OS: Why Line Play Will Never Be Realistic in Football Games

[gschwendt]

Here's a pretty good article from OS talking about offensive line vs defensive line play in video game football.

Why Line Play Will Never Be Realistic in Football Games

With video game baseball season underway, it's the perfect time to make this analogy What realistic hitting would be to baseball games, realistic line play would be to football games -- unplayable for 95 percent of gamers.

To put things in perspective, a hitter at the MLB level has less than .25 seconds to judge a pitch's speed, location and decide whether or not to swing.

How Hard is it to Hit a Baseball?

Hitting major league pitching is so difficult, that succeeding 30 percent of the time is considered successful enough to earn a multi-million dollar contract.

NFL quarterbacks have more time to make decisions than MLB hitters, but with so much more data to take in, a NFL quarterback’s job is arguably the toughest in pro sports.

Click here to read the full article.

What are your thoughts? Would you want a true realistic line play?

[CLW]

Perhaps I am in the "minority" but I want on average 3.0 seconds to throw the ball. Sometimes there should be "all day" to throw (see video where Brady waits what seems like an eternity before throwing a bomb to Moss) and sometimes I should just get crushed in 1.5 seconds if a fast/quick guy gets free unblocked.

[skipwondah33]

Personally I would want realistic line play. I've been a passer in every football I've played for the longest. I'm not an expert at it but I feel very comfortable at doing it. I'll make my reads before and soon as the ball is snapped rarely going over 3 seconds to make the throw. If no one is open then I'll simply move up and within the pocket (when one is actually formed) then throw if someone comes or is directed open.

[psuexv]

I'd have to agree Skip. And I completely disagree with the article. I just rewatched my PH game against Tommy(well the 1st half anyway) and both of us throw the ball within 3 to 4 seconds every time. I think I counted one play where I had time and went to 6 seconds. Now the Dline was not getting any pressure but we still got the ball out in that timeframe. I think most your gamers would be ok with it, of course the random gamer would complain but I think you should be able to correct that with sliders and difficulty level.

[morsdraconis]

Lord knows in games where I've played against people that seriously bring the pressure I've known what it's like to get the ball out at 2-3 seconds otherwise my QB will get creamed and I've said "Oh fuck, he's not open" numerous times and taken a sack during those games too.

But, because that's too hard and the little 10 year old can't play the game like that, they have to make it ridiculously simplistic and then the only way to simulate realistic pass rushing is either totally break the game via sliders (and make offensive line's become sieves that don't even TRY to block defensive linemen no matter how good/bad they are) or constantly blitz to get pressure.

[Kwizzy]

I would say that, while I don't necessarily think COMPLETELY REALISTIC line play as discussed in the article would apeal to gamers, I think what we would like to see (that would appeal to both casual & hardcore crowds) would be a MORE REALISTIC interaction.

The things that frustrate me with the line play are:
-Poor blocking assignments and execution
-No momentum in interations
-too many win/loss animations with not enough partial wins by either side (or even realistic stalemates for that matter)

If some of these things were incorporated into the game it would move the game closer to realistic while still managing the difficulty level for gamers. These issues currently lead to too many extremes. Either you're sacked immediately or you have all day, you lose 5 yds or you break it for 10+ yds, you cannot make cuts by reading blocks because they're static, etc... And all of these things need to tiee into ratings in a HUGE way.

I am not at all trying to say these are easy things to incorporate on EA's part, merely that these are the types of things that need to be incorporated IMO.

[morsdraconis]

And get rid of the bullshit of the CPU defenders breaking their blocks when you hit the speed burst button! WTF IS THAT SHIT?!

[ram29jackson]

lets see...? i'd say 2k5 and 2k8 have great line play that EA has yet to accomplish


the article is pointless. it- is- a -video - game, of course you want more time than you would get in a real football game

[UGA14]

They need to do something to shore it up because with the amount of time you have available I can absolutely shred the defense on Heisman passing the ball. I've, a number of times, changed my entire offense to nothing but throwing the ball on Heisman and seeing how many yards I could rack up. Hitting slants and outs are so easy it's sad. They are easy because the computer almost never gets any quick pressure leading to being able to stand there for a while. Of course when they do I always have a quick route I can hit for a 5-6 yard gain. Unstoppable. Hope they amp up D this year.

[morsdraconis]

They need to do something to shore it up because with the amount of time you have available I can absolutely shred the defense on Heisman passing the ball. I've, a number of times, changed my entire offense to nothing but throwing the ball on Heisman and seeing how many yards I could rack up. Hitting slants and outs are so easy it's sad. They are easy because the computer almost never gets any quick pressure leading to being able to stand there for a while. Of course when they do I always have a quick route I can hit for a 5-6 yard gain. Unstoppable. Hope they amp up D this year.

*Without having DBs that run the route before the WR does

[Jayrah]

I would say that, while I don't necessarily think COMPLETELY REALISTIC line play as discussed in the article would apeal to gamers, I think what we would like to see (that would appeal to both casual & hardcore crowds) would be a MORE REALISTIC interaction.

The things that frustrate me with the line play are:
-Poor blocking assignments and execution
-No momentum in interations
-too many win/loss animations with not enough partial wins by either side (or even realistic stalemates for that matter)

If some of these things were incorporated into the game it would move the game closer to realistic while still managing the difficulty level for gamers. These issues currently lead to too many extremes. Either you're sacked immediately or you have all day, you lose 5 yds or you break it for 10+ yds, you cannot make cuts by reading blocks because they're static, etc... And all of these things need to tiee into ratings in a HUGE way.

I am not at all trying to say these are easy things to incorporate on EA's part, merely that these are the types of things that need to be incorporated IMO.

THIS

[Sinister]

I just want better blocking for playaction passes or at least to revamp the oline audibles make them matter more

[Jayrah]

I just want better blocking for playaction passes or at least to revamp the oline audibles make them matter more

Speaking of this, I would like to see the offense be able to key on a player, so the linemen and/or backs will be more aware of that player on the field and make a conscious effort to block him, similar to keying a wr for defense. Key the wrong player and you get burned of course, but its frustrating when a lineman is taking over your backfield, and theres nothing you can do to counter him.

[baseballplyrmvp]

i can overlook the pass rush timing that some people talked about, but if an o-lineman is giving up 100 lbs and 1 foot in height, it doesnt matter how good his footwork and technique are, he should be physically dominated all day by the d-lineman--as far as being able to hold his ground. even if he's able to stay in front of the d-lineman all day, the shear difference in size should be replicated by the o-lineman getting manhandled.

[Jayrah]

The issue for me is momentum in blocking. There is too much locking up/stalemating for the offense and ripping through/swimming for the defense. I think someone mentioned 'partial wins' for more linemen would be good. I agree. It would be nice to see more momentum based play by the line. This would take care of what your point was too because huge guys would own 2-3 yds of space all day and you'd have to gameplan around them.

[morsdraconis]

Momentum is definitely the biggest thing lacking from offensive/defensive interactions when blocking. It doesn't even have to be just in the trenches. You never see WRs driving CBs back like they do a lot of the time (especially if the CB is trying to get away from the WR and keep an angle on the ball carrier). Blocking is too much standing in the same place all the time and not enough movement. Dominant defensive linemen should be pushing weaker offensive linemen into the backfield, making the pocket smaller/limiting the running room of the ball carrier.

Right now, it's one of three things:

1. holding onto the block until the ball carrier gets close enough to the defender for them to instantly break it and make the tackle
2. defender immediately breaking the block and coming almost untouched
3. holding the block forever/until the ball carrier is well past their position

There definitely needs to be more inbetween happenings and, more than anything, offensive tackles need to block like tackles in real life do. CREATE A FREAKIN' POCKET. Offensive tackles should be doing their best to do one of two things: either driving their man wide (allowing the QB to step up unmolested) or passing the defender off to the inside guard (you know, REAL passing blocking techniques). This crap they do right now isn't pass blocking, it's run blocking backwards.