Madden 16

[Sudz]

That 3rd game in the Draft mode is TOUGH. The 3rd team always as a great QB/WR/RB combo. I ran into a Larry Fitzgerald, Drew Brees, AP team and had a tough time. I drafted poorly and FS/CB and paid the price.

Fun mode that will last me until the opening day rosters are set.

[Inuyasha]

just finished that 3rd game in draft mode last night. it was hard. i think the first game is rookie, 2nd pro, and 3rd allpro.

I compared the graphics to 15. I see what they did now. 15 has more contrast so the colors pop out more and it looks more vibrant. But 16 is less contrast but more detailed.

Cowboys stadium looks absolutely fantastic in the game. finally they fixed it and it's one of the best looking stadiums in 16. The draft stadium is great too.

Not sure I'll buy this for 60 at launch. I may wait for a price drop. I'm also waiting to see feedback on the PS4 version.

[Aristo]

That 3rd game in the Draft mode is TOUGH. The 3rd team always as a great QB/WR/RB combo. I ran into a Larry Fitzgerald, Drew Brees, AP team and had a tough time. I drafted poorly and FS/CB and paid the price.

Fun mode that will last me until the opening day rosters are set.

Yeah, I beat the third game on my first try, but I entered the 4th quarter down 6-0. The CPU team had Brady, and Jamal Charles. I struggled to contain them, but did keep them out of the end zone. I had erred to the side of defense in my draft, and it paid off.

I finally put together a final drive and went up 7-6 on my own Jamal Charles touchdown, but it was clinched when Richard Sherman picked off Brady on a pass that would have put them in FG range. It was a fun challenge.

It's pretty clear that Draft Champions is designed to lure folks over to MUT. All of the rewards you get for winning are used in MUT. Plus the short quarters and All-Star teams in pro uniforms (Tom Brady in a Jets uniform was actually kind of hilarious) is what you get in MUT. It's not sim, but it is a fun, strategic experience.

One thing I can say for MUT this year is that they really increased and improved the solo play experience even more. If you are patient and don't require a team of stars to have fun, there is a ton of fun to be had.

Right now, my team, The Phog, is has a 73 OVR, and bank of about 9K Gold to spend, and just a couple of guys to try and build around. My HB is 84 OVR Reggie Bush, who is the true definition of a poor man's Jamal Charles. My QB is 69 OVR Drew Stanton, so I need to lean on Bush. But my OL is a gaggle of 60+ OVR guards and tackles with a lucky draw of an 88 OVR center as an anchor. I probably need to sell him for a speedy guard that can pull in front of Bush, or sell Bush for a HB that can run up the middle. Right now my team is based on Speed Run, but I also have a lot of Short Pass guys. Eventually I will have to start concentrating on one of the other. My defense is mostly a mess.

Last year I was a Ground and Pound and Run Stuff team with a 93 OVR. I did spend on packs from time to time, when EA put certain premium packs on sale. I still spent more than I wish I had, and I got was a team that got creamed in the 4th level instead of the 2nd or 3rd. All you get by "spending to win" is a team that plays others spend to win teams. Honestly, it's more interesting and fun to play the high 70s, low 80s OVR teams with your own high 70s, low 80s OVR team. That's where you work to protect your weaknesses and exploit those of your opponents.

The key here is patience. I'm plugging way at the solo challenges and saving my Gold, and slowly opening reward packs to add players. The other key concept to be mindful of, and this really relates to patience, is that you will have to consume contracts at a rate of 24 a game, I believe. Right now, I have 90 in contracts in my bank. Most of my guys still have 13-15 contracts left, so I still have time to earn more. You can spend Gold to buy contracts, but if you splurge in the auctions, you may have to spend cash, although they are much cheaper than packs, and feel much less like paying to win.

I'm down to just 4 hours left (I played to 4:30 am last night because I'm an idiot), so I plan to spend that time in Play Now or CFM and wait for the full game to continue Draft Champions and MUT.

[MizzouRah]

Draft Champions is awesome.. thanks TC for posting about it.

I had Rivers as my QB and Tomlinson as my RB.. he was a beast rushing for 122 yards and a nice 60 yard scamper after being hit in the backfield. Barely won my first game though 27-21 in OT.

I'm so rusty with Madden!

Preordered it digitally via EA Access, I've just had too much fun with it.

[sportdan30]

I agree that Draft Champions is a nice addition, but I would prefer the players in generic uniforms, or one you can design. I doubt I'll play it more than a few times though, but it's cool because it familarizes yourself with players you wouldn't necessarily be aware of, notably players on the offensive line.

Has anyone seen the CPU get called for trying to throw past the line of scrimmage? In my last game against the Bears, Cutler got called twice for that penalty. One time I can see, but twice in a game is a bit much.

I had to turn most of my penalties down to 50 and 55 from 60. I got called 4 times for illegal block in the back, and twice for a late on the QB. It seemed a little a little excessive.

[MizzouRah]

Someone suggested all of them to 55, I'm going to try that next game.

[sportdan30]

Someone suggested all of them to 55, I'm going to try that next game.

That's definitely a good starting point. If any one becomes excessive, go back to 50.

[Diablo25]

The game continues to impress. Some of the tackling animations are superb.

[Inuyasha]

dline play seems less effective this year. I thought it was perfect in last years game. Is there a way to make it more lively in 16?

I'm having a real easy time on Offense all pro defaults. It's fun though. but the long ball vs the cpu is killing me and keeping the cpu in the game. I think I just have to still practice the DB controls.

[Aristo]

I agree that Draft Champions is a nice addition, but I would prefer the players in generic uniforms, or one you can design. I doubt I'll play it more than a few times though, but it's cool because it familarizes yourself with players you wouldn't necessarily be aware of, notably players on the offensive line.

I totally wished that both MUT and Draft Champions had a uniform creator like APFB 2K8. But the fact is, I guarantee you that part of the exclusive deal EA has wit the NFL includes keeping the NFL product front and center at all times, so I think we are stuck with using NFL uniforms in any mode.

But I like those modes for what they are. The games are quick, and there is plenty of strategy in velvet with both putting your team together and for playing such short quarters. Each possession means so much. I do wish that the game tracked the stats for each of your MUT players over their career on your team. The mode already lends itself to you becoming invested in "your guys," but this is an element I really like in the NHL version of the mode.

[Inuyasha]

http://www.usgamer.net/articles/the-fal ... madden-nfl

[MizzouRah]

Someone suggested all of them to 55, I'm going to try that next game.

That's definitely a good starting point. If any one becomes excessive, go back to 50.

55 seems spot on so far, injury slider needs tweaked a bit as I haven't seen one injury yet (maybe because I'm not in a franchise yet?)

Once the roster cuts have been made, I'm going to really dig into a franchise! I'm just about out of my 10 hours, but overall the game just feels like a real football game, the tackles are great - running is fun, passing never feels robotic or anything.. penalties kill drives or keep them alive, etc...

I'll reserve final judgement until I've played a bunch of franchise games, but so far.. well done EA!

[Aristo]

I've had several injuries in MUT and DC games. Using Aggressive Catch really increases the odds of an injury. The main reason the new controls are not over-powered is that they also carry risk.

Does anyone user control a DL in an attempt to get off the line strong? I do this all the time. Again, it carries the risk of jumping offsides. In fact, this year's version seems to make that much more likely for you to get caught and fir it to be called than last year. Combined with the new Playmaker controls in the secondary, EA deserves a lot of credit for making defense a lot of fun to play now.

[Inuyasha]

I played 15 and think defense is better more fun to play in that game. I control dline and last year they had it down perfect. 16 it's much toned down.

15 has way better controls and I hope they can fix this in 16 w a patch.

But overall I am having more fun with 16. The offense may be too easy at times but it's fun throwing the long ball with the catch controls. Also the CPU being aggressive throwing long is good to see as well.


Draft mode - what's the purpose of this? It's fun but only 3 games and then you draft over again. My Kids love playing it but all you get is a mut pack?

I'll probably buy it now. I can still do the bb preorder + ugc it'll end up being $38.

Tcrouch - you getting both versions this year again? Ps4 and xbo? I'm interested to see if there are major differences in gameplay.

[TCrouch]

It wasn't perfect in 15, especially on DLine.

Especially on default difficulty with no slider changes, it was far too easy to abuse the OLine. My leagues almost all used 95+ pass block, which means something was busted. My leading sack artist last year, at LDE, had 37 sacks. A DT had 25. They toned that down so that you had to be judicious with your special moves or you get pancaked or thrown down to the ground. So far I haven't had the issue of 5 or 7 sack games from a player. I could go up and down the DLine and easily record 10 sack games (as a team) from just my front 4, never blitzing anybody.

Glad you like 15, but don't hold your breath for them to patch 16 to be more like it.

Not getting it on PS4.

[Inuyasha]

Well your a super skilld gamer but for us regular to subpar gamers, dline was perfect for us in 15.

I avg like 2-3 sacks a game. I thought it was pretty fair.

[TCrouch]

It's not just me. I wasn't even the league leader in sacks. 2 or 3 sacks on default difficulty is not normal to most online players. There are some guys you can't even go near, they insta-shed blocks and you can never get anything going.

Point being, it's not going to be patched. The overwhelming opinion the past year was that it was too easy to use a DL to dominate, and that's why it changed in 16 (from what I've seen so far, at least). The funniest part of our experiences is that offense is much more difficult for me in 16 compared to 15, and yet you say it's too easy.

We're obviously very different styles of players, almost polar opposites.

[Gangrel]

On a scale of 1-10 of Madden skill, I rank somewhere around a 2 or 3. And even *I* could sack the QB 7+ times a game if I tried controlling a lineman.

Even just using LBs, I often had games with 6 or more sacks.

So, yeah, 16 is wayyyyyyy better than 15 in that regard.

[sportdan30]

I always control a D lineman, and it's been a challenge for me thus far trying to get to the QB. I've been burned too many times when using a CB.

Inuyasha, I have heard from one media critic (Rich Grisham from Polygon....he's on twitter) in which he said his PS4 version is much much smoother than his XBox One version. That could be a result of many things (not emptying his memory cache as one person at OS pointed out). I personally haven't had an issue with the Xbox One version (seems to play very smoothly), but I am curious how the PS4 version compares.

[MizzouRah]

I do 12 min with 12 sec runoff, but this year the battles are better for me so far on offense and defense, so I went full 15 mins with 12 second runoff and I still fit a game in within an hour.

So, 15 minute quarters and run the clock to 13 seconds left on the play clock?

I used 15/12 seconds left on play clock and there are a few PA plays that barely have time to get off properly unless the clock is stopped the previous play. I'm thinking 15/15 might be best?

[Aristo]

Yeah, the pass rush was ridiculously over-powered last year. Using the LT to jump the snap this year is no longer a ticket to a path to the QB. More importantly, it seems to have cut down on DT sacks, which was a real problem last year.

[Inuyasha]

I always control a D lineman, and it's been a challenge for me thus far trying to get to the QB. I've been burned too many times when using a CB.

Inuyasha, I have heard from one media critic (Rich Grisham from Polygon....he's on twitter) in which he said his PS4 version is much much smoother than his XBox One version. That could be a result of many things (not emptying his memory cache as one person at OS pointed out). I personally haven't had an issue with the Xbox One version (seems to play very smoothly), but I am curious how the PS4 version compares.

ya i'm very happy too w/ the xbo version. I think it plays perfect or as perfect as you can get in a madden game. I dont know how the ps4 version could do ever better, but if it does, that'll be incredible.

I really enjoy this game, but been playing mostly PLAY NOW today and can't put it down. Played a game with the 4:15 time at denver, the lighting looked so beautiful. With the new controls, this year is the first year where Madden is making you finally play the game instead of just watching the game.

[Danimal]

It's not just me. I wasn't even the league leader in sacks. 2 or 3 sacks on default difficulty is not normal to most online players. There are some guys you can't even go near, they insta-shed blocks and you can never get anything going.

Point being, it's not going to be patched. The overwhelming opinion the past year was that it was too easy to use a DL to dominate, and that's why it changed in 16 (from what I've seen so far, at least). The funniest part of our experiences is that offense is much more difficult for me in 16 compared to 15, and yet you say it's too easy.

We're obviously very different styles of players, almost polar opposites.

Exactly it was so easy to get 4 or 5+ sacks a game in 15 I had to stop controlling the DT or DE. It's much harder in 16 and more realistic. The arcade kiddie crows won't like it but f*** them, it's about time we got a game that resembled football.

[Danimal]

Inuyasha, I have heard from one media critic (Rich Grisham from Polygon....he's on twitter) in which he said his PS4 version is much much smoother than his XBox One version. That could be a result of many things (not emptying his memory cache as one person at OS pointed out). I personally haven't had an issue with the Xbox One version (seems to play very smoothly), but I am curious how the PS4 version compares.

I have no doubt it is smoother but I'll tell you this and you can take it FWIW. I purchase 15 on the PS4 played at least 5 seasons and then got it on XB1 when they had a sale because my daughter like the XB1 better. Even those it wasn't as smooth the game played a lot better and I saw more animations I never saw on the PS4. Whether 16 i that way I have no idea but it was prominent enough last year that i am going XB1 this year.

[Danimal]

Last night I played Bears v Bucs on all pro. I returned a 94 kickoff for a TD. A 72 yard punt for a TD and almost returned a second KO for a TD. So at least the return game seems a lot better. Now they just need to make kicking harder and actually make blocking kicks a possibility.

I lost this game BTW because Cutler threw 4 picks.