How long can you play Madden?

[PGaither84]

I have to say that sometimes I get the urge to put on Madden. I want to run the ball with Frank Gore. I want to throw passes to Vernon Davis. I want to hit stick people with Willis and Bowman. I want to pass rush with Justin & Aldon Smith. I want to play franchise and get some games in.

Except, after a while and especially after playing around with sliders, Maddens flaws start to expose themselves. The game starts feeling more mechanical than natural. It stops being fun and starts feeling like a chore to even finish a game.

I only bought Madden 12 last week and I am kind of getting bored of it again. Seriously... is it an improvement over 11? Yes. The player move a lot smother than 11 and the tackling is much better. I haven't seen any suction blocking down filed with a pulling guard or FB or what not. However, the passing mechanics are still stale and unrealistic. The pass rush is a joke full of psychic play and suction blocking. There is no engaged player movement. The list goes on.

It's like... when I want to play, I feel like this:



and when I am playing, after a while I just want to turn it off.

No other game makes me feel like that. I can sit and play fallout all day. I can play Battlefield online for hours on end. I can waste an entire weekend on Dragon Age... but Madden often feels stale before the end of my first 12min quarter game.

[johnnyg713]

Not bashing madden at all but I cannot play more than one game. I'd say 50% of the time I don't finish a game at all. However I can say the same about baseball games. Going a whole 9 innings is tough as well. I have never played madden with a buddy and then said "lets play another". Its one and done. However I can play 4 consecutive games of NHL, Fifa, or NBA and enjoy the last game as much as I did the first.

[KBLover]

Are you talking about in one sitting?

If you're talking just how long until you don't feel like playing...well, I'm 8 years deep into my franchise and I don't get to play more than 1 or 2 games a day (and sometimes none like this weekend) so it's been a decent amount of time.

Yeah, playing with sliders and stuff expose the flaws. I hear that and 100% agree with it. But I still play my franchise(s), post in the franchise thread, keep up with my players, etc.

I think I'm able to still get some enjoyment out of it even with the flaws. Final Fantasy XIII-2 isn't perfect, but the flaws don't make me tired of the game. Same for other games like Kohan II or Dynasty Warriors, etc.

As long as I can enjoy the game (any game), I'll keep playing it while still acknowledging the downfalls, flaws, and issues in the game.

[Armor and Sword]

I normally play one franchise game a week. I rotate my sports games constantly as I tend to play at least 4-5 seasons with each title. When I first get the game I am playing a lot. With Madden 12 I went through 2 seasons quickly. Now I have been taking my sweet time with year three. With NBA2K11 I played non-stop for a good solid 6 months and finished 2 seasons (82 games as well) The Show.....is a joy.


But in one sitting I can say I can play 2 games max (12 minute quarters). Same for NCAA 12 (in year 4 but have not touched that game in months). NBA I play one game a week now. Same for the Show.

I am the type of gamer who rotates 5 games to keep everything fresh.

[Bonee]

I play Madden once a week for about 90. minutes while having my weekly online-league game (13 min. Quarter). I don't ever play any offline games nor ranked games nor other exhibition games. I may would do so when there is a chance to play online-exhibition games with a roster from my online-franchise.

This way you simply won't have the time to discover all the gameflaws and money plays. You may still see some extreme lack of realism being in the game but it's hard to make this stuff your gameplan. As a result, you can enjoy any Madden-Version for more than just a month ...

[PGaither84]

Yeah, more like in one sitting.

The newness has worn off for me in less than a week and now I am knee deep in messing with sliders to improve my experience agaisnt the AI... an I got to say that is mentally draining to say the least.

Beating the computer on All-Pro isn't fun for very long, and playing with a lot of the sliders I see here aren't either. By their own admission, a lot of the slider sets are built for difficulty first... not realism. I just want to play and have fun but not steam roll a bad AI. I want my team's ratings to matter, otherwise what's the point of franchise? Why manage a roster, try to draft stars, negotiate contracts, make trades, etc?

It's Sunday and I have the day off and want to play Madden... and then after putting it on, I want to turn it off.

Like... there are so many nice improvements over Madden 11... but not enough to keep me interested. I love that there are no more shoulder roll animations as defenders fall off the ball carrier like rain against a windshield or get sucked into a pro tack animation. I like that when a FB/TE/Pulling Guard is looking to make a block, there isn't any suction blocking. I like how you can actually hit stick a QB instead of watching your defender go low and fling him down by his waist. I like how much more fluid the player movement is compared to Madden 11. I like how toned down psychic man coverage is. I liek the franchise additions/changes even if they are not tuned perfectly yet. I like the new player traits. I like a number of things about this game... but after a while the other classic madden problems are still very visible and frustrating.

[KBLover]

Quote: Originally Posted by PGaither84

Yeah, more like in one sitting.

I can't give an accurate reading for that because I WANT to play more than I'm able to.

I could probably play 4-5 games at a time in my primary franchise, which would take about that many hours, but I don't have that big of a block of time a lot of times.

[Big FN Deal]

I can't play it long at all before the issues cause me to either turn the console off or switch games. I just can't find sustainable enjoyment from Madden and haven't this entire console generation. I think Madden 07, with the Live Opponent feature, was the one I was able to get the longest enjoyment from since me and two buddies could transfer the offline Franchise file back and forth to play each game online against each other.

Like others have stated, I don't think it's so much the gameplay flaws that hinder enjoyment, as it is the lack of creating an immersive environment to distract from those flaws, that's the main problem. NCAA 12 has pretty much the same gameplay issues as Madden but the complete Dynasty mode offers more things to focus on then just playing the games each week.

Also another key issue I have with EA's football titles this generation, that especially applies to online head to head play, is that they don't even seem intended to be designed for playing football. What I mean is, even though there is Tom Foolery in NBA2k12 and I presume other sports titles online that I haven't played as well, in NBA2k12 it seems to be far more effective to actually play basketball, instead of trying to game the program. I don't get that impression with Madden online and the game seems like the way it's designed, it seems better to figure out program exploits for success over playing football.

The best analogy I can think of right now is if NBA2k12 allowed And1/Harlem Globetrotter style basketball to be just as effective or more so than sound basketball fundamentals. That's how Madden often seems to me, like you can attempt to play NFL football if you want but it's not necessary because the game doesn't represent basic NFL parameters, like penalties, injuries, fatigue, timing, physics, physical limitations,etc.

This whole notion that representing applicable NFL risk/reward into Madden as parameters for regulating success and failure to create a realistic challenge, somehow diminishes User control, makes it hard for me to even enjoy the diversity online play offers in Madden.