| 28 April 2011
On the EA Sports blog, Game Changer Jake Stein posted some info on gameplay in Madden 12. It seems as though the developers have taken an early focus toward the defense, as Stein talks a lot about that in this blog entry.
A big complaint about past versions has been how the game seems to go through cinematic motions once a certain event happens, that the realism ends too early. Stein points out that tackling and contact go beyond just the initial movement.
Here's some of Stein's info on the blog:
The very first thing that jumps out to me when playing Madden NFL 12 is the enhanced tackling system. The central gameplay team gave themselves a goal at the beginning of the development cycle: eliminate suctioning, warping, and sliding. The way this goal was achieved can be summed up in one sentence; collision doesn't take place until contact is actually made between ball carrier and defender. This can be felt in multiple aspects of the game from how the O-line and D-line interact, to wide receivers diving for balls that they would normally just speed up to catch, but most of all, you feel this with tackling.
Call it Pro-Tak 2.0, call it whatever you want. The point is this; you aren't down, until you're down! Let me provide a few examples that I was able to see in only a few short hours of playing. LeGarrette Blount, running back for the Bucs, is running up the middle. He receives a tackle that would normally have begun a canned animation of the ball carrier losing his footing, putting his arm down, and picking up a few extra yards. What happens now in Madden NFL 12 is I broke the tackle, started to lose my balance, but this time after a few yards (and no other defender around to finish me off), Blount regained himself, giving me complete control over him once again. Amazing!
