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The biggest debate year to year since the beginning of time has been the Madden player ratings. While I have zero opinion on if the ratings are right or wrong (subjective any way you look at it), I do think we have a ton of room for improvement on player ratings and how they translate on the field in the Madden NFL series.
A complete overhaul of the ratings system is nearly out of the question as it would require a similar overhaul to every aspect of the gameplay itself. Short of a complete overhaul, I will outline a few problems and possible fixes with the current system in the next few sections.
Problem #1: Players don’t always feel all that different from one another (aside from the major differences). Players really need to feel like their real life counterparts in every aspect we can possibly mimic.
Solution: Expand the ratings categories to allow for more diverse players and abilities. No, not expand the numerical range. I’m talking about adding actual attributes. A few that are missing and could be added are: Push (how much initial push the player has on run plays for offensive lineman), Collapse (the ability to breakdown the offensive lineman and push him backwards for interior defensive lineman), closing speed (how well a defensive player breaks on the ball once it is thrown).
Those are just a few examples of necessary additions to the ratings system. Unfortunately, adding ratings is much more than just creating a category… it also requires tethering the rating to something in game as well as lots of tuning and balancing. Adding new ratings would take months of work both in gathering data and implementing into the game. That is a ton of work for a small “feature” that wouldn’t garner much attention outside of the hardcore community.
Problem #2: We need more ways to differentiate between players besides just the actual ratings. We currently have player traits but not nearly enough of them and very few are situational. Find ways to highlight those moments when players go from ordinary to extraordinary.
Solution #2: There are many players in the NFL that take over in certain situations. Expanding the current player trait system is about the only way we will ever see those differences on the virtual gridiron.
Here are some possible examples:
Brandon Marshall “Press Break” since he is so big and strong and has great technique off the line. When a team tries press coverage against him or another player with this trait, that player should get an extra 25% chance of beating the press coverage at the line leaving the defender in the dirt.
Josh Gordon “Home Run Hitter” with his tendency to break a big play on 1st and 10 when his team is behind. From his own 1-40 yard line Josh Gordon could receive a 15% release rating increase and 25% Route Running increase to reflect his ability to make a big play and get open downfield when his team has a long field.
You could add many more but you get the idea. They could even add tiers to each one increasing the bonuses for elite players (say 25% increases for elite or tier 3 players and 5% for tier 1 or players that are not elite but possess the trait.) This is something that NBA 2K does a great job of, steal a page from them and expand on what you already have started with player traits back in 2008.
Problem #3: Player Traits are a good thing… Highlight them!! The only way we can currently see how a trait has changed is via the pause screen. Playing against an online opponent, constantly pausing the game will cause problems.
Solution: Bring back the old school icons from the past. No not as loud as they were before but have them be greyed out under the players name on the field and in full color when active. One touch of the coach cam and it would reveal the play art as well as the players on the field, you could then view the active/inactive player traits and decide what matchups on the field to exploit.
These are just ideas in the basic level, obviously not everything is possible or even wanted by the Madden community. Unfortunately no matter how realistic ideas we attempt to get into the game, there will always be those that push against it. Brainstorming is always good. Any thoughts on the ratings/traits of the current Madden system? Let us know below in the comments.
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