Madden NFL 13 - Share Your Thoughts & Impressions

[JBHuskers]

Replacement refs for the ranked online matches....oh the fun we could have!

[Rudy]

I'm 6-2 with Miami right now. Probably a little too high but not when you look at the Dolphins easy schedule this first half. My kicker is 16/16 since you really can't miss on All-Pro. The directional arrow is all you need. The r-stick does nothing. The cpu playcalling leaves a lot to be desired at times too. In close games you will always have the edge.

I'm having fun with my season. I've rarely hit the deep pass in this game though. My roster isn't built much for that but I do think the cpu should press and gamble a little more in coverage. Both of my RBs are averaging a tad over 5 ypc while I have 7 passing TDs vs 12 or 13 INTs. I've never been a good passer and Tannehill isn't always very accurate. I think both myself and the cpu could benefit from softening up the coverage a little but the coverage slider doesn't work.

The LE sack problem is alive and well. I have 20 sacks as a team through 8 games which is pretty good and maybe a little high for this team. But Wake has 4 sacks and all other players outside of LE Odrick have 2 or less. Odrick has 12 sacks! Currently he's rated by PFF as the 9th worst pass rushing 4-3 DE in the NFL! Not good obviously. Also the DL play is pretty bad. The r-stick controls suck. The best way to get pressure if playing as a DE is to not use the r-stick controls at all. It's best to simply rush into the OT, make contact, then speed burst to the outside and try to hit the QB. There is no such thing as wasting time with inside moves or counter moves. This area is poorly done imo. I wish EA would map specific moves to the controller with a trigger modifier or something. Pushing down on the r-stick with anyone results in you falling on your face way too much.

[illwill10]

IMO, there should be more Scouting XP per week in CCM, at least double. It really makes the margin for error EXTREMELY small when choosing which players to scout.

Overall, I am so-so about this game. I like the changes to gameplay, commentary is better than last, I like playing as a player. But, atmosphere/presentation could be better, lack of editing, XP distribution(dont want it easy, but more XP is needed), scripted CCM, CPU Play Calling, OL/DL interaction, CPU AI(needs overhaul) is what is holding the game back. Once 2k13 comes out, I dont see me playing this game that much more than a change of pace/something different. The lack of assisted tackle stats is annoying.

This game isnt bad, though. This game laid down a good foundation at all aspects of the game. For gameplay, CPU AI/Playcalling, OL/DL Interaction, Overhaul Running Animations/Ball Carrier logic needs improvement. For CCM, Less scripted, Editing, Better recognition of roster(not trading with good depth unless for need).

[illwill10]

IMO, there should be more Scouting XP per week in CCM, at least double. It really makes the margin for error EXTREMELY small when choosing which players to scout.

Overall, I am so-so about this game. I like the changes to gameplay, commentary is better than last, I like playing as a player. But, atmosphere/presentation could be better, lack of editing, XP distribution(dont want it easy, but more XP is needed), scripted CCM, CPU Play Calling, OL/DL interaction, CPU AI(needs overhaul) is what is holding the game back. Once 2k13 comes out, I dont see me playing this game that much more than a change of pace/something different. The lack of assisted tackle stats is annoying.

This game isnt bad, though. This game laid down a good foundation at all aspects of the game. For gameplay, CPU AI/Playcalling, OL/DL Interaction, Overhaul Running Animations/Ball Carrier logic needs improvement. For CCM, Less scripted, Editing, Better recognition of roster(not trading with good depth unless for need).

[Rudy]

I haven't decided if the scouting points is good enough or not. You can scout a lot of players in a very general way with 2000 points a week - at least certain categories. For WR I just scout speed, catching, route running and maybe one or two more things. That only costs about 200 points or so but it only gets you letter grades which aren't so hot. If you want the real speed that's another 500 as an example.

I'm in week 10 and I've got a lot of generic letter grades on the three most important categories by position. I'd like more and still have more time to get them. If you want overalls that costs a lot. Until I get to the draft I won't know how I really feel about this area.

I do think part of the issue is the scouting point system is tied to your coaches XP for long term franchise. The game lets you buy a scouting pack upgrade where you get double the scouting points. I think that costs around 23,000 XP for your coach. I'm at about 16,000. It pays to do the practices and I've failed quite a bit on the one where I start down 6 points in the 4th quarter. I should stick to the easier and quick ones. I think the scouting points are set up based on the idea that you will buy that package fairly quickly. Then with double the points you will have a LOT more info at your fingertips. Same goes for XP. For about 30,000 XP (maybe less, can't remember) you can buy a double the XP package as a coach. This will give your players twice the XP although I have allowed the cpu to progress all my players. That part seems too tedious to me. I have no idea if this part is working well or not.

For me the thing I want to see most in the future football games for EA is smarter cpu AI and I really want to see a true physics engine where players move realistically. You just watch someone playing NBA 2K or The Show and it looks real. The players don't look natural at all in Madden imo. The game needs a ton of work on the animations imo. There aren't nearly enough of them.

[Rudy]

I was looking at some ratings from pro football focus for certain positions in 2011. I like the numbers I read from that site although I'm not always convinced they are perfect. Anyways, they were highlighting the best and worst tacklers at CB for 2011. So I looked up their tackle numbers in Madden. It's very clear that Donny Moore is using opinion to rate a lot of players. Charles Woodson missed 15 tackles last year and ranked 88/101 and yet had a 66 tackle rating. The average tackle rating of a CB in Madden was 55.5. Kevin Barnes of Washington was rated the worst one to qualify and yet had a tackle rating of 65. Champ Bailey makes the bottom 20 and yet is a 66 too. The Dolphins big CB in Sean Smith is a 62 despite missing 11 tackles. He's probably got a high tackle rating due to his size but Dolphins followers know he's allergic to run support and tackling.

Conversely good tacklers are getting bad ratings. The #3 CB was Brice McCain on Houston who only missed one tackle (in a more limited 26 attempts). Yet his tackle rating was 49. DJ Moore of the Bears ranked #6 but has a 43 rating. There are other examples of bad stuff and of course players that look good. But the ratings feel too arbitrary.

This may not be a huge deal as most fans probably don't know or care about a lot of this. But some of the stuff like Drew Brees being one of the most accurate passers on 20+ attempts the last three years and then being given a poor rating for deep balls in Madden doesn't make sense. No question Donny Moore would do a better job at rating guys than 99.9% of the people out there but that job is too big for one person. They need to find a way to blend in the ratings with some of these metric sites to help out and add realism. One person cannot do that job.

[Rudy]

A couple features I would really like to see brought over from NCAA to Madden would be the no-huddle offense and a formation sub menu. Those would be really nice. The current formation subs have to be done while you pick a play which gives you no time and the controls are bad. You can't really run a no-huddle either since the audible plays are so limiting. I like the way NCAA lets you access your whole playbook but I think it should be limited to the formations suited to the current personel group. I hate seeing someone run 4 WR and then be able to no huddle to an I-formation.

My passing skills are weak but I still think there isn't enough press coverage by the cpu. They normally play off and soft and it's hard for your WRs to get behind someone. Again, my skills are weak and my team isn't exactly built for that either but it just seems to be overly rare.

[I OU a Beatn]

Best defense in the game:

Dime 3-2-6 Cover 2 Man. Hot route the blitzing LB to a spy. Hot route the defensive end on the far side of the field to a purple zone. Hot route the defensive end on the short side of the field to a flat zone. Control the LB you set to spy and patrol the middle. Do NOT bump.

It blows my mind how much trouble people have with this. If I see a spread formation or a for certain passing down, I go to it every time. Of course if you have someone who likes to scramble, you have to sacrifice one of your DEs and make him a spy, but it doesn't really affect much coverage wise. I can't count how many picks I've gotten with the DEs so far.

[jaymo76]

Due to my new developing relationship with FIFA 13 I pretty much stopped waiting for Madden news. With nothing yet on the next patch and no mention of editing I have tuned out. However, over at OS I was surfing around and found that Emmdotfrisk basically admitted that the sliders (online and off) are borked. This makes a lot of sense because I found back with season ticket that major slider adjustments did almost nothing during CCM. I wonder how much longer the Madden team will focus on 13 before they begin to go 100% on Madden 14?

[Rudy]

I'm getting tired of waiting on the patch too Jaymo. Been a frustrating year for Madden. Way too many things that aren't working right with the game.

[SmoothPancakes]

Due to my new developing relationship with FIFA 13 I pretty much stopped waiting for Madden news. With nothing yet on the next patch and no mention of editing I have tuned out. However, over at OS I was surfing around and found that Emmdotfrisk basically admitted that the sliders (online and off) are borked. This makes a lot of sense because I found back with season ticket that major slider adjustments did almost nothing during CCM. I wonder how much longer the Madden team will focus on 13 before they begin to go 100% on Madden 14?

Yeah, I couldn't care less about Madden (or care about ever buying Madden 13) anymore. Even though I only played a single match of FIFA 13 so far, it was a fun as hell match. Both FIFA and NCAA Football are going to be fighting for my time and my 360 tray.

[jaymo76]

I'm getting tired of waiting on the patch too Jaymo. Been a frustrating year for Madden. Way too many things that aren't working right with the game.

Well to your credit Rudy, you have stuck with Madden based on the potential the game has. I think if the Madden crew can figure out how to fix the mess that is CCM/franchise, MADDEN 14 has the chance to be an excellent offering. However, I will be holding Madden to a much higher standard next year and frankly the game will need to be damn near perfect out of the box to warrant a purchase.

I have to say though that the Madden gameplay for play now is very good. I played NCAA 13 alst night for the first time since August and it is sub par to Maddens play now gameplay IMO.

[jaymo76]

Yeah, I couldn't care less about Madden (or care about ever buying Madden 13) anymore. Even though I only played a single match of FIFA 13 so far, it was a fun as hell match. Both FIFA and NCAA Football are going to be fighting for my time and my 360 tray.

I know they have had some busts over the years, but EA Canada (the original home of EA) has also had many excellent sports titles over the years. NHL series, FIFA series, NCAA BASKETBALL 10, etc. have all been excellent. I wonder what they could do if they got a crack at NCAA (or Madden?)?

[Rudy]

Well to your credit Rudy, you have stuck with Madden based on the potential the game has. I think if the Madden crew can figure out how to fix the mess that is CCM/franchise, MADDEN 14 has the chance to be an excellent offering. However, I will be holding Madden to a much higher standard next year and frankly the game will need to be damn near perfect out of the box to warrant a purchase.

I have to say though that the Madden gameplay for play now is very good. I played NCAA 13 alst night for the first time since August and it is sub par to Maddens play now gameplay IMO.

There are some things I will never be happy about with EA Football this gen - namely player movement and cpu AI. But this game has the potential to the best football game this gen (for me) if they just brought the personality back in the game. Team sounds, team play calling tendencies, individual celebrations - these all seem to have been nerfed right now. EA did say they are working on fixing them. Apparently patch #1 hurt the team sounds even more. And the sliders need to work much better - franchise and Play Now. The pass reaction slider doesn't even do anything. That's inexcusable. That's why I still maintain that EA needs to bring in a slider expert at the community day events and just test them out. I can't believe we have to ask for them to work right.

[skipwondah33]

I'm still enjoying the game and stand by it being the best version in the series. User picks are quite easy but that was easy to me anyway.

The only thing I could ask for a patch for is to remove the Commit options.

..sorry for the guys that play CPU in CCM-superstar-online-franchise mode.

[I OU a Beatn]

Yeah, if you only care about game play(and I do) then this is by far the best Madden this generation. Usually after the first week of NCAA/Madden, I'm just tired of the garbage and I'm usually done after a month. I'm still going strong. There's overpowered things, yes, but for once it's balanced. The offense can be a pain in the ass to stop, but it's doable. We're over a month into the launch and I still love it - that's the first time I've said that since the PS2 days.

I will agree about the defensive assist shit. I hate it, but I tend to avoid giving my opponent a chance. I dink and dunk until they bring a safety up and press, and then I go deep. It's kind of hard to abuse that feature when you're nowhere close to the ball.

[skipwondah33]

Yeah, if you only care about game play(and I do) then this is by far the best Madden this generation. Usually after the first week of NCAA/Madden, I'm just tired of the garbage and I'm usually done after a month. I'm still going strong. There's overpowered things, yes, but for once it's balanced. The offense can be a pain in the ass to stop, but it's doable. We're over a month into the launch and I still love it - that's the first time I've said that since the PS2 days.

I will agree about the defensive assist shit. I hate it, but I tend to avoid giving my opponent a chance. I dink and dunk until they bring a safety up and press, and then I go deep. It's kind of hard to abuse that feature when you're nowhere close to the ball.

This. In the 100 or so games I've played thus far I know I have as many user picks as I've had in the combined 2-3 versions of the game lol. So I make sure my throws are no where near a defender...especially if I am playing someone who has stick skill.

I love when people get ballsy and throw to what appears to be an open man when I have a defender in the vicinity, only to come in for the pick. This feature only made people with stick skills become even dangerous.

[Rudy]

Someone just reminded me of this on Twitter - I saw no pink during October in Madden this year. What happened? Some guys have said they saw it sporadically. So much personality sucked out of franchise mode this year. Between that little touch, the lack of individual celebrations working, lack of team sounds, lack of authentic team tendencies when playing the cpu, I think I'm going to shelve Madden until the patch. I haven't played it in almost a week and am losing interest. I may replay Uncharted 1 for the 3rd or 4th time. I'm starting to think more about picking up NBA 2K13 when the NBA season starts and I may dump Madden altogether if the patch disappoints.

Edit - EA screwed up the pink stuff this year. It's all done in REAL time. If you play a game starting today and until October 31 you will get the pink accessories no matter what. Doesn't matter if your franchise is in pre-season, October or the Superbowl you will have pink stuff. In my franchise pink should display when I play my game on a game scheduled for October in the virtual world, not real world. Madden 12 had this right, why did they screw this up?

[Rudy]

Had a little time this morning and did some Madden moments. EA can't even get the little things right here.

They have 5 2011 moments. Played with Detroit against Dallas and there was a 13 mph wind in the game. Maybe I'm wrong but I doubt there is any significant wind in the Cowboys dome. Played with Denver against Pitt in the playoffs last year. They have Tebow on Denver but it also appears they have the current Denver playbook with no option plays for Tebow. How is that an authentic moment?

The cpu playcalling just sucks. So tired of 1st and 2nd down running by their offense. And the cpu defense is also predictable in their play calling. They will call blitzes here and there but almost all of their coverages are soft. They almost always have two safeties back to take away the deep play and I don't want to throw crossing routes all day to beat them. It gets old.

[Rudy]

The blocking AI took a step back in some ways in Madden. It was never perfect but toss plays are negative plays in Madden. While I don't call them anymore the cpu still does and they are drive killers.

Other poor blocking comes on singleback plays, especially with 3 WRs. When the cpu runs a strong side play over the guard they don't even try to block the weakside backer. You can just shoot right through a gaping hole if you recognize it. I usually play as a LB and while I do think you should be able to do this once in awhile I don't think the cpu should ignore me on a run between the tackles.



Other blocking that isn't done well is double team blocking. It's probably because of the Infinity Engine but guys fall down too much. I had a single back play to the right and it was 4 blockers against 4 to the strong side. I thought the defense was out of position and was expecting a good run pre-snap. Instead I find two guys staring me in the face near the line of scrimmage. I checked the replay and my 4 OL all executed double team blocks. But instead of the extra OL chipping and scraping to a second level block, all 4 of my OL fall to the ground along with the 2 DL they double team. 6 guys are lying on the ground and that leaves 2 unblocked LBs to take on my RB. It was just odd and something you shouldn't really see.