So I decided to check out Madden 17...

[conception]

Quote: Originally Posted by JoshC1977

People can look at the current game through the same narrow lens and then as you play more, the flaws come to the surface. EVERY SINGLE MADDEN has flaws. To me, it is about which game gives you the most enjoyment. I won't say Madden 20 (which I have been thoroughly enjoying recently) is a better game than Madden 23. But I also won't say that Madden 23 is a better game than Madden 20. Put more concisely - "Pick your poison". Edit: LOL at seeing gr18's post AFTER I wrote this (great minds)

One thing I think is a problem in general affecting perception of the game is that the competitive players out there literally exist on finding the flaws in the game and then cheesing it to death. I think Madden's buggy (understatement) performance is deserving of a bad reputation, but the game isn't ever as bad on the field as people like to think - the flaws get highlighted.


After a while it is refreshing to see a non-Frostbite, real player motion version because we get so used to all the stupid things the players do on the current engine. My gosh if I have to see a receiver catch an open crossing route and instead of gradually turn up the field, just stop in place and get immediately tackled. Or that stupid animation of the coach chopping his hands on the sideline that hasn't been changed on current gen in at least 4 years.

[parkej13]

I totally get what you mean about M17 (8th Gen version), it was a good game compared to later iterations of Madden. They substantially upgraded the Franchise mode from Madden 16 (although M16 gameplay was better). They added practice squads in Franchise mode, the ability to edit all aspects of players, the ability to watch cpu vs cpu games without a hassle, alternate color rush uniforms, and they nerfed the aggressive catch which was too OP in M16. I'm speaking only of 8th generation consoles (PS4, XB1, switch, etc). Having said all that, I believe M18 (after patches) is a better overall game than M17, as it has everything 17 has and more, plus the game itself looks beautiful. M18 actually looks better than many of the newer Maddens.

What I don't get is some people here saying that M20 was a good game. That just goes to show that it's all about personal preference, because I thought Madden 20 was one of the worst Maddens on PS4. They removed referees from the game, the shoulder pads looked too big, and despite being the 3rd game on Frostbite, somehow game play was still glitchy, buggy and more animations made it worse as you had less control over player movement. Plus X factors ruined the game (although you can turn them off). I still regret buying Madden 20 til this day. I recently played the Madden 24 free trial, and it's a better game than M19-23. If I had to rank the aforementioned games, I would put them in this order. I'm referring to 8th generation versions, except M24.

1. M18 (just a beautiful looking game, and plays good after patches).

2. M16 (in my opinion, this is probably the best playing Madden ever made. Gameplay was solid, physics was a thing, and penalties were called like real NFL games. Try All-Pro with default sliders) ;-)

3. M17 (huge step up from M16 as far a Franchise mode, but gameplay not on the level of M16, penalties were once again broken, after they had fixed them in M16. QB AI was terrible after patches, OOTB QB AI was better. Good game, but 1 step forward, 2 steps back.

4. M24 PS5 (gameplay on the Frostbite engine is finally more tuned, refs finally added back after being absent 4 games, and the game itself looks fantastic, however still no major improvements to Franchise mode besides adding mini games. I don't like the scouting, I prefer the scouting from M16-20. Plus the interface is not user-friendly. The menu loading times are slow for some reason on a more powerful console.

5. M25 PS4 (not mentioned above, but this is probably the game that saved Madden on 8th Gen consoles. Gameplay was better, Franchise mode was solid after the mess that was M13. The presentation was fantastic and the crowd and atmosphere in the stadium felt electric. However this game felt too arcadey and easy. The fun factor was off the charts though, you could play with legendary players, owners and coaches in Franchise mode.

6. M20- one of the worst Madden games ever made. They added the yard which I didn't care for, I believe this game also had DJ Khaled and sponge Bob, both ridiculous things that don't add any immersion to the game. Referees were removed for no good reason. They made the shoulder pads look too big, and the gameplay was somehow worse than the previous 4 titles (except M19).

7. M19 - looks almost identical to M18, but gameplay was god awful, plus there were no major improvements made from M18. A mere roster update from 18 with more bugs, glitches and awful animations. I could swap M19 and 20, but they're both terrible games.

[Unlucky 13]

Quote: Originally Posted by parkej13

M18 actually looks better than many of the newer Maddens.

I strongly feel that the lighting and shadows for both Madden and the Show have been worse since that point. Whether HDR is to blame, or its something else, both games really, really struggle with it now. It either looks unnaturally fully lit, or the games fall into this weird super dim mode every once in a while, like I've put sunglasses on watching my TV.



Either way, something happened the last few years of the PS4 generation that really sent it sideways.

[RicoLaguna]

I truly felt Madden 10 was one of the best.....it had the most organic play on the field of them all and it never felt as tho it was trapped in its own animation outcome hell where players just warp to predetermined results to satisfy a playbook offense/defense outcome match that most Maddens fall victim to

10 always felt like it had the right balance of user gameplay, strategy and player positioning which dictated the outcome of what happened on the field......Not the above

[Drix10]

I've played M17 more than any other. I always go back to it. It had many problems at launch just like any Madden, but they squared away a lot of it with patches. Clipping is still bad after a few games, the legacy issues with the Madden profile that creep in. But it holds up pretty well. Presentation wise, it's better than we have now too.