Madden 14-17 PS3 gameplay compared to M22

[VoltSwoosh]

I have gone back to dabble with the later maddens on ps3(all of which are basically 25(2014) with new rosters) but man does it feel smooth. Running feels natural and realistic, I can actually avoid tackles and chain moves together without feeling like I’m being pulled into animation tackles. I hope that makes sense. Defense feels fun to me and tackles feel big(much like NCAA 14) It’s obviously not perfect, but I don’t know why EA chose to leave this path. Anyone else played M25-17 on ps3 or NCAA 14 lately that can tell me if I’m crazy or right?

I REALLY wish EA would take M23 gameplay back towards this or even M16 on ps4.


Sent from my iPhone 13 Pro Max

[baconbits11]

Quote: Originally Posted by VoltSwoosh

I have gone back to dabble with the later maddens on ps3(all of which are basically 25(2014) with new rosters) but man does it feel smooth. Running feels natural and realistic, I can actually avoid tackles and chain moves together without feeling like I’m being pulled into animation tackles. I hope that makes sense. Defense feels fun to me and tackles feel big(much like NCAA 14) It’s obviously not perfect, but I don’t know why EA chose to leave this path. Anyone else played M25-17 on ps3 or NCAA 14 lately that can tell me if I’m crazy or right? I REALLY wish EA would take M23 gameplay back towards this or even M16 on ps4. Sent from my iPhone 13 Pro Max

You're right!

[gr18]

I agree but when I played my first ps4 Madden,which was 16,I was surprised at how good it was but after that something got screwed up that I noticed when 17 was released and we never got back to that level where everything was tuned pretty close to what you'd want.

I was like,man if they can keep it this way and just add to franchise it would be great.

[illwill10]

Quote: Originally Posted by gr18

I agree but when I played my first ps4 Madden,which was 16,I was surprised at how good it was but after that something got screwed up that I noticed when 17 was released and we never got back to that level where everything was tuned pretty close to what you'd want. I was like,man if they can keep it this way and just add to franchise it would be great.

Fully agree.

After NCAA 14, I skipped Madden 25 and Madden 15. I rented Madden 16 late in the year. The gameplay was smooth and gave me hope that if Franchise was improved, that it would be headed into the right direction. I don't know if it was the consistent need for patching gameplay everytime there were complaints and the eventual transition to the Frostbite engine which screwed things up.

Though we know Frostbite isn't going anywhere, besides visuals, hasn't done much for Madden. Longshot and FOTF were made to show off Frostbites and try to get back into the Single Player mode. But those modes flopped each year. I'm not sure if Madden will get the Hypermotion tech that Fifa got last year, but I hope something is changed.

[VoltSwoosh]

Quote: Originally Posted by gr18

I agree but when I played my first ps4 Madden,which was 16,I was surprised at how good it was but after that something got screwed up that I noticed when 17 was released and we never got back to that level where everything was tuned pretty close to what you'd want. I was like,man if they can keep it this way and just add to franchise it would be great.

I agree, something about 16 ps4 feels good, not great, but very solid. 16 overall is so refreshing to me. Between the commentary, the presentation and the overall experience, i would have loved to see them continue that path. It’s like after frostbite, things went south besides graphics. Things were removed like refs, breaking huddles and the more tv like presentation. One thing I HATE in the last few is the ugly splash screens that say Timeout or first down for example. Just horrible design. 16 doesn’t have any of that ugly mess. Also the stupid celebration decision wheel. Man that thing is annoying. Maybe kids like it, I don’t know. But 16 ps4 just feels more immersive without that garbage to me.


Sent from my iPhone 13 Pro Max

[Lord_Belding]

Quote: Originally Posted by VoltSwoosh

I have gone back to dabble with the later maddens on ps3(all of which are basically 25(2014) with new rosters) but man does it feel smooth. Running feels natural and realistic, I can actually avoid tackles and chain moves together without feeling like I’m being pulled into animation tackles. I hope that makes sense. Defense feels fun to me and tackles feel big(much like NCAA 14) It’s obviously not perfect, but I don’t know why EA chose to leave this path. Anyone else played M25-17 on ps3 or NCAA 14 lately that can tell me if I’m crazy or right? I REALLY wish EA would take M23 gameplay back towards this or even M16 on ps4. Sent from my iPhone 13 Pro Max

I've felt this way for a while and I quit playing after M19. I played competitively online, which I know isn't the focus of most people on this board, but I feel like ranting about it. You saw a pretty diverse set of strategies and schemes in those games. Even within the top 1,000 ranked players you often ran into people who ran completely unique schemes and while there were some fairly common schemes, there was no specific META.

The user battle in the passing game was intense and involved a lot of skill, and a lot of that has removed from the game now. Although these games had some issues of their own, everything could be countered in a pretty reasonable way without overcompensating too much if you went on forums
to learn the strategies. Extreme cheese could get you into the top ~2k ranked players but was generally ineffective after that if not complemented by solid all around play.

My biggest issue with gameplay on the PS4 is that they really killed tight-window passing. Zones were way too glitchy with too many interceptions, and it became way too difficult to pass into tight windows, so the entire game revolved around people running the same gun bunch schemes to beat this.

[Hooe]

Having played NCAA Football 14 a fair bit recently: yeah I think you're crazy lol.

In every EA Sports football game prior to Madden 21 on PS5 / XBOX Series X:

- the game generally moved at warp speed and was unrealistically paced

- the offensive skill position players launched off the line of scrimmage into their routes at warp speed while the pass rush was not afforded the same get-off, creating unrealistic amounts of pocket time

- defenders in coverage had unrealistic speed, agility, and mobility, resulting in "super linebackers" and other extraordinary user-controlled athletic feats in zone coverage

- running plays with pulling blockers flat-out did not work because the puller could not reach his landmark in time

- defenders in man coverage with high MCV ratings are psychic and break on the route before the receiver makes his cut

Some of these things improved from Madden 18 onward. Many did not improve until the leap to PS5 / XSX with the new player movement tech.

Additionally, run blocking is schematically leaps and bounds better on PS5 / XSX. This is by far the best part of the new games.

I don't ever want to revisit the way the older games moved.

[xCoachDx]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

Having played NCAA Football 14 a fair bit recently: yeah I think you're crazy lol. In every EA Sports football game prior to Madden 21 on PS5 / XBOX Series X: - the game generally moved at warp speed and was unrealistically paced - the offensive skill position players launched off the line of scrimmage into their routes at warp speed while the pass rush was not afforded the same get-off, creating unrealistic amounts of pocket time - defenders in coverage had unrealistic speed, agility, and mobility, resulting in "super linebackers" and other extraordinary user-controlled athletic feats in zone coverage - running plays with pulling blockers flat-out did not work because the puller could not reach his landmark in time - defenders in man coverage with high MCV ratings are psychic and break on the route before the receiver makes his cut Some of these things improved from Madden 18 onward. Many did not improve until the leap to PS5 / XSX with the new player movement tech. Additionally, run blocking is schematically leaps and bounds better on PS5 / XSX. This is by far the best part of the new games. I don't ever want to revisit the way the older games moved.

This.

The people that look back at NCAA 14 as some sort of gold standard of football games really confuse me. Most of the issues we have now were present then and much worse in a lot of cases. Pass defense was awful, defenders had no run fitting and just hit blockers head up, option defense was terrible, the CPU QB was miles worse than it is now (23/25 for 120 yards was a frequent stat line…)

The issue with todays gameplay is not that it is worse. It’s that it has not made even remotely as close to the progress over the past decade as it made between the years 2004-2007. On top of that, many of the games biggest issues have gone COMPLETELY untouched for five years.