Madden 07 (Xbox 360) Thread

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 1:27 pm

I was drafted by the Broncos as a running back. The camera angle is driving me nuts. They keep calling running plays to the outside, but the camera is aimed towards the center of the field, so I can't see any of the defenders I'm running towards until it's too late. Is there a way to get the camera pointing the way I'm facing?

GameSeven · Post by **GameSeven** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 1:30 pm

TheTruth wrote:Wow..saw this over at OS. EA Sports Gamecast. http://www.easports.com/madden07/gamecast.jsp

I was just playing around and did a search on Zeppo's gamer tag and it had a game he played against Mellenium. You can see every play called both offense and defense. Like watching one of ESPN's gamecast on the web.

Oh yeah, Mellenium won 17-0. Sorry Zepp!

Wow, this is a seriously good step that I don't remember reading about prior. Now if only they could introduce true online leagues like 2K has had for some of its franchises.

-G7

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 2:07 pm

billharris44 wrote:So for those of you playing Superstar mode, which position gives you the best camera view? TCrouch, that one's really for you, since you've tried so many different positions. And are you guys seeing that influence pop-up screen after every single play, or is that unique to the 360 version? Thanks.

I've been seeing it every play as well and I agree with your blog about SS. So much fun you want to play, yet so frustrating you want to shake your head and just play a normal franchise.

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 4:13 pm

billharris44 wrote:So for those of you playing Superstar mode, which position gives you the best camera view? TCrouch, that one's really for you, since you've tried so many different positions. And are you guys seeing that influence pop-up screen after every single play, or is that unique to the 360 version? Thanks.

Honestly, so far the camera still has me baffled. If I'm playing Safety, I can hit B before the snap and focus on the ball. But if the QB hands off, sometimes I'm still left looking backwards and the RB goes sailing past me...I hit B again and the camera spins back to the ballcarrier. So B presnap may be "ball came if it's thrown", whereas you have to hit B again to follow the ballcarrier in a hand off scenario. Sometimes it can be disorienting, but I've started to get my groove. Basically it's a chess match, as it should be. If it's 1st and 10, I won't hit B...if he hands off, the camera automatically pans to the ballcarrier. If he drops back, I hit B and go into ball cam. If I'm in man to man, that's when I struggle. I may be hitting B too early or too late, but it's tough for me to keep an eye on my man and still maintain position in relation to the quarterback. I've only played it for the midnight release and then last night, though, and I jumped around a lot.

Personally, so far my favorite has been quarterback. A solid presnap read and progression system helped immensely. I started out doing the Vince Young reads: primary receiver, dump off. I would zoom out, look at the play, determine my primary receiver, then prepare to stare him down after the snap. If the LB or safety didn't do what I wanted him to do, it was LT+RB (or the halfback's icon) for a dump off. By the 3rd preseason game, I had moved onto 2 progressions and a dumpoff, and then in the regular season I've hit 3 and a dump...most of the time I'll release the ball downfield. They don't seem to penalize you for "staring down" a receiver, so looking off defenders isn't a big deal; the camera swings so quickly, it'd be much too tough anyway. I absolutely love the camera for SS Quarterbacks, though. The camera on all defenders is the same; you have normal cam and ball cam, and what you're doing determines what you want to be using.

I get the influence pop up after every play, but I pretty much ignore it.

billharris44 · Post by **billharris44** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 4:17 pm

Thanks TC--that's good information on the cameras.

Yeah, I'd ignore the influence pop-up except the thought of seeing it every play of my 15,000 play career makes me want to shoot myself.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:28 pm

I'm a 94 rated rookie tight end despite the fact that my best 40 time was 5.7, I only did 15 reps, and I had fairly mediocre workouts. I got such mad skills that I don't know how I slipped to the 3rd round.

I "get" *why* they stick me number one the depth chart before I take a single snap and after one practice (who is going to want to spend time building up your player when you can't skip ahead in a game to your appearances), but that doesn't mean I don't think it's stupid.

It's pretty cool to turn down the radio announcer and hear your name on the PA system though!

Superstar mode to me seems like a cool little distraction, but I'd trade it all for better presentation, bearable play-by-play (I'm not sure I've ever heard a 17-13 halftime score with several hundred yards of total offense refered to as a "defensive struggle" before), realistic player models, in game saves, player editing, and an accelerated play clock.

Gameplay wise I really like Madden so far. It's a *lot* better playing and looking than last year's version. However, I can't help but be amazed at how the presentation still lags light years behind NFL 2K5 (2K4 for that matter). Madden occassionally shows me some obscure fence in the stadium on cut scenes and 2K5 had a friggin halftime show, "primetime", and the ability to watch any play over again from the play-by-play.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:51 pm

Amen Leebo. It's still funny to see a presentation so lacking that NFL 2k5 eats it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. What can you do when you're the only game in town though? Well.. I still have FOF.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:09 pm

Good post, Leebo. Madden is better this year than from when I remember last playing it, but 2k brought so much different to the table. 2k and The Show complemented each other so well in that regard in my 2 favorite sports, NFL and MLB.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:11 pm

Here's what I can't stand about Madden and NCAA this year. Way too many plays in the backfield broken up. It's a rare thing to see a a play broken up in the backfield. Sacks are one thing but having feast or famine run plays is just silly.

Major slider tweaks are needed to get the run game anywhere near realistic. The running game is borderline broken because of how fast the defense gets in the backfield.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:31 pm

The CPU 2 minute offense is pretty pathetic.

Rams vs SF...Im winning 24-20 with 2 min to go...The CPU has the ball and does NOT use a single TO as the the time runs out....what the f*** up with that?

All I got was the hurry up O animation...EA just loves their game stalling s*** animations.

Thank God EA got that license...

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:57 pm

Leebo33 wrote:and the ability to watch any play over again from the play-by-play.

OMG, I'd forgotten about that! Damn, I loved that for game reports in the league. Great feature.

AJColossal · Post by **AJColossal** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:59 pm

After really liking NCAA off the bat, I was surprised that my initial reaction was as underwhelming as it was. Everyone seems to be saying the game reminds them of a tweaked NCAA but it really reminded me more of (surprise) a tweaked Madden 06. To me, there seems to be more of a Madden/NCAA difference in next gen as opposed to current gen.

BTW, am I also the only one that thinks NCAA had a cleaner look, too? I don't know if it's the lighting being different or what.

Anyways, after several games, the game grew on me quite a bit. One thing I think the 360 has over the current gen is team play variety. The Jets looked pretty damn clueless on offense as I blew them out with the Vikes, while the Rams were zipping the ball all over the field against a Bengals defense. I would play my Bears franchise last year on XBox and swear I was playing the same team 16 times, but it doesn't appear I'll have that feeling with this version. We shall see.

I HATE not having accelerated clock. It makes it hard to pick quarter lengths to get a realistic amount of plays. What I've heard about late game AI also sucks, but I haven't seen it firsthand.

The jury is still out, I suppose.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 10:03 pm

AJColossal wrote:BTW, am I also the only one that thinks NCAA had a cleaner look, too? I don't know if it's the lighting being different or what.

NCAA looks a lot better to me...as I mentioned before, the field textures suck and the blurriness in the background is very distracting. Plus, I think the players are better looking when playing from the default camera angle. You can easily read the players numbers in NCAA...not so much in Madden.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 10:10 pm

I've played the 360 version once, I am really digging the PC version. I'd have to imagine the PC version is more inline with the current gen Xbox.

No one else has given it a whirl yet?

Theo · Post by **Theo** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 10:29 pm

Danimal I agree. I think the PC version is better than the 360 version. In game saves, mini camp, no stuttering, deeper, and of course, modding capabilities. I have both versions, and if I could only play one, it would be the PC version. Also, I prefer the graphics on the PC.

billharris44 · Post by **billharris44** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 10:31 pm

Damn, I'd pay $50 bucks just for a PC modder to make that influence screen transparent. All right, $60!

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 10:48 pm

Anybody else have any freeze problems? I just tried creating myself the old fashioned way (through franchise mode) and, when I went to train before my first game (I like being able to train a couple of guys before the game...not sure if this has been in past years), the game wonked out on me. Not even a dirty disc message...just the screen went black and I could not even power down or do anything else with the controller. I shut the 360 off and am going to try it again. Never had that happen with a 360 game before..hope it was just a fluke.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 11:02 pm

AJColossal wrote:I HATE not having accelerated clock. It makes it hard to pick quarter lengths to get a realistic amount of plays. What I've heard about late game AI also sucks, but I haven't seen it firsthand.

The jury is still out, I suppose.

I thought there was an option where you want accelerated clock or not. And yes the AI on the last two minutes of game is rather pathetic, players scrambling and ready to go under 3 seconds and no TO called when they have it (or so we think), instead they rather use a down and kill the clock. Strange.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 11:14 pm

9 mins is giving me excellent stats in normal franchise mode.. with SS, well.. you're on you own there.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 12:37 am

PC guys...is the 1920x1600 resolution available?

AJColossal · Post by **AJColossal** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 12:55 am

10spro wrote:I thought there was an option where you want accelerated clock or not. And yes the AI on the last two minutes of game is rather pathetic, players scrambling and ready to go under 3 seconds and no TO called when they have it (or so we think), instead they rather use a down and kill the clock. Strange.

I don't think accelerated clock is an option. Can anyone verify?

My one experience with the AI and a 2-minute drill was pretty good. With less than 2 mins. left, the AI drove downfield and hit a game winning FG. We'll see how this progresses.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 1:10 am

I don't think the 360 has accelerated clock.

Well I have rented all four football games this year, NCAA (360 and XB) and Madden (360 and XB). I'm calling BS on the game engine. Is it all new well it depends on your idea of what is new. If borrowing most AI ideas from the previous version than yes it's new. Aside from the graphics, there's little AI difference in both versions of Madden. I think there's some additions but clearly it's not leaps ahead of the xbox version. If I had just one next gen game to play, it would be NCAA. It looks clearer and plays I think a better game of football.

Now NCAA for the XB is the best football game released this year. There's so much that it does right for an outdate game it's stupid.

In the ultimate kick to the nuts of the 360 version, the SS mode in the XB version is fun. Also you get to see the real draft. Bush, Leinart and you get drafted. I don't know if this goes on in the 360 version because you can't see what happens.

It's stupid I paid all this money for the 360 and the old box is what I playing. Stupid.

Bill_Abner · Post by **Bill_Abner** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 1:47 am

Danimal wrote:I've played the 360 version once, I am really digging the PC version. I'd have to imagine the PC version is more inline with the current gen Xbox.

No one else has given it a whirl yet?

I'm still waiting for GSpy to send me my PC version. I really am curious how it plays; I think the PC version has always had more potential simply because of the mods that people crank out for it. Plus I bet it looks nice on this new monitor.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 2:03 am

Well I'm hoping they're going to refine the next-gen version if it isn't this year. That is what some people on other forums believe, that the current gen versions have all the features which have accumulated over the years while the next-gen haven't quite caught up yet.

The PS2 version is on its last leg. They may continue to bring it out but it's taxing the system and/or EA isn't bothering to optimize.

There are a lot of pauses, both online and offline, between plays. I've been playing with the volume down but I hear the disc drive being very busy so it's obviously trying to stream more stuff -- animations, maybe commentary, maybe soundtracks, maybe overlays. With the limited RAM, it's probably swapping out content from the disc and hence the pauses, which are very annoying.

Gameplay is different, just the dynamics of how the same plays work differently. Controls just aren't responsive as they were a couple of years ago. You see loaded blitzes coming and sometimes, you still can't dump a simple flat pass quick enough.

I didn't necessarily think EA would be complacent because of the exclusive license. But if the sales are there, we may not see drastic changes to the next-gen engine for the next 4, 5 or 6 years. This is in the face of hopes that EA would use something like Endorphin/Morphine or some other real-time physics system. EA also licensed Unreal Engine just the other week but more than likely, they will use it for shooters like Medal of Honor than Madden, if it can even be used for sports games.

Some people feared that EA would bring out their true next-gen engine on the PS3, thereby screw over MS. But looks like that fear is unfounded. At most, the PS3 version will have a more current roster, obvious problems like the fatigue bug fixed (you would think) and maybe some minor features or content (maybe some high-def video to use the extra space on the Blu-Ray disc).

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 2:04 am

JRod wrote:I'm calling BS on the game engine. Is it all new well it depends on your idea of what is new. If borrowing most AI ideas from the previous version than yes it's new.

What do you expect...it's the SAME developer. So what if they used some of the things from last generation...these guys use what they think is right...why would they change their thinking just because the hardware changed? Now, had it been a completely different developer, I can see your arguement, but since it's the same development studio, I'd expect there to be similarities. It's not BS...it's the nature of the business.