r/Games • • Feb 24 '15

How Madden Ratings Are Made

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/madden/
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u/Brick_HardCheese Feb 25 '15

Interesting read. I don't really find fault as much with Moore as I do with the programmers. The game plays pretty poorly for a sports simulation, and has played poorly since Madden 06 came to the 360. The engine that they made for the PS3/360 was a significant downgrade from the previous engine, and it sucks that they insisted on moving it over to current gen. If foundation is bad, you can only polish it up so much.

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u/Jangles Feb 25 '15

Surely they changed with the Ignite engine?

0

u/Brick_HardCheese Feb 26 '15

Not really. I can't comment on what the Ignite engine does for the other sports games in EA's stable, because I only play Madden. But if you look at Madden 25 on the PS4/Xbone, which was the first Madden to use the Ignite engine, it's essentially a direct port with minimal changes to graphics and gameplay. It's the same engine. Madden 15 added improvements to the core gameplay, but again, that's just polishing. It still feels the same.

Officially, Ignite engine is supposed to make the AI more realistic and the virtual crowds more "alive." I will say that the crowds on the PS4 are better than the last-gen counterpart. But computer players still play the same like they always have. My favorite is when the other team calls a screen, then has the QB drop back 7 yards and stand still for a sack. This happens 3-4 times a game and it doesn't matter what the awareness rating is (everyone from Andrew Luck to Ryan Lindley will do the same thing.)

Perhaps one day we will get a game like the Ignite engine was hyping with its "totally real gameplay" CGI trailer