Madden Editorials

Published on June 5th, 2012 | by Shopmaster

5

Madden NFL 13 ‘s Infinity Engine – “Game Changer”

Yesterday EA SPORTS finally unveiled the much anticipated ‘monumental” gameplay feature called The Infinity Engine.  The Infinity Engine is a Real Time Physics engine that in my mind affects every facet of Madden NFL 13.  It’s a “Game Changer” in my eyes and I’ve had the pleasure of playing Madden with this new engine for over 70+ hours and the things I’ve seen because of this engine are things I didn’t think I’d ever seen in Madden.

It’s no surprise that this kind of gameplay has been something that Madden fans have been waiting for a long time to see and now that it’s here let’s take a deeper dive into gameplay and what changes you can expect to see.

The ‘Infinity Engine’ is a new physics-driven animation system that influences the outcome of ALL plays by giving users more accurate physics so that the weight, mass, height and speed of players can all determine the outcome of a play.

When I got my first look at the ‘Infinity Engine’ from designer Victor Lugo I could not believe my eyes.   Bodies twisted with every hit, wide receivers were spun around in mid-air, QBs getting laid out by blitzing linebackers from the blindside, it all looked great!  As great as the presentation was it still could not prepare me for how this new engine would deeply affect the way I play Madden NFL 13.  Everything you thought about Madden NFL 13 before has now changed.

The first notable effect of this new engine is the collision detection.  There are no more canned animations where you know how a player is going to tackle and how the ball carrier is going to fall.  Heads jerk back, legs are turned and bodies are more flexible than ever before.  The players will not look like crash dummies, but they will bend and twist in a realistic fashion.  If a RB wants to try to hurdle, that is fine; just take his legs out and watch him flip and land upside-down.  A WR goes up for a fade catch in the back of the endzone, jump up with him and try to rake the ball out of his hands before he comes down.  The collision not only looks more authentic, but it feels authentic as well. Add in the genuine NFL sound effects that they talked about in the Audio blog and enjoy the result every time Patrick Willis delivers a big hit.

Because weight and mass influence the outcome of a play, playing with a two-back system will mean something in Madden NFL 13.  The Kansas City Chiefs’ two-back system of Jamaal Charles and Peyton Hillis are a perfect example of two backs that will feel different when you use them.  Charles is a more shifty back whereas Peyton Hillis is more focused on power. In fact, I’ve seen Hillis turn the corner and truck the little DB waiting for him on toss plays several times.  Also in the running game, players will now trip, stumble, and fall when it’s appropriate.  Run with a guy with no agility and watch him fall trying to get through a hole with people around him. Also, no longer will you be able to walk over people lying on the ground, you will trip up.

Players are also now tuned with unique muscle strengths and tensions, thus making users consider their physical attributes as well as their rating.  Your player’s physical attributes will determine if that back stays on his feet, stumbles, or falls flat on his face.  Smaller backs can trip over legs, hands, and arms that may be grabbing for them where as bigger backs will run through those same arm tackles.  How’s that for physics!  You’ll have to hit holes cleanly instead of running into the back of your lineman, because that will cause you to lose momentum and speed. The end result is the running game feels so dynamically different and fresh.

Everyone who has played Madden NFL for any length of time has probably felt one time or another like there was a pre-determined outcome to a play; a pre-determined collision, a pre-determined catch, a pre-determined pass; well no more.  Plays are never over until the whistle blows and pre-determined outcomes are history.  Let me try to give you some examples of what I am talking about and some of the things I saw when I played.  A receiver catches a curl route, and the defender reaches in between his arm and the body to poke the ball out, it’s not just delivering the big hit anymore.  A QB is dropping back to pass, and I have seen defensive ends reach out and hit the QBs arm causing the ball to float or be off target.  I’ve seen ball carriers roll on top of other players and you think they were down only to see that player get up and run 10 more yards because he never touched the ground.  Not to mention shoestring tackles where defenders just get a piece of the ball carrier’s foot to trip him up.

[excerpts take form my blog on easports.com]

I also want to mention some other things:

• Muscle and Tension play a big part in the game and I think when it comes to drafting RBs, people will now start to look at other attributes other than speed.  A back who is stronger will be able to run through arm tackles.  A back that has great agility will be able to keep his balance longer after a stumble and may regain his composure to push out more yards.
• Hitsticking may become an issue.  for those who like to hitstick with everyone, will probably learn the hard way that you won’t be able to pull it off. Try to hitstick a big back with a small DB and you’ll just be wasting your time as he will just bounce off of the DB.  That’s definitely going to be an adjustment for me.
• Fight for every yard: I know I talked about this above, but I can’t stress enough how it really feels like you are fighting for every yard. I had a run last night that I thought I was down, stumbled with Roy Helu, didn’t get finished off, and then ran for a TD.  I’ve seen big backs just bowl over and move piles.

I will be posting videos while I’m here at E3 so make sure you subscribe to my Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/MyMaddenPad

and here on MyMaddenPad.com

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Tags: infinity engine, real time physics

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