2005-11-05 03:23:15 new madden vis

http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200511/N05....

2005-11-05 17:26:08

i cant believe people are talking crap about this game. the animation looks light years ahead of the current gen. look how fluid they move in between plays on the close ups, look at the run cycle of the RB. look at the coach on the sideline, look how some of the players come to a slow jog...the animations suck? i think half the people who talk crap about madden NEVER PLAYED 2006 on the xbox. the animation is a jerky glitchy mess and looks awful on the current gen. 360 may not be perfect in animation, but its clarly better than the current gen. i cant wait till we get the side by side comparision, all the naysyers are gonna eat there words. i am a 3d animator and can clearly see the upgrade in the animation department

2005-11-06 06:41:51

Yes the animation is poor.

The 2nd play in the Pack/Vik game is a pass to the right. The WR and DB are both going down field--yet when the tackle is made the *animation* has the WR falling back. 3rd play (run left) is the same old slide tackle where the tackler knocks the RB over but keeps running; 4th play is a tackle with the defender ON HIS BACK! How often do you see a player LAYING on the field looking like he is trying to get a tan?!!

On video #2 of PAC/VIK on the first play on the reply you see the lineman allow the defender through. Having watched a ton of football the linemen don't just fight for a few moments and then give up. If someone gets an inside move on them they are lerching, diving, whatever they can to catch up. If they stumble they at least try to get in the way. They don't "bow" and then resume the pass protection position and totally ignore they just got beat by a defender! Of course the punt return after that--which has some nifty jukes--hsa the same "spinning/rolling ankle" tackle that has been in the current version for YEARS.

And do not get me started on the TE tackle (at the 3:35 mark )on the PIT/CIN game. Not only is it the same animation from years past, it is broken and VERY poor. Basically their ankles hit and they both go flying in the opposite direction! :(

The game has the same animation feel as the current PC/GCN versions (have not played the Xbox or PS2 versions to say enough on those, although the little I have says they are all the same). Some will argue, "Well it looks the same because it is great!" Here is the acid test: Xbox 360 looks like the current versions with some new animations. But does it look like a real football game? NO! Anyone who has watched real football knows that the same recycled tackles repeated over, and over, and over, again is not how it works in real life.

The fact we are STILL seeing the same glitchy animations (like an animation miraculously changing momentum and direction OR my favorite: 3 guys get to a ball carrier at the same moment but only 2 engage a tackle due to the limitations of the animations and the 3rd guy runs in place)

Ever notice real NFL players do not move all the same. Just compare Bettis and Parker on PIT, Ducket and Dunn on ATL, Bell and Anderson on DEN, etc. Christian, Okoye, Barry Sanders, Bo Jackson, and Eric Dickerson all ran with different styles and that not only impacted how they looked when they ran it impacted 1.) how they juked tackles and 2.) how tacklers even tackled!

Ditto comparing TO with Randy Moss with Santana Moss with Rice. No need to compare the divergent ambilation of linemen with a quarterback.

The system is broken. Lets say for an individual tackle there runner is broken up into 16 angles to be approached by a defender, and each angle has 4 different tackles. That is 64 tackle animations. The problem is (1.) The majority of tackles are done within the few front angles (2.) A typical game has 100-120 players which means even with a lot of unique tackle animations there will be recycled ones and (3.) this will never look "natural" because it ignores the ball carriers mass, speed, heigth, angle/momentum, body lean and limb positioning, etc... in conjunction with the exact same variables with the tackler(s). This is why when you watch a REPLAY in slow motion you get the magic "SLIDE" where the animation breaks and you can see the two players slide from their current animation to the new tackle animation.

Tackling is a VERY important part of football. Tackles happen on 95% of plays. Tackles and clean--and diverse animation--are more important than visuals.

Also, I am not seeing indivudal foot prints in the snow! There is by far enough power in the 360 to leave individual footmarks--and slide marks--from each play and dynamically fade them. e.g. every play they become 10% more faded due to "snow accumulation". The system has 512MB of memory and a very powerful GPU.

The player self shadowing/detail does not look as good as FIFA either, which is surprising.

As usual the stadiums ROCK and the play selection screen looks GREAT and very useful for both newbs and diehards.

2005-11-06 12:02:26 In reply to Acert93 (2005-11-06 06:41:51)

Wow, that was long.
I think with all these EA sports titles, we are gonna have to wait a few more years for them to really use the full power. The first EA sports games on a system, eg Fifa2001 on PS2 and Now Fifa RTWC 06 on 360, always look really plain and simple in terms of graphics and player models. As years go by, the layers of detail build up until the last Fifa on the system is amazing, eg 06 on xbox.

IMO if EA made a perfect looking game at launch then there would be no way to update it. By the time PS3 comes out, Fifa 07 will be out, and that will be the one to wait for. Same goes for Madden etc

---
Dirty South UK