Madden 18

[MizzouRah]

I wish it was NCAA too..

That being said.. I'm enjoying the game still. Haven't played with the patch but I really hope I don't get sacked 15 times now that they have increased pass rush.

[Aristo]

Haven't played a Madden game on the xb1 before. Got the EA pass, and downloaded the trial. That's damned impressive. Wow. I wish to hell it was an NCAA game, but oh well.

Yeah, watching Georgia Tech run that triple option Monday night really had me hankering for a college game.

[Danimal]

I have mixed feelings on this patch. First HDR is for sure on the XB1S because everything looks darker. The one thing I liked about Madden on XB was it had a brighter color pallet. Well now with HDR it looks dark. When you look at how games like Ghost Recon or Horizon Zero Dawn implemented HDr and then you look at Madden it is clear EA is just lacking in the developer department. IMO it is meh.

So they fixed the zones by upping the reaction time to break on ball. It sure makes the defense harder and throwing into a zone spot needs perfect timing as i saw a lot of picks by myself and the AI in 3 games, but it has also taken the excellent one on one battles for balls and ruined them as defenders now jet pack into position and it is so noticeable it is jarring. I guess I'd rather have the harder defense but it sure takes away one of the game strengths and probably explains why they toned it down for launch. I'll play with the slider for this and see if it helps.

Running is a little harder which is good. Not sure why though. Juke moves have been toned down which was really needed.

AI QB's don't take sacks which is good as they scramble and throw but seems like they nerfed user controlled linemen, I went from 5-6 sacks a game to 1. This is a 3 game sample size. 6 too many, 1 too little. Most QB's still don't run for yardage though.

The AI gets good pressure now and the pocket forms great. Make getting outside the pocket harder and making passing a bit more pressure filled.

The upping of the Zone AI and the pass rush has caused completion percentage to drop a bit and I'm seeing more bad throws. They are still too high for my taste so I've got the sliders at 35 for both human and AI.

It's a decent patch considering the game has been out for 15 days or something but it just shows how EA works, band aids instead of fixes which affect other parts of the game.

[pk500]

Haven't played a Madden game on the xb1 before. Got the EA pass, and downloaded the trial. That's damned impressive. Wow. I wish to hell it was an NCAA game, but oh well.

You got Access after we talked about it Tuesday night while playing The Division? Good man! Enjoy. Best deal in gaming, period.

[Aristo]

I will say that as Madden is loading, on the static screen before "Press a button," there is a moment when it suddenly gets darker. Not by a ton, it is obvious. I suspect that is the game recognizing the HDR display and switching.

So it is darker.

[Aristo]

I did notice that in the Accessability section of the Visual Feedback settings that you can increase the brightness and contrast of the game. It makes quite a difference and helps if you find the HDR too dark.

[MizzouRah]

Post patch.. overall the game seems better. I actually had a total of 6 penalties last game. Sacks were up a tad and zone defense seemed better.

CPU can still run well, but one thing that did stand out post patch is I cannot run as well as pre patch.

[MizzouRah]

I guess I was wrong.. I had 174 yards rushing against Carolina in Week 1. I busted a 70 yarder with Carlos Hyde after shedding a tackle and excellent blocking downfield led me into the endzone.

I still can't throw for crap though... 4 ints! Lost 41-16 but had 7 turnovers!!!

[TCrouch]

I started a CFM with the new patch and couldn't run in preseason games, either. Then I decided to just call random runs I'd never run before, trying to mix traps/stretch/counter/iso/inside zone from different formations. Ended up going for 200 yards on the ground as a team in the opener, which was pretty crazy--24-19 over Tennessee, and then hours later watched the real thing go 26-16. Crazy.

[sportdan30]

I guess I was wrong.. I had 174 yards rushing against Carolina in Week 1. I busted a 70 yarder with Carlos Hyde after shedding a tackle and excellent blocking downfield led me into the endzone.

I still can't throw for crap though... 4 ints! Lost 41-16 but had 7 turnovers!!!

I've had those games where I've thrown multiple interceptions. Talk about frustrating. But what I've found with this game more so than in years past is that I almost always calling for an audible at the line. By changing the play, I'm finding that I'm moving the ball much much more consistently and creating more one on one match ups.

[Teal]

Haven't played a Madden game on the xb1 before. Got the EA pass, and downloaded the trial. That's damned impressive. Wow. I wish to hell it was an NCAA game, but oh well.

You got Access after we talked about it Tuesday night while playing The Division? Good man! Enjoy. Best deal in gaming, period.

Yessir, I did. You're quite a bit more convincing sober, too... Lol

[MizzouRah]

I've had those games where I've thrown multiple interceptions. Talk about frustrating. But what I've found with this game more so than in years past is that I almost always calling for an audible at the line. By changing the play, I'm finding that I'm moving the ball much much more consistently and creating more one on one match ups.

I think for me, my timing is just off as I wait just a second too long or I press the wrong button.. I'm no console gaming wizard anymore and the last EA football game I really played a lot of was NCAA football a few years ago.

I think I'll get better.. plus the 49ers do not have that one stud WR, so I'm having to fix balls into small windows of opportunity. That 70 yard scamper by Hyde was sweet though!

I'll say this again.. I'm really enjoying the game quite a bit and the presentation fantastic. Plus, the game is absolutely beautiful with the lighting during a midday game.

[pk500]

Haven't played a Madden game on the xb1 before. Got the EA pass, and downloaded the trial. That's damned impressive. Wow. I wish to hell it was an NCAA game, but oh well.

You got Access after we talked about it Tuesday night while playing The Division? Good man! Enjoy. Best deal in gaming, period.

Yessir, I did. You're quite a bit more convincing sober, too... Lol

Ha. Good for you!

[Aristo]

I find that when I rely on bullet passes too often, my INT rate goes up. More regular and touch passes are needed.

[TCrouch]

I find that when I rely on bullet passes too often, my INT rate goes up. More regular and touch passes are needed.

Great point. Biggest part of avoiding picks in the game. Even something like a deep in, throwing it on time (or even before the break) with a touch pass will get the pass where you need it to be, get it over LBs and in front of safeties.

Takes a lot of confidence and patience to play that way, but most of the picks I throw are me bulleting a pass into a location I didn't need to be throwing a bullet into.

[Danimal]

I've got a good set of sliders I am happy with post-patch. I try to stay away from OS and slider threads and I don't adjust many sliders at all but I'm real happy with it.

Still trying to work out auto subs to get player shuffling in and out. While much better this year it is still not perfect as it seems guys recover to quickly. For example with HB set to 85-95 I'll see my HB sub out on long drives a lot but he is usually only out 1 play, never more than 2 plays. However I can sub in and out with my HB easily manually it is the D-Line guys I want to see shuffle without my manual input.

Really enjoying the game and Play Now Live is more fun that I thought it would be.

[MizzouRah]

I just lost 14-12 to Seattle in week two as I missed a 24 yard FG with time running out.

Was a fantastic game in the rain though.. so much fun!

Injuries seem spot on too.. just an all around fun game to play. The only thing is I only see 2-4 penalties a game but I'm not messing with sliders as AP default 15/15 seem perfect for my level of play.

[Danimal]

The only thing is I only see 2-4 penalties a game but I'm not messing with sliders as AP default 15/15 seem perfect for my level of play.

Average penalties per game in 2016 for both teams was somewhere between 12-14 penalties. The Seahawks were in the top 10 in penalties per game at 7.3, the worst were the Raiders at 9.2 and the best were the Texans at 5.4.

Now I'm not seeing 12-14 per game for sure but I play 11 minute quarters with accelerated clock at 17. I would be happy with a combined 10 and even more happy if some of those were DPI and DH which are rare for me.

[MizzouRah]

I would be happy with a combined 10 and even more happy if some of those were DPI and DH which are rare for me.

I would too for sure... I'm hoping they tune that in a future update. Wilson took off too and scampered to a nice TD run against me. While NHL has no player/team separation, Madden certainly does!

[Danimal]

I played a game last night and the HDR effect was so bad on the helmets they looked like flashing disco lights. For me I'm not impressed at all with HDR and the way it is being used and I doubt the 4k is much better but I won't know until the new XB comes out.

[TCrouch]

4K is much, much better than the 1080p rendering.

HDR looks horrible all the time, though, IMO.

[Danimal]

4K is much, much better than the 1080p rendering.

HDR looks horrible all the time, though, IMO.

Good to know and glad I'm not the only one wondering if EA knows how to use HDR or not.

[TCrouch]

Oh yeah, I completely agreed with you. It makes a noticeable shift to a darker screen during the Tom Brady loading screen, and I liked the brighter image.

I changed the brightness and contrast settings to Highest and higher, and it got *better*, but then the little portrait images that they show are so washed out it looks hilariously bad.

There's no happy medium. I actually disabled HDR on my PS4 just to get rid of it, but that got annoying when I'd forget to turn it back on, so I just live with it looking sh*tty now.

[MizzouRah]

I beat LAR 20-17 but they had the ball on the 4 yard line with time winding down and a TO to spare. They kept the clock running and tried a pass play that was incomplete, game over.

End of game logic issue.. or just a Rams thing?

[Danimal]

I beat LAR 20-17 but they had the ball on the 4 yard line with time winding down and a TO to spare. They kept the clock running and tried a pass play that was incomplete, game over.

End of game logic issue.. or just a Rams thing?

You're still going to see that stuff, not as much but you will still see it. Aaron Rodgers in my last game scramble right and broke the pocket, was under no pressure and had 10 clear yards of running space. Instead threw across his body on the run and the pass was 15 yards short and picked off. So the bad was he did that, the good was in Madden 15 he would of hit that pass.

Problem is everything they do for this game is for head to head play. Solo players take a back seat, some might consider us sitting in the trunk so you just have to live with it.