NC State-31 UNC-27's Blog
I'm a running game guy. I want to be able to run the ball and be competitive. The blocking isn't perfect, but it seems good enough. On basically default All-Pro I've had games over 100 yards with good YPC and games closer to 50 yards with YPC of 2. I couldn't run the ball against the Packers with Ray Rice, but I dominated KC with the Panthers duo. Hitting a hole is a great feeling though and the "locomotion" makes for some really nice animations, I was super surprised. On the 360 this game really shines between plays after a nice gain on the ground. The little subtleties of a ball carrier weaving through traffic and brushing by outreached arms. Nicely done, really. Fighting for extra yards with the right stick is fun. Overall, it's not APF2k8 textbook, but it's decently fun and can be really pretty.
Passing game....ehhhh. Same old EA 360/PS3 generation passing game. Clunky ball physics really bogs this down for me. Unable to put enough touch on the ball. Slants/Ins/Drags are the go-to passing plays when you NEED those 5 yards, been like this for a while. Good news is the QBs can fling the balls in there pretty good. Also the out routes and curls seem to work pretty well against the right coverages. Corners and deep balls aren't impossible, either, they can be completed when the defense collapses but it may look ugly. A perfect throw can beat good coverage, too. Something that bothers me a bit is that most pass plays tend to be pass, catch, tackle with little run after catch. I've found that really only the shiftiest of players (Steve Smith type) can really turn and size up the defense and break into open space. Wish there were more opportunities. Also, Play-Action-Sack is in full effect though not as bad as the demo from what I hear. More good news is I'm seeing inaccurate passes that don't go directly into defenses hands, both pressured and for no reason. I had to play with Tim Tebow, and he had a couple of overthrows for no reason. I've seen the sideline catches and they are done pretty well...sometimes they get their feet in and sometimes they don't.
If anyone is wondering about "locomotion" in Madden vs NCAA..well NCAA the players are much more agile and the game runs faster (I've set Madden to Normal from default of Slow). NCAA players turn on a dime compared to Madden. Either way is fine with me.
On defense I'm finding it hard to get a pass rush at times (arghhhh EA). Other times I get pressure but the CPU QB throws it away just as I get there, leading to a lot of throws into the ground and backs of linemen. I can live with it, but will mess with sliders to hopefully get some more sacks.
The CPU offense seems to be holding it's own against me. For instance in a game right now on default All-Pro James Harrison has over 200 yards rushing on me (JAX) in the first half. First time I've seen something that extreme, but I've had good battles besides one game that I shutdown SEA. The CPU has thrown deep on me quite a few times but also throws a bunch of underneath stuff and in the flats (the flats are a problem area for both defenses it seems). The CPU QB makes bad throws as well which is nice to see. Up in the air right now is whether or not the CPU uses it's "STAR" players like they should. Against Arizona I was never afraid of Larry Fitzgerald the entire game, he only had a couple catches on the game. My gut tells me that they won't do this as they should and it's more or less random as to who (especially WRs) gets the ball. I think that I've noticed a lot of the CPUs scoring plays to be big (40+ yards).....I need to pay more attention to this but I think the percentage of TDs leans heavy towards big plays, some of which are my fault.
A couple of negatives....
-The CPU AI trying to defend the pass is painful to watch sometimes. They just can't really stop my passing game unless they are getting pressure on me. This is REALLY glaring at the end of the first and second halves, when I'm trying or need to score quickly. They've given several games away to me in the last minute because they inexplicably leave a streaking WR uncovered with no safety help. I'm not sure if my guys are beating a press by a CB or if they are blitzing too many or what....but I've got a couple cheap victories and TDs because of this. Pretty big problem, really. They should be in prevent, instead I've got 1 on 1 or even wide open guys going deep.
-It's time for the playbooks to be completely re-done. Tired of looking at plays that are 10 years old.
-My DLine feels like they are stuck in sand at the snap, because of the slower gameplay I think. NCAA feels better.
-Kick returns are not blocked well. However I did take 2 back for TDs...not even sure how to explain that. But it's tough to even get to the 20.
-CPU snaps the ball too quickly to make adjustments on defense. Really a shame.
-Kicking is too easy. I like the meter idea but they need a level past 100% that if you go into it returns to the accuracy point very quickly, like in golf games or baseball pitching. Theres no risk.
Some positives...
-I really like the presentation stuff. The pre-game, the in between plays, between quarters, cut scenes after TDs, etc. I also like the commentary with Gus quite a bit. It can be off at times but I enjoy it.
-Graphics looks good to me, sharper than NCAA.
-No fumble or INT problems from either side
-I'm seeing a good amount of injuries per game, some small, some game ending.
-Pursuit angles seem fine
Also I noticed in the last game I played fatigue being built up over the course of the game. My starting RB had close to 30 carries and his circle in the play call menu had a yellow tint to it instead of dark green like my backup and other players. Didn't know that was in.
fast backs/receivers are lethal. Played with the Lions and Jahvid Best is ridiculous, bust through holes before the defense reacts. In comparison Maurice Morris, the 3rd stringer, can barely make it to the line of scrimmage before the defense swallows him even if there is a small hole.
Playing the Rams Sam Bradford went 12/30 on me on All-Pro with the QBA turned down slightly I believe, at least half the incompletions were because of pressure. Stafford (me) was close to 50% and had some bad overthrows but looked good minus 3 INTs because of pressure/throwing while being sacked. N. Suh had 3 sacks and was fun to play with. I won the game in the final minute but was in serious danger in the 4th quarter after they had a nice TD drive to pull in front late.
Looking at the Gameflow stuff.....it's kind of cool that you can set up 15 plays and rate them 1-5 stars for 15 different situations on offense and defense if you want basically a better, quicker version of 'Ask Madden.' Will take some time to set all of it up, but I may eventually use it. For now, I'll call my own plays.
The CPU has missed a couple field goals against me, probably hitting 80 to 85% of them. Hit the post a couple times. My only miss in probably 20 attempts was off the crossbar. They are just too easy, even if you miss on the accuracy it doesn't seem to move left or right much at all, everything by me and the CPU is kicked dead straight.
Yea I don't know what to say about the kick meter...there just needs to be some type of RISK involved in having the meter go up to 100% but there isn't. And like Ted mentioned, a different sized accuracy zone for different kickers would be ideal. Just feels unfinished, no surprise. I missed my second FG, off the crossbar...again.
The CPU pass game...most of their incompletions are coming because of pressure/hitting the QB as he throws. And man do they throw just before you sack them A LOT. Roethelisberger was at 48% against me on 40 something passes because I kept hitting him as he threw. If you don't get to them, they will probably complete something underneath.
Only major complaint is something I mentioned before. The CPU blitzing/getting burned in situations they should be playing multiple safeties in the secondary. Leading to me hitting big passes at the end of halves/games when I am in a hurry to score. Feels cheap to even complete them because I should never be open in the first place. It's basically happened every game I've been in that situation.
Other than that nothing too glaring.
Ive found I really have to use audibles when the CPU crowds the box to avoid getting stuffed on the run. Had a nice TD on an audibled run to an out route when they were blitzing.
Through maybe 12 games I don't think I have fumbled yet. The CPU has fumbled probably five times or so. Not many interceptions from either side except the occasional duck while getting hit landing in a DLinemans hands. Thats fine by me..
Seen one booth review under 2 minutes that was upheld. I've challenged a couple of calls when they prompted me to on the screen.
I'm kind of numb to field goals being easy now, EA has done that to me over the past however many years. They have never really been hard enough. I'm not a huge fan of the meter in NCAA either, has a "clunky" feel to it, but probably works better than Madden's for getting more realistic results. APF 2k8 had the best kicking system ever...
some random notes...
Pittsburgh ran two fake punt passes against me in the same game, a couple quarters apart...once from my 45 yard line and once from my 42 yard line....no problems there IMO though it would be nice if they had run it instead of letting their punter throw a 20 yard pass....didn't get it either time.
As far as I can tell there is no way to look at your User stats...like I've played a bunch of exhibition games, I want to know what kind of stats I'm averaging and what the CPU has averaged against me. I looked and couldn't find it. I know they used to have something like this.....thats a real shame if it's just not there anymore.
There are no kicking sliders at all. I think the sliders are the exact same as last year. Ian really found a way to screw this up. The sliders they do have can be confusing. Sometimes you move them to the left to make things easier, sometimes you move them to the right. NCAA has some good sliders (if they work, not sure anyone knows 100% on that) so I don't get why Madden has taken sliders out that would help our experience. Head scratching...no coach sliders like NCAA has either.
For both EA football games......the key to a fun experience for me is the CPU competing. The key to THAT, is converting 3rd downs. From what I have seen the CPU does a decent job of this in Madden, I see them at or just a bit below 50% which is usually what I am around unless it's more of a defensive game. If they are going 2-13 on 3rd downs then it's probably a blow out and sliders really can't fix that usually. Seems to be good so far though.
The other key to a good experience for me is finding the right balance of being able to pass efficiently without feeling guilty. In every EA football game I've always been able to pass at a 75% clip if I wanted to so I always hold back and throw some routes I know don't work that well, etc to keep my numbers down. But then when I NEED a score I can usually get it. There is a fine line between the CPU DBs jumping your routes and having the defense play fair. Unfortunately when the defense plays fair I can usually pick them apart with the better routes. Madden has improved on this some I think. The DBs seem less psychic than NCAA but I'm not necessarily passing at will thanks to poor throws, drops, and pressure on the QB. I just want to be able to play a game and not hold back on the passing game, I want it to be HARD. Madden isn't there yet but it's not bad, either. Honestly I think the only thing that will ever fix this issue for me is a camera angle like Backbreaker so that I can't see the entire field like God. When you think about it, your pass % SHOULD be high when you can see the entire field like you can in NCAA/Madden unless they DBs are playing like supermen. Sorry for that rambling paragraph..
Played a game of NCAA between 2 games of Madden last night....think I enjoy Madden slightly more, by a very slim margin. But I don't have any patches for NCAA yet, either
Yep if I could combine the best of both of these games I would be really really happy.
Sliders from NCAA.
Default camera from Madden/camera from NCAA on run plays.
Playcalling from Madden
DB play from Madden (too many DBs running passing routes in NCAA)
ESPN presentation from NCAA
Audible system from Madden
Pre-snap adjustments (aside from audibles) from NCAA
Kicking meter from NCAA (or a entirely new one)
Most animations from Madden
Menus from NCAA
may actually choose the graphics/atmosphere from NCAA....something about playing under the lights at a small stadium is great
# 2
doovid184 @ Aug 5
In the demo the jets ran a fake punt run on me a few games ago but the FB turned and ran left paralell to the LOS and ended up losing yards.
Also, very nice post great review.
Also, very nice post great review.
# 3
somestrangedude1 @ Aug 17
sliders? seriously? wtf are sliders? and what difficulty do you play to have so much trouble is there a higher on than all madden? i mean damn i play all madden and still win by 5 or more touchdowns its not that hard. the kicking has been as you say "clunky" but thats not the most important aspect of the game. as for ncaa its easier than madden it doesnt quite have the same flow but imo is better. im a college football fan more than a nfl fan but play both games i know they have alot of blown coverages but o well it happens in real life to... and not all defenses play prevent in the forth quarter the screen pass quickly demoralized the use of prevent so they usually stick to man with deep zones. im not trying to bag on you im stating that before you post make sure you know what your talking about i know this is based on how you think the game is but saying something is a negative about the game cuz you dont like it is ******** and im still wonder wtf sliders are... do you mean slide protection? sliding the dline or linebackers? you can still do that in madden... if thats not what you mean enlighten me an tell me wtf are sliders
NC State-31 UNC-27
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