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Madden NFL 15: Hands-On Impressions

I had a chance to play Madden NFL 15 on the PlayStation 4 yesterday for about an hour, so this is obviously a small sample size and I expect to have more impressions through the show. While waiting for my opponent to choose his play, I would peek over at the other stations to see more and thus, I’ve seen quite a bit of gameplay. There is still time for the team to tweak some of the items mentioned below, so just remember that as you read through them. These are my impressions from the build I played, I have no idea how close it is to the finished product, nor do I know if things will change for the better or worse when it hits store shelves. I’m just telling you what I’m seeing now with this build, so take it for what it’s worth.

  • Animations are smoother, but sliding is still noticeable, especially in replays.
  • The kick meter reminds me of the swing controls in a golf game. It still doesn’t seem too difficult, but it’s good to finally see a change. The wind direction issue on kicks has been fixed.
  • Watched quite a few QB’s throwing on the run resulting in inaccurate passes.
  • Saw a few scramble with their non-mobile QB and try to get a few yards, noticed turnovers more often than not.
  • When seeing someone running the ball and juking close to the sidelines, I noticed quite a few ran out of bounds, instead of cutting up the field because of a drawn out animation they couldn’t break out of.
  • Uniform degradation looked fantastic.
  • Hard to hear any of the new commentary, the EA Sports booth was very LOUD.
  • I didn’t see a coin toss, you just select receive or kick, guess they removed it?
  • QB accuracy is all over the place, but that is not a bad thing. I had a few overthrows, under throws, lead the receiver too much or threw it behind him on numerous occasions, which causes all sorts of new receiver animations.
  • Receivers will try to tap both feet to catch a ball to stay in bounds, didn’t notice any sliding here, looked fantastic. Actually saw one on a fade to the back of the end zone and a regular sideline out pass.
  • I’m still trying to get used to the “cone” tackling, but you can turn it off. I just need to play with it more. Same with controlling the defensive lineman, getting a jump and hitting the right button to maneuver around the offensive lineman.
  • More on QB accuracy. I had my feet set, had a nice pocket and still threw a few inaccurate passes, I loved seeing that. Might be frustrating on a 3rd down play call, but that’s football, it happens. And I was Romo. :)
  • Saw QB’s throwing all sorts of errant passes in the games I was watching on other screens. Some had their rookie QB’s starting and they wanted to throw their controller. I was loving it. Please don’t change this EA.
  • Still seeing defenders drop easy interceptions, I guess that is ok for some of you, but I’d rather see the defense make you pay for stupid decisions. Yes, there are sliders for that, but I didn’t have time to test them obviously.
  • Love the player celebrations after touchdowns. No more cutscenes, the player(s) do them in realtime. However I still saw a few times where they didn’t do anything. For example, when  Aaron Rodgers scores he usually does the discount double check or whatever you want to call it. I didn’t see him do that, in fact, I didn’t see him do the Lambeau Leap either. But it was one touchdown, on another station. Maybe he does it the next time, maybe he doesn’t, just throwing it out there.
  • Celebrations in general just look so much more fluid. Celebrations after sacks, first downs, and big plays in general just add to the atmosphere and polish of the game. I hate seeing the play call screen cover them up though.
  • Without hitting the pause button, by tapping up on the D-pad, you can change the camera angle. We had an issue getting it to work properly, but I’ll play with it some more today. It looks like some things are only seen when playing at lower difficulty settings.
  • I tried a few curl routes and didn’t have any issue completing them, hoping they aren’t too easy against a better defender, will play around with it.
  • Not enough time behind the sticks to say whether or not zones and man to man coverages are better, but they certainly feel tighter. I was in a cover 2 deep and my opponent threw a deep ball with NOBODY around, he was wide open. It could have been a fluke.
  • Really enjoyed the running game. Had two separate kick-out blocks, one that paved the way for long touchdown run, the other to get a first down to run out the clock for the win. When you patiently wait for blocks to setup, you will get rewarded.
  • Still not seeing any jostling/hand fighting between receivers and defensive backs, this really needs to happen. Add a subtle jersey pull, throw an arm out to impede progress. Have the refs throw some flags. OK, I’m done here.


My initial impressions of Madden NFL 15 after an hour are that it’s still Madden for better or worse. It plays better than last year, but don’t expect the wheel to be reinvented this year with the game. I’ll hopefully have more time to play Madden and post more impressions later in the show.


Madden NFL 15 Videos
Member Comments
# 1 Cryolemon @ 06/11/14 10:35 AM
Sounds good, but there still seem to be a lot of legacy issues.
 
# 2 Aggies7 @ 06/11/14 10:39 AM
Sounds good. I assume the turnovers when a pocket passer tried to scramble was fumbles , which I am fine with as they are out of their element, but hope it doesn't happen every time. Also hope players pile on while trying to recover it.
 
# 3 LovejoyOTF @ 06/11/14 10:43 AM
that's made me think actually! wouldn't it be great to see them bring back the whole fight for the fumble shebang but just fluidly represented like celebrations e.t.c. this year rather than the cutscene like it used to be. turn off the button tapping thing and you're left with a proper decent pile on, with an epic wait for the outcome. like FOOTBALL.
 
# 4 Aggies7 @ 06/11/14 10:52 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by LovejoyOTF
that's made me think actually! wouldn't it be great to see them bring back the whole fight for the fumble shebang but just fluidly represented like celebrations e.t.c. this year rather than the cutscene like it used to be. turn off the button tapping thing and you're left with a proper decent pile on, with an epic wait for the outcome. like FOOTBALL.

Exactly my thoughts. I don't need the button mashing. I just want to see realistic fumble recovers where you don't immediately know who recovered it.
 
# 5 dougdeuce @ 06/11/14 10:55 AM
Rodgers hasn't done the discount double check on the field in a long time so that's a good thing. Fyi
 
# 6 roadman @ 06/11/14 11:00 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by dougdeuce
Rodgers hasn't done the discount double check on the field in a long time so that's a good thing. Fyi
It's usually only when he scores a TD and he was injured for 9 weeks last year.
 
# 7 Step2001 @ 06/11/14 11:08 AM
Yes, the Coin Toss Presentation was removed per Madden Dev team member (said it in one of the audio interviews).

Steve, any word on when EA will announce what is new/fixed with Connected Franchise Mode?
 
# 8 dougdeuce @ 06/11/14 11:19 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by roadman
It's usually only when he scores a TD and he was injured for 9 weeks last year.
I've watched every Packers snap since 09 when I got the ticket. I haven't seen it since 11 when he said he thought it had become a distraction.

FWIW, If he's done it I haven't noticed.
 
# 9 NicVirtue @ 06/11/14 11:20 AM
Disappointed but not surprised to hear about the non existence of WR/DB interaction. It's been done 10 years ago, literally. 2 generations...and we still don't have it in Madden.
 
# 10 The JareBear @ 06/11/14 11:23 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by NicVirtue
Disappointed but not surprised to hear about the non existence of WR/DB interaction. It's been done 10 years ago, literally. 2 generations...and we still don't have it in Madden.
This is definitely a letdown.
 
# 11 CarryTheWeight @ 06/11/14 11:41 AM
Great to hear about real-time presentation. Cutscenes really made next-gen M25 look horribly dated.

I wonder if the real-time stuff will include more than just celebrations or contextual/transitional events (e.g. timeouts or the end of a quarter). It would be nice to see real-time huddling and substitutions one of these days. I also wonder if head coaches will react to a play as it happens and we can watch the reaction while in replay mode.

Otherwise, I still think a lot needs to be done to catch up to other next-gen sports games. All 22 players should use "True Step". Legacy animations should be phased out. CFM should not be left unchanged. As I've said plenty of times before, there can't be any excuses on the new hardware. If this shared "Ignite" tech is as advertised, there should be no excuse why Madden isn't at the level of FIFA, which, for all its faults, at least looks and feels like a Gen 8 title.
 
# 12 asu666 @ 06/11/14 12:06 PM
Nice preview. Thanks for the detailed impressions. Last year Madden felt like a bridge game between console generations. From your impressions and what I've seen, it looks like Madden is making some nice progress.
 
# 13 brza37 @ 06/11/14 12:08 PM
Could you please check if they adopted the NCAA no huddle system (More realistic, slower return to the line; full playbook available per personell grouping not just 4 plays etc)?

This is huge in my opinion considering how many teams are running up-tempo offenses. You could replicate it perfectly in NCAA 14 without feeling cheesy. In Madden its just way too fast and too little playbook options on O and D.
 
# 14 OrganizedChaos @ 06/11/14 12:10 PM
Rodgers did the belt week 17 v the Bears after he beat the Bears ya Jabronies.
 
# 15 roadman @ 06/11/14 12:10 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by brza37
Could you please check if they adopted the NCAA no huddle system (More realistic, slower return to the line; full playbook available per personell grouping not just 4 plays etc)?

This is huge in my opinion considering how many teams are running up-tempo offenses. You could replicate it perfectly in NCAA 14 without feeling cheesy. In Madden its just way too fast and too little playbook options on O and D.
It's been reported they have brought the NCAA no huddle over to Madden.
 
# 16 m1ke_nyc @ 06/11/14 12:14 PM
I'm excited about QB inaccurate passes. Please EA dont give in to the casuals and tourney guys. This is long overdue and a huge step in the right direction.
 
# 17 wallofhate @ 06/11/14 12:15 PM
Love the impressions except for the romo shot lol I like the qb erratic throws I also hope they don't change but like producers said about snaps over the qb head or the holder for a fg a lot of players are gonna moan and groan about it because it takes the control out of their hands kind of. I think the snaps over head should happen when you do hurry up offense. Glad to hear the improvements
 
# 18 Stikskillz @ 06/11/14 12:18 PM
Did you notice back ups playing on special teams or special team aces? Are there defensive assignments for matchups?
 
# 19 noplace @ 06/11/14 12:25 PM
Has anyone mentioned the running animations? Have they been changed? Is there a variety of them or the same ugly animations from M25?
 
# 20 Dr Death @ 06/11/14 12:34 PM
So... the second Madden on the current Gen (X-1/PS4) and, from the sounds of it, the most noted improvements are celebrations??? Unbelievable! One thing EA has been notoriously bad about is the fact that they don't understand subtlety. They bring something into the game - like the new QB accuracy problems - and instead of it being something that is life-like, they make it happen far too much. All to show off their new thing... whatever that may be.

The people at EA really need to watch an actual football SEASON and learn that things happen sporadically. IF they were to ever learn this, the game would improve by leaps and bounds. QB's fumbling when running, if they are a pocket passer... you can probably count on one hand the number of times this happened in the NFL last year and yet the person who played the new game for an hour makes it sound like he saw this happen as much - if not more - in one hour than what really occurred in an entire season.

And why did they remove the coin toss??? Every single game begins with a coin toss. We're on a new Gen of consoles and they remove this? Seriously?

It will be a great day when EA no longer is the only company making football games. They've been the sole provider for a decade now and they've done nothing but ruin the art of video-game football. Such a sad and pathetic joke.
 

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