Madden NFL 25 - PS3/360 Impressions

[Rudy]

EA screwed Madden up royally for the really good to elite gamers (I'm not one of them) when they went to their global difficulty/slider system. They should have left 50 as the default across all levels and tuned the game behind the scenes to be harder like they used to do and the way NCAA does it. They had to soften the sliders to make it fit and they don't really give a shit about sliders anyways or test them. As a result the game has gotten way too easy the last two years. No Madden Game changers exist to push this issue. I'll ask about sliders and most never even check them.

So now you get All-Madden which starts off at 25 sliders which hurts and the sliders are weak and that hurts some more. User run blocking at 0 is pretty decent for me but still a bit too strong. NOBODY should ever have a slider at 0 or 100 imo. That means your sliders are ineffective or stink. I'd honestly love to go down to EA Tiburon and not even play the game. Just work on sliders and test them. You have a 100 point scale EA - make them stronger!

And Jaymo, I will not start a franchise until I know the opening day roster for Miami. That has to be accurate for me to begin my franchise. I'm just anal that way.

[Rudy]

I went back and played the demo and then the retail version using the same teams and stadium and I switched back to the new Standard cam. I don't see much difference between the two. I do think M25 looks good in the afternoon outdoor lighting. Indoors it looks bad though and the Dolphins all-white uniforms are irritating since their pants are a different colour (off-white) than their tops. It looks odd and annoys me especially since it's my favourite combo of their new uniforms. The Dolphins blue in the game is the wrong colour too and hasn't been updated. I hope this gets patched.

I do think I'm going to stay with the new camera. It's a nice and fresh change from Legacy.

[bdoughty]

I was throwing a few more picks than usual in my franchise so I go and look at the sliders and notice there is a glitch that bumps up CPU pass coverage to 75 anytime you start a connected franchise (have only tried coach/owner so far). I play on All-Pro and everything is 50 Human/CPU but for some reason that one slider gets bumped up to 75. Dropped it down to 50 and will see if that helps a bit.

Odd little bug and would be interested to see if it is happening to others. Not really a slider guy so I tend to avoid messing with them in a fear of making things worse.

[jaymo76]

I was throwing a few more picks than usual in my franchise so I go and look at the sliders and notice there is a glitch that bumps up CPU pass coverage to 75 anytime you start a connected franchise (have only tried coach/owner so far). I play on All-Pro and everything is 50 Human/CPU but for some reason that one slider gets bumped up to 75. Dropped it down to 50 and will see if that helps a bit.

Odd little bug and would be interested to see if it is happening to others. Not really a slider guy so I tend to avoid messing with them in a fear of making things worse.

I have the cpu zone at 65 because I found with 50 the zone is just too weak. Plus the cpu plays zone most of the game.

[Rudy]

They have some specific commentary in the game for certain match ups. I played Browns at home against Cincinnati and Nantz and Simms commented on Wyche's comments in a game 20 years ago. I remember that game and the garbage thrown on the field in Cincinnati. Loved his comments! Nice touch in Madden.

[WolverineJay]

Messed around with scouting earlier and here are my quick impressions:

You hire a scout for your coaching staff who is suppose to give you a small bonus, but it doesn't work. I was Dallas and their scout is suppose to give 25% discount on WR SP and it doesn't apply at all for any WR prospect. Tested with Intangible which costs 1000 SP so should have been 750 with discount, nope still took 1000.

The point values have gone up on many individual ratings. Overall is now 1500, Intangibles 1000, Physical 1000, Speed 750, Acc 375 while scouting points seem less. In fact different positions have different SP amounts like OL and DL Speed is 375 so much easier to scout some positions than others. Mindboggling that EA Tiburon would make it harder to create a draft board in M25 than it was in M13(too low of SP last year as well). I got 1860 SP starting in wk 2 of season for J. Garrett. At week 11, I reached 12000 XP so I bought Scouting pack that is supposed to double weekly SP(Nope doesn't 2x, it only added 1000 in offline CFM just like last year ).

It seems that the AWR grade is much improved across the board in M25. Last year it wasn't unheard of to get rookies with 20-40 AWR (especially late round and undrafted rookies). I scouted AWR on tons of late rd guys and routinely saw D grades for AWR, actually not sure if I saw any F's.

The game has put in the 70 or so extra players they add to fill out the draft class at the beginning of the season so everyone can be scouted in M25. In M13, the extra players only showed up on draft day and usually contained a few studs with very low AWR(see above).

**** Edit ****
I picked the Giants and discovered that the cost for many ratings are higher than Dallas. Overall is 2000 and speed is 1000 and intangible was 750 due to a 25% discount. I guess Dallas gets 25% discount on all players speed and Overall even though like I stated above they are only suppose to get 25% SP discount on WR Overall.

Other things I noticed are that some of the ungraded extra players are very good. I scouted the last 2 QB's with no draft grade and 1 of them was 1st/2nd rd talent. He had B Throw power, B SAC, B MAC, C DAC, B PAC, C Throw on the run, and C Awareness. I also have seen F for Awr but no where near as many as last year.

One final note is that Coughlin was like level 26 and he still had the option to purchase the scouting package at 60,000 XP so I guess that means you can keep getting that package over the years. Coughlin got 2940 SP per week to start so another 1,000 would definitely help especially with the increased cost of certain ratings.

[Rudy]

The cpu QB takes too long to make a decision on throwing the ball. And it's not because someone isn't open. Their route awareness is poor. Much like a real NFL QB throws the ball before the break (and even we can do that on comeback routes a little) the cpu QB doesn't do that. They wait for WRs to make their break and throw the ball a second later. Their timing just isn't quite good enough. They also don't lead their WRs deep enough on corner routes.

I feel cpu QB accuracy has some awareness built into it. Trying to lower it to get more inaccurate throws that just hit the ground seems to make them dumber. Maybe it's just me. I also think that way too many bad QBs have good accuracy ratings resulting in QB accuracies that aren't spread out enough. Guys like Cam Newton and Kaep have worse short and medium accuracy than Scott Tolzien and Graham Harrell. I just don't believe that's accurate.

[Rudy]

I will say this, I have gotten very different results. I had the Bears at home against the Panthers and was beating them 34-0 at the half. Cutler was sharp, Brandon Marshall was strong and Carolina was terrible. Then I take Seattle into SF and was down 17-0 at the half. Ouch. I wasn't using Harvin but I should have. Golden Tate is great at catching in traffic though. I've played a couple games with Seattle and he takes shots and holds on.

I've actually been thinking about starting a Browns franchise. I love the 3-4 and all the LBs they have but the formation subs in Madden makes it a pain. Trying to sub Sheard in at DT on passing downs while getting Mingo and even Coples in the lineup takes awhile and is a pain in the ass. Plus you have to do that crap EVERY game. Why can't they add NCAA's formation sub menu? Will start a franchise soon.

I'm guessing Donny Moore will have an official roster update out before tonight's game. Let's see if they get Cam Wake right. I've been tweeting at him to finally put him at LE where he belongs. EA has had him on the right side the last two years. It's wrong. I even tweeted him the PFF numbers showing he rushed from the left side 89% last year and 87.5% the year before. I know I can edit it but he's a star player and they should have it right.

I've played with a couple of teams where they have their all-white uniforms correct as the colour of the top matches the pants (Browns are fine as an example). Why can't they do that for Miami? They are off and it bugs me. The pants are dirty and off-white, half way between white and the Giants grey pants.

[Rudy]

Dolphins mismatched offwhite pants can be fixed by using throwback whites (stripes on pants won't match though). But current all-white unis are off: http://www.easports.com/media/play/video/169950835. I recorded that to show Lamar Miller tripping Tannehill lol. The 2012 and 2013 white pants are dirty/off-white. 2011 and throwbacks are white. The throwback white pants look decent with new white tops. That's what I will use.

The challenge system is off. The commentary and fan reaction is backwards at times and on this play Grimes picks off the ball but it's rule incomplete early in the first quarter. I had no option to challenge.
http://www.easports.com/media/play/video/169950794

Man align is off this year as guys aren't directly across from their man at times and sometimes it shows as covering the guy on the other side of the ball. I can fix that usually by using the man align hot audible but I shouldn't have to. At times they don't flip the CB in nickel plays to cover the slot WR. One time I noticed it was when he was blitzing but other times I don't understand. Usually it's good.

I get really annoyed when a WR runs a route to the flat and ALWAYS gets taken out of bounds with the ball, sometimes with the catch or not. Even when running the play to the wide side of the field the awareness of the WR is terrible other than the occassional animation for toe tapping as you go out of bounds. How about slowing down and allowing yourself to get upfield? Especially when you are wide open!!

[Rudy]

I really think the challenges got screwed up this year. I've challenged plays and lost despite looking at replays afterwards and being convinced the player was either out of bounds (game rewarded a catch) or in bounds (game ruled out of bounds). I don't remember this being that bad before. Plus I can't even challenge at times (not inside two minutes or turnover) and the crowd reacts (boos, cheers) opposite of what they should. The home town wins a challenge and the fans boo. Huh?

[Rudy]

I will say I'm getting pretty good games on Play Now even though the user rushing up the gut is too easy. I use Ask Madden a lot though so just spamming I-formation ISO plays isn't something I do. The running game is dynamic as you really have to read the LBs. Just taking it to the designed hole will not get you nearly as many yards as cutting back or outside when you need to. I took my Dolphins on the road against the Browns and lost 24-7 in game one. They handed it to me. I won 34-28 in game two. I'm up 13-3 at the half using the Giants against the Giants.

Definitely planning on getting my franchise started this week and I'll be able to see how franchise plays. Tracking the cumulative stats will be interesting. I want to see how many sacks I get vs give up as that was something quite off last year (especially LE vs RE). Same goes for INTs. I don't want to get too many. I've read the simulated stats are terrible for QBs so hopefully that gets patched. Probably won't see that patch until the end of September at the earliest.

I've also changed the speed to Normal. It feels better for some reason. Maybe it's just that it's different but I don't mind the speed right now after playing Slow the last few years.

[Rudy]

I find I run better out of power formations, especially up the gut which can be too easy. Running outside seems tougher and I haven't run we'll out of 3 WR ACE formations. The opposite seems true for CPU. Just me?

[jaymo76]

I really think the challenges got screwed up this year. I've challenged plays and lost despite looking at replays afterwards and being convinced the player was either out of bounds (game rewarded a catch) or in bounds (game ruled out of bounds). I don't remember this being that bad before. Plus I can't even challenge at times (not inside two minutes or turnover) and the crowd reacts (boos, cheers) opposite of what they should. The home town wins a challenge and the fans boo. Huh?

Yup challenges are a joke period. I long for the days of 2k3-sk5 challenged where they actually worked and you could choose what you were challenging.

[jaymo76]

I find I run better out of power formations, especially up the gut which can be too easy. Running outside seems tougher and I haven't run we'll out of 3 WR ACE formations. The opposite seems true for CPU. Just me?

Outside runs are very difficult for me. If you don't have a blocking TE expect to be gobbled up in the backfield. As for running up the middle, I also get a lot of yards. However, ace formation is nowhere as effective as I, STRONG, and WEAK.

[CLW]

Well I whore'd out the It was a very easy one to get after grinding out the MUT trophies its just a download and sim 3 seasons away.

[jaymo76]

It's funny. I had some down-time today so I decided to play an NCAA 14 dynasty game. I am surprised to say this because I am having more fun with Madden but in all honesty, I find that NCAA plays better and infinity is superior on NCAA this year.

[Rudy]

I'm not sure if it's because Madden feels pretty similar to last year or if I'm just busier with my kids but I haven't been playing Madden much this year. It would really help if I had in game saves but the desire to play is low unfortunately.

[jaymo76]

I'm not sure if it's because Madden feels pretty similar to last year or if I'm just busier with my kids but I haven't been playing Madden much this year. It would really help if I had in game saves but the desire to play is low unfortunately.

I know what you mean. I haven't played Madden a lot lately. In fact I haven't played any games lately other than NCAA last night. Work and the kids just leaves me with no time right now and when I do have some spare time late at night I just cannot find the motivation to fire up Madden. I am having a good time and I want to take the Oilers to the SB but I am just not all that into it right now. CCM last year, regardless of all it's issues was fresh but CFM feels very stale already. PRESENTATION and IMMERSION eed to take huge steps for next year.

I am on the fence whether or not I upgrade to the PS4. Right now I don't see any reason to do buy Madden next gen. The fact that not a whisper has been made about the game confirms for me that there is nothing to tell. If I could transfer my ps3 dynasty then sure but at this point I can't really see a good reason.

[CLW]

I agree with you guys that NCAA feels better than Madden this year but ultimately both suffer from the same lack of defense. I'm not sure if its intentional or just bad programming/AI but I'm doubting purchasing Madden 25 on PS4 and just keep busy with some of the other titles and see how it all pans out next year.

[Rudy]

How hard is it to program guys on swing or flat routes not to run full speed out of bounds? Seriously RBs in the NFL run at half speed out to the flats and when they catch it they are ready to get upfield. In Madden its a miracle if they don't run out of bounds and if they do catch it in bounds they aren't in a position to get upfield.

The game needs to be more dynamic in the trenches. We've had the same basic runs and the same basic outcomes. I want more movement on the lines and more gang tackling. I'd like defence to be more fun.

With the terrible sales this year I'm expecting a new person to be put in charge soon with a new 3 year plan and new catch phrases. Maybe EA will realize that many people still love offline play and franchise and give us more love (CPU AI, in game saves, working sliders, less bugs).