Digital Sportspage Blog

One of the greatest things about having the ability to upload videos is that is allows us to show clear examples of major gameplay flaws that (hopefully) will be seen by developers and fixed. Users have been posting videos at Operation Sports in a thread on gameplay issues for the game designers. I thought I’d pick out a few videos by other users demonstrating some major gameplay problems.

First, this “amazing” punt return with Buffalo against Western Michigan. Note how literally half of the Western Michigan squad is running, not towards the return man, but towards the sideline to meet the return man. However, this “pursuit angle” completely takes them out of position once the return man cuts inside, wiping out half of the squad.

Also note the immediate change in direction by the punt team once the returner changes direction. One of the things that has always made EA football games feel less realistic is the rigid AI, where players are programmed to do exactly X at the precise moment when the ball carrier does Y. Not only does this make the game look unrealistic (when do six players ever make the same move at the exact same time?), but it also leads to major gameplay problems when they all make mistakes.

I was surprised to see another example of the “funnel to the punter” strategy that I noted in an earlier post…but here it happens again. Note the behavior of Western Michigan’s #33, who could have made a play at the 25-yard-line, but instead decided to escort the return man into the end zone where the only player to attempt to make a play is the punter.

In the next post, I’ll list all of the major gameplay problems in NCAA 09. Believe or not, I think most of them may be easily fixable.