Improving Madden - Jakeness23's Blog

Jakeness23's Blog

Improving Madden

Posted on January 28, 2014 at 04:28 PM.

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I absolutely hated Madden 25 a little over a month ago. BUT, since I only have one other game for my PS4, I decided to give it another go. I found some sliders that I like and am generally liking the game more now; however, there are still some glaring issues, that with next-gen console power, should be able to be fixed for next year's game (or if EA loses exclusive rights, maybe another company could improve on these negatives).

First off, I have accidentally backed out of my franchise by pressing the O button one too many times twice now. I thought the auto-save feature would come in handy there since I saw the caption come up, both times upon reloading my franchise, I was backed up 3 weeks to where I had initially loaded. Auto-save should kind of help those brain lapses and some people may just want to use auto-save instead of taking the time to save it manually. It's not a HUGE issue, but it is annoying.

The CPU knows exactly what play you picked, but depending on sliders and difficulty setting, (and I believe it is determined before the ball is snapped) whether they will be successful at stopping you or not. Before the play, it is determined whether your line is going to block well or poorly, which receiver will be open, or whether your running back will be able to make it through the hole. It almost seems to obvious when I watch/play the game.

Your team a lot of the times are not aware of what is going on around them, like a lineman or running back who just stops blocking or just decides to not block the guy that is blitzing right in front of their face.

If the CPU has a mobile QB, he doesn't have the "True Step" (and I use that ironically because the True Step is terrible, it is not an actual true step, it is 3 feet shuffles before you can run) he can just bolt. However, your QB will not have that same advantage, it will take him a moment to begin running, and it's worse when running to your left because it takes him almost 3 seconds to even turn his head around, he looks like an owl. Speaking of moving to the left, I have been seeing a lot when moving to the left of the pocket, that my QB will throw this weird, weak girly pass that goes about 3 yards if he is shuffling that way.

The accuracy with the left stick has to go. If I'm moving out of trouble and I have to pull back and to the right, that's not necessarily a command I am giving for my throw to my TE in the flats, I am getting away from the DE. So what usually happens is, I get away from trouble, but while I am running I decide to throw, but the game thinks I want to throw the ball low to my TE, which makes him run in to catch it, and what should have been a 5-7 yard gain, turns into a 5-7 yard LOSS. Accuracy should be something left to the QB ratings. His ratings should determine whether the pass leads the WR upfield, whether it is low and away from the corner, right to the receiver's chest, whatever the case may be. However, the button pressure could still determine how hard he throws the ball. The LS should only be used to move your QB in the pocket or away from defenders.

I don't know if you can do it, but I assume you can't, pump fake while on the run. This can buy your QB more time to look downfield or to run.You should still be able to spin or juke with the QB even if you aren't past the line of scrimmage. (Hold down LT and use the RS for evading). SIDENOTE: You should have to spin the stick all the way around for a spin, I constantly find my players spinning all over the place when all I wanted was a little juke.

More animations for catching ESPECIALLY dropped passes. It's annoying when the players have their hands in the perfect position and the ball just hits them like they're concrete. While they can still have their hands positioned perfectly, it'd be more visually pleasing to see players (especially defenders) actually bobble the ball before it's dropped or at least react to the fact that your dropped it; don't continue the animation as if you caught it.

I also find teams celebrating calls that didn't go their way. I scored a Touchdown today, they were called for offsides, I obviously declined, but then they started celebrating like they had just caused a turnover.

Add some emotion, I know that the players are brain dead that they are only reacting to mathematic algorithms, but could you at least TRY to fool me? All the coaches and players have the same animations (there is no difference between one coach from the next); there is no variety, there is nothing to differentiate one game from the next. Each game should feel different and if a key player goes down it should be somewhat noticeable most of the time. (With the occassional "Cinderalla" story.)

I really think this could all be fixed, if not by EA, then someone out there. This is AMERICA'S sport after all and it deserves to be represented truthfully.