the crowds react similar in the pros to the way they do in college.
- "Homefield Advantage" - Not sure if "Homefield Advantage" is going to be exclusive to NCAA every year or just this year, but it would be nice to see it added to Madden.
- More team and player specific chants (such as the crowd roaring "DUUUUUUCE" following a big run from Duce Staley).
- More excitement after touchdowns. As much as I hate to say it (as a Bears fan), just take a look at the reaction when Green Bay scores a touchdown at home in a close game. The fans are jumping around going nuts, the music is blasting, and the players are pumped.
- Signature Celebrations. We could provide a list of the players that have signature celebrations to help if needed.
- Ability to setup stadium music on Xbox.
Franchise:- Make owner mode an option that can be turned on or off at the start of a franchise.
- CPU trading
- Ability to edit coaches like we can edit players.
- Fix coach progression problems. If a coach comes in and goes 6-10 with a team that was 3-13 the previously, his ratings should not fall that much.
- Make the free agent period before and after the draft. If not both, then move it back to before the draft.
- Give us the ability to compete with the CPU for players who their contract expiring, rather than the CPU ALWAYS getting the first shot to re-sign a player.
- Players only accepting certain lengths of a contract. It's too easy to sign every player to a seven year contract.
- Make the AI smarter when it comes to team management and the draft.
- Larger rosters for the preseason.
- Fix the problem where a roster spot isn't opened up when placing a player on "Injured Reserve."
- Have the CPU use Injured Reserve more often.
- Give the CPU the ability to re-sign some of their upcoming free agents during the regular season.
- NFL Europe w/ the ability to allocate your players and play/simulate the games.
- Practice Squad
- Ability to use created teams as expansion teams
- Change training camp drills to include different tasks than in previous years.
- Ability to use more than one player for a training camp drill.
- Injuries added to training camp drills as part of the risk/reward. The higher the level, the more chance of injury.
- Ability to talk a player out of retirement
- Hall of Fame
- Position Coaches (RB coach, QB coach, DL coach, LB coach, etc.)
- Ability to hire scouts for the draft. The better the scout's ratngs, the more accurate they are.
- Larger Draft Classes
- More detailed player scouting for the draft: On the scouting screen, you could select the player and it would load the events and players. Going player by player wouldn't be bad because like in real life, you could put hours into the draft to find out what you are getting. They could also have it where you have the option for "Normal" scouting or "Detailed" scouting. "Normal" would be like last year and the "Detailed" scouting would be where it loads the player and the workouts. You could have workout warriors who fly up the charts with great numbers (Kyle Boller), and good players who fall with disappointing numbers (ala Anquan Boldin a few years ago).
- Show animated players in place of the spot where a player doesn't have a picture (could go in presentation).
- Ability to put a team logo on the helmet when creating a new uniform.
Online:- Coaches challenges
- Online Franchises
- Eliminate the ability to call D-Line, LB, and Coverage Audibles on kicks.
- Fix the fatigue problem
- Individual players stats for online leagues
