I'm going to temper all of this by saying right out of the gate: You are difficult to please (I mean that in a good way), and I wish you were a regular on OS because you probably would have been one of the invites. I don't think one year is enough to satisfy you, regardless of how much the squeezed into it.
When Ian asked me for a replacement for a drop out, I immediately said Kornstar because I felt we needed someone who could go in and find glitches and exploits along with the football guys, equipment guys, franchise guys, and presentation guys... if I'd been thinking, I'd have suggested you, and that's most definitely my bad.
If that's true that means we are likely in for more nano-blitzing and the ability to "break" the OL by blitzing with a player assigned to a zone. I'm fairly certain that is going to be the same blocking scheme we see in 2k8...which is routinely abused if one was to cheese.
I can't dig too deeply because it has to do with new tech that hasn't been introduced yet. Remind me and I'll address this point directly after the draft (hopefully).
I'm concerned about if pass coverage logic has been addressed. DB's don't play with any leverage on routes and routinely run themselves out of position when they have perfect position. Too many times a safety will run downhill to cover a player running a streak, or run AT a player who is running a post....letting the receiver right past them.
There were a few logic issues when I played... but I chalk it up more to being an alpha than anything. I threw a post to Vernon Davis against cover 2... the pass was errant, floated into the deep half and Davis had to break off his route and come under the coverage to get too it. The safety was in a great position to either get under Davis and get the pick, or make the big hit... instead, he overran the play over the top of Davis and ended up missing everything. This was something I actually called Ian over to show rather than just typing it up.
With the new ball trajectory/speed I hope that Madden eventually adapts the philosophy that the deeper a zone coverage defender is the more space he can play with. NFL safeties can cover a streak on the number by playing on the hashes (as long as they don't let the receiver behind them), they don't run themselves over to get on his hip. If a high-middle safety see's a streak up the hash marks, he keeps in the middle of the field to play the post.
Overall, it is improved. Is the logic football-perfect? No, but considering where we started (09) and where we've come, it's an amazing improvement. The animations help a ton, but zone integrity is something I've written about in my follow up. It was better, certainly not perfect... and it wont be, it's not going to be perfect this year, but it will be appreciably better.
That's good to hear. The biggest problems are the DB animations and the way those trigger. The giant swats that take your man way out of position, the interception animations that pull the coverage man away from the receiver all need to go. (It sounds like maybe they have).
DB play is much more subtle then the big, long animations madden has always used.
Hopefully the warp-glitch is leaving as well. (There defenders cover 4 yards while floating in an animation). It is quite frustrating when you make the right read on a flood pattern, wait until the 2nd level clears the defender, but the defender magically warps to cover that spot.
Most of the swat animations are more subtle. They wrap around the receiver and hit the ball much closer to his hands. Also, player movement is
greatly improved. They're not super-human anymore. That's something else I can't say too much about... not just because of the NDA, but because it's not finalized. There's an alternate version of locomotion that Ian modeled for us in ANT that had a few kinks to work out.
In 18 hours, I noticed 1 blatant warp in pass defense, and it was an attempted swap that didn't' quite sync with the receiver's animation. The receiver still made the play. The slower gameplay had an effect on that... they don't need super-speed animations and warping to get guys in position.
