Madden NFL 13

[sportdan30]

Agree with everything you wrote Kevin. I can find some fun with the game but it's seriously a Beta version and we're the game testers. If you're not in to online gaming, this game is very sub par. Glad I was able to rent first. Hopefully a patch will improve things with the game.

[Rodster]

Some guys on OS figured out how to use Madden 13 official rosters in Madden 12 (and Madden's 11 and 10) so just download those and you'll be good.

Can you post a link to that?

[Inuyasha]

As much as I really like the game, kevinpars is 100 percent correct in his evaluation. I really like the point he made about playing a season as different teams. I loved doing that. I even use to make a separate Franchise save controlling all the teams where I would watch the real NFL on Sunday, and the rest of the week play out the most interesting past Sunday games on Madden.

But the mistake I think Kevinpars is making is subtly comparing this game against the top tier sports titles such as MLB The Show, FIFA, NHL, and NBA in terms of what Madden should be doing now. You can't do that because if you do, Madden loses all the time.

The only way you can live with Madden is compare the newest Madden game against other Madden games. If you're into franchise, I can see the argument where Madden 13 loses out to Madden 12. But on the field gameplay, Madden 13 has the best gameplay in the franchise.

[Inuyasha]

Some guys on OS figured out how to use Madden 13 official rosters in Madden 12 (and Madden's 11 and 10) so just download those and you'll be good.

Can you post a link to that?

http://www.operationsports.com/forums/m ... 360-a.html

[Naples39]

Talking strategy here, how do you guys counter the press coverage and pressure up the middle? I played a game against a guy yesterday who did this every play. I couldn't run the ball for more than a few yards, and tried every type of pattern and my receivers were all covered like gloves. Slants, post, button-hook, out. He would also bring in the safeties but I could never get away from the CB's to exploit the wide open middle of the field. I did hit one screen for 60 yards though.

It seems like this is a dominant strategy for playing defense in this game. Surely there is some way to sidestep it though. What are the tricks of trade against this defense?

[TCrouch]

Hot route (make sure you have strategy pad quick links on) the outside receivers and go up on the right stick. That puts them on the fade/fly route that is specially designed to beat press coverage. Down on the d-pad does OL adjustments, and set them to pinch. They'll stuff the inside blitz and more often than not one (if not both) of your outside receivers will just shove the corner out of the way and go up the field untouched. If he has safety help over the top you have to be really fast and zip that ball toward the sideline. If it's got a single high safety down the middle, throw a medium type of ball instead so you are sure that you don't over/underthrow him.

But the short version is the Hot Route "Up R Stick" is a press coverage beater. Obviously the size difference affects this. Larry Fitzgerald or Calvin Johnson will murder guys going in press, while a receiver like Steve Smith may not be the best and moving a guy that's 6'0" out there. It depends on the corner's press rating and which team you're using, etc.

For what it's worth, that's been a dominant strategy for years. It has gotten tougher in recent editions due to that hot route being more effective and the press/release ratings being more involved. But with the Raiders and all of their corners being ridiculously highly-rated in Press Coverage, it's been a solid tactic in most league games for me for years. But guys who know how to beat it always manage to do so enough times in a game to back me off of it. Other guys just play right into it, so you want to learn that stuff above quickly. Once you hit them for a few big passes, they'll stop. Especially if they're rolling the safety up to play mop up duty. I did that for a long time, but this year more than ever they'll make you pay for leaving your assignment if a guy knows what he's doing on offense.

[Danimal]

I've settled on a decent set of Pro Sliders if anyone is interested I can post them. I'd rather play on All-Pro but I can't seem to get the DB's to be effected by the sliders.

I was surprised there was no opening day roster update yesterday.

[TCrouch]

They usually did them on Thursdays last year, so that wouldn't be surprising if they came out tomorrow.

[Rodster]

I've settled on a decent set of Pro Sliders if anyone is interested I can post them. I'd rather play on All-Pro but I can't seem to get the DB's to be effected by the sliders.

I was surprised there was no opening day roster update yesterday.

Yeah Dan please post them, i'm using Pro-Default. What are you seeing that's different?

[Danimal]

I've settled on a decent set of Pro Sliders if anyone is interested I can post them. I'd rather play on All-Pro but I can't seem to get the DB's to be effected by the sliders.

I was surprised there was no opening day roster update yesterday.

Yeah Dan please post them, i'm using Pro-Default. What are you seeing that's different?

It's obviously a matter of taste but on AP I think every DB is a Deion Sanders or Revis in terms of their coverage and reaction times. I find on Pro the reaction times to be a bit more like NCAA which means occasionally when someone is not looking they won't snap their head around at the last second and make the pick.

Having said that I am trying to balance the running game as it is a tad easy on Pro for me and the cpu still sucks. It's mainly because the cpu does too many cuts (like us hitting the right stick) if it would just hit the holes it would do better. It's why you will usually see CPU RB's that are bruisers do better against you then elusive ones because those guys use the jukes too much.

I still think the Pass Rush is not right. When it gets there it's good but when it doesn't the cpu has like 10 seconds to throw. When I controlled Julius Peppers he is taken to the ground 80% of the time. It's just off and made worse this year since they nerfed the user control. However not controlling them gets better results.

Still a work in progress buyt appreciate feedback I will post them tonight.

[pk500]

I've settled on a decent set of Pro Sliders if anyone is interested I can post them. I'd rather play on All-Pro but I can't seem to get the DB's to be effected by the sliders.

I was surprised there was no opening day roster update yesterday.

Post them, please, Dan!

[sportdan30]

Interested as well to see your sliders Dan. I've been playing the majority of my games on Pro and here are some of my observations.

- QB accuracy for the user has to be turned down fairly significantly. I was throwing some pin point passes with Bradford that wasn't indicative of his performance the last year.

- I turned interceptions way way down for both user and CPU, somewhere in the 20s.

- I noticed I too didn't get much of a pass rush when I controlled a D lineman, but ineviteably sacks did come when I let my CPU teammates rush the passer and I controlled a LB or Safety. A lot of times I'd switch to Long or Quinn as they broke free and were closing in on the QB.

- Running is way too easy on user default and conversely difficult for the CPU to get much of a running game going. Toss right and toss left seem to be rather tough in picking up any yardage, even on Pro. Curious to see what you came up with regarding running. I think turning up run blocking for the CPU does seem to help a bit.

- I see a pretty decent play call by the CPU on Pro. I haven't necessarily seen the frustrations that those over at OS who complain that the CPU playcalling is predictable. I've seen the CPU pass on the first down, second down, and third down. Ocassionaly, they will get in to a mode where it's run, run, pass but it's not excessive. I do think part of that is due to increasing the pass reaction time for the CPU. There's a few different theories floating around, but this seems to make the most sense.

- Because the meter is much slower on Pro with regards to kicking, that too needs a fairly significant, specifically with power and accuracy.

That's all I got so far. If they can patch the clock management, I'll be more than happy with the gameplay.

[vader29]

Roster news from EA:

The second Madden NFL 13 roster update will be available for download on the Xbox 360 and PS3 on Saturday morning. The update will reflect the final 53 man rosters of all 32 NFL teams. Details regarding the update will be available Friday morning.

The initial 75 man preseason rosters that were released with Madden NFL 13 will continue to be available for offline and online Connected Careers so that fans who want to manage the final roster of their team can do so. Final 53 man rosters will also be made available early next week for offline and online Connected Careers giving users the choice to use either roster when starting their Connected Careers experience.

[Sudz]

rosters for CCM early next week?

ugh. what a pile of lame.

[pk500]

rosters for CCM early next week?

ugh. what a pile of lame.

Probably will coincide with the release of the first patch, which hopefully will fix most of the CCM problems.

[Sudz]

rosters for CCM early next week?

ugh. what a pile of lame.

Probably will coincide with the release of the first patch, which hopefully will fix most of the CCM problems.

Just wish custom rosters were allowable in CCM.

[Danimal]

rosters for CCM early next week?

ugh. what a pile of lame.

Probably will coincide with the release of the first patch, which hopefully will fix most of the CCM problems.

Just wish custom rosters were allowable in CCM.

You didn't know this before buying the game?

[Brando70]

You didn't know this before buying the game?

It's not like it was heavily advertised. It's like coach mode not being allowed -- you either don't know until you get the game or you have to dig through forums to find out.

I'm curious how 53-man rosters work for CCM. Do you get to skip preseason in year one?

[Sudz]

You didn't know this before buying the game?

It's not like it was heavily advertised. It's like coach mode not being allowed -- you either don't know until you get the game or you have to dig through forums to find out.

I'm curious how 53-man rosters work for CCM. Do you get to skip preseason in year one?

yeah, i didn't read that anywhere. Hell, i'd be happy just being able to use create-a-player in CCM.

[Danimal]

You didn't know this before buying the game?

It's not like it was heavily advertised. It's like coach mode not being allowed -- you either don't know until you get the game or you have to dig through forums to find out.

I'm curious how 53-man rosters work for CCM. Do you get to skip preseason in year one?

You guys didn't look hard enough this was revealed at least a month before the ame came out, maybe longer. Of course they aren't going to advertise "Hey we took out player editing" but it was all over the E3 coverage.

I'm not saying you need to do your homework but this particular items and the no NCAA imports was big news and wasn't hard to find.

[Sudz]

You didn't know this before buying the game?

It's not like it was heavily advertised. It's like coach mode not being allowed -- you either don't know until you get the game or you have to dig through forums to find out.

I'm curious how 53-man rosters work for CCM. Do you get to skip preseason in year one?

You guys didn't look hard enough this was revealed at least a month before the ame came out, maybe longer. Of course they aren't going to advertise "Hey we took out player editing" but it was all over the E3 coverage.

I'm not saying you need to do your homework but this particular items and the no NCAA imports was big news and wasn't hard to find.

i read a ton of coverage and saw the NCAA import, but not the forced EA Rosters for CCM.

[JRod]

So after a week of some play time here's additional thoughts about the gameplay.


-CCM nerfs the CPU for some strange reason.

I just don't get why they did this. It makes no sense. If you start a "PLAY NOW" game the game plays amazingly balanced. There are a few quirks but it plays a really strong game of football. But do a CCM and something changes for the CPU run game. Which again, why just the run game why not the passing game. My DL seem to get better and the LBs are quick to react to runs.

Possibly this is happening because of hot/cold streaks in the game. In game two of a new CCM, Elvis Durmervil was hot and just destroyed anything that game to his side from runs, the OL it was really a cool thing to see. It was like another CCM where Orakpo was putting pressure on the QB all game long.


- Upping injuries and fatigue was the key to saving CCM coach mode.
I was worried about putting injuries up so high in my CCM but it's turned out well to get players into the game. Sometimes they are out a few plays or a few weeks. I wish I could turn up injuries in simulated games.

- Maybe the year, player difference mean the most.
RGIII and Manning. Play as those two and see the difference. I pretty much could do anything I wanted with Manning. RGIII was off, lead WRs too much, I think the WRs dropped more passes.

[MizzouRah]

JRod, you are on to something..

Play now plays a better game all around than a CCM game, which is probably going to kill this game for me as far as single player goes. I WOULD HAVE LIKED A SEASON MODE.

I'll see what the patch does for CCM, but the gameplay isn't all that great outside of play now, at least in my experience after almost a week with it.

[Rodster]

Play now plays a better game all around than a CCM game, which is probably going to kill this game for me as far as single player goes. I WOULD HAVE LIKED A SEASON MODE.

I'm hoping one day they'll bring that feature back. Has EA said how what the percentage of gamers use franchise mode and ccm?

[Wilk5280]

I think you guys must be smoking crack. Michael Turner ran all over me in an online ccm as the falcons stomped me as the panthers in Atlanta.