Madden NFL 15 is now available in stores. Be sure to read our review if you haven't gotten the game. If you have, leave your own impressions of your first play sessions in the comments below!
-I'm a nervous wreck, played my first game on All Pro and it was tight to the end. I was being careful and precise or else! Tough D!
-Physics for the ballcarrier are a bit thick, as in gum stuck to your shoes. Getting used to it. Looks like you really have to earn running holes and open-field plays.
-Accidently using the old precision modifier for stiff arm had me showboating and launching fumbles.
-I'm I'm getting used to the play call screen. I'm on the fence about it.
-Graphics and presentation are great overall, but some of my white boy players look like Chuckie.
-Special Teams seems better to me. I never did well running back kicks and this year it seems to give you better blocks/more of a chance.
yep,12 minutes would be correct....I also use a 17 sec runoff.
So basically,as soon as you call your play,you have 17 seconds left on the playclock...unless you take longer,which of course will reflect that.
I feel (imo)...if you call your play soon enough,you should have plenty of time to hot route if needed.
Ok , I've played 6 games so far, playing my 7th right now. I'm playing on All
Pro, slow speed, 8 min quarters, accel clock off. The first 6 games I played with the default all pro sliders and lost every game. NOTE- I play sim. This 7th game I did some slight tweaking and I'm leading the jets at arrowhead 9-3 in the second.
I love this game. On the field I feel it is excellent. It plays great and is very realistic and challenging.
My complaints are, the play challenge system is still a bit messed up, I've had one call that was clearly a ball that hit the ground, but when I threw the red flag they still gave the CPU the catch, even though the replay clearly showed the ball hitting the ground. Also a bit more time to select defensive plays would be nice. And the half time show is a joke, why even bother. The Extra Point half time show in Madden 10 was way better.
I give this game over all , based on fun, replay value, and on the field play a 8.5 out of 10. Gameplay wise they have finally put 2k5 to rest.
EDIT: just finished game 7 , Jets at Chiefs. Jets came back to take the lead 19-13 with 2:34 left in the game. I had the drive of my life , finishing off with Charles going for a 12 yard run, his longest of the game for a TD with just over a minute left. Came out on D and Houston stepped up, sack, batted down a pass, then Berry made the tackle on 4th down just inches from the 1st down marker. Chiefs win 20-19 . Wow , what a blast.
I'm still having a hard time running the ball. In this game Charles was 21 for 45 and Chris Johnson was 20 for 67. So user and CPU are pretty even, just need to be able to get the yards per carry up a bit for both.
I have been a Madden ***** for the last few years, but in my limited time with the game they may have shut me up. Seriously, I was so hesitant to buy this game, but after about 10 minutes of actual play time, I have fallen in love. Madden is back!
Good to hear from a madden skeptic. I am currently debating going out and buying the game right now. Hearing a lot of positives but I want to hear more from those who are tough on madden rather than those that buy the gsme year after year.
How can I use the official roster update for connected franchise? Am I missing something? I've tried both options of importing roster and using default roster and both are the same (not the updated roster)
Boys, we finally have a damn good football game again. From the presentation to the gameplay.. this is a great effort from the EA team and shows promise they are trying for a true simulation.. I am loving it.
I am trying a Colts (USER) vs Browns (CPU) game now on All-Pro with some slider adjustments and it is doing GREAT.
I have the QB ACC for USER set to 25 and CPU 25 and I have seen Hoyer throw some bad passes especially when pressured. Luck threw way behind and high to TE on a crossing route that looked beautiful regardless of it being very incomplete lol
Luck got injured and Hassleback is now in and he is dumping off short passes just fine as expected but on a deep post, he threw a ball really high but Hilton jumped up and snagged it. Beautiful game this year.
Th game plays just fine on xbone, dont believe the hype. So far I am thoroughly enjoying Madden. I have tweaked a few sliders, mainly human and cpu QB accuracy and cpu pass blocking. The game looks a tad dark at night., Like some of the stadium lights went out. Especially in the end zones. But all in all I had a hard time putting the controller down. I think the development team really put some effort into this game. Does not look like the lazy efforts of past even though there are a few legacy issues that in time.....like next year....get addressed
Hell, after reading the reviews I'm debating going to buy a PS4 and the game... I'm a PC gamer, but Madden 2008 can only do so much and to hear this game is trumping NFL 2k5 (gameplay wise), I'm excited as I've ever been.
Yeah hearing that this game has finally outdone 2k5 on the field has me extremely interested. I am just being my typical madden skeptic self. I do hope defense is as fun as people are saying because defense was my favorite aspect of 2k5 and even all pro football.
There's a really dumb friendly quit bug. You can offer it as many times as you want! I was beating a guy with less than a minute left and he offered me freindly quits for 10 minutes! Needs to be patched ASAP!
Okay I definitely have to tweak sliders pronto. I've restarted Broncos (me) vs. Chargers 5 times because I've sacked Phillip Rivers at least 4 times before the 1st qtr was over. One qtr he attempted to pass 6 times and I sacked him 5 times and I picked off the other one. Most aren't user sacks. I do primarily play as a d-lineman but my teammates are eating him up or he just won't throw if there's any coverage. Rivers only throws if someone is wide open or a check down.
Has anyone had any issues with it running kind of choppy? The frames are skipping on me fairly often in the game I'm playing now. The first game I played it wasn't that bad. With the exception of that, my initial impressions of this are quite positive.
Screw the Geno Smith/Peyton Manning differences, I couldn't do jack squat with Dri Archer at HB. Yes, I plugged in sub-4.3 default Archer to see what would happen and I couldn't dominate like past Maddens. I'll play some more later to see, but it seems like other ratings actually matter now.
Overall, I'd say Madden is finally playable for the first time since the PS2 versions, but still a ways to go before being accepted as a true sim.
I have to base my impressions off of All-Pro since all I play is ranked online. On All-Pro the passing game is too easy and it just feels unrealistic how you can consistently thread the needle into double coverage with average QBs like Flacco. Also, I'm starting to notice that curl routes might be the new money plays in Madden. I just played against someone who gained all of his yards off of curls and screens, despite me calling for my corners to play underneath. This coverage adjustment literally made 0 difference as he was still able to consistently hit curls play after play. Switching to zone, opens up an array of other weaknesses. In zone there are always going to be windows, but those windows in Madden are so easy to exploit it makes zone coverage worse than it should be.
I know most of these issues mentioned above are solved on All Madden, but huge let down that we're forced into All Pro only for ranked.
I like how the running game is actually a challenge this year, it doesn't feel like you can cheese it up anymore. The downside is that the way run plays and block assignments develop are still extremely flawed. Run game on 2k felt a little more natural and less predetermined.
Still some big flaws in terms of realism, but some core aspects of sim football are finally in place making the game enjoyable.
Pros:
Graphics and player models
Longer quarter length for ranked play (not sure when that changed, but last I played Madden ranked games were too short)
Player weight and momentum
Being set in the pocket matters now along with improved control over your passes
Stats seem fairly reasonable, aside from completion percentages
Less cheese
Great presentation and commentary (feels realistic)
Feels like X's and O's matter now, but definitely still a lot of room to grow in that regard
Cons:
Game doesn't feel physical and intense. Significant lack of big hits
Trying to make precise movements can get somewhat clunky
Coverage adjustments don't have the impact that they should
I don't notice much of a difference between different style of running backs
Run game is definitely hugely improved, but still doesn't develop as realistically as 2k
Too easy to pound the ball in on goaline
No PI
Sometimes defenders won't react to the ball at all despite manual input and being in position to do so
Solid 7.5/10 (again, would definitely score a little higher if All Madden was default)
Really hope they can patch the QB styles back into the game. Really kills the immersion with playing with different QB's. Really hate some of the throwing animations. The passing does feel good at times, but definitely need slider adjustments for more inaccuracy. Also need qb's to get throw the ball away more instead of taking sacks.
The game does have solid moments though, and I like the direction it's going. I think the post play cameras actually look better on current gen at times, but next gen definitely has a new pop that was needed. Love the graphics and details. Definitely have had some cool moments in my limited play times on PS4.