Madden NFL 16 Community Impressions

[jwilphl]

After a few days I have come to a couple conclusions: the gameplay is decent while franchise mode is incredibly shallow. Keep in mind my impressions are having been away from Madden for six years.

I am enjoying the gameplay so far. I haven't noticed any glaring errors just yet other than the wacky glitches that happen rarely. Although I have found playing defense doesn't feel very rewarding, for some reason. Maybe I'm just not good enough yet, but I find getting to the QB very difficult (even with the timing) as well as shedding blocks generally. If anyone has tips feel free to share.

The presentation is fairly well done. As I said, it has been a while since I've played a Madden game, and my only real complaints about the presentation are a lack of interesting discussions from the commentary team and not enough inclusion of "what we see on Sundays." This is pretty much par for the course, but nonetheless, the overall presentation is considerably improved over what it was years ago. The commentary could also stand to be a big more enthusiastic at times.

As for CFM, yes, I think it stands most are disappointed. The mode itself is very shallow and it is 100% clear they haven't given this mode hardly any attention over the last many years. I get it that the other modes are the "money makers," but I would think the franchise mode would be the overall most popular. It is a shame there isn't much going on. Contextual commentary is non-existent. As others have said, there simply aren't any stories to follow: the world feels enclosed. The "news" and tweets are buried in the back-end, but those hardly add anything of value.

For 2015 I would have expected more, though it is nice to see gameplay has progressed over time. Animations are still funky; I consider this a legacy issue that probably will never go away for as long as Madden is sold.

A solid game overall but by no means spectacular. I still need more time with it to give it a full review, though.

[canes21]

I'm loving all of the animations with the WR and DBs. I was worried about the implementation of it all, but EA did a very good job with it. I'm so glad to be able to throw a pass body relative and have the WR make the play. In years past you pretty much had to hope the guy just outran his man with speed, or throw it when the cut in the route gave space between the players.

Finally I can throw it one on one and have a chance for a completion. It's nice to not have to touch the interception slider finally because of all the dumb pick attempts. Corners finally play the ball and their man like corners.

[SageInfinite]

The game still needs a TON of work, but I enjoy it.

The graphics look GREAT at times. Lighting is awesome, I do like the lighting in domes with the roof open better on 15(The way the sun gleamed in was amazing), but everything else is WAY better.

The new handoff and playaction animations are GORGEOUS. Also like that sig throwing animations trigger on alot of throws.

Love some of the presentation stuff, others I'm not a fan of.

Like I said the game needs alot of work, but it's on its way to being a good game one day.

[jfsolo]

Love the post play scuffles this year, adds a lot more life to the game.

I really like the run game this year. Yeah, the blocking logic, or lack there of, on many plays makes you want to throw your controller, but there is a lot of good stuff going on too. I've never used the precision modifier before, but IMO, it is a must now to get the most out of the running game. Precision truck, precision juke(which is really nice in space with the right players) quick juke, get skinny, all the moves are needed to turn 2 yard gains into 5 or 6 yard gains or 3 yard losses into back to the line of scrimmage runs.

[Moegames]

Quote: Originally Posted by jfsolo

Love the post play scuffles this year, adds a lot more life to the game. I really like the run game this year. Yeah, the blocking logic, or lack there of, on many plays makes you want to throw your controller, but there is a lot of good stuff going on too. I've never used the precision modifier before, but IMO, it is a must now to get the most out of the running game. Precision truck, precision juke(which is really nice in space with the right players) quick juke, get skinny, all the moves are needed to turn 2 yard gains into 5 or 6 yard gains or 3 yard losses into back to the line of scrimmage runs.

Same here, the developers really REALLY need to build on this aspect of "atmosphere" .. Since the year i joined OSforums in 2002...I have been harping various developers for football video games to put some "soul" into these football video games and its really nice to see tiburon developers are now starting to see how important these "little things" are...these "little things" make a HUGE difference in the overall fun the game is.

Over the years i seen many people in here say these things are not important and only gameplay is...well i must say, these people were/are greatly mistaken because we now all see how much it's done for madden this year and the madden series has lacked this attribute so much but now the developers are finally "seeing the light". All i can say is that they must add much more to this and put more "polish" into the presentation and atmosphere aspects of Madden.

Hopefully next year we will see the commentary react more natural and have much more colored commentary to the overall feel of the play-by-play. They also need to keep adding more pre/post whistle cut-scenes or dialog between players and other various animation sequences of two or more players interacting with each other before and after the whistle. I like what i see "FINALLY" but lets just hope they continue to evolve because presentation/atmosphere is just as important as great gameplay when it comes to sports video games.

Oh and maybe a real half-time show with updates of other games going on around the league...why they have not touched this is baffling but then again...Tiburon had left most presentation and atmosphere aspects of Madden bone dry as far back as i can remember, it wasnt until now that they finally got going with these aspects of the game.

[THESHAMISASHAME]

Is it safe to say Franchise mode doesnt play like Play now ? I mean as I get deeper in the playoffs Im seeing some super hu cpu Interceptions ?

Just wondering thanks

[DJ]

You can definitely tell the difference between a good QB and a mediocre one. Lost Carr to an injury early in my game today at Denver and Ponder was terrible. Throwing balls high, short and off-target. It was frustrating, but more so that Ponder is bad and not that I was missing passes.

In the past, you couldn't tell the difference between QB's. Now, you can. A nice extra layer of strategy and roster management when injuries occur.

[DJ]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gotmadskillzson

Playing with an undisciplined team is VERY challenging. I was playing with the Cardinals against the Raiders and the Raiders were blowing me out 27 to 0 by halftime because of all my defensive penalties. 5 offsides, 4 were due to that offside bug though. Happened 4 times in a row too. Then I had 7 defensive holding penalties. I was loving it and hating it at the same time. I kept thinking to myself my goodness Cardinals you guys really lack discipline. Add to that, none of my DBs could hang with Amari Cooper, he was killing me, along with their other WR. Patrick Peterson was getting torched every passing play. Add to that, the Raiders new running back DeMarco Murray was running wild. It was the worst butt kicking I ever took by the CPU in Madden. Ratings really matter and when your team don't match up well, lord have mercy. Might as well hold on for dear life because you about to be taken for a ride. Woodson had Fitzgerald on lockdown, he couldn't catch anything. And Floyd kept dropping passes. I couldn't run because Mack and the other Raiders LB shut that down. Truly all around humbling experience.

Khalil Mack is an absolute beast in this game.