Urlacher54

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Is Pyramid Head a Rapist? blog on www.MegaBearsFan.net

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Yesterday, I posted a new blog on my website MegaBearsFan.net. An exerpt from that blog is below:

My Pyramid Head cosplay (2010-2011)

Silent Hillis sadly one of the most misunderstood game franchises in existence. Part of this is due to the fragmentary and disjointed way in which the original games tell their stories. The designers of the first three games didn't just tell the player what the game's story is. There is no "Bond villian wrap-up" at the end. The designers respected the intelligence of the player, gave us clues piece by piece over the course of each game, and relied on us to put it all together in the end.

But too many fans rely on information that has been circulated by many third-party documents, including some "official" strategy guides and plot analysis that contain possibly inaccurate information that ignores information specifically provided within the game. And when Team Silent disbanded after Silent Hill 4, this erroneous information became the basis for the plots of the future games (and the movie), further tainting people's ideas of the original plots.

As such, this is going to be the first in a series of analysis and interpretation articles that I will be posting on this blog in anticipation of the upcoming Silent Hill Downpour.

The "Rape Time" myth

One example of an unfortunate misunderstanding with the franchise is that Silent Hill fans have latched onto this idea that Red Pyramid Thing (a.k.a. "Pyramid Head") is a raving serial mannequin-rapist. I believe that label is unjustified.

The idea that Red Pyramid Thing is a mannequin rapist comes almost exclusively from this first major encounter with the creature in the apartment buildings.

More at Is Pyramid Head a rapist? @ www.MegaBearsFan.net

New blog site

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As anybody who follows my contributions may have noticed, I have been becoming less and less active here on Gamespot. This is partly because I have recently started managing my own personal blog site at www.MegaBearsFan.net. I encourage all my blog and review readers to check out my new blog, and feel free to rate and comment if you so desire.

Some of my more notable video game-related blog posts are:

I also have posted links to some of my game reviews on www.GameObserver.com:

Other notable posts:

Madden NFL 11 Demo - first thoughts

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So its finally that time of year again. The time when EA rolls out its Madden NFL demo to show us all what we're gonna be wasting $60 on come August. NCAA Football 11 is already out, and it is an improvement over last year's game, but still a whopping dissapointment to THIS critic (see my review here), and now I have a Madden demo to sink my teeth into. I managed to squeeze in a single game on the demo tonight, and I have to say my opinions on it are all-around BAD. Before you start saying that I'm a "Madden hater" and flame me for it, I want to make absolutely certain that everybody realizes that these impressions are BASED ON ONLY ONE GAME SESSION WITH THE DEMO. I have not spent a great deal of time playing the demo yet, so it is likely that some of the complaints I have are just flukes and don't represent the overall product. With that in mind, you know what they say about "first impressions"...

First of all, I checked out the "New Features" videos on the game. It was all stuff I already knew about, except for the online Scouting, which looks pretty cool. Except that, if I understood correctly, you have to PAY to get the scouting reports for your opponents? So instead of being a tool that the poor, casual gamers can use to stay competitive against the hardcore gamer who plays all day every day, the Scouting is just one more elitist weapon against those of us who have real lives and day jobs outside of the virtual gridiron.

Now onto the actual gameplay:

For my first game, I decided to play as the Colts. I took a look through their gameplan prior to starting the game, but didn't change it because I wanted to see just how accurate EA's interpretation of the Colt's offense would be. For starters, they rarely included any of the Colt's trademark Single Back Stretch plays. So that was a bit disconcerting. Once I got into the actual game, it just went from disconcerting, to downright dissapointing. Before you read on, I would recommend that you take the time to familiarize yourself with the press material regarding the new "Gameflow", "Locomotion", and "Strategy Pad" features. I'm not going to waste time explaining how they are supposed to work because that's been done by EA and the gaming media for me already. You can view some of these features on the EA Madden blog, here.

The new Gameflow feature has several very serious and potentiall fatal flaws. Not the least of which is the fact that you don't get to see which play the AI is going to chose for you until you've already committed to using it. Sure it saves you from having to scan through hundreds of plays and significantly cuts down on real time spent playing the game (the accelerated clock is a nicely-retained feature that NCAA Football is sorely lacking), but it also puts more emphasis on the feeling of being the Quarterback on the field, rather than the coach on the sideline. And that's dissapointing because to me, Madden has always been a "coaching" game moreso than a "playing" game. If I wanted the "on-the-field" feeling, I could play Backbreaker. Madden is what I play when I feel like playing the chess match that is a football game. Granted you can always audible or Hot Route to change the play, and they have a new mechanic for doing that called the "Strategy Pad", but it would still have been nice to be able to see exactly which play the offensive co-ordinator had dialed up for me, and to have an opportunity to reject it and call my own play. The game does automatically show the play art and describe how the play is supposed to work while your lining up. That is nice. But I did notice that the O-Line's blocking assignments did not draw correctly until AFTER the Play Art was deactivated. I still ended up having to press R2 after lining up to see who my lienmen were supposed to block (more on this later). Furthermore, to use the Gameflow play, you only press one button. This seems fine at first, but then I think about all the package substitutions and formation subs and other play-calling enhancements like that which have been made over the past few years, and I realized that none of those features are even accessible using Gameflow. And if you want to be able to use Package substitutions on-the-fly, you are forced into only being able to use the traditional play-call system. So in summary, the Gameflow mechanic could probably have been greatly improved if it had first shown you which play the coach had called, and give you an opportunity to make a package substitution or even a formation shift prior to commiting to that play. That way, I would still have the feeling of being the headcoach on the sideline, with the authority to overrule the decision made by the offensive coordinator whenever I want while still being able to use the Gameflow feature.

The aforementioned "Strategy Pad" is a subtle but also flawed update to the game intended to supplement the Gameflow mechanic. Essentially, its the same, exact hot route / formation shift mechanic from the previous game, except that they managed to slow it down. You now have to press a directional pad button to open the menu, then select which "squad" you want to alter, then select what change you want to make. So, on offense, instead of just pressing Triangle to bring up the Hot Routes menu, selecting the receiver icon, then selecting a hot route; you now have the added step of having to first press the d-pad to bring up a menu in which you must select that you want to Hot Route a receiver. Similarly on Defense: rather than just holding a shoulder button then using the analog stick to shift the D-Line, Linebackers, or secondary; you now have to press the d-pad, select which group to modify, then select the modification. Granted, they added some extra options that are nice to have, but overall, its virtually the same system as last year, except that now it has extra buttons to press. And the fact that the AI offense now seems to snap the ball less than a second after lining up under center, you have NO time to make defensive adjustments. Heck, the AI was snapping the ball before the Defensive co-ordinator had even finished telling me what I was supposed to do on that play. Ridiculous! Madden 09 had this same problem. People complained about it. EA had to fix it with a patch. Now they add the same problem back into the game 2 years later?! Are they just trying to give us things to complain about, so they can flip a switch in the code to make it go away then claim that they are "supporting the game post-release"? Do they think we're stupid? Yes, they do. And we are.

As far as actual gameplay goes, I'm going to assume that the new "Locomotion" system is going to work about as well (if not better) than it works in NCAA football 11. Frankly, I didn't have an opportunity to really test it out. Neither side could move the ball in the demo. It was incredibly frustrating. The Colt's O-Line just would NOT block for me in either runs or on passes. One of NCAA and Madden's biggest improvements this year is supposed to be enhanced blocking logic. The on-field Play Art is even supposed to now show each lineman's individual blocking assignment for running plays. This is something I've been asking for for years! So I'm very pleased EA has finally incorporated it. Now if they can just get the Linemen to actually follow those assignments and hold the blocks for more than half a second. Which they were completely incapable of doing in the demo game I played. I'm going to dismiss this for now, because I'm going to assume, and hope, that the blocking is better because NCAA does indeed have greatly improved run blocking (almost TOO GOOD, in fact). But I'll probably give the demo a few more tries to decide for myself if Madden's run blocking improvements will be up to the caliber of NCAA's.

So my running game was completely ineffective (I think I ended up with -20 yards rushing), but my passing game wasn't any better. On the off chance that Peyton Manning had enough time to throw due to the Jets constant pass blitzing and my line's complete inability to pick it up and hold a pocket, Manning still couldn't get a pass on-target. And on the three plays that the ball was within grasping range of the receiver, only once did the receiver actually catch it. Most of my pass attempts fell harmlessly to the ground as Manning was knocked out as he threw it. One was even picked off. I know the Jets defense is good. But this is Peyton Manning! If he gets the pass off, its very likely to be accurate. At least, it SHOULD be. But in this demo, it was not.

Is the dissapointment I experienced in the demo indicitive of the final game? I can't really say for sure. Only time will tell. But given the lack of success of the "improvements" to NCAA (outside of the Locomotion system and run blocking), I'm not going to have high hopes for Madden 11 after having played this demo.

Silent Hill Otherworld Peeling effect being used in another game?

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Why the Silent Hill Otherworld "Melting" effect doesn't work

Ever since the Silent Hill movie was released several years back, every Silent Hill game has borrowed the "melting" transition effect from the normal world to the Otherworld. The first trailer for the newest game, currently being called "Silent Hill 8" (apparently "Origins" was 6 and "Shattered Memories" was 7, even though Origins was released BEFORE 5), seems to be using this effect as well. And although Silent Hill 8 so far looks like it is going to be better than Homecoming, the continued use of this "Melting" effect is really starting to bother me. While this effect may have looked cool in the movie, and may have been creepy for casual viewers in context of the movie, the effect does NOT translate as well in the games, and is NOT a superior effect (Gameplay or story-telling wise) to the previous effects that were used in the first three Silent Hill games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS7xj78t4dk

In the first Silent Hill game, most of the Otherworld transitions (with the exception of the Alchemillia Hospital and crossing the bridge to the Amusement Park) occurred during a blackout by Harry Mason. The character would hear the Air Raid siren, start to feel a headache, then pass out and wake up in the Otherworld.

In Silent Hill 2 a few of the transitions occurred in a similar method, with James suffering a trauma (falling off the Hospital roof, for example), being knocked unconscious, then waking up in the Otherworld. Some transitions occurred simply by opening a door to another room or hallway (this was the method used during the climactic visit to the Lakeview Hotel )James would open one door in the normal world, and pass through the door into the Otherworld.

Silent Hill 3 continued to mix the two methods and add some interesting effects of its own. In some occasions, poor Heather would be knocked unconscious or injured and wake up in the Otherworld. In other occasions, she would pass through a door to find the Otherworld on the other side. In at least one occasion, an elevator acted as the transition tool (a tip of the hat to the first game, perhaps). In the case of the Elevator, Heather entered it from a normal hallway. The elevator itself was a rather industrial-looking elevator with metal bars and a grated floor and ceiling. Though this did not seem terribly unusual or out of place. But as the elevator descended, the outside world gradually changed, becoming more industrial, warped, and nightmarish in a cutscene very reminiscent of Jacob's Ladder's hospital gurney scene. Silent Hill 3 is also unique in that it includes the only transition (that I can think of) from the "real world" to the "fog world" (the middle ground between the "real" world and the "Otherworld" that is the where most of the games' play takes place). This occurred at the very beginning of the game, when Heather was in a perfectly normal mall, complete with other people. She went into the girl's bathroom to escape Douglas, and from there, exited through the window, where she found herself in the "fog world" which was indistinguishable from the real world until she returned to the interior of the mall to find that it was deserted as if it had been closed for hours (despite it being open and populated less than 2 minutes ago).

In the first three games, an actual physical shift form "Fog" to "Otherworld" can only be observed twice. The first time in Silent Hill 1 when Harry crosses the bridge to the Amusement Park. In this instance, the effect is simply a fade-out of the street surface, revealing metal grating beneath, and a seemingly infinite pit of blackness below the grating. The second time is in the hospital of Silent Hill 3, when Heather sees bloody veins spreading out from a bathtub that eventually encompass the entire hospital. But the effect of the transition is physically painful to Heather (which is unique within the Silent Hill games).

Silent Hill 4 utilizes a "hub and portal" method for movement between different areas of the game, so the transition from "normal" to "fog" to "Otherworld" are very distinct. This game's unique method is not really directly comparable to the other game's because it is uniquely tied into the game's narrative. Therefore, I will not be using Silent Hill4 in this discussion. I will also not focus too much on "Silent Hill: Origins" because that game uses a mirror as a device to transfer from one realm to the other, similar to the Portals of Silent Hill 4. This mechanic is also unique to that game's story, and therefore, not directly comparable.

The first three games use a variety of different methods to transfer from "fog" or "normal" to "Otherworld". Some are direct and jarring. Others are more subtle and almost casual. But in virtually every case, the transition has a disorienting effect on the player. First and foremost, the player usually enters the Otherworld not knowing where they actually are. Even though a map is sometimes accessible, any markings that have been made on the map are erased, and as the player progresses, the map will be rewritten to include new hallways and rooms where none had been before. The new Otherworld map always ends up being radically different than the map of the "normal" or "fog" world's version of the area.

When these transitions occur, the player often times loses any sense of where he or she is and where he or she is supposed to be going. The effect is almost panic-inducing, as the player is forced to explore the area again, only to find that everything they had learned about it previously is no longer applicable. Monsters are more common and more aggressive, and environmental dangers are present as well. The instances of physical pain that are often associated with the transitions also add a degree of discomfort for any player that has a sense of empathy for the character. Sometimes, in instances where the character is unconscious during the transition, you will awaken in an area that appears completely unfamiliar. You have no idea if it's a representation of where you've already been, or if it's an entirely different location altogether. The effect is confusing, disorienting, painful, and frightening.

In the Silent Hill movie, a new, and (at the time, interesting) method of Otherworld transition was employed. In this iteration, the "fog" world would "melt" or "peel" off, revealing a rusty, metallic, industrial world underneath. But the basic outline of the world (its structure and architecture) would remain virtually unchanged. This effect works in the movie because it is a stimulating visual effect, and a movie is not "immersive" like a video game. In a movie, the directors and writers do not have to worry as much about the continuity of its locations or navigation from one area to another because the viewer doesn't have to navigate the locations. In a movie, the environment can be visually altered without having any effect on the viewer's perception of "where" he or she is, since the location is irrelevant as long as the characters seem to know where they are or where they or going (or not know, as the case may be). In a video game, however, the writers can pretend that the character doesn't know where he or she is, but if the layout of the environment remains unchanged, the player is not going to experience any sense of confusion or disorientation. Everything is exactly where the player left it, and the player can still find his or her way through the environment.

The first 3 Silent Hill games, however, DID change the layout of the environments. A fade-out, load-screen, or camera cut often accompany the transition, so there is no way for the player to know that he or she is in the same place that they just were (regardless of whether the character knows or not). In Silent Hill 5, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (7), and now (apparently from the trailer) Silent Hill 8, the movie-inspired "melting" or "peeling" is the predominant effect for transitions to the Otherworld. In this effect (whether it occurs during Gameplay, or during a scripted, non-interactive cutscene), the player NEVER loses any sense of WHERE they are or WHAT they are supposed to be doing. No confusion or disorientation occurs. The effect is simply a visual element with absolutely NO bearing on Gameplay. In some cases, the Otherworld will take players through the same areas (which will be slightly different), and in other cases, the Otherworld would take the player into previously inaccessible or unknown locations, but the existing locations that have already been visited did NOT change in layout (assuming they are still accessible at all). The player is still able to perfectly navigate the "new" game world with no problems. And in the situations where a new location is visited, the fact that you are in the "Otherworld" has no effect, since any confusion you experience is the result of the fact that you actually ARE in a different area that you are not familiar with. But the bottom line is that you (the player) KNOW whether the area is the same or not.

In the previous games, the majority of transitions involved the player NOT KNOWING for sure whether the current location is a version of a place already visited, or a totally new, unrelated location, and finding familiar landmarks or using the map feature would slowly clue the player into the fact that this Nightmare is the same place you've already explored. The effect is subtle, but present. And it generates a source of primal fear and/or anxiety. In the new game, no such uncertainty exists. You (the player) saw the world change. You experienced it. There is no degree of uncertainty. No confusion. And no fear. The effect is useless, wasted, just a cheap gimmick that has absolutely no influence on the how you approach the game. The world might as well have started that way. Or the change might as well have never happened. It doesn't matter. Because the places you go are either a blatant re-skin of a previous location (you saw the re-skin happen), or it is a totally new location altogether with no relation or similarity to where you just were, the transition adds absolutely no tension or fear to the game. This is especially true in Homecoming, in which monsters seem to appear equally in both "fog" and Otherworld, and attack with the same ferocity.

As a Silent Hill fan, it is my sincere hope that the developers and designers behind the new "Silent Hill 8" take a very critical look on the changes to the game that were made in Homecoming and Shattered Memories, and only adopt the ones that actually added to the game's "horror" gameplay. The primary inspirations for the new game should continue to be the same ones that inspired the first 3 games, since those are the games that were of the best quality in the series (although "Shattered Memories" is a VERY good game, and I applaud Climax for their execution and return to fundamental "horror" gaming). Please take a close look at the methodology that was used by the designers of the first game to create the atmospherically creepy environments and creatures that were made in the first few games.

Just because the movie was "liked" by a lot of people, and brought in some new audiences, do not assume that everything the movie did was the right way to do things. The movie broke a lot of the franchise's rules and established canon. It changed characters. It changes the backstories. It changed the environments. And it changed the creatures. And most of these changes were done to accommodate the fact that the movie is a MOVIE. Not all of these changes can simply be imported to a game structure. If you want proof that taking concepts and "mechanics" from a movie doesn't work, just look at the track record of movie-based and movie-inspired games. Its not a very pretty track record. That is because the techniques and methodologies of movies are fundamentally different than those that need to be used for a successful game. Plus, the Silent Hill movie really is not all that great anyway, so I don't know why the game designers would be suddenly taking their inspirations from a movie that was inferior to the games it is based on in just about every way.

NCAA Football 11 Demo Impressions (Day 1 - Varsity)

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Another year, another EA sports college football game. The Demo for NCAA Football 11 was released on Xbox Live and PSN today, so how does it stack up?

First and foremost, the game LOOKs a lot better than the previous year's game. In fact, it may even look better than last year's Madden (which looked great). Pre game rituals and plenty of ESPN graphics and music give the game some early flair. But the Omni-present ESPN graphics actually felt a bit too much, like EA was trying to force it down my throat that it has ESPN theme. Referees are finally back on the field, although so far, they don't seem to be too interactive. You can't run into them, the ball can't hit them, and they don't respot the ball after plays (the ball seems to just magically re-appear when you run the hurry-up). The game's lighting and textures also look about a thousand times better than last year's game (although the Pre-game has some noticeable shading and texture popping, particularly just before a camera cut). Kirk Herbstreet and Brad Nessler return for commentary in the game, but Lee Corso seems to be missing. I miss him already.

NCAA Football 10 players did not cast shadows on themselves or each other.NCAA Football 11 has better shading, textures, and colorIn NCAA 10, players did not cast shadows on themselves or each otherNCAA Football 11 has better shading, textures, and color

The first thing I noticed about the game is that the controls feel much more fluid and intuitive. Part of that might be because I just spent the last 2 weeks playing Backbreaker, and EA chose to use a control scheme similar to Backbreaker's for this year's games. Spinning with a circular movement of the right stick, and being able to do multiple stutter steps and combo jukes gives the user much more freedom of expression when controlling the ball carrier. The new "Locomotion" engine that is designed to more accurately depict player's agility and acceleration (rather than just immediately jumping to max straight-line speed), has also already had a huge impact on the game for me. In my very first game, I noticed that a screen pass actually worked, even though my running back was covered. The defender happened to be a big, slow, defensive end, and after I released the ball, instead of it bouncing off the defender's back (as it would have in previous years), my QB actually LEAD the running back towards the sideline. The running back accelerated past the defensive end, made the completion, and got me a 15 yard first down. I've also noticed the effect of acceleration and quicker changes of direction when wide receivers are being covered by linebackers (especially in man). And if timed correctly, a pass thrown just as a receiver makes his cut on a post or corner route can be devastating, since the defensive back is still backpedalling and has to change direction to follow the receiver. This allows the receiver to get in much better position to make a catch and appear to be much more wide open than he actually was (since the DB is struggling to catch up), whereas in previous years, the defensive back would have been matching him step-for-step, and probably would jump the route and knock down or intercept the ball. So far, the system is working nicely, but I'll be interested to see how it holds up when the game's difficulty goes up to All American or Heisman.

Traditionally, the EA football games have been known for "cheating" at higher difficulties. Yes, mom, the game actually does cheat. All those years of me yelling at the TV were not just me being a whiner. In the demo, I've already noticed plenty of problems with the game's circumstantial animation system forcing me into canned animations that I don't want. For example, the PRO-TAK feature (imported from last year's Madden), is appearing in this year's game, but so far in the demo, it seems to be sorely under-utilized. In one instance, I was attempting to stop the CPU from converting a 3rd and long. the CPU completed a pass to the middle of the field, and my corner back proceeded to tackle the wide receiver, but the animation the game chose pushed the receiver forward over the first down marker. However, in real football, the first down probably would have been stopped, since I had a safety converging on the play from downfield. He got to the receiver just before he crossed the first down marker, but instead of hitting him and pushing him back to stop the first down, the safety just rolled onto the ground next to the receiver as the receiver continued to fall forward because the game had already committed to that particular tackle animation. So I have no doubt that the famous Madden force fields and context-sensitive animation-selection will eventually come into play to hinder my performance on higher difficulties. But that is to be expected.

The Play Calling screen has also been radically overhauled. For better, and for worse. The new system abandons paging in favor of linear scrolling through the available plays. This is very time-consuming, and with only a 25-second play clock, we don't have too much time to waste navigating through dozens of plays. The game defaults to a "Basic" mode where a set of just 15 plays are given to you based on situation, and you only have to chose one of them. This is nice, and somewhat believable, since real football coaches don't open up their 300-page play book between every play, but rather just check a cheat-sheet of about a dozen plays to call for a given situation. But the real problem with the play-call screen is lag. Navigating and moving up or down the menus takes a LONG time. And again, in a game where you only have 25 seconds to navigate and find a play, every second - every half second - counts. One nice addition to the play call screen is that on defense, the game now shows both the positions AND numbers of the offensive personnel. This is a very nice feature, and I now that's it in a game, I can't believe its taken this long for someone to think of it.

Running the No Huddle offense now brings up the full playbook for you to choose in a window. Its too bad UNLV ditched Mike Sanford in favor of a more traditional coach this year, otherwise it could have been fun to play around with Sanford's No Huddle Spread in this year's game. UNLV obviously wan't in the demo, so I'll have to wait and see if the folks at EA will have managed to get the new coach's playbook correct, since this is his first year at UNLV.

My personal favorite new feature, however, is the improved blocking logic. Players now follow better, assignment-based blocking, rather than just going after the guy right in front of him. In fact, the Coach Cam Play Art will now even show the exact blocking assignment for each blocker against the defense that lines up against you. The game will draw the head-up blocks, pulls, kickouts, reaches, second-level blocks, and so forth, and show exactly which player each lineman is supposed to block. Of course, whether or not he gets there is a different story. I even saw the diagram change as the defense moved and shifted around prior to the snap. Hopefully, the blocking holds up on higher difficulties, and hopefully the slide existing slide protection blocking feature doesn't conflict with the new blocking logic, but I'll have to wait and see. I've been begging every year for better offensive line play, and now its finally gotten some attention. Hopefully its worthwhile.

A few minor gripes I have with the demo:

None of the teams featured are an Option ****offense, and the short, 2-minute quarter length means that its hard to get a feel of the whole game, especially the new No Huddle system, since the quarter or half will be over before I can get a sustained drive going. I also didn't particularly care for the new action replays. The camera is too low to the ground and zoomed in, and it cuts too frequently between focus on different areas of the field. It makes it very hard to see what actually happened during a play. I prefer the old Press Box and Sky Cam replays that allowed me to see the blocks develop and watch coverage downfield. But I can always just watch a manual replay if I need to study the play.

Finally, I caught a MAJOR glitch in the game: In Overtime, the CPU won the coin toss but chose to play offense first. In college football, it is well established that team who win the toss are supposed to chose to play DEFENSE FIRST, that way, the offense will know how many points it needs to not lose the game. Hopefully, this will be fixed.

Does anyone else think this has been a dissapointing year for video games?

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I just can't help but feel like the gaming industry has let us down this year so far. I mean, nothing that has been released so far has been truly impressive. There are a few games that have met or slightly exceeded expectations, but for the most part, the games that have bee released so far (at least the ones I've played) have been let-downs.

"So what have I played this year?" you might be asking. Well here's the Highlights (or would it be "lowlights"?) of what I've played so far this year.

Well, lets do this in a roughly chronilogical order. The first big-name game that I picked up this year was "Dante's Inferno", which I had been watching for some time, and which I had high expectations for. It started off really good, and got me excited early on that it would live up to my expectations. But after about the 4th circle of Hell, it was like the designers gave up. The great art and enemy design from the first 3 circles just degraded into a mess of crappy platforming puzzles, broken enemies, cheap deaths, and un-inspired level design.

The Saboteur ended up being a bit more fun, but wasn't any better than I expected it to be. Its a very flawed game, party due to the developer going bankrupt partway through development, which is sad, considering that the game is very fun, and could have been much better with a little more money and time to fix the rough spots. Bayonetta (which I haven't actually reviewed yet) also ended up being pretty fun. Except for the parts where you can't tell what the heck is going on. This game was released last year, but I just picked it up this spring, so maybe I shouldn't be listing it here, but whatever.

Then came the biggest debacle of the year for me: Star Trek Online. Like, seriously Cryptic, all the hype that went into this game, and you couldn't give us something that was actually playable? This game ended up being the most dissapointing game I've ever played since Spore (Spore is still more dissapointing though).

Even God of War III, which was supposed to be mind-bogglingly epic awesomeness ended up being only "just good enough". All that time they spent hyping-up the whole "fighting on the back of giant Titans" mechanic, and how they spent all this time and attention making the Titan models as real and fleshed out as possible. And the Titans were only in the first level for all of about 10 minutes before the game became just a slightly more brutal and bloody version of God of War I and II. Plus, the God of War gameplay mechanics just don't seem to have transfered over to the new generation of consoles as well as one would have though. Maybe its because the HD graphics and higher framerate make it easier to see when we're getting hit with cheap shots and unresponsiveness from the controller. I don't know. But whatever it is, it just felt like the first two games but even less epic and less novel.

And as if that weren't bad enough, Square-Enix had to go and blunder Final Fantasy XIII (which I also haven't reviewed yet because I was hoping to wait until I got the "good parts" before writing down my opinion on the game - but it hasn't happened yet, so what does that say?). I mean, the game is pretty, and its an interesting departure from a lot of the ****c FF gameplay elements, but the game is riddled with subtley irritating breaches of logic and boring and repetitive gameplay. I mean, you spend half the game having your party get split up into groups of two, and get to play as each and every character as the party leader. But then when you get everybody together, even though the game went to all that trouble to demonstrate that everybody has the experience of being a party leader, and is fully capable of healing and reviving each other, the game still makes it so that if your character (the party leader) dies, its Game Over! What is with that?! Honestly? I've got an inventory of a few dozen Pheonix Downs, and you're telling me not ONE of my characters has the sense to use one? And what's with all the hand-holding? Auto-battles? Forcing our party to split up to set up the characters in contrived situations where they are supposed to "develop"? Capping the leveling system in each mission? Taking away all our freedom to explore and take on side-quests? I felt like I was Yorda from Ico having my arm nearly pulled out of socket by that little horned-boy as the game drags me around its contrived, pretentious narrative. But hey, at least we got a new genre: the "On-Rails RPG"!

And now the latest entry in the myriad of dissapointing games this year: Backbreaker. This game was delayed for 2 years, and this is the best you can do? Nobody knows how to block, receivers don't run their routes, QBs throw 10 interceptions a game, punters can't kick the ball more than 30 yards, and many of the rules of football are just ignored or poorly interpretted. I guess they spent all their time making sure Euphoria worked and looked good, and forgot to actually make the football playing work. Its still fun though. When you're not getting blind-sided by blitzing linebackers.

And what's the deal with Capcom releasing Super Street Fighter IV? It wasn't bad enough they subjected us to one crappy iteration of the game, they had to re-release it? I mean, if this isn't an admonition from the developers that the initial release was broken, I don't know what is. But I played Super, and honestly, I didn't feel like it was any different than the initial release. I still get knocked down by people in Online and then can't even get back up because they can jump kick you back to the ground while your character is standing up. Maybe I just suck, but it seemed to me like the game is still fundamentally broken. I hope Marvel v. Capcom 3 ends up being better...

But in all the crap we've endured this year, there were still some games that met expectations. Heavy Raincomes to mind as probably the single best game to have been released this year. But for as good as it was, it really wasn't mind-blowingly good. Granted, the story is gripping, and it the ending surprised and blew my mind. But the gameplay was just kinda so-so, and wasn't any better than my most conservative estimates were going to be. Plus, the game's awesomeness actually kind of came back and bit me in the butt, since I was so mesmerized, it only took me two nights to finish the game. Too bad ... Another game that at least met expectations was Napoleon Total War. But that's only because I enjoyed Empire Total War, and Napoleon is pretty much the same game. So still, it was a bit dissapointing in that it didn't end up being much better than its predescesor.

The one game that really did surprise me though, wasSilent Hill Shattered Memories. This was a game that I actually expected to suck, but which ended up making me feel like the franchise had finally gotten the love it deserved since Team Silent was disbanded by Konami after Silent Hill 4 (why did they do that?). So although Heavy Rain and Napoleon were gems in the rough, Silent Hill ended up being this year's only real Diamond in the rough.

Although I've only been playing for a short while, Red Dead Redemption is shaping up pretty well, even though it has some serious control issues (having to press X to keep my horse running, but having to use right stick to move camera makes doing BOTH very hard). And with the incredible announcements made by Harmonix recently regarding Rock Band 3PRO Mode and new controllers andFiraxis leaking the radically game-changing new featuresof Civilization V, its looking like maybe this fall will be better than the spring and summer.

And the release ofbad or barely adequate games isn't the end of this year's nonsense.After the announcement thatEA is blocking Online content for resale customers, I feel like the video game industry is starting to go the way of movie theaters by charging us ridiculous prices for stuff that we've been getting for free for years. And companies are still continuing to release BS DLC content and packaging retailer-exclusive or pre-order content with their games. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I've paid for the game, I should have access to all the content that is available at release. Don't give me some bogus password to download some content that's already on the disc!

My Top 10 Gameplay Conventions that No Game Should Ever Use

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With gaming interfaces and design reaching points where games feel as natural to play as breathing is, I have constructed a list of what I consider to be the Top 10 Gameplay Conventions That Should Never Be Used Again. All of these items are things that appeared in abundance in the last few generations of console and PC gaming, and are things that I think the gaming population has grown completely (or at least mostly) out of.

10.) BACKTRACKING

Worst Offender(s): "Devil May Cry 4", "Resident Evil" (PS1),

Why its Obsolete: We paid half a grand for our shiny new consoles and $60 a pop for our new games, we don't want to see the same areas recycled over and over again, especially if they play exactly the same as they did before! Give us more places to see! Or at least change the old locations so the gameplay is different the second time through. OK, sure in "Devil May Cry 4", the second time through, you are playing with Dante instead of Nero, but the pacing was so fast and felt so rushed, that I never had an opportunity to get comfortable with Dante, and the whole thing just felt a little lazy and tacked-on.

Exceptions to the rule: If returning to previously explored areas is done creatively, then its excusable. For example, in the "Silent Hill" games, you go through almost every area twice, but the second time is always in the "Nightmare world" and the experience is totally different. Returning to an area that has been changed by the events of the story or actions of the characters can have an interesting effect if done correctly. "Dead Space" is another good example of backtracking done right.

9.) ENDGAME "RECAP" GAUNTLET CHALLENGES

Worst offender(s): "Dante's Inferno", "Devil May Cry" (PS2), "Devil May Cry 3" (PS2),

Why its Obsolete: forcing the player to run through a gauntlet of enemies or bosses from the course of the game in order to progress to the final boss often ends up feeling like a cheap, tacked-on, gimmick to add filler length to the game. I already beat these guys!

Exceptions to the rule: Doing this can work, if it is paced well and fits into the story. In the first "Devil May Cry" it wasn't too bad because the re-cap of the bosses were actually subtly different than the first time you fought them and posed new challenges.

8.) ULTRA-EMPOWERED MAIN CHARACTERS

Worst offender(s): RPGs, adventure games

Why its Obsolete: One of the things that (in my opinion) makes "Demon's Souls" (PS3) such an interesting game is the fact that the game is insanely hard. But not because it throws cheap deaths at you that you can't avoid, or because the enemies are ridiculously overpowered. But rather, because the game seems perfectly balanced between the main character and the enemies you encounter. Two hits from an enemy sword and you are dead, but you get two hits off on the enemy, and you kill him. The difficulty comes from the fact that you are almost always outnumbered and the fact that as you level your character up and traverse new areas, the enemies get much more powerful as well. This game really makes you feel like you are a grunt soldier, rather than some super-powered world-savior (even though you are capable of resurrecting, and eventually do save the world). I also like the "Silent Hill" games because of how you play as an average person in an un-average situation. "Silent Hill: Shattered Memories" takes this even further by making your character completely defenseless. When monsters come after you, you run for your life. It works well, and creates genuine fear and panic. "Heavy Rain" (PS3) also puts players in the shoes of average, everyday people, and gives you choices to make that affect the game.

Exceptions to the rule: Again, not every game will work well by giving the player a "weak" character. In many action-adventure and RPGs, the player character must be overpowered or "special" in order to complete the tasks assigned to them. So this is not really something that I never want to see again, but rather, I would like to see more games put the player in the shoes of average, everyday people that we can relate to, rather than practical superheroes.

7.) "ENDURANCE" BOSS BATTLES

Worst offender(s): survival horror games ("Resident Evil" 1 and 2, "Silent Hill" 1-4 (PS1, PS2), many shooters "Red Faction" (PS2), "Half-Life" (PC), "Uncharted" 1 and 2 (PS3), "Metal Gear Solid" (PS1)

Why its Obsolete: Just giving a boss a ton of hit points and making him hit really hard is a lame way of making a boss. Bosses should be unique in the game world. Having to shoot them repeatedly in the head with a rocket launcher to kill them is just absurd. The introduction of "Quick Time" events such as "God of War" and context-sensitive events such as in some of the boss battles from "Metal Gear Solid 4" that included frequent context-sensitive actions, are two ways of adding variety and excitement to boss battles and make them stand out from normal gameplay. These are by no means the only two alternatives, but they are the most commonly used and typically best-working in games being released today.

Exceptions to the rule: Traditional RPGs may be exempt from this rule because of their nature as being stat-based. Although it would still be nice to have a unique way of defeating a boss, giving the Boss characters high hit points and attack power is really the only way to really distinguish a boss character from a standard enemy. Otherwise, players would just save up their Limit Breaks, Overdrives, or whatever you call the super-powerful moves, for bosses and instant-kill them. And that wouldn't be much fun at all.

6.) DEFENSELESS AND STUPID NPC FOLLOWERS

Worst offender(s): "Sandbox" games ("Grand Theft Auto" et all), many 3rd person Action games, every Bethesda game I've played, strategy games

Why its Obsolete: Escorting someone around may be a perfectly legitimate gameplay objective, but not when the person to be escorted seems to go out of their way to get killed. Many games have implemented a "Stay here" and "Follow me" interaction that allows you to leave a defenseless character in a safe location when you go on to take out the bad guys. "Resident Evil 4" took that to the next level by actually making your tag-along character not completely stupid. She stayed as close to you as she could, and would run away from enemies that approached her. She would even duck and cover if you aimed your gun in her direction, eliminating that ever-irritating Friendly Fire that so many games before would frustrate me with. You'd think that with advances in computing power and AI algorithms, NPC followers would be a bit more clever by now, but many quests in Bethesda's "Oblivion" show that no, there are still stupid NPCs that like to run headlong into danger and get themselves killed with you having no say in the matter.

Exceptions to the rule: NONE! There are no excuses for AI NPCs to turn themselves into connon-fodder any more. With all the power of the new consoles, these characters should be smart enough to keep themselves out of harms way, defend themselves, or be able to be told when to run and hide and when to stay close to the player character.

5.) DOUBLE JUMP

Worst offender(s): Every platformer ever, super hero games, many 3-D action/adventure games

Why its Obsolete: Given advances in technology and the realistic look of most games' graphics, and the use of believable physics engines in most games, giving the player character a double jump can look just plain stupid and take the player out of the immersion. Spider-Man may be incredibly agile and can jump really high, but even HE can't jump off of thin air, and I don't expect or want him to be able to in a video game.

Exceptions to the rule: Games in fantasy or exaggerated settings may have use for a double jump. A game like "Devil May Cry" in which the character actually creates a magical platform off of which he double jumps or "Bayonetta" in which the character sprouts magical butterfly wings to get the added height, can also go a long way in making the double jump animation not look totally ridiculous.

4.) PRE-ORDER EXCLUSIVES

Worst Offender(s): "Star Trek Online" (PC), "Gran Turismo" (PSP),

Why its Obsolete: I missed out on the chance to get a "Silent Hill: Shattered Memories" soundtrack because the soundtrack was only offered with pre-orders of the game. I love Akira Yamaoka, and "Shattered Memories" was hardly advertised, and I NEVER saw anything about a Pre-Order special until two weeks after I had bought the game (which was several weeks after its release because it was so poorly advertised, I didn't even know it had come out yet). And in the case of "Star Trek Online", every retailer has its own unique Pre-Order exclusive. Why can't I have a Constitution-class starship AND be able to play as a Borg character AND have the fancy X-ray sniper rifle? I bought the damn game! I'm paying $15 per month for you to keep the servers up and patch the thing every once in a while! I think I deserve to have access to this content without having to pay an arm-and-a-leg extra. I'm also going to extend this to include EA Sports' new policy of giving out a passcode to access Online Play, so that once the code is used, no one else can use that particular copy of the game to play online (unless they pay a fee). This is an attempt to force consumers to buy their games NEW rather than be able to purchase them pre-owned. This is complete BS! Especially in the case of EA where we know you have the money to keep the servers running. Madden is the BEST selling video game worldwide practically every year. And Online play has been a feature in the game for like 5 or 6 years now. Suddenly you want us to force us to have to buy the game new or pay extra to use a feature that's been in the game for 6 years?

Exceptions to the rule: NONE! If I buy the game, I should have access to all the content that is in the game, even if I have to pay a little extra for it (even though I dislike Micro-Transactions). Quite frankly, it should all be in the game already! If you're going to do a Pre-Order exclusive, make every retailer have the same offer! Additionally: If the content is on the disc, we should be able to play it!

3.) LIMITED EDITION / "COLLECTORS" BUNDLES

Worst offender(s): "Star Wars: Empire at War" (PC), "Dante's Inferno (Divine Edition)" (PS3), "Spore" (PC), "The Beatles: Rock Band"

Why its Obsolete: Packaging tiny little 5-page pamphlets and calling them "art books" or including a stupid little knick-knack or toy and charging us extra for it is ridiculous! Heck, even soundtracks aren't a good enough reason for making a Limited/Collector's Edition. "Silent Hill 3" on the PS2 came with a soundtrack CD in the box! At no extra charge! "Star Wars: Empire At War" did come with a cool 3-D mousepad, but it also came packaged with Collection's Edition-only bonus multiplayer maps. But guess what? You could never use them because they required every player participating to have bought the Collector's Edition. Which nobody did. So the extra maps were a complete waste. Also, first and foremost, make sure the game is GOOD! I burned $90 on "Spore" because I love "SimCity" and love "The Sims" so thought Will Wright wouldn't let us down, but it didn't matter how awesome the extra content in the Special Edition of "Spore" was, because the actual game was crap. I played it for all of 3 days before giving up completely. "The Beatles: Rock Band" included some nice hardware, but the price tag was a bit high.

Exceptions to the rule: Stuff that appeals to the die-hard fans of the game is good stuff to put in a Collector's Edition. As such, a new Intellectual Property should rarely have a Collector's Edition (I'm looking at you, "Dante's Inferno"). A CD soundtrack is a good start. Art books that actually show some concept art, rough sketches, and early drafts work as well (rather than just showing images of finalized characters and levels that show up on the game's Loading Screen anyway). A T-shirt or hat that we can wear to show off our pride in the game could also work. Actually give us stuff that is worth the extra $10-20 that we are paying for the game! Basically, you shouldn't expect everybody who buys the game to want the "Collector's Edition", otherwise its not a "Collector's Edition", now, is it?

2.) DLC AND MICRO-TRANSACTIONS

Worst offender(s): "Madden NFL 10", "The Sims 3" (PC), "Borderlands", "The Beatles: Rock Band"

Why its Obsolete: This is a brand new phenomenon in gaming, but its already completely out-of-hand. We've got companies charging us for all kinds of crappy content ranging from additional levels, new weapons, extra costumes, and even cheats! Its ridiculous! If a company already has a DLC pack out the day that the game ships, then you know that content could have been added to the game (maybe with a few weeks launch delay). If the extra content is free, then its excusable, and I'm all for free patches to games coming out as often as possible. But if its something small and simple, like the bonus costumes in "Dead Space", or some extra haircuts in "The Sims", or extra save slots for Created Teams in "NCAA Football 10", then why the heck isn't it on the game-disc to begin with?! And this new proliferation of packaging every game with a "Promo-Code" to unlock some extra costume or gameplay mode or nudity option is also ridiculous.

Exceptions to the rule: "Rock Band" has possibly the best DLC system of any game available. Obviously, the game cannot be packaged with every rock song ever made, and that is acceptable (but the lackluster 45-songs on the "Beatles Rock Band" disk is way too low!). The game's song list is huge, and the fact that "Rock Band 2" allowed all the "Rock Band" 1 songs to be imported effectively doubled that game's track-listing. And the fact that every DLC song purchased is compatible in both Rock Band games shows that Harmonix actually cares about giving their audiences a quality product that is worth the money and time they invest into it. Games that release DLC packs that act as full expansions are also excused. Fallout 3 is a great example, particularly, the "Broken Steel" DLC pack. Granted, it fixed what was a stupid and crappy ending that should have been fixed before the game released, but this particular pack extended the length of the game by 50%, added new weapons and armor, more locations to visit, extended the game's plot, fixed some existing glitches, and did just about everything right (except for the fact that it introduced some new glitches), making it well worth the $10 fee.

1.) ARBITRARY TIME LIMITS

Worst offender(s): Driver (PS1), many racing/driving games, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES) (Yes, the underwater part of the dam level! You know what I'm talking about)

Why its obsolete: Time limits used to be a clichéd way of adding difficulty to a game, forcing you to have to redo levels or segments until you become skilled enough in that one, particular game area to clear the objective(s) within the given time limit. Doing so would make the game seem more challenging and make the game longer, since more frequent restarts would be required. But games like "Grand Theft Auto III" and "Ico" proved that you do not need an Omni-present countdown to make a game challenging, and that making your game longer by forcing the player to retry areas is not necessary. GTAIII was a HUGE game, with tons of missions and plenty of side-content to eat up months worth of an avid gamer's time. "Ico", on the other hand, is a perfect example of why a game doesn't need to be super-long to be super-good. A game that can be cleared in under 5 hours without ever needing to restart from a save or a checkpoint can still be good and worth the cost of purchase.

Exceptions to the rule: NONE! There is no reason for a game to include an arbitrary time limit.Of course, if the game has a legitimate reason for giving us a time limit, such as "a Bomb is going to go off, you have one minute to disarmit or escape"or "If you don't find us a replacement Water Chip within 3 months we'll all die of dehydration", then a time limit is acceptable. But don't throw in bull gimmicks like putting a bomb in every level in a game in which that doesn't make sense, and for the love of all that is Holy, make the time limit reasonable! Unless you are going to implement a branching plot line such that not fulfilling the time limit requirement does not force us to restart (Like in "Heavy Rain"). For example, the old NES "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" Underwater Time-Bomb Disarming Level is an example of a time Limit that makes sense; HOWEVER, the time limit given is completely absurd because it requires ABSOLUTE perfection by the player or its an instant Game Over.

Madden NFL 11 wishlist

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---- MADDEN 11 WISHLIST: ---

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GENERAL GAMEPLAY WISHLIST:

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1.) Being able to assign double team blocking to defenders from the "Coaching" menu during a game (similar to the "Defensive assignments" screen in this year's game).

2.) Blocking hot routes and setting double-team blocks at the line of scrimmage. For example, if I line up against a 3-4 defense and read an outside blitz, I should be able to "hot route" the guard on that side to pull out and block the blitzing LB rather than risking that the guard will just sit in the middle of the pocket while my QB/RB gets chased down from the outside.

3.) Do not disable the play clock runoff inside the 2-minute warning. In fact, this is the part in the game where that run-off is most needed, so that players actually HAVE to run a hurry up offense, and can't simply go to the play-call screen after a big and pick a play in 5 seconds rather than have to wait 8 or 10 seconds for their players to run up to the line.

4.) Add some AI customization options for things like run/pass playcalling ratio, defensive play-calling aggressiveness, amount of substitutions, and so on.

5.) Instead of a 15 second play clock run-off, how about just running the play clock down to 18 seconds. Often, I get my play clock run down to 13 seconds, and that is just not enough time. Especially if I want to do things like call hot routes or put a player in motion (I have to scroll to him, then move him, then wait for him to get set).

6.) Improve offensive pre-play motions. Why does it take 7 whole seconds for my weak side on-the-line of scrimmage wideout to motion three steps to the inside of the field and then get set again. Trying to do this motion is very useful for running outside run plays, screens, and draws, but half the time results in a delay of game because it takes the same amount of time for the WR to get set as it would if he had run all the way across the field (the play clock being run down to 13-15 seconds on all my plays doesn't help either).

7.) Get rid of that irritating delay before the "fight for the fumble" mini-game begins. Sometimes it seems like a player is laying on the ball for 2 or 3 whole seconds before the mini-game starts.

8.) Add about 3 to 5 more seconds before an AI QB snaps the ball to give the human player slightly more time to read the offense and make any adjustments.

9.) Better representations of the 3-4 defense both on-the-field and in terms of depth charts and team management.

10.) Have the kicker actually stay back on kickoff coverage. In the current game, the kicker runs down the field and sometimes is the first to hit the returner. the kicker should be staying back as a safety and pursuing from left to right, not up the field.

11.) More trick plays and special teams variety. Add some kickoff and punt reverses, wall blocking, or designed lateral plays (Music City Miracle, anyone?)

12.) Some teams (specifically, the Titans and Eagles) have started using college-s-t-y-l-e-s option plays. I would like to see these added to Madden's playbooks.

13.) Injuries that are actually based on what happens to a player during a play, rather than being random. Players that get hit in the head should have increased chances of suffering concussions. Players that get wrapped up around the legs should have increased chances of suffering ankle sprains or knee sprains. A running back with low strength and stiff arm skill could have an increased chance of injuring his arm attempting to stiff arm a really good defender.

14.) Allow us to pump fake on Draw plays before handing off the ball, or have the QB pump fake with his empty hand after handing off the ball.

AI WISHLIST:

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1.) Base players' abilities on their actual stats regardless of the difficulty level. Don't make my blockers stupid and run around in circles when the difficulty goes up. Blocking should remain competent regardless of the difficulty level. Just improve defensive reaction time, pursuit, block breaking, coverage, and tackling.

2.) Get rid of the irritating "Catch Up" AI in which an AI offense goes exclusively to the pass and becomes unstoppable. Additionally, when the AI does catch back up or takes the lead, do not leave them in "Catch Up" mode. Too often, I will take the lead by 2 or 3 scores, and the AI will start killing me in the pass for the whole rest of the game and NEVER go back to the run (even if they go up by 2 or 3 scores).

3.) Have the AI run the ball more and stick with the run longer. Also, if the AI is having trouble running, and goes to the pass, have them run more short ball-control passes rather than trying to go down the field for 15 to 25 yards on EVERY passing play.

4.) Better pursuit angles by defenders (especially for the human-controlled team), and better outside containment by linebackers and defensive ends. The AI has way too easy of a time getting to the outside, even if I am playing a "Contain" play or audible a linebacker to play a flat zone.

5.) Make receivers (especially on the human-controlled teams) more aggressive at going for the ball when its in the air. This lack of agressiveness makes curl routes and quick-hitches almost unuseable because the receiver never comes back for the ball and the AI DB just steps in front and knocks it down or picks it off.

6.) Get rid of the AI DB's remarkable ability to intercept passes without ever looking back for the ball. If the DB is chasing down a WR and never sees the ball, the best he should be able to do is put his hands up and blindly try to knock it down (or run into the WR and get a PI penalty).

7.) Better blocking on Draws and Screens. Every time I run a draw, the AI defense never even looks like it is reacting to the pass fake. Additionally, letting us pump-fake before handing off the ball on a draw would be another nice addition. In screens, blockers should at least hit the guy in front of them for a second before pulling out to block on the screen. Too often do my linemen just let the defenders through without being touched, and they outrun my QBs drop back and sack him. That should still happen, but it should be very rare.

FRANCHISE WISHLIST:

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1.) Bring back Preseason player progression! Especially for younger players and free agents.

2.) Improve Preseason AI substitution logic. Instead of swapping the no.1 and no.2 player in each position, remove the number 1 player from the depth chart altogether (and in the case of WRs, DBs, DTs in the 4-3, and ILBs in the 3-4, remove the 2nd player too). That way, the backup getting injured or tired, doesn't result in the starter being subbed right back into the game. Also, have the AI start subbing in 3rd and 4th string players in the 3rd and 4th quarters.

3.) Base Depth Charts on the schemes of the team. For example, a team that runs a 3-4 defense should have a position for Nose Guard, and both the top 2 Inside LBs should be considered "starters" (maybe even have a separate slot for Right ILB and Left ILB).

4.) Special Teams depth charts. I have had my starting defenders get injured several times on punt coverage and kick off coverage. Would like to have a whole depth chart dedicated to special teams players, and maybe even add kickoff/punt coverage as a player attribute. Also, some teams like to use their punter as a holder for field goals (rather than their no. 2 QB).

5.) Allow us to import a "Preseason" draft group from NCAA 11 that would be saved at the start of the respective season in NCAA 11. That way, we don't have to be a whole season ahead in NCAA in order to be able to import draft groups. Additionally, allow us to update the draft group during the season to see how the scouted player is performing in the NCAA game. Alternatively, maybe just have the Madden save file read the NCAA save file to get a list of scoutable players and their stats (but that might be complicated).

6.) Weekly game planning. Between games, allow us to view in depth information about our upcoming opponent, including their play-call tendencies and success rates with those play calls, projected depth chart, player stats, situational play calling tendencies (i.e. do they run or pass on third and short, etc). Allow us to practice against the opposing team's playbook (with emphasis on their most commonly-run plays) and maybe even give our team an awareness and play reaction boost if we do well in practice. Duplicate the "Defensive Assignments" so that it can be set before the game (rather than only in the game), as well as adding options to set double team coverages, double team blocks, and so on. It would also be VERY cool if we could customize our playbooks based on our next opponent. So if we see that they like to run a very aggressive defense, we can swap out some of our runs and passes for Draws and Screens to take advantage of that aggressiveness. And if we notice that they have a QB who likes to scramble (McNab, Young, etc), we can swap out some of our man coverage defenses for zones, contains, and QB spy plays.

7.) Have players get minor, but lingering injuries that persist over mutliple games (or even multiple seasons, like Brett Favres tendonitis or whatever he had) and can hamper their ability. In some cases, perhaps these injuries can prevent the player from practicing during the week, but still let him play in the game (but with reduced awareness and play recognition since he wasn't practicing). Each week, the medical staff would have to judge how well the player's condition is, and may or may not clear him to play. Additionally, the quality of the medical staff that you hire could reduce the severity of these injuries and lead to shorter recovery times and better performance in-game by players who have a minor injury.

8.) In addition to having lingering injuries, allow players to become injured during weekly practices (whether the user plays the practices or not). These injuries should be somewhat rare and almost never serious, but might take a player out for a week or two, or let the player be playable for the game, but with the risk of making the practice injury worse.

9.) Include more players in the Draft c-l-a-s-s imported from NCAA. If a player doesn't get drafted, make him a free agent or delete him from the game if his rating is too low. Too often, I have players that graduate in my NCAA Dynasty that I want to see how they do in Madden, but they aren't saved in the draft c-l-a-s-s because only 15 or 25 players from the whole NCAA are saved in any given position. For example, UNLV wide receiver Ryan Wolfe (despite being an All-American caliber player) was not saved in my NCAA draft c-l-a-s-s).

ONLINE WISHLIST:

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1.) If Player A Quits an online game against Player B (player A goes into the pause menu and selects "Quit"), then Player A should ALWAYS get credit for a loss (forfeit) and gets a DNF. If Player B is winning when Player A quits (or the game is tied), Player B should get credit for a win. If Player B is losing at the time that Player A quits, then Player B should not get a win or a loss. If one player is disconnected (accidental disconnect), then the player who was winning at the time should still get credit for the Win, and the player who was losing should not get a win or a loss. Continuing against the CPU should not give either player a win or a loss. If Player B offers Player A a friendly Quit and Player A accepts, then Player A should get a loss (but no DNF), and Player B should get a Win (and no DNF). Player A should have the option to request a friendly quit from Player B. If Player B accepts, then Player A should not get a loss or a win and Player B gets a win (neither gets DNF). That way, if Player A has to leave due to an emergency, he can ask to leave without having to take a loss. But the bottom line is, anytime a player willingly quits without the permission of the other player, that player should get a Loss!

2.) Default Quarter length for ranked games should be full 15 minutes with Accelerated play clock ON (including inside the 2-minute warning). Unranked games can default to 7 minutes and be customizeable on the session screen.

3.) Be able to view the profiles of online players so that you can select players with similar play s-t-y-l-e-ss and preferences rather than being randomly matched with someone you don't know. Unranked games should be able to be filtered by your play s-t-y-l-e-s and preference. Ranked games will stick you with another player regardless of their play s-t-y-l-e-s and preferences.

4.) Add a "Sportsmanship" rating similar to NCAA 10 and let players filter opponents by their sportsmanship scores.

5.) Balance the game so that the running game is actually useable in online games. And with the increased quarter lengths, we would probably see an increase in balanced play-calling from most players so that the games will go faster.

FEATURE WISHLIST:

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1.) In the "Madden Moments" historical scenarios, use a roster and depth chart from the season that the Madden moment comes from.

PRESENTATION WISHLIST:

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1.) Now that referees are in the game, make them more active and involved in the game. i.e. have an animation of the referee(s) throwing the flag when a penalty occurs, picking up and placing the ball between plays (especially in the Hurry-up offense), rotating their arm after a play to indicate that the clock should run, getting in the way of defenders or runners, the umpire attempting to duck under throws in the middle of the field or being hit with and deflecting the ball on passes (very rare),

2.) Actually show the correct jersey numbers of the players on the sidelines.

3.) show the actual coach model on the sideline during gameplay rather than just generic coaches.

4.) Animate the crowd in the stadium to have people doing more variety of things, such as walking up and down the aisles. Maybe even add food and drink vendors walking through the aisles.

5.) During gameplay, have the view on the jumbotrons use the "Presentation Camera" regardless of the camera angle being used for the game.

6.) Custom Stadium music.

7.) Allow female players and coaches to be created. I know there aren't any women in the NFL, but the Franchise mode lasts 30 years! How do we know a woman won't make it into the NFL or become a head coach by that time? It might also attract more female football fans and gamers to play the game.

ACHIEVEMENT / TROPHIES:

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1.) Remove all Quarter Length requirements for obtaining Trophies. Also, since the game uses the Madden IQ (dynamic difficulty), the difficulty level requirements for the Achievements/Trophies should also be removed.

2.) More Achievements / Trophies for accomplishments in Career modes (i.e. "Win a Super Bowl", "Have a player on your team be awarded League MVP", "Have a perfect 16-0 regular season record", "Have a perfect 19-0 record", etc.).

3.) New Achievement / Trophy ideas:

- "Win a Super Bowl" (in Franchise or Superstar Mode).

- "Load up the Mayflowers!" (Relocate a team in Franchise Mode to a new city).

- "Special Teams Master" (Return a Kickoff, Punt, and Missed Field goal for a touchdown in the same game).

- "Joe Montana, eat your heart out" (Come back from at least 11 points in the fourth quarter to win a Super Bowl in Franchise or SuperStar Mode).

- "Send in the Backups!" (Win all four Preseason games in a season without playing ANY starters in the second half of any game).

- "No pain, no gain" (Score a touchdown with an injured player).

- "Swept the Division" (Win every divisional game in one regular season in Franchise or Superstar mode).

- "Just like in college" (Score a touchdown with an Option play in any gameplay mode).

- "Working Overtime" (Play a full season in Franchise mode with more than one active team, playing every game that every selected team plays).

EA NCAA Football 2011 Wishlist

by on Comments

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---- NCAA Football 11 WISHLIST: --------

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GENERAL GAMEPLAY WISHLIST:

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1.) Being able to assign double team blocking to defenders from the "Coaching" menu during a game (similar to the "Defensive assignments" screen in this year's game).

2.) Blocking hot routes and setting double-team blocks at the line of scrimmage. For example, if I line up against a 3-4 defense and read an outside blitz, I should be able to "hot route" the gaurd on that side to pull out and block the blitzing LB rather than risking that the guard will just sit in the middle of the pocket while my QB/RB gets chased down from the outside.

3.) Add some AI customization options for things like run/pass playcalling ratio, defensive play-calling aggressiveness, amount of substitutions, and so on.

4.) Improve offensive pre-play motions. Why does it take 7 whole seconds for my weak side on-the-line of scrimmage wideout to motion three steps to the inside of the field and then get set again. Trying to do this motion is very useful for running outside run plays, screens, and draws, but half the time results in a delay of game because it takes the same amount of time for the WR to get set as it would if he had run all the way across the field (the play clock being run down to 13-15 seconds on all my plays doesn't help either). Allow us to cancel a motion and have the player go back to where he was at any time.

5.) Add about 3 to 5 more seconds before an AI QB snaps the ball to give the human player slightly more time to read the offense and make any adjustments.

6.) Better representations of the 3-4 defense both on-the-field and in terms of depth charts and team management.

7.) Have the kicker actually stay back on kickoff coverage. In the current game, the kicker runs down the field and sometimes is the first to hit the returner. the kicker should be staying back as a safety and pursuing from left to right, not up the field.

8.) More trick plays and special teams variety. Add some kickoff and punt reverses, wall blocking, or designed lateral plays. Just keep the band off the field, please :)

9.) Bring in and flesh out the Wildcat formation, since some teams (TCU's "Wild Frog") have started using Wildcat-like formations.

10.) Injuries that are actually based on what happens to a player during a play, rather than being random. Players that get hit in the head should have increased chances of suffering concussions. Players that get wrapped up around the legs should have increased chances of suffering ankle sprains or knee sprains. A running back with low strength and stiff arm skill could have an increased chance of injuring his arm attempting to stiff arm a really good defender.

11.) Allow us to pump fake on Draw plays before handing off the ball, or have the QB pump fake with his empty hand after handing off the ball.

12.) Dynamically balance gameplay based on the quarter length used. Instead of forcing the users to have to adjust the quarter length and tweak the AI settings to get a more realistic experience based on quarter length, how about including an AI balancing setting for longer lengths, including full-15-minute quarters. Implement an variation of Madden's accelerated play clock, or make it so that when playing against the AI, that extra 7 or 10 seconds used to allow us to pick a defensive play actually gets ticked off of the play and game clocks so AI teams break the huddle at a more realistic 15 seconds. Rebalance the AI's downfield passing tendencies to be more conservative for longer games, and re-tune the AI to run the ball more. Slowing down the game speed would also help to give a more realistic gameplay experience for longer games.

AI WISHLIST:

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1.) Base players' abilities on their actual stats regardless of the difficulty level. Don't make my blockers stupid and run around in circles when the difficulty goes up. Blocking should remain competent regardless of the difficulty level. Just improve defensive reaction time, pursuit, block breaking, coverage, and tackling.

2.) Get rid of the irritating "Catch Up" AI in which an AI offense goes exclusively to the pass and becomes unstoppable. Additionally, when the AI does catch back up or takes the lead, do not leave them in "Catch Up" mode. Too often, I will take the lead by 2 or 3 scores, and the AI will start killing me in the pass for the whole rest of the game and NEVER go back to the run (even if they go up by 2 or 3 scores).

3.) Have the AI run the ball more and stick with the run longer. Also, if the AI is having trouble running, and goes to the pass, have them run more short ball-control passes rather than trying to go down the field for 15 to 25 yards on EVERY passing play.

4.) Better pursuit angles by defenders (especially for the human-controlled team), and better outside containment by linebackers and defensive ends. The AI has way too easy of a time getting to the outside, even if I am playing a "Contain" play or audible a linebacker to play a flat zone.

5.) In Overtime, if the AI wins the coin toss, they should pick to play on DEFENSE FIRST almost every time. A team wants to play on defense first, so that if they hold the other team without scoring, they know when they get to play offense that all they need is to kick the field goal.

5.) Make the "Middle Run" defensive pre-play adjustment spread out the defenders a little bit more so that the running back doesn't just cut outside and score without being touched.

6.) Make receivers (especially on the human-controlled teams) more aggressive at going for the ball when its in the air. This lack of agressiveness makes curl routes and quick-hitches almost unuseable because the receiver never comes back for the ball and the AI DB just steps in front and knocks it down or picks it off.

7.) Get rid of the AI DB's remarkable ability to intercept passes without ever looking back for the ball. If the DB is chasing down a WR and never sees the ball, the best he should be able to do is put his hands up and blindly try to knock it down (or run into the WR and get a PI penalty).

8.) Better blocking on Draws and Screens. Every time I run a draw, the AI defense never even looks like it is reacting to the pass fake. Additionally, letting us pump-fake before handing off the ball on a draw would be another nice addition. In screens, blockers should at least hit the guy in front of them for a second before pulling out to block on the screen. Too often do my linemen just let the defenders through without being touched, and they outrun my QBs drop back and sack him. That should still happen, but it should be very rare.

DYNASTY WISHLIST:

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1.) Players being unable to play in games due to something that happened during the week. These can include injuries sustained in practice, academic probation, suspension, etc (academics was part of previous PS2 games).

2.) Mark games during the season as "Homecoming", "Senior Night", "Family Night", etc, and during these events, the stadiums will be more likely to be more full and the crowd will be more energetic.

3.) Schools that have really high fan support should send more fans to away games. In the case that these teams are playing at schools that have very low fan support, the away team might actually outnumber the home team crowd (this happens at UNLV games at Sam Boyd once or twice a year).

4.) Allow us to export a "Preseason" draft c-l-a-s-s from NCAA 11 that would be saved at the start of the respective season in NCAA 11 and loaded at the beginning of a Madden 11 season. That way, we don't have to be a whole season ahead in NCAA in order to be able to import draft c-l-a-s-ses. Additionally, allow us to update the draft c-l-a-s-s during the season to see how the scouted player is performing in the NCAA game. Alternatively, maybe just have the Madden save file read the NCAA save file to get a list of scoutable players and their stats (but that might be complicated).

5.) Weekly game planning. Between games, allow us to view in depth information about our upcoming opponent, including their play-call tendencies and success rates with those play calls, projected depth chart, player stats, situational play calling tendencies (i.e. do they run or pass on third and short, etc). Allow us to practice against the opposing team's playbook (with emphasis on their most commonly-run plays) and maybe even give our team an awareness and play reaction boost if we do well in practice. Duplicate the "Defensive Assignments" so that it can be set before the game (rather than only in the game), as well as adding options to set double team coverages, double team blocks, and so on. It would also be VERY cool if we could customize our playbooks based on our next opponent. So if we see that they like to run a very aggressive defense, we can swap out some of our runs and passes for Draws and Screens to take advantage of that aggressiveness. And if we notice that they have a QB who likes to scramble (McNab, Young, etc), we can swap out some of our man coverage defenses for zones, contains, and QB spy plays.

6.) Have players get minor, but lingering injuries that persist over mutliple games (or even multiple seasons, like Brett Favres tendonitis or whatever he had) and can hamper their ability. In some cases, perhaps these injuries can prevent the player from practicing during the week, but still let him play in the game (but with reduced awareness and play recognition since he wasn't practicing). Each week, the medical staff would have to judge how well the player's condition is, and may or may not clear him to play. Additionally, the quality of the medical staff that you hire could reduce the severity of these injuries and lead to shorter recovery times and better performance in-game by players who have a minor injury.

7.) In addition to having lingering injuries, allow players to become injured during weekly practices (whether the user plays the practices or not). These injuries should be somewhat rare and almost never serious, but might take a player out for a week or two, or let the player be playable for the game, but with the risk of making the practice injury worse.

8.) In recruiting, when adding a player to the Recruiting Board, have an "Add to Recruiting Board at position __" option. Also, when removing a player from the recruiting board, have the option to mark him as "Not recruitable" or something so you don't accidentally add him again later.

TEAMBUILDER WISHLIST:

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1.) Layered uniforms (apply a few simple layers stacked on top of each other rather than having many complex s-t-y-l-e-ss to chose from).

2.) Stadium-Builder

3.) Options for putting text on the uniform (such as the school name or nickname) in places like under the collar, in place of the player's name, on the helmet, along the sleves, on the side of the pants, etc.

4.) Select a school to be our rival, name the rivalry, and maybe even select from a list of generic trophies to play for.

5.) Create "traditions" such as firing a cannon when the team scores, having a custom stadium sound, fireworks, cheerleader on horseback, etc.

6.) Mascot editor. Even if you don't create a full-fledged mascot maker, at least let us change the colors of existing mascots, or put our team name on them.

7.) Custom cheerleader uniforms (eh, why not?)

8.) Pride stickers.

ONLINE WISHLIST:

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1.) Upgrade the Season Showdown player stat tracking system to a full Online profile that tracks play-calling tendencies, ratios of which special moves are used by the player, 3rd and 4th down tendencies, what receiver routes they are most successful with, what playbooks and teams they are most successful with, and so on.

FEATURE WISHLIST:

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1.) You have video of Erin Andrews for the Road To Glory feature, how about go the extra step of adding cutscenes of her interviewing your player.

2.) More things to do between games of Road To Glory. Bring back the random events, and require that we go to practices to maintain our skill levels and depth chart positions.

PRESENTATION WISHLIST:

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1.) The obvious one: More mascots, more cheerleaders, more school spirit and flair.

2.) Allow the creation of female players and coaches. There have already been women playing in D-I college football (I think she was a place kicker for San Diego State or New Mexico or some team like that). Since the Dynasty mode lasts 30 years, how do we know a woman won't become successful as a player or become a head coach in that time?

3.) Pregame cutscenes of Kirk, Brad, and Lee picking which team they like to win (was in earlier games), and cutscenes of Erin Andrews in pregame, halftime, and postgame talking to coaches or players about what they have to do to win, what improvements need to be made in second half, and how they pulled off the win respectively. But at the same time, keep the halftime and post game highlight reels (I really like those)!

ACHIEVEMENT / TROPHIES:

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1.) Remove the requirement for many Achievements / Trophies that you must be in a "Single Team" Dynasty Mode. If you are playing with more than one team, then you probably deserve a Trophy for that. i.e. "Working Overtime" (Play a full season in Dynasty mode with more than one active team, playing every game that every selected team plays).

2.) Add some achievements/trophies for recruiting 5-star prospects (especially with lower-caliber schools, 3 stars or less), or having the highest recruiting c-l-a-s-s grade.

The problem with Madden football games

by on Comments

Its pretty well-established that the Madden NFL football series by EA sports has not reached the level of quality that it had before being handed an Exclusivity deal by the NFL. So what went wrong? Is the lack of competition really the problem? I think it is definitely part of it, but not entirely to blame. Madden 10 is a huge step up from last year's game, which was also a big step up from the previous year's game. 10 still doesn't reach the quality of the Madden games from the mid 2000's PS2 and Xbox generation.

Inshort, the problem with Madden is in an attempt to build a game that is going to sell the most and make the most money, EA has abandoned the idea of making a "football simulation" and instead has focused on making an accessible, pick-up-and play online game. EA knows that hardcore football fans will buy Madden every year, so without competition, they know there is no need to make the game for that demographic. So they can devote all their attention to going after the people who don't care about football. So yes, as sacriligeous as it might sound, I am arguing that ONLINE PLAY HAS RUINED FOOTBALL GAMES. When the whole game is balanced to be played in the form of quick, 20-minute pick up games online, rather than full, 60-minute Franchise games, it ends up seeming completely broken to those of us who are seriuos football fans and want a simulation game.

So how exactly, does balancing the game for short, online play break it? Basically, in order to make games competitive, and give users a chance to score, EA has to base the entire game around the pass. In a 20-minute game, there is no time to establish a running game and wear out a defense. If you don't come out throwing right away, you'll lose. Thus, most playbooks heavily favor deep passing plays andmany don't even have handoffs to the fullbacks. The AI is tuned to throw the ball downfield. Watching a game of Madden and comparing it to a real NFL game, you will see almost every passing play in Maddenbeing a forced throw at least 15 yards downfield. But if you watch a real NFL game, you will see lots of teams using underneath and check-down routes to Tight Ends and Running Backs tokeep the ball moving but only gaining 4 to 6 yards. AIs in Madden don't do this. Because if they did do this in a 20-minute game, they wouldn't have enough time to actually go down the field and score, and the game would end up being one possession for each team in each half, with the AI eating up 2/3 of the game's time of possession. Which, for the casual gamer, would not be fun.

Additionally, in order to keep the game "exciting" and keep the attention of the casual, online gamer, the defenses in Madden have to be nerfed so that it is easy to move the ball downfield. Defenses in Madden routinely take horrible pursuit angles, play with no outside containment, rush upfield and overpursue, leave huge holes incoverage, and miss tons of tackles. In fact, on the All-Pro difficulty or higher, an AI running back will break the first tackle EVERY TIME. So blitzing becomes completely ineffective because the reliance of the AI on the passing game and requiring that its running back break tackles means that you're either going to leave a wide receiver wide open, or your defender is going to miss the tackle and the AI running back is going to run unchallenged into your thin secondary. And yes, these are legitimate risks when blitzing. But aggressive defenses need to be able to be successful sometimes.

In order for some scoring to actually happen in a quick, 20-minute game, the game has to be balanced so that big plays happen very frequently. This means that receivers will get wide open deep down the field more often than they should, and QBs will get the ball to them (especially AI QBs on harder difficulties). But when you extend the quarter length to the full 15 minutes, these big play tendencies need to be toned down, otherwise we end up with every game having both teams scoring in the 40s and higher. Which should not be happening on a consistent basis. Getting a good, 14-10 final score in Madden in full-length games is a rare gem. Getting a 6-3 game is virtually impossible. Additionally, in order to keep the games competitive with such a short amount of time being the default, the AI has to have a "catch up mode" such that as soon as the AI gets on the losing side of the scoreboard, it becomes completely dependent on the deep passing game and will often abandon the run completely, even if they take back the lead! QBs should not be throwing 50 passes every game, and putting up 450+ yards in every game. But that is exactly what happens to me in my Franchise games because I will take early leads and the AI starts playing unstoppable pass plays, taking advantage of every whole in my aggressive defense that never gets any sacks because the AI QB throws the ball way too quickly, and 5 AI linemen are more than capable of blocking 7 or 8 human defenders. Again, this is done to make short games feel more competitive.

So how can EA improve its football games?

With the new accelerated clock feature, that runs down the play clock for human and AI teams when plays are selected too quickly, games that have a lot of running plays, or short completions in the middle of the field can be played rather quickly. I play all my games on full-length quarters, and they rarely take more than an hour and a half, and usually take less than an hour (and that is with the AI stopping the clock a lot by throwing incomplete passes down the field or scoring quickly on big plays). So there is ABSOLULTELY NO REASON WHY A FOOTBALL GAME CAN'T BE BALANCED FOR FULL-LENGTH, 15-MINUTE QUARTERS BY DEFAULT.

Secondly, cheap AI tricks need to go. I don't care what difficulty level the game is on, players should always perform to their ability. Don't require the default difficulty to be the "Hard" setting in which the human-team's players are already nerfed. Don't make my blockers open up like grocery store doors for every single AI blitz while letting the AI's lineman be able to block 7 of my rushers with just 5 guys! Stop making my receivers drop passes when they are wide open and my defenders drop easy interceptions when the AI receivers and defensive backs are able to make consistent one-hand diving grabs. Don't make the AI's running back automatically break the first one or two tackles and good backs break 3 or 4 tackles every play while my running back is incapable of breaking a single tackle the entire game. A game of football can easily be balanced by making defenses for both teams play tight, assignment-based football and taking away big plays. By forcing players to use underneath receivers and check-down options, and forcing us to have to establish a running game, you would balance out the length of the majority of games to be less than an hour. Additionally, letting us save during a Franchise game and load it later would help a lot too.

But of course, fixing the game would require massive changes to the code and the way the game is designed. And with an annual release deadline, that's just not going to happen. I bet if 2K sports were still making football games of the quality of NFL 2K5, we'd be seeing a lot more improvement from Madden. Or if not, then at least us hardcore football fans would have a better alternative to Madden.

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