Dave wrote:
There is a strange bug that I have seen a few times. The play clock will suddenly jump up to around 60 seconds. Not sure the exact time--I usually don't notice it until I notice it is around 53 seconds.
This is not a bug. This is Madden letting you take extra time to call a play after you call a time out. The game clock is not running when this happens. The same thing is in NCAA, and you will notice in that game when you call a play before it hits 25 sec, you will hear a whistle and it will go to :25; if you don't call a play that soon, you will hear the ref's whistle when it hits :25. I don't know if they do the same thing in Madden with the whistle.
The thing that drives me crazy is it doesn't do this after a turn over or a punt, or even a kick off. This is insane. IRL you have a good 90 sec. to 2 minutes after a turn over or change of posession, or at least as long as a 30 sec time out, which is around one minute until the ref chops the ball into play and the :25 clock begins. Seriously this drives me insane, since I'm just settling in after having played defense, and I end up with a bad 1st down play call, and no time to adjust at the line, leading to a likely 3 and out! GRRR! Once again, they get it half right.
Weaver2005 wrote:And I do miss the precision passing with the cone turned off. That's one thing they took from 2k that I like.

Wha. . . ? The ability to use the L stick to alter the direction of the pass has been in Madden for a long, long time. I've always found it much less twitchy and more intuitive and natural than the system 2K used.
But anyway, after one weekend of play, I tend to think Rally has summed up the cone quite well. I am starting to really appreciate that a lot of times, keeping the cone on the default first choice will give you a good view of one or two other receivers within the cone, or at the very least a short and quick R-trigger switch away. I've only just started to throw to a different receiver in the cone than the one the cone is locked to and some plays really work out with this. Also, in my ineptitude with the cone I've found the game to be completely different with Brady or Manning than with a QB with a puny cone; this to me is very cool, and seems to finally make the QB awareness rating meaningful in head to head games.
I think I've finally learned how to complete the deep ball, which has been giving me tons of trouble! I think it's all about using the receiver to box out the defender; you can often muscle him in or out, or even over the top a little slow-down can get just the space you need to let it drop in. Where in former Maddens and NCAA I would push up on the stick to lead the receiver a little extra over the top, with this new aftertouch system, pushing left or right on the deep balls seems to be more effective. Now that I know what I have to do, I think the deep balls will start to open up.
I suck at this game. Everything seems so different to me, from the pace of the running to the touch on the throws. Especially coming from NCAA. But I think as I get the hang of it I will really love it. Already there have been moments. . . .
Overall, I think the cone, and other things, like the new automatic false start when audibilizing in a no-huddle situation, are clear indications they are trying to flat out eliminate the bulk of the cheese. I think this is rather commendable, but we will see when we watch the Madden Bowl highlights whether it is a big step in the right direction or not.