For many athletes, playing defense isn’t nearly as fun as offensive. The same holds true for many gamers, myself included, more so when it comes to Madden. In the past, defensive efforts felt like going through the motions and that the user had little control over the outcome. Part of that is only being able to control one out of the 11 players on the field, sure, and to a large extent there’s only so much a developer can do to give the user a greater sense of control. With Madden 16, I think EA Sports has made great strides in this department.

Not much has changed, control-wise, on the defensive end. As I touched on during the impressions round table, even though I haven’t regularly played the series in a few years everything feels very familiar, with one important exception I’ll touch on in a bit. Pre-snap, I prefer to control one of the front four, which has been good thus far. You can choose a power or finesse move to break free and panic the QB.

Pursuing defenders is also well done. In addition to the hit stick, you once again can choose an aggressive or conservative tackle. The risk/reward here is obvious. If you’re traveling with a group of teammates pursuing a tackle, being a bit more aggressive is a good thing. But if it’s just you and the running back in the open field, conservative is the way to go.

New this year is how you can challenge passes from the opposing QB. Once the quarterback throws the ball, you can switch to the defender nearest the receiver. From there, you have two options: play the ball or play the receiver. Again, risk/reward plays a big part here. If you’re playing one-on-one coverage deep down field, you better be sure before trying for the ball. If you miss, you’re sure to get burned. In many cases, it’s best to go for the tackle, especially if it would be short of a first down. Your defender will focus on making a tackle as soon as the ball is caught. But the reward for playing the ball is a very satisfying interception. If you time it just right, the camera will spin around as you sprint downfield. Playing the ball is one of my favorite parts on defense thus far. I’ve seen that many are skeptical that it’s too easy to fish for an INT this way, but in the few games I’ve played so far, it doesn’t feel cheap at all. I’ve gotten my fair share of user INTs, but I’ve also gotten burned for a touchdown when I missed the angle and the receiver had a clear path to the end zone.

The speed at which you play the game impacts this decision in a big way. I’ve found that on ‘Normal’ speed (which isn’t the default, by the way) that it’s difficult to react in time. I prefer to play one notch slower (which is the default), which makes for a more rewarding experience thus far.

We’re only a few days into the release, so it’s difficult to notice trends this early. Over time, slider tweaks will come out that will offer as much realism as possible. But as it stands right now, even with default sliders, I find the defensive end to be as much fun as any version of Madden I’ve played.