Madden NFL 13

[Inuyasha]

Thanks for all your feedback - Will be getting it. Happy gaming!

[MizzouRah]

Todd,

Are you referring to the Connected Career? If so, I don't necessarily know if I'll really get involved with that or not. Honestly, I haven't tried it yet. I do want to check it out. I've only thus far played "play now" games. I'd like to play a 16 game season if at all possible, but am reluctant to do that just yet because of what I have experienced.

Truth be told, if I can find a copy at BB, I'll hold on to the game for a couple months (32 dollar value) and more than likely will be playing NHL, Fifa, and NBA 2k13 more so in two months. But I say that mainly because I've never played a Madden game in recent years that has hooked me. This one has for sure, but if my main issue isn't corrected, then all the game is good for is when a friend comes over to play. And that's not worth it IMO.

Last night I went against everything I stand for and played a non Rams game. Saints vs Eagles. Great great game and didn't experience any CPU foolishness. Then again, it didn't call for any as the game played out as it should. It's just a shame that a poorly called game by the CPU can really play with your emotions when you experience one that I did last night. Right now, I love the game far more than I hate it, but it's not complete unfortunately.

Yes connected career.. are you just interested in a season?

[DivotMaker]

I advise you also to stay away from OS it will suck the fun out of any game released.

Truth. It's a game, not a political platform to be sliced, diced and pureed. If some of the morons at OS spent half as much time on their schoolwork as they did dissecting sports game faults, they'd all receive Rhodes Scholarships.

Exactly.......OS reminds me of some of the EA Sports forums......lots of screaming and ranting, not a whole lot of substance. There are a few good posters at both who tend to get drowned out by the trolls......

[Brando70]

For example there is no coach mode in CCM, I also can't play any team game in CCM.

LOL, one of the reasons I ordered this was because I wanted to give Coach Mode a try in CCM. Thought I'd play it like a successor to Head Coach. F*cking EA

[TCrouch]

Coach Mode is still the bottom option in the options menu, setting it to on or off. It's just completely missing in CCM? That seems pretty odd.

[Brando70]

Coach Mode is still the bottom option in the options menu, setting it to on or off. It's just completely missing in CCM? That seems pretty odd.

From what I read at OS, seems like you can do Coach Mode in regular games, but not in CCM. Hard to say if that is a feature or a bug. Not a huge issue for me, but just funny that the first year I had interest in playing this way, I can't.

Also, supposedly a patch on Sept. 11.

[MizzouRah]

Good review over at OS, has me thinking.

Specifically, the reviewer states the game play is great and the CPU does in fact pass more when down in late situations? Also, I read EA is working on some end of game logic fixes.

Can't wait to see how Brando does in a season with the Bears or XXXIV does with the Rams.

If I picked it up, I guess I would start off a CCM career with Fisher.

[TCrouch]

Danimal and I played against each other last night in our DeMarco Murray/Ray Rice CCM. Our settings were correct (10 min quarter, 12 sec accel clock), but we had absolutely NO ACCELERATED CLOCK. I hope to God that's fixed in the patch, because it's going to be impossible to play a CCM online when you have to play 10 minute quarters with no accelerated clock at all. When playing the CPU, it's great. But we each had almost 40 carries in the game because there was no acceleration. How stuff like this gets by testing is beyond me. It's very basic stuff you find by simply playing a couple of games.

[Zeppo]

If it's at all like the in-game sim engine in NCAA, it's got all sorts of problems. One of the biggest for me is that the clock doesn't seem to runich at all when you sim plays. Someone mentioned above how the CPU team went down and scored in a bunch of plays in like 0:20 at the end of a game. Very typical from what I've seen in RTG mode in NCAA since forever.

Seems to me like the in-game sim engine is in need of a complete overhaul.

[TCrouch]

Yep, same here. Each play runs about :06 off the clock when it's in quick sim. That's been the same since they introduced it, I think.

[JRod]

Here's my scorecard on a bunch of arbitrary things...

Rushing, Defense and the Infinity Engine B+
I think the Infinity Engine while no where near the level of Back Breaker is something that makes Madden feel like football. I see sometimes 5 or 6 guys get in out a play and even it seems that OL are able to push and grab your offensive player. Is it perfectly realistic no. But is dynamic enough to make each play feel different. In the past if it was all about the play and getting space and breaking down that play because the outcomes of that play was limited. A simple sweep for example was if you could get to the outside and then beat guy 1, then guy 2 then guy 3. In 13, and this happened to me last night, I ran a sweep, and couldn't quite turn the corner because guy one didn't really tackle me he just slowed me down allowing the defense to SWARM.

Swarming is the NFL is like ice in hockey. It's so important in every game and it's finally in Madden. It no longer simply a singular tackling system where you know by the animation what the predetermine outcome will be.

And take that same run, if I was near the first down line, that play could have gone a number of ways. I could be stood up and turned back. I could squirm for a few more yards. Again, last night, I could stood up then a OL seemed to push me and we gained a crucial 1st down.

Passing B-
I don't see the huge jump that Terry sees. Though I played 2 minutes of NCAA so that's probably why. I see defenders still able to see too well and make plays where they probably shouldn't. In passing too, there's a lot more outcomes that can happen because of the Infinity Engine. Though what holds it back is how Madden has played for all these years. Let's say you though a deep ball short on a play, your player and the defender seem to stop, get a coffee, talk about their 6 figure contracts then jump for the ball.

CCM A/D
The idea is cool its just like everything else EA does. Great concept but implemented with the same dedication to perfection that Jay Cutler has to Quarterbacking. Eh, if it works great but if it doesn't we'll just sulk and say next year.

Where if fails is it doesn't build off of the superstar, playmakers system Madden had last year. Even though each team has schemes, the depth to those schemes is pretty shallow and the AI doesn't hold any understanding of nuance of football. Some superstars stand on in-game. But like every Madden each team is too much the same and plays too much the same.

Even with that the ability for go from coach to player was enough to not get bored the problem again is that CCM is a half finished mode. It's far too predictable as a player to know when you will start. Nothing seems to be based off performance.

Overall: Same Madden, some improvements but not finished.

I had fun playing the ST version and I could have fun playing a few games of Madden. I don't know if that fun would last an entire season because there's no personality of the teams. But with more playtime maybe the infinity engine shows how nuanced it is.

CCM-player mode is broken for me.

But I was having fun playing as RG3 last night even though my controller went funny in the 3rd quarter and then I quit. Like all Madden's it's fun for the first few days but for me there's enough doubt that the shine will wear off that $60.

[Brando70]

Danimal and I played against each other last night in our DeMarco Murray/Ray Rice CCM. Our settings were correct (10 min quarter, 12 sec accel clock), but we had absolutely NO ACCELERATED CLOCK. I hope to God that's fixed in the patch, because it's going to be impossible to play a CCM online when you have to play 10 minute quarters with no accelerated clock at all. When playing the CPU, it's great. But we each had almost 40 carries in the game because there was no acceleration. How stuff like this gets by testing is beyond me. It's very basic stuff you find by simply playing a couple of games.

I think I saw that mentioned in the CCM thread. There's a laundry list of bugs, including preseason depth charts/playing time being all screwed up and players having the same jersey numbers on the same team.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the "well, DUH!" bugs get fixed in the first patch -- they were surely spotted and EA probably just had to prioritize what it could do before shipping.

[TCrouch]

I didn't get past the passing part in JRod's post yet. Do this: in practice or just messing around, run your receivers on a post route, or skinny posts. Look specifically at the defender's heads. If you see the back of their helmet, laser a ball at them. They won't be able to see it. I've thrown gorgeous balls that were literally inches in front of a defender, but my receiver reached out and snagged it. On a PA comeback route, I had a defender so lost last night he turned the wrong way on DHB's break and I easily snagged it over him as he was twisting to find the ball.

Use the Pump Fake aggressively on safeties. On a 9 route outside with a slot post, pump fake the outside route against an average safety or LB and you'll see them hesitate and jump the route a LOT more than they did in the past. With drags and in routes against zone coverage, use the stick to lead them up the field and you can specifically throw the ball into the holes in the zone.

And timing, timing, timing. I can't tell you how cool it is this year to throw actual timing routes. Outs and hitches, for example...in past years if I threw a hitch a hair early, Madden treated it like a fly route. I'd toss it downfield because the receiver hadn't started his break yet. This year when I throw it, it's in the dirt and the receiver didn't turn around in time.

It's leaps and bounds better than any Madden in history in the passing game, but it wasn't really evident to me in the first few games, I don't know. I don't want to come across as condescending like you don't know what it is or anything like that--I know you do. I'm just relaying what I personally see, and it FEELS like I'm out on a field dissecting a defense. When I complete 70% of my passes with no interceptions and a ton of yardage, it feels like an accomplishment (I rarely throw no interceptions still because I'm trying to force balls into coverage to convert a 3rd and 11 or something, though).

[Danimal]

To echos Terry post I really want to test5 a CCM with the retail code right away and see if Acc clock works. Having said that it was a blast playing the way we did. Watching as our defenses got tired out. I hope it was a course of the 10 minute quarters but we had a great game until the 4th when both teams D's couldn't stop anything.

I've also noticed in the player CCM that all my games the cpu seems to come back to make it close. Hope that is just a quirk in this situation.

[TCrouch]

Thinking of just using the default settings in a tester league to see what happens when we play each other. I think the default is 7 min quarters and 20 sec accelerated clock. I'm not exactly holding out hope that it works with the retail build, though...

[Danimal]

Thinking of just using the default settings in a tester league to see what happens when we play each other. I think the default is 7 min quarters and 20 sec accelerated clock. I'm not exactly holding out hope that it works with the retail build, though...

Me either but I can't find one post about from anyone else saying it doesn't work.

[orthostud23]

Can someone answer me a question. Can someone please start an ONLINE CCM set to the ZOOM camera and play through a couple of series to let me know if there is a glitch with the camera. I tried OFFLINE CCM with the ZOOM camera but it always defaulted back to standard view. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the zoom camera and this the deciding factor if its usable/unusable in CCM
Thanks!!

[fsquid]

It doesn't work.

[orthostud23]

It doesn't work.

Thanks man!!

[sportdan30]

Picked up my copy this afternoon from TRU, but didn't get it for $44.99 as I had hoped. I guess this was for pre-orders only. Anyway, I got it with a $10 gift card and a massive Madden Gamer Guide. While most of it is pretty much common football knowledge, there's a lot in there about formations and how to recognize zones that I was unaware of. I'm looking forward to skimming through it later tonight.

[sportdan30]

The more and more I read about the Connected Career, the more of a mess it sounds. I really wish EA would have include a simple single season mode. I suppose it can still be done through CC and choosing "coach mode", correct? All this is so confusing.

I've read that there are tuner updates in the online portion of CC, but in the same breath there are server disconnects that people are experiencing.

Might not take the plastic off the game just yet.....

[Rodster]

Yeah Dan a simple season mode would be awesome. That's all I used to do with Madden. Too bad EA decided to eliminate that mode.

[fsquid]

It doesn't work.

Thanks man!!

I was responding to the one above you mate. My bad!

[Danimal]

It doesn't work.

Thanks man!!

I was responding to the one above you mate. My bad!

As in the accelerated clock?

[Danimal]

Terry what is the name of our CCM that the acc clock didn't work? i actually have an Ea devs ear they said they would check it out.

Was it dsp rb test? I need the exact name.

Never mind got it off the website