Continuing their series of Madden 17 gameplay details, EA released a new post covering improvements to Zone Coverage.
The biggest addition is major gameplay improvement EA is calling the “Behavior Coordinator”.
Designer Anthony White says, “Prior to Madden NFL 17, our zone coverage logic was written independent of the play. Simply put, our zone assignments didn’t work together and therefore had no concept of a global scheme. It was a priority based system that evaluated the coverage level of each receiver in order to determine who to pick up.”
They also only had three underneath zone coverage assignments (flat, curl flat, and hook). The new AI architecture in Behavior Coordinator is designed to solve that problem by adding 10 additional coverage options.
With the new BC, EA added 10 new underneath zone coverage assignments. The Coach Cam diagrams have been changed as well to better showcase the types of coverage being run.
For a more in-depth look, check out the Madden 17 blog and our video analysis below for breakdowns of all 10 coverages and more AI changes to how defenders read the offense.
Are you excited to see a better AI? Let us know in the comments and on social media, and be sure to stay tuned to SGO for the latest Madden 17 news.