Madden NFL 13

[TCrouch]

Most of the time, especially in the preseason, I see players earning XP for team goals, not individual ones. So if your team holds an opposing offense to <250 yards passing, the entire D gets some points. Guys have to really have an exceptional game to score individual XP from what I've seen.

[Danimal]

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.

I asked Josh Looman about this because I thought this was a bug. His response that setting is for CPU teams only. I won't even go into why that is stupid but how the hell would anyone know that from the menus.

So apparently if he is to be believed, and right now I have trouble believing any of them, you can progress at any time but the cpu will only progress the rest of the league every 4 games.

[Brando70]

I decided to do a little experimenting with pass blocking and see if ratings matter much. I started a practice with the Vikings on D (Jared Allen is the highest rated RE in the game) and the Dolphins on O, because the Dolphins have Jake Long at LT (95 OVR) and the worst-rated LT in the game who is a 41 OVR. There were also about 40-50 points difference in their pass blocking ratings.

I picked Cover 2 and Cover 3 defenses for the Vikings so they would only rush four players and also buy a little time before the CPU would throw the ball. Picked shotgun four-verticals for the Dolphins, and took turns alternating between playing offense and playing defense.

The "good" news is that Jake Long did a much better job against Allen. In fact, Allen could hardly do anything against Jake Long. This was the same whether I was controlling the offense or controlling the defense.

The bad news is that the 41 OVR LT was pretty serviceable against Allen. Long would basically take Allen out of almost every play. The worst I saw the OVR do was give the QB about three seconds to throw, and I would say that outcome occurred probably 40-50% of the time. But the scrub also had a lot of plays where he held his own and even pancaked a DE rated 55 points higher than he was. I ran probably around 30 plays with Allen and the scrub, and not once did Allen blow his man up.

I might toy around with this again and see how it goes with run blocking, but at least from an LT pass blocking perspective, there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference between a scrub and a superstar.

[Danimal]

Someone told me I should try a game on Pro with default sliders because the at Pro the slider base is 50/50. I don't know if that is true or not but I found the game I just played at lunch a lot more enjoyable from a DL stand point as sometimes I was actually able to use a move and get by someone. Other things looked more inline with what I wanted as well, Defenders seemed to react to the ball more realistically.

I have to try another game or two but I might go with Pro and adjust slider from there. According to this guy at All Pro the slider are 75 / 25 in the computer favor. So if you adjust the cpu pass reaction from 50-40 you're really moving it from 75-65. Again I don't know if that is true or I believe it but I did notice a difference in the game I played at Pro level.

[pk500]

Thanks for all the tips, boys. My sons played this game until about 11ish last night -- school doesn't start here until next Tuesday! -- and then I played until 3 a.m.

I DIG this game. Every mode. Wonderful fun.

[Aristo]

Thanks for all the tips, boys. My sons played this game until about 11ish last night -- school doesn't start here until next Tuesday! -- and then I played until 3 a.m.

I DIG this game. Every mode. Wonderful fun.

My daughter has been back for three weeks. That is nuts.

[pk500]

Thanks for all the tips, boys. My sons played this game until about 11ish last night -- school doesn't start here until next Tuesday! -- and then I played until 3 a.m.

I DIG this game. Every mode. Wonderful fun.

My daughter has been back for three weeks. That is nuts.

I'm sure your kids end school in late May or early June. My kids are in school until the end of the third week in June.

[MizzouRah]

Picked it up yesterday and finally had time to sit down and play a game on AP defaults, 15 minute quarters, clock run off to 12 seconds left each play.

I am thoroughly enjoying what I'm seeing so far. Played Rams vs Dolphins, beat them 23-9, but I was losing 9-6 at halftime. Taking that game overall, I just think that was one of the best games I've football I've played in a very long time. I only played the demo, so having a full game to play really allowed the infinity engine to show its stuff. It needs tweaking obviously, but it resembles football better than any game has to date, really impressed.

Rushing is tough, but you can tell a power back from a speed back. Passing is great too, leading receivers and I had one pass where I floated the ball in between the CB and the FS that looked so freaking real, I replayed it about 8 times.

The game is very beautiful too and for now, the commentary is quite refreshing. I think there are way too many replays, but you can hit A to skip over them.

I'm already anxious to start an online CCM with the Rams, but I'll wait on the first patch.

[AJColossal]

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.

Ooh, thatsa no-good.

[Inuyasha]

Read on OS that there's a glitch in the game where team specific sounds aren't working. They're looking into why and if they can patch it. They had it in last year so it was a bummer when there was no bear down song this year after the bears scored. Hope it in in the sept patch.

[sportdan30]

I've got such a love/hate relationship with this game right now. I feel as they if the devlopers had a few more months to work on it, it would feel complete. As it stands.....

Presentation:

I'm sorry, but no excuse for the commentary to be so generic. It's not a big deal to many, but it's bothersome. Why Nantz only sometimes calls out the player's or team's name is puzzling. 9 times of out 10 it's the same boring "The quarterback", "Great play by the defense", "The offense takes the field", "He's brought down by the safety", etc. etc. etc. To me, it really takes away the immersion. It's a huge step up from well...forever with this series but they went 70 percent in rather than 100 percent in. High hopes for next year......

Too many cut scenes and they're repeating much too often. I'd much rather see real time presentation.

The ridiculous amount of camera flashes is another annoyance, but it's been like that forever. It just looks rather strange.

Replays are dreadful. I can't believe someone at EA thought the splicing of three replays was a good idea. Do they not watch NFL games? Apparently there was nothing wrong with the replays last year, so why change?

No halftime show.......that's just lazy on EA's part. Someone posted an old 2K5 halftime report over at OS and it's amazing how professional and immersive it looked. I'm already so tired of "15 minutes down, 45 to go".

Graphics:

To me at least and I'm playing on the PS3, they feel like a step back. I see players walking through referees, walls, etc. At times a player who has been tackled appears as though he's not really on the ground, but hovering just above. Hands and feet at times look like they are buried in the grass. The arms of the players looks rather PS2ish. I don't know. To me it's a mixed bag. Some of the faces are incredible looking, but then something else ruins it. Players with blank stares on their face again take away the overall experience. The crowd looks like a** and I'm sorry, for a next gen game they're no better than five years ago. Yes, I'm nit picking but it's little things that stand out compared to games like 2K12, The Show, etc.

Gameplay:

Admittedly, gameplay is very solid and fun to play. Of course, clock management is horrid as is some play calls by the CPU. At times, I'll feel as though I'm playing against another human, and at times I'm left shaking my head in disbelief. Hopefully, it gets patched soon enough.

I know the majority of you on here are online gamers and that's great. But, EA has basically forgotten about the single player and has forced them to adhere to their new formula with Connected Careers. Seriously, a single season mode would not have been difficult to include (something simple without all the bells and whistles).

Connected Career:

I started a CC last night, and while I see the intrigue, it's the first year of this mode and it certainly feels that way. Obviously, the bugs and glitches are present and hopefully they'll get ironed out soon enough. Still, with limited time on my hand, all I want to do is play a season and not have to worry about XP, practices, and crap like that.


Conclusion:

In the end, it's a great two month rental, but definitely not a game that's going to keep me interested for too long. Not when you have games like NHL 13, Fifa 13 (which my son and I love to go head to head against), and NBA 2K13. By comparison, these games have always felt finished, rather than a rushed product that sells more because of it's name than it's quality.

[Inuyasha]

Dan - I'm only offline too but maybe do what I'm doing in CCM to try to avoid the bugs.

I started CCM offline and all I've done is just sim all the other stuff not on the field. I turned off the trading stuff by the cpu since I've never trusted trading in madden ever. I just play my games and I am very happy with it. The only thing that really is bugging me is the horrid CPU clock management. I had a great game vs the Packers, a see-saw games (me Bears) and the Pack got the ball down to my 25 with 14 sec left 3 time outs in the 4th qtr of a tied game. Of course call a time out right........no, they rush down and barely get the game winning fg off. Now if they let the clock run out by not calling a t.o. I'd be pissed. I hope it does not happen, but other than those wacky CPU AI clock issues, I'm enjoying the game.

So maybe just do what I'm doing and minimize all the CPU stuff in CCM for the off the field stuff and just play the games.


--------------

PastaPadre on the ESPN Radio talking about Madden 13 :

http://www.979espn.com/player/?station= ... d=22402723

[Sudz]

I've been on vacation and will be picking this up Monday. I am 100% offline for football games, so the connected careers stuff has me worried.

[MizzouRah]

What exactly is the difference with starting CCM online or offline?

Also, after you start a CCM, can you auto sim all that crap like practice and what not? I don't do recruiting in NCAA, so I doubt I'll care about pre season, or the rest of the goofy stuff.

Dan,

I would wait on the first patch and then give it another go. The game on the field for me is just too good to give up on things that should be able to be fixed via patch.

[Rodster]

The 360 version looks really good so it could be EA slagged off again on the PS3 version.

[10spro]

Also, after you start a CCM, can you auto sim all that crap like practice and what not? I don't do recruiting in NCAA, so I doubt I'll care about pre season, or the rest of the goofy stuff.

You can skip practice for sure but you won't be getting any potential XP for your created player which is minimal by the way but that's a completely different matter. I still finish the practices, some of them are quite challenging. Playing Steve Young, I just beat the Lions in the wild card playoffs game last night with only 25 seconds left while choosing one of the shotgun plays that I remembered worked for me often in practice mode.

The running game is still a hit and miss for me. Gore had some interesting gains on the draw back play but I find that the toss up is almost always a complete lost of yards situation.

[Inuyasha]

What exactly is the difference with starting CCM online or offline?

Also, after you start a CCM, can you auto sim all that crap like practice and what not? I don't do recruiting in NCAA, so I doubt I'll care about pre season, or the rest of the goofy stuff.

I think Online Offline are the same but Online you'll be getting fixes before Offline and you can track stuff on the web. Only downside with online is even if you do single player online, if the servers go down, then you're game won't count and you have to start over.


If you want to do traditional franchise, pick Coach and pick one of the current coaches. Then just sim all the other stuff and play your games. I didnt find a option to sim pre-season this year so just go thru each pre-seasn week and sim it thru the menu.
The only extra thing I did is turn cpu trades off because the first time they were doing some weird stuff. Also, I like my league to have at least up to date rosters without the cpu making any changes to them. Since you can't control all the teams this year, turning cpu trades off is the only way to try to have the rosters stay true to life.

[MizzouRah]

Thank you.

[MizzouRah]

I went ahead and started an online CC with Jeff Fisher. Pretty cool so far.

[sportdan30]

Definitely planning on waiting until after the first patch to see what has changed in terms of gameplay and CC. I returned my unopened game to TRU (still have the rental), but they didn't ask for the "Official Player's Guide" back, so I'll read through that and see what kind of tips and suggestions is in there.

I'm steering clear of the OS forums, especially the slider section. I really think that can ultimately ruin the overall experience. I started back on Pro and am making some slight changes from game to game. Hope to find that happy balance soon.

[XXXIV]

The time management has always been bad but this is disgraceful.

With five seconds left and no time outs in a 10-10 tie the Seahawks passed up the game winning field goal on my 25 yd line to run a pass play.

If that aint broken, I dont know what is.

[Wilk5280]

The 360 version looks really good so it could be EA slagged off again on the PS3 version.

I DL'd both demos and the 360 version looks significantly better. I can say the same for Tiger Woods as I own both versions of that game. The EA sports games look washed out on the PS3 for some reason.

[Rodster]

I quit buying EA games for the PS3. The Vita version looks much better than both the 360 and PS3.

[Wilk5280]

No

[sportdan30]

Adjusted my picture settings on my new HDTV and now it's smoothed out the jaggies and the picture looks very crisp. Played the 360 version at Best Buy and can't tell the difference between the two versions. Actually, I prefer the PS3 version as it doesn't look as cartoony.