Madden NFL 13

[10spro]

On pass rushes, I control the S-man more and that seems to put a bit more pressure on the CPU with the front line.

I have been OK with my fumbles but I do tend to throw more INT's than normal lately.

[sportdan30]

Terry.....60 + plus games? Wow.

[TCrouch]

Well, I had my entire weekend cleared for the Early Release, and it didn't take long to play games in player mode (most of my time). I think I probably only have about 10 or 15 full games where I play both sides, and 3 of those were full 15 minute quarter games.

[dbdynsty25]

Yep. And head tracking and attacking defenders who aren't looking. Leaps and bounds of growth this year.

By far the best part of the game. Was using the Saints last night and saw the DB was running a half step behind Colston but not looking so I threw the ball anyway and the DB only threw his hands in the air to try to faceguard at least and the ball went right next to his hip and into Colston's hands in the end zone. Watched the replay like ten times because it's clearly nothing I've ever seen in a Madden/NCAA game. Just awesome.

[JRod]

So there's no fatigue in CCM?

Wow just wow. I turned up the fatigue slider and that helped but the subs were all screwy like the EA rep said.

Anyway, if having the #1 team play the entire game in CCM doesn't bother you. It's a fun game.



Terry didn't mentioned something that I think is huge for me an the run game. Swarming. In past EA games they all took the same angle to ball carrier and if you were able to break that angle you could run for a big play. A few times on sweeps even if I got around the corner or "Madden-juked" the defender there you still had to break through the other levels of the defense. It's not as nuanced as the NFL but before Madden was like Donkey Kong — one guy at a time.

Another thing about IE that I saw was on a medium slant to a WR, the zone nickleback took out the CB in man. It was a screen by my own team leading to a 70 yard TB. The nickleback fell down BUT the CB was just hampered enough to lose a step. You see this in the NFL all the time, one tries to make a play but takes out his own guy.


I don't know if I've ever said this about Madden but the engine isn't the problem this year but the game. They seemed to pull an NFL 2k. Great gameplay but buggy as all hell.

[TCrouch]

Yeah, that's the biggest thing for me, JRod. But I was only responding to Danimal's bullet points

I'll go one further and say that the balance is just about perfect with breaking tackles vs. swarming. In NFL2K games, guys were literally unstoppable in some cases. I remember a game against wco81's Ricky Williams-led Dolphins in some league in years ago, and it only sticks out because Ricky was untacklable. I'd get him, he'd break it, the next guy would hit him, he'd break it, etc. Ricky Williams was Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl all over again. He probably doesn't remember it at all, but I remember it vividly because it was one of the few leagues I lost with the Raiders

But this year, guys don't just break solid tackles. They DO run through arm tackles, glancing hits, attempts at a hit stick with a little corner, etc...which is where the swarming is glorious. If you don't have help, you better strafe and just wrap up and not attempt the hit stick stuff. But if you have help coming, go for broke and it's amazing to see some of the 2- and 3-stage tackles when the RB fights off one guy, stumbles, gets clipped by another, fights for a bit more yardage, and gets swarmed by a mass of bodies.

[Wilk5280]

Ricky could not be tackled in 2k4

[Zeppo]

Here's a total aside. Though I am enjoying ultimate team this time more than in the past, it is unbelievable to me how poorly the interface works when compared to FIFA.

Why have reserve cards vs active cards at all? It makes no sense. And why force me to put a new card into my reserve stock rather than giving me the option to add it directly to my active stock? So aggravating to have to go through those extra steps and the somewhat slow screen loads just to get a newly acquired card to where I can add it to my lineup. Or am i doing something wrong there?

And the auction setup is just awful compared to FIFA. So hard and slow to search for cards, no way to watch cards without bidding on them, the filter menus seem to make random changes when you back out to it from the search list, and there's no way to refresh list of cards you've bid on without backing out and coming back, so you lose auctions without realizing you've been outbid. Plus it's almost impossible to see how many credits you have at any point.

Also FIFA lets you set up as many different lineups as you want to, and makes it pretty easy to build them. This system in Madden is just unbelievably clumsy and difficult to deal with.

[snaz16]

So let me breach the dreaded slider topic. I've only got a couple of games under my belt on All-Pro(which is unheard of for me for 3-4 yrs at least). I've played those with default sliders,and really satisfied with the gameplay outside of a few items. Obviously penalty sliders need an adjustment. What is the consensus on the play clock and penalty adjustments,and any other items of concern. Really not a whole lot I'm seeing right off,although its a small sample of gameplay on my end. Oh this is single player offline. 60+ games Terry??,...I'd be interested in some of your slider changes

[pk500]

I'm interested in same questions as Snaz: Quarter length, play clock (accel or off, what length if accel on) and penalty sliders. Thanks!

[GameSeven]

My BIL and I played one game last night with penalty sliders MAXed, and the ones that stood out as problems at that level were Facemask (woefully bad at 100%), Roughing the Passer, and Holding. I'm sure guys on OS are all over recommended settings, but those are three that need attention.

Still have yet to see any Pass Interference, although I honestly can't remember any plays in about 6 games that should have resulted in such.

[Danimal]

D. Jackson in my Ultimate Team the best 13 yard punt return ever! LOL

[pk500]

Two quick questions:

1. Can we name our Career save files or are we forced to use the standard CAREER-date-time? My boys and I have separate careers saved, and it will be MUCH easier for all of us to load if all three -- or more -- career save files have unique names instead of just different times and dates of last saves.

2. I'm still wrapping my head around Ultimate Team, although it's fun. How do I get more cards other than buying in Store or trading and auctioning? Are those the only ways?

Thanks.

[pk500]

I had the f*cking craziest play I've ever seen in a football video game tonight, which also displayed the effectiveness of the IE better than anything I've seen.

Jets vs. Bills in first game of my Connected Career, with me as the Bills. Sanchez drops back and slips, falling to his ass. But I hadn't touched him. So he stands up quickly, under increasing heat from my pass rush, and hurries a heave downfield that I intercepted.

I wish I had saved the video. The replay blew my mind.

[FifaInspected]

Two quick questions:

1. Can we name our Career save files or are we forced to use the standard CAREER-date-time? My boys and I have separate careers saved, and it will be MUCH easier for all of us to load if all three -- or more -- career save files have unique names instead of just different times and dates of last saves.

2. I'm still wrapping my head around Ultimate Team, although it's fun. How do I get more cards other than buying in Store or trading and auctioning? Are those the only ways?

Thanks.

Would using separate profiles make life easier?

[pk500]

That's a good idea, FIFA. I'll give that a go.

Also still interested to see if save files can be renamed by the user, if anyone has that information. Thanks.

[FifaInspected]

That's a good idea, FIFA. I'll give that a go.

Also still interested to see if save files can be renamed by the user, if anyone has that information. Thanks.

Yea. With a wife and a son who game we all have separate profiles on the consoles. Makes life much easier.

[Zeppo]

If its anything like othe EA Sports games, you should be able to name the file easily. You just have to save it manually in the save menu rather than using the quick-save of the back button. Once a file has been named by you this way, it will then quick save to that name from then on. And for the record I'm pretty sure they are by default named with the date they are created.

Dan it seems to me the D-line pinch or spread audibles are messed up by the RE doing he opposite of what he's supposed to do. Now, I'm not sure if he actually behaves wrong or of its just the graphical red lines that are backwards, I'll have to look closely when I get a chance, but yes it's not right and it's just the RE that is screwy.

PK the only other way to get cards as far as I can tell is by completing the "collections" but I dont really know what you'd get. Probably different rewards for each collection. Otherwise yes, you have to spend credits either by buying packs (not recommended) or using the auction. Maybe there are card rewards also for doing the CPU challenges. I'm sure just like in FIFA, the really super awesome cards can only be reliably obtained via packs by spending real $$ to buy pack after pack after pack after pack. Not what I am into, but unfortunately at least in FIFA this is what drives the card auction economy. People spend real money to buy s*** loads of packs and then when they get the superstar they want, sell it in the auctions for crazy credit amounts. Also in FIFA people utilize some kind of card duplication exploit to cheat as well.

Even so I've had tons of fun in FIFA UT despite that crap, so it doesn't ruin the mode for me the way it might. So far in madden, I've only been matched up in head to head games with fairly equal teams, so it doesn't seem like I'll ever be forced to face absurd teams of all mega stars and legends. And I'll reiterate that the whiole UI for madden's UT is atrocious compared to FIFA.

[sportdan30]

D. Jackson in my Ultimate Team the best 13 yard punt return ever! LOL

Reminds me of a classic play they show on NFL Films. That was pretty sweet!

[Brando70]

This might be why we're having trouble seeing consistent pass rushes. 160-lb LT with 5s in his blocking ratings holds his own pretty well:



This was done on All-Madden, but I think this series has been plagued by this sort of randomness on the line play. I might try this with players in the game on All-Pro, lowest LT against highest rated DE, and see what happens.

[TCrouch]

PK, yes you can save the names offline. Use the R stick to go to the last tab, for Other or something like that. Make sure you can see all of the 6 groups of items (personnel, my career, statistics, strategy, etc), not the subgroups. If you go into a section and then do other things, it stays there. So if you see the stats page, you have to hit B to go back to the "Main" Other group. Then to into My Career.

That has an option to Save Career, and you can name it whatever you want.

As far as sliders, I have gone with the default because I'm not one of the guys that has to see the be-all, end-all perfect simulation. It's a close enough facsimile to real football for me, but I DID raise the penalty sliders. I think holding is at 53 (at 55 I had 9 in one game), and false start is at 55. Offsides is at 65 and I still hardly ever see any, PI's are at 100 (I saw a defensive PI on a post the other night where I threw it and the defender never looked for the ball, just ran into the receiver and it was actually called on a 3rd and long).

With quarter lengths, I used to use 12 minutes with 12 second accelerated clock to give me the chaos at the line that QB's run into trying to get in any audibles, etc. It can be done, but you have to work quick and recognize the defense properly. Getting the play off in time with an audible or a couple of hot routes is fun for me that way. But with the accelerated clock being borked at the moment in online head to head CCM play and when the CPU Fast Sims, I've just switched it to 7 mins no accel and seem to get the proper 120-ish plays.

PK - For ultimate team cards, you have to do the challenges or play games to get coins, and spend the coins for cards in the store. No other way other than buying them with real money, which is almost a comical thought to tell you that, of all people.

[Danimal]

LOL

Yeah my biggest frustration is with the line play right now it's all smoke and mirrors.

[Brando70]

LOL

Yeah my biggest frustration is with the line play right now it's all smoke and mirrors.

I wish it was that easy for the Bears to find a left tackle.

Like I said, I want to try this with actual players. I also think the randomness tends to come with the human player's OL/DL vs. the CPU's lines. The CPU gets pancaked too much but tends to mount a pretty good pass rush.

Where this would impact CCM is personnel management. If line play is random, why spend high picks on OL and DL?

[HipE]

I've played around 10 games so far and I absolutely love it. It is much improved over the demo in pretty much all areas. I was a big fan of Madden 12 and considered it to be the best EA football game I had ever played. Since Madden 13 beats it in nearly all areas (on the field at least) it has replaced 12 as my favorite football game of all time. I tend to like a more arcade style sports game and I love the speed of Madden, both during gameplay and between plays using the Gameflow play calling system. I don't like taking the time to pick through formations and plays and would rather spend all my time just executing the plays, and Madden 13 really excels in this area. I'm hopeful that EA keeps this development team together and that they can just build on this effort and give us the total package next year (as opposed to the game being delivered in a beta state this year), but that never seems to happen. Hopefully the post release support will be strong and many of the CCM issues will be patched.

I'm a little confused about player progression in CCM at this point. I've got it set to happen every four games, but it seems like I have the ability to do it after every single game if I go into the player progression menu. Also, the way my players are earning XP seems off. I'm very careful when subbing during my preseason games, making sure that I have all of my backups in after the first quarter (not just starters changing positions). I had my 5th string RB, rookie Chris Rainey, rush for 400 yds and 3 TDs on only 60 attempts in the preseason. However, he only earned something like 3500 xp, while my backup veteran safety Will Allen earned the same despite of having only 1 pass defensed and no interceptions. Also, it looks like it costs the same to boost a stat for low rated rookies as it does for veteran players (2500 xp). It seems crazy that after a monster preseason I can only boost one ability by 1 point, especially something like awareness which always shot way up in the past on its own. If players don't progress naturally on their own, how are players that are backups during the season ever supposed to get better when they aren't getting in game reps?

[HipE]

I've been playing default all pro, 12 minute quarters, accelerated clock runoff to 15 seconds and getting pretty close to 120 offensive plays a game. I tried playing with runoff to 12 seconds but it just wasn't leaving me enough time to audible or get off plays that have players going in motion prior to the snap. I actually had the CPU get called for delay of game once, Peyton was taking too long at the line trying to audible over and over. One thing that has surprised me is that I'm able to finish my games in 40-50 minutes (I skip almost all replays) which I consider to be about perfect.