Madden 11 To Include “Scouting Reports”
ZFarls | Jun 02, 2010 | Comments 3
EA Sports announced today that gamers will have the option to scout the opponent and pick up information on their tendencies in Madden 11.
Madden has always been about the mind games before and during the snap, this should give players a better idea of what their opponent is trying to do.
You can see how they act on 1st, 2nd, 3rd down as well as in short and long situations! Now this should help some of the newer players at the game attempt to understand the strategy side of the game, but ultimately it shouldn’t have a huge effect on the community.
If EA was to scout my tendencies, They would see plenty of base defense early while heavier blitzing in longer situations. I think its clear that I pass in longer situations while looking to get into manageable 3rd down situations early in the drive. Since players often only run 8-10Â plays and switch them up, you should have a good idea what your opponent is going to run later in the game anyway.
While EA will give you the “Down and Distance” tendencies, you should still be taking into account the field position, score, time, players sub package, what set they are in, and how the defense will react with any knowledge they have? Have you ever set someone up for a specific play the entire game, or made your offense look the exact same to keep your opponent guessing? Thats what Madden is all about.
I think the “Sim” crowd will like this innovation as it will allow them to feel like they are having some extra information. However, if they know your going to run a FB Dive on 3rd and less than 2 and they can’t stop it, they are going to be even more angry.
One way I feel the more conventional crowd will be angry is that you have to pay for this service. You can “buy or earn” tokens like Madden Ultimate Team. This is another way for EA Sports to get increased revenue and this usually angers people like PastaPadre. He often blogs for the common fan and doesn’t like when EA and Gamestop team together for exclusive pre-order deals. (As with Madden 10 and Fight Night R4)
The Debate about whether getting the disc should entitle you to online services (EA Sports 2011 games, UFC 2010) or whether you should pay extra if you buy used will be one that is hotly debated. Here is another way EA will earn extra money from players but will you really get enough information to get more wins from it?
One way that EVERYONE wins is you don’t earn any tokens if you quit early, so hopefully it helps just a few more games get completed online, wouldn’t it be nice?
I think the “tourney” crowd will be unaffected, (Likely won’t be used in tourney play) Tournamnet players all run the same type of offense and schemes and have already thought about so many different factors. They have their friends and “crew” members scout other players way before the game anyway.
This new innovation is cool and will no doubt help some players think in a new way about Madden Strategy, but its chess and not checkers like Madden at the highest level.
What do you think about it? What would your scouting report say?
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I think this is kinda cool, I am by no means a SIM player but I do think having scouting reports will add to the authenticity of the game from a coaching and strategy perspective to go along with the game-planing feature.
In the games where you’re winning by 4 touchdowns in the second half, the strategy would now seem to change from “running up the score” to running new plays in new situations, to balance out the scouting report and throw off the opponent. If you pass the the TE on every first down, then in the second half of a blowout, just come out and run HB tosses.
I think this is probably one of those ideas that sounds great in June, but when it comes down to playing the game, nobody will care. It’s just like how everybody gets excited about halftime reports and post-game shows, but then 2 weeks into playing the game, they can’t skip the screen fast enough.
I mean sounds kind of pointless to me. I have been playing madden online since 2004 and Im usually ranked in the top 1k. I rarely change my strategy and the fact is it doesn’t really matter if people know where the ball is going if they can’t stop it. As far as paying for scouting reports it’s not going to happen for me. Ill get the free ones for beating people who can’t keep up and on the rare chance I play someone who isn’t total garbage maybe I’ll redeem them. Truth is unless you really know your defense the information really wont do you that much good. The gameplay of the 2011 is a lot better though especially the defense and redzone passing. Blitzing is much more effective as a whole yet they managed to take away true nano’s which the old school guys like me used to exploit. I would say they have somehow managed to make significant improvements to online play each year and this is the best yet.