Alright boyz, here we go!!! Madden 2006 First Impressions

[Eaglesfan27]

Loading up madden, I see that he actually only changed the run blocking for the CPU (despite what his notes say) in the level 2 sliders. He upped it 2 notches. I'm going to up the Human run blocking 1 notch in addition to upping the CPU run blocking 2 notches.

[kcchief19]

I walk into a GameSpot yesterday and see the demo set up and decided to give it a test drive. I haven't played more than a minute of any Madden version in 10 years.

Opening kickoff and Dante Hall fumbles.
Denver recovers and scores a TD on their drive.
Hall takes the ensuing kickoff and I return it to the 40. That was the last man I had to beat or I would have had a TD. I wasn't sure how to use any juke controls and I ened up running into the tackler.
First play from scrimmage and I see Priest Holmes wind open coming out of the backfield. I throw it to him, press the A-button and run straight forward. Holmes breaks a tackle without any effort and scores a TD.

I then immediately remembered why I stopped buying the franchise 10 years ago.

[TroyF]

I walk into a GameSpot yesterday and see the demo set up and decided to give it a test drive. I haven't played more than a minute of any Madden version in 10 years.

Opening kickoff and Dante Hall fumbles.
Denver recovers and scores a TD on their drive.
Hall takes the ensuing kickoff and I return it to the 40. That was the last man I had to beat or I would have had a TD. I wasn't sure how to use any juke controls and I ened up running into the tackler.
First play from scrimmage and I see Priest Holmes wind open coming out of the backfield. I throw it to him, press the A-button and run straight forward. Holmes breaks a tackle without any effort and scores a TD.

I then immediately remembered why I stopped buying the franchise 10 years ago.


I'm not sure what level you were playing on, but just on all-pro default that's going to happen pretty rarely. In 10+ games worth of play, I've had one 60+ yard TD run and had one long swing pass go the distance. (and that took a perfect throw by Plummer to Tatum Bell where the defender just missed picking it off) Against me, the CPU has broke two 50+ yard TD runs and about 1 50+ yard pass play ever couple of games.

If anything, the CPU and myself are struggling to score points, not the other way around.

[illinifan999]

Just had the coolest TD run ever. Use the truck stick and in the process MY helmet gets popped off, but he breaks the tackle and scores the TD with no helmet. Looked pretty fucking funny with his mouthpiece still in at the end spiking the ball with no helmet.

[Eaglesfan27]

Yeah, I'll almost bet that was rookie level. I doubt it was any higher than Pro level, Kcchief. All-pro is tough.


I just had a great game against the Baltimore Ravens using my Eagles in a pre-season game. We won 20-17, but I was sweating it as Wright drove them down the field with under 2 minutes to go. They ran a very nice 2 minute drill (and definitely isn't messed up like NCAA's is.) With 5 seconds to go, they threw a 22 yard pass into the endzone that Roderick Hood barely knocked down before it found the receiver.


A few things I noticed:

- Not only can QB's duck under defenders, but HB's can too! It was so cool to see Correll Buckhalter duck under a diving high defender and then run for a few more yards before the defense caught him.

- Passing is so much more realistic. I tried scrambling with McNabb to my left and throwing on a dead run against his body to some extent. That didn't work out well at all as he threw a lame duck. Fortunately, Greg Lewis played defense and knocked it away before a defender could intercept it.

- I love that I can actually lob passes over LB's but underneath the safety now. I'm getting better at the intermediate routes and getting the right amount of touch on them.

- Baltimore ran the ball really well against me (perhaps due to the sliders, but I don't think so) and then used great play action passes to tear me up.

- I was running the ball well against them (surprisingly) early. They started loading up 8 men in the box. I started throwing deep on them and they backed off. They really disguised their defenses well at times too.

A few slider specific comments:

I tried version 2 (which is supposed to cause fewer pancakes) and Tra Thomas had 7 in a half. Ogden had 8 in a half. So, they aren't working to reduce pancakes that well. However, the rushing average was better. I averaged 3.3 with Westbrook (but Ray Lewis had a lot to do with keeping that down) and 3.7 in the second half with Buckhalter when Lewis wasn't in the game. Most of my yardage was between the tackles which I do well with if I read my blocks correctly.

- Thanks to good play action, Boller completed 55% which seems in the ballpark.

- Thanks to some good reads, I completed 60% with McNabb before I pulled him.

- I could only complete 45% with McMahon and 47% with Detmer.

Overall, it was a very fun game.

[jbmagic]

Eaglefan there not much you can do to reduce pancakes. its the engine problem.


but with playmaker sliders for run blk and pass blk reduce from default. it helps a little in reducing the pancakes.

the more you run, the more pancakes you get.

i sugest to keep it as Playmaker has it above for level 1 and level 2.

[TroyF]

Eagles,

I'm noticing the same things. Passing is tough, but fair. I think I'll have to play with the sliders a little bit (I'll try Playmakers later today) because the INT's on both sides are high.

Jake Plummer looks like. . . Jake Plummer. I'll have it down and start feeling comfortable and then just go through a disasterous stretch where I can't hit a thing, save the defenders in dead on stride.

I love how the CPU disguises the defenses. I think I'm in man on man coverage, drop back and watch in horror as my first read is doubled up and my second is jammed at the line. Not a good feeling.

I'm having a lot of success with the "back juke" move on inside runs, especially if they clog the line quick. Had a run with Tatum Bell today where the line was clogged, I used the move and found some daylight to the right. Broke free for a 35 yard gain.

I'm impressed thus far. Much more enjoyable than NCAA IMHO, and I really liked NCAA.

This is the first year I've played Madden that I'm impressed with the running game. If you read your blocks you can run inside, as well as hit the corner. More runs going for 3-5 yards than anything else. In past versions of Madden, I'd always end up with either 0 yards or 15. There was rarely any in between.

[Eaglesfan27]

Eagles,

I'm noticing the same things. Passing is tough, but fair. I think I'll have to play with the sliders a little bit (I'll try Playmakers later today) because the INT's on both sides are high.

Jake Plummer looks like. . . Jake Plummer. I'll have it down and start feeling comfortable and then just go through a disasterous stretch where I can't hit a thing, save the defenders in dead on stride.

I love how the CPU disguises the defenses. I think I'm in man on man coverage, drop back and watch in horror as my first read is doubled up and my second is jammed at the line. Not a good feeling.

I'm having a lot of success with the "back juke" move on inside runs, especially if they clog the line quick. Had a run with Tatum Bell today where the line was clogged, I used the move and found some daylight to the right. Broke free for a 35 yard gain.

I'm impressed thus far. Much more enjoyable than NCAA IMHO, and I really liked NCAA.

This is the first year I've played Madden that I'm impressed with the running game. If you read your blocks you can run inside, as well as hit the corner. More runs going for 3-5 yards than anything else. In past versions of Madden, I'd always end up with either 0 yards or 15. There was rarely any in between.
I agree with everything you said.

Also, I think you'll see a nice reduction in interceptions if you try Playmaker's sliders. With version 2 in my last game, Boller threw 1 and McMahon threw 2, but it seemed a bit better. I agree that default All-Pro produces a bit too many interceptions.

[jbmagic]

wow

i just play a great game.

My Raiders lost to the Browns 19-13 in overtime.


i had a chance to win in regulation with a fg. i am all lineup ready to kick it and they call a timeout to try to ice me. i never seen that before.

i miss the fg and we go into overtime

i lose on a 49 yard fumble return in OT.


i feel like defense is easier than playing offense so far. i stop the Browns Run with 37 total rushing yards By Suggs on 29 attempts 1.2 yards per carry

i am getting better in running fine. i find out its best to not use the sprint button always.
Lamont Jordan 138 yards on 28 attempts 4.9avg per carry 1 td 1 fumble. 2 times i ran over 20 yards

Pancakes was high still even with run blk and pass blk low like Playmaker has it. i think there nothing we can do about it. but seems better than the defaul.
Sims had 10 pancakes, Gallery had 8 pancakes, Crockett 7 pancakes, Grove had 6 pancakes.

The Browns had Shelton with 11 pancakes, Tucker with 8 pancakes, Faine with 7 pancakes


but my passing needs lots of work with the cones.
Collins was 12 for 31 171 yards sack 4 times 1 td 1 int

i need to learn how to read defense better. any tips?

[Eaglesfan27]

Jbmagic,

The biggest thing for me is reading only specific players (for example if I'm running a post, I'm only reading the Safeties, the MLB, and the corner covering my guy.) and choosing to throw it very quickly. I anticipate where the receiver is going, and don't wait for him to get there or the pass rush would get me. I'm actually getting fairly good at passing. I just had a 66% completion game with McNabb against the Bengals. I was only sacked once.

Also, use the running game to set up the passing game if you can. I ran Westbrook and Buckhalter hard in the beginning and used play action.

It was fun to see the CPU have a good passing day agaisnt me which they did. The Bengals do have a talented group of receivers. The game would have been close, but Palmer threw two red zone interceptions. As a result, I ended up beating them 38-7. However, Palmer threw for about 150 yards in a half of playing time.


One other thing I've noticed is that guys with lower accuracy, it seems to me, to be magnified for the deep ball. If so, that is very cool. For example, McMahon doesn't have a very high rating for accuracy but he does fairly well when I keep it short or medium but it his deep ball is long or wide more than McNabb's and more than his short throws.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

There are no changes to those sliders except he posted penalty sliders which I've already done almost the same thing with penalties. I'm glad to say that I'm see a nice variety and number of penalties. I meant to mention it, and forgot but in my game against the Bengals, their DB was having trouble keeping up with Greg Lewis. He managed to draw two defensive pass interference calls including one where I saw him being held about 15 yards down the field and purposefully threw it to him drawing the penalty. That was a very cool play and I would have been afraid to do it in previous versions of the game.

[jbmagic]

thanks Eaglefan27

he posted penalty sliders before. if you got the sliders the first time i posted, you might want to check his final sliders to be sure you have it all ok now.

are you using all the new features and old features when you play?


once i get my read down i think i will be ok.

i love this game so far. there so many different things i havent try it. like formation specific audibles yet.

and i better set up my regular audibles especially defense when they do the hurry up offense.

i must be blind but i not seeing the center do any movement for the signal calling for the blitz that coming.

[Eaglesfan27]

I use almost all of the features. I almost never direct a receiver using the playmaker. I prefer to throw it quick and lead my receivers.


I'm finding the most important new features to me to be:

- sliding blocking protection

- formation specific audibles (i use this quite a bit)

- The precision passing

- Of course, the cone is tied into that.

Jb, My center doesn't do that animation all of the time or even most of the time, just some of the time.

[jbmagic]

Eaglefan27

when you say you lead your receivers, what do you mean?


is that throwing it before he reaches his mark?

[jbmagic]

The formation shift is pretty cool too.

its different than formation audible.

[Eaglesfan27]

I mean that I'm locked onto my receiver with the vision cone and I'll throw it even before he makes his cut. In previous versions you couldn't do this because it would throw it like a streak if you threw it before he made his move to make it a hitch.

Also, one crossing routes and post routes I use precision passing to throw it ahead of them (left if the are going left) and lead them to where they are going to be.

I was just in the middle of a great defensive battle with the Jets. The roster update that I used has Ty Law on their team and he is doing well against T.O. John Abrahams is tough to control too. However, I'm on call and have to go see a patient or two now. It's times like this that I'm glad Madden has in-game saves.

[bselig]

I'm really, really bad at drafting for some reason. I get booed for every pick, and in this last one I actually got a C in the draft grade, worst I've seen.

[jbmagic]

Playmaker slider news.

Looks like he going to make another modification to his sliders.
sorry i tought it was going to be his final.

i will post it here when its ready


I think I found away to open up the passing game on both sides to make it more realistic overall. I did the 0 KDWN and it's pretty realistic. But the INT Slider is the key so when I get back I'll make the modifications and then both sets should be scary realistic. I found a away to also make the CPU's running game more consistent from team to team aswell. I'll post those changes later.

[TroyF]

Everything Eagles daid jb, though I'll add one tip of my own.

If you call a play action pass after you've ran the ball really well, make sure one of your WR is set to run a streak or fade route. Lock onto that guy and watch the CB after the play action is run. If you get a guy with low awareness, the CB will bite on the PA and never get back in time. I've had a few long gainers like this.

The other tip I can give is that if it's not a quick route you are throwing, make your first "read" be the blitz. Look for safeties or LB's coming through. If you see one, immediately look to the receiver on the side of the blitz. He'll likely be in man on man. Use the low throw where only he can get it. If there is no blitz, look through your reads, you'll have a couple of seconds if your offensive line is any good at all.

Oh, and practice, practice, practice. Set your offense to random play formation, all pass and the defense to random play formation. Have a ball. It's not exactly like you'll see in the game (with defenses geared to stop your main player or PA working really well), but the more you drop back, the better you'll get.

A good hour of that one session and you'll find yourself getting better, slowly but surely.

[MizzouRah]

Playmaker slider news.

Looks like he going to make another modification to his sliders.
sorry i tought it was going to be his final.

i will post it here when its ready
Is that guy like a Madden robot or something? I HATE sliders! I'm hoping AP plays well out of the box, if this game becomes a slider mess, it's going on ebay.

[TroyF]

Is that guy like a Madden robot or something? I HATE sliders! I'm hoping AP plays well out of the box, if this game becomes a slider mess, it's going on ebay.

I'm the opposite. I play on default for awhile and then tweak the sliders accordingly. (I'll certainly test sliders out as well)

So many times the pro level is too easy and the AP level is incredibly hard, without sliders I can't even play the game.

Even in this Madden, everything is playing pretty well for me, but I'm getting sacked a bit much and I'm throwing too many INT's. Sliders will help tweak both of these and allow me to fit the game to my skill level.

In short, I won't buy a game that doesn't have sliders.

[dervack]

Is that guy like a Madden robot or something? I HATE sliders! I'm hoping AP plays well out of the box, if this game becomes a slider mess, it's going on ebay.
Same here. I haven't played it since I got it last Sunday because I'm afraid that the settings out of the box aren't going to be that well, and I'll have to fuss with it to make it better. I made a couple of changes to NCAA, but mostly just to the penalty sliders, and left everything else the same, and I like the results I'm getting from NCAA.

[Raiders Army]

Just got it. My initial impressions are that it's pretty good. I was dreading the QB vision thing, but I actually like it. Much harder, but I think once I get used to it, it will be deadly.

Oh, and precision passing is great. It's like maximum passing for NFL2k. Especially to Randy Moss. :)

[aran]

I played with Playmaker's easier sliders and Curtis Martin ran for 230 yards and 3 touchdowns while Pennington threw 3 ints and only completed like 46% of his passes. Fiedler did lead us to a win in OT, though, with an incredible land-and-air drive from our own thirty all the way down to their 20. Thanks to training the rookie kicker, the FG was a chip shot, and we pulled out an amazing win, despite 4 interceptions (3 Pen, 2 Fied).

Fun game :).

[Galaril]

The draft and Free Agent AI is improved from my 3 times simming through a season and going into the second season. It's not perfect, but it is significantly better than last year.

That is the only difference that I've seen.

Bill Abner is reporting that the AI is drafting 7 kickers in the 2nd round and 6 punters in the 4th round. This is something that has been seem happening regularly. So, the drafting AI maybe better but still kind of poor. :(

[Galaril]

Also, how is the coach mode is anyone playing it in that mode?Sliders?

[Eaglesfan27]

Bill Abner is reporting that the AI is drafting 7 kickers in the 2nd round and 6 punters in the 4th round. This is something that has been seem happening regularly. So, the drafting AI maybe better but still kind of poor. :(
I've done three test drafts and I've only seen max of 3 kickers taken in the 2nd round. I've never gone past the 3rd round in my test drafts, so I may have missed that punter issue.

Edit: However, I believe Bill. He seems like a standup guy.

[Eaglesfan27]

Is that guy like a Madden robot or something? I HATE sliders! I'm hoping AP plays well out of the box, if this game becomes a slider mess, it's going on ebay.

Todd, it really does play well out of box (except for the lack of punt returns), but I wanted to see if it was even better with this slider set because so many people rave about his slider set. The game is very defensive oriented (but not too much so) without the sliders. I find these sliders open up the passing game and make it a more offensive game.

It plays even better with the set IMHO. However, it plays very nicely without the sliders.

[Eaglesfan27]

Also, how is the coach mode is anyone playing it in that mode?Sliders?
I really liked the coach mode except for the fact that scrambling QB's didn't run.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

Redarding the draft. Do AI ctrled teams draft according to need or according to best available and /or best qb available. I hated it last year when a team that picked a qb as a top 10 pick wold do the same the next year.

[Eaglesfan27]

Redarding the draft. Do AI ctrled teams draft according to need or according to best available and /or best qb available. I hated it last year when a team that picked a qb as a top 10 pick wold do the same the next year.

I only did the first year draft 3 times. I don't know about 2nd year and beyond drafting. The only suspicious pick I saw in my test drafts was GB taking a QB in the 1st round. I thought that was odd with Rodgers already on their team.

[TroyF]

I only did the first year draft 3 times. I don't know about 2nd year and beyond drafting. The only suspicious pick I saw in my test drafts was GB taking a QB in the 1st round. I thought that was odd with Rodgers already on their team.

Not odd, they just realized early that he sucked and moved on. :)

I decided to start a franchise (temporary, because I'll be playing the XBox version instead of the PS2 shortly). I figured I'd played with Jake Plummer about all I wanted to and decided to sim a fantasy draft.

The draft ends about ten minutes later. . . and my starting QB is Jake Plummer. With Danny Kanell backing him up.

For the love of God. . .

[bselig]

It seems like awareness is a bigger deal in the sim engine then it was in past years. My teams have consistantly had great ratings in the franchise mode but always underachieve when I sim, and as far as I can tell it's due to the crap awareness my guys have on average(never have many veterans, and draft only for speed).

[Pumpy Tudors]

I beat San Francisco in my second preseason game 16-3. I had restarted my franchise and lost my first game (again) to Houston 24-6. The SF game was nice, though. We got 10 sacks, and Alex Smith couldn't find anybody to pass to in the first half. He ended up scrambling a lot just to avoid pressure. Unfortunately, I couldn't do a damn thing with Jake Plummer. I think he got sacked 7 times in the first half. Instead of using Danny Kanell in the second half, I used Matt Mauck instead. He finished 10-16 and only got sacked once. I also gave Ron Dayne some playing time and have determined that he clearly needs to rot at the bottom of my depth chart. No shit, huh?

[jbmagic]

i love how the deep pass in Madden 2006 is better than NCAA 2006

In Madden 2006 you have to work for it. you have to setup the run first.

In NCAA 2006 it seems easier to get a deep pass more often.

i love both games, But Madden 2006 feels more realistic for passing.


Anybody finish a dynasty in Madden 2006 or NCAA 2006 yet and notice if your offensive line progress alot in ratings because of the high pancakes when playing your games out in franchise mode?

if not, then we dont have to worry about the high pancakes when playing your games out in franchise mode for Madden and NCAA. seems like sliders wont help to reduce the pancakes even with run and pass blk low.

[CraigSca]

<edited>

[Galaril]

Well,
If anyone cares I have run aseason of three drafts and my results as far as the kicker -punter being drafted too often and earlier is definitely an issue that pretty much is agame killer for me since I play in franchise mode against the AI.I quickly simmed through three years of franchise mode four times so atotal of twelve seasons.I had an overall average of 3.2 kickers drafted in round 2 and a whopping (IMHO) 6.5 punters drafted in the 4th round. It seems broken since punters were always drafted in the fourth and kickers in the second. So, on average franchise mode is wasting about ten draft picks on players that could be acquired through after draft undrafted player signings. I guess if there is a feature to carry out the draft manual , which theer is than this problem can be alleviated as long as there is some kind pick suggestion option. I would hate to have to figure out evry teams draft needs and then draft the correct pick.

[CraigSca]

Yes, but think of the leverage the AI teams will have at the trade deadline when each team has 4 placekickers and 4 punters on their roster when you're left with an undrafted free agent!

[Pumpy Tudors]

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/9900/pancake2rt.jpghttp://img239.imageshack.us/img239/493/pancakes0ai.jpghttp://img239.imageshack.us/img239/8513/pancakes8kz.jpg
I am so sorry again.

[MizzouRah]

Todd, it really does play well out of box (except for the lack of punt returns), but I wanted to see if it was even better with this slider set because so many people rave about his slider set. The game is very defensive oriented (but not too much so) without the sliders. I find these sliders open up the passing game and make it a more offensive game.

It plays even better with the set IMHO. However, it plays very nicely without the sliders.
Thanks, in fact I think I'll get some playing time in today. I will say MVP 2005 on the PC is taking a lot of my time though. :)

I need to play a game to see how I play on AP defaults.

[Bearcat729]

I just found out that the restricted FA period is still broken.

[Eaglesfan27]

I just found out that the restricted FA period is still broken.

How so?

[illinifan999]

hxxp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v72/dansik/ncaadynasty007.jpg

There's my td scoring run without his helmet.

[Eaglesfan27]

Nice pic! :)

[Bearcat729]

How so?


Teams still won't bid on players I offer a contract to.

I had a restricted RB who I offered a 650K 1 year contract to and got him at that price. He was rated 85 overall so I figured that he would at least get an offer from another team.

[Kodos]

Last year, I resorted to starting a franchise where I ran all of the other teams, but set everything to autopilot. Then, come draft time, I picked the first few rounds for everyone after scouting team needs. Time consuming, but a way around poor draft AI. :(

[jbmagic]

Last year, I resorted to starting a franchise where I ran all of the other teams, but set everything to autopilot. Then, come draft time, I picked the first few rounds for everyone after scouting team needs. Time consuming, but a way around poor draft AI. :(

what about trades?

i dont think there an autopilot for trades.

[j51]

Is there a slider that controls defensive backs? Every DB seems to have Deion's recovery speed and Jordan's vertical. If it weren't for the super jumping CBs with magical leather-seeking arms I could really get into this game.

[aran]

I have a feeling that this game makes up its mind early on whether you are going to win or lose, then modifies what happens accordingly.

I was just playing the Jags as the Jets, and we shut them down every 1st and 2nd down, holding Toefield to 1 yard per carry on each and Leftwhich couldn't hit anything. Then, magically, on thir down Leftwhich throws into double coverage (something that, if i do it, i get intercepted) with great success and gets 10-20 yards EVERY TIME; or Toefield breaks a 15 yard run.

Meanwhile, on my side of the ball, Curtis Martin (who had an amazing first game against the Chiefs) can't break tackles for shit. Pennington's passes are being DROPPED by McCareins and Jolley. McCareins almost NEVER used to drop passes. He had a great game against the Dolphins where he caught 8, dropped 0, and had 2 TDs. Jolley is leading the team in receptions and has a TD, yet he drops third down passes.

Really strange.

[Kodos]

what about trades?

i dont think there an autopilot for trades.

I don't think there is one for trades either.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

I have a feeling that this game makes up its mind early on whether you are going to win or lose, then modifies what happens accordingly.

I was just playing the Jags as the Jets, and we shut them down every 1st and 2nd down, holding Toefield to 1 yard per carry on each and Leftwhich couldn't hit anything. Then, magically, on thir down Leftwhich throws into double coverage (something that, if i do it, i get intercepted) with great success and gets 10-20 yards EVERY TIME; or Toefield breaks a 15 yard run.

Meanwhile, on my side of the ball, Curtis Martin (who had an amazing first game against the Chiefs) can't break tackles for shit. Pennington's passes are being DROPPED by McCareins and Jolley. McCareins almost NEVER used to drop passes. He had a great game against the Dolphins where he caught 8, dropped 0, and had 2 TDs. Jolley is leading the team in receptions and has a TD, yet he drops third down passes.

Really strange.

Did the Jags come back and beat you in the end? Madden 2003 had the same problems where the PC would comeback if down.

[aran]

this is through the first three quarters of the game, with Playmaker's sliders. NO matter what i did, i couldn't stop them. They were winning 21-0 at the end of the the third quarter. I got frustrated and turned the game off. I hate playing this game when i think i have no real impact on what's going on.

[Ironhead]

How are drops in this game? NCAA is still irritating me in this aspect.

[Eaglesfan27]

How are drops in this game? NCAA is still irritating me in this aspect.
They are good. Hard hits will sometime produce drops. Stone-handed FB's or TE's will sometimes drop it. However, guys that should catch it, usually do.

[jbmagic]

one cool thing is the fake hike, sometimes you can draw the other team offside.

but it can also make your team do a false start too if you do it too much.

[wade moore]

Ok.. no time to read this whole thing... ;)

has anyone found good instructions on how on-line franchises can work? I know it involves the locker room, but that's about it...

[bhlloy]

this is through the first three quarters of the game, with Playmaker's sliders. NO matter what i did, i couldn't stop them. They were winning 21-0 at the end of the the third quarter. I got frustrated and turned the game off. I hate playing this game when i think i have no real impact on what's going on.

I've always felt the Madden AI has horribly cheated. If I'm beating the computer by a couple of TD's on '05 (haven't played '06 and probably won't go near it) I can guarantee either a) the opposition QB whoever he is will suddenly start completing 75% and put together 80 yard drives, no matter what defence I put in, b) the opposition defense become psychic and I have three people in the backfield on every run, and a perfect zone defense on every pass or c) a combination of the above
Seriously, the likes of David Garrard and Josh McCown have become Joe Montana on my ass so many times in the fourth quarter it's not even funny.

I'm not the greatest player ever, and I'm sure some of it is down to imagination running wild, but it's there dammit ;)

[Yossarian]

I've read countless interviews with Madden's various programmers who all insist 'catchup code' or 'robo qb' are not in the game.

They say that the results we see are down to the percentages changing that determin the play called because the situations are so dire.

IE... the qb scores more big td's because it attemps more!

[bhlloy]

I've read countless interviews with Madden's various programmers who all insist 'catchup code' or 'robo qb' are not in the game.

They say that the results we see are down to the percentages changing that determin the play called because the situations are so dire.

IE... the qb scores more big td's because it attemps more!

In that case it's poorly implemented IMO. I see way too many bad QB's become on the money, accurate passers. A poor QB should still be a poor QB, especially when I know they are going to pass and call defenses accordingly. And it's not so much big TD's as the QB finding somebody open for 10-15 yard gains down after frickin down and there is nothing I can do to stop it.

[Emiliano]

Playmaker's SLIDERS WERE UPDATED 08/14/05 FINAL VERSION

Man, this guy is the slider scientist!!! How many hours/day does he play Madden??? Like, 20??? Anyway, thanks to him and thanks to jb for the copy/paste job.

I feel the game is really playing better with these. I admit after the initial hype, I started to feel that it was too "pro" for me and less fun, compared to NCAA 2006 which I'm still playing. In fact, I went back to NCAA the last 2 days...
I'm now looking forward to continue my franchise.

[Raiders Army]

Don't know if it was mentioned before, but it's cool how their helmets will pop off and they'll keep going, like in real-life. Just a little change from last year that's cool.

Oh, and I really like the cone vision. It rocks because it makes it realistic, except on draws.

[Eaglesfan27]

I find it funny that this guy has released at least a half dozen "final" sliders.

In any case, I've liked the previous versions and will probably try whatever set he releases later tonight or tomorrow.

[jbmagic]

I find it funny that this guy has released at least a half dozen "final" sliders.

In any case, I've liked the previous versions and will probably try whatever set he releases later tonight or tomorrow.


LOL

Man he sure likes to fine tune it :)

hopefully those last ones i posted are Final.

according to his last post he said he is finally done and ready to start his franchise.


Yes, I'm done finally.


i only play an half with his latest. there pretty good.

but i have to play game many with his sliders to see how they hold up. at least you can make adjustments on his comments if you need to fine tune them up for you.

[jbmagic]

Emiliano

i play both too.

the hard part getting my brain train when playing both because of some of the controls are different. :)

[korme]

Tight that you can change player positions, I don't know if this is a new feature or not. For example, while updating rosters I traded Jon McGraw to the Lions, and I see they already have a nasty SS, so I am like.. I guess he's playing FS, that sucks. But then I went to info and changed him to FS, so it's all gravy now.

[korme]

Interesting that Onterrio Smith isn't even in the game.

[MizzouRah]

Ok, I finally got some time in with Madden today.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think this is the year that I'm finally going to play on the All Madden level. Out of the box the AM level plays one heck of a realistic game of football, no slider tweaks whatsoever. Sure, I'm going to need many more practice games under my belt before starting a franchise, but I'm really liking the way it plays on this level. The CPU teams stats have been right on so far. They can rush well with a good back, passing is where it should be, and overall the CPU seems to call a better game. I DO NOT see the speed cheat that AM usually has. Get an open receiver the ball in the clear and he's gone. This is all preliminary and by no means am I a Madden "baller". :)

So far, if the stats stay this way, it's just the meat of an otherwise total package football game. Meaning, without CPU offense (hence AP level), the game wouldn't be much fun, but if AM continues to look this good, the rest of the game (minus the draft goofyness some are talking about) is pure bliss.

When the gameplay flows like this, Madden 2006 can easily draw you into its universe.. at least it has me. So much, I had to turn it off or else the wife might have thrown the disk out into the rain. :p

I LOVE the new passing vision cones, pure fun and pure football. The Rams have a good OL and Bulger had time to read the field and using the left stick to place the ball is perfectly implemented. I also love the "truck stick", especially with Jackson.

I'm happy. All I need is to tweak the penalties, which is normal.. and set the sub in/out settings - and of course practice and learn the buttons a bit better. The only thing that is going to bug me is going back to NCAA as the controls are different in some areas.

I've NEVER played Madden on AM level, but this could be the year.

[Eaglesfan27]

Todd,

Between hearing your impressions about All-Madden and hearing Bill Abner's impressions, I might have to try that difficulty level soon. I've never been able to play on All-Madden and didn't even think to check out that level this year, but it sounds like it might be playable.

[MizzouRah]

Todd,

Between hearing your impressions about All-Madden and hearing Bill Abner's impressions, I might have to try that difficulty level soon. I've never been able to play on All-Madden and didn't even think to check out that level this year, but it sounds like it might be playable.My post sounds a bit hyper, but I'm going to play some more tonight (at least one more game) :) So far, each game has been great on AM. I'm not winning much, but I'm getting better. Teams play just like their real counterparts on AM, imo.

Also, I'm using the rosters from www.psxsports.com (http://www.psxsports.com/) - which are great, btw.

12 Min - Accelerated Clock
Penalties: All maxed EXCEPT Holding (8)
I've read that 84/89 sub out/in work pretty well, but I haven't tried that yet.

Play a game and let me know what you think EF.

[Eaglesfan27]

Todd,

According to people on the operation sports forum, All-Madden even has punt returns better on default sliders. I'm trying a game right now (assuming I don't get paged away - I'm on call.) I'll post my thoughts in an hour or so.

[MizzouRah]

Todd,

According to people on the operation sports forum, All-Madden even has punt returns better on default sliders. I'm trying a game right now (assuming I don't get paged away - I'm on call.) I'll post my thoughts in an hour or so.
Yes, they are... although I haven't seen too many.

Has anyone else turned off all the songs and turned on all the NFL Films music? Man those bring back memories. Nice!!

I'm playing vs the Dolphins right now.. I'll post more at the half. (cold and rainy)

[jbmagic]

Todd,

Between hearing your impressions about All-Madden and hearing Bill Abner's impressions, I might have to try that difficulty level soon. I've never been able to play on All-Madden and didn't even think to check out that level this year, but it sounds like it might be playable.



whats Bill Abner's web site?

i heard All madden is toned down. there not superplayers like before.

i still going to play on all pro with playmakers slider until i learn how to read the defense and learn how to use the cones better.

but i happy that All Madden the cpu dont get a super boost like in the past. and will move to that Level later on.

one thing i heard is you have to be smarter on calling plays on defense and offense on All-Madden. if the cpu see you make a mistake you will pay for it. :)

thanks

[Ironhead]

whats Bill Abner's web site?
hxxp://sportsgamer.blogspot.com/

[jbmagic]

My post sounds a bit hyper, but I'm going to play some more tonight (at least one more game) :) So far, each game has been great on AM. I'm not winning much, but I'm getting better. Teams play just like their real counterparts on AM, imo.

Also, I'm using the rosters from www.psxsports.com (http://www.psxsports.com/) - which are great, btw.

12 Min - Accelerated Clock
Penalties: All maxed EXCEPT Holding (8)
I've read that 84/89 sub out/in work pretty well, but I haven't tried that yet.

Play a game and let me know what you think EF.

Thanks for the Info on All-Madden. i try it after i get use of the cones and reading defense better on all-pro.

SUB OUT-82/SUB IN-87 works very well.

i wish there was roster for the xbox for Madden 2006 like Ncaa 2006 had.
so i can use my action replay.

[TroyF]

I turned off all the songs and went to the NFL films music about twenty seconds into the game.

[jbmagic]

do you guys know what the color on some position players change color when selecting a formation? i hardly notice it before on the pc, but console i do notice it.


can you save sliders setting by making a new profile for it after you set it? this way i dont have to keep changing the sliders?

i can just load up the profile and use the sliders with it.

thanks

[MizzouRah]

As long as you save your settings in your profile, they'll load everytime you load the game.

I might try the 82/87 sub settings, but I'm telling you that all penalties maxed and holding two from the right are about perfect. I'm seeing some penalties for once in a console football game.

There is a roster for the Xbox over at psxsports.com - it even has Ricky Williams and his photo in the game.

..and yes, make a mistake on AM and you will pay dearly... but the level is definitly playable this year, just practice like heck.

[Eaglesfan27]

I just had a fairly good game on All-Madden. I found the pass rush to be just too much. The Giants sacked McNabb 3 times in the first 4 minutes of the first quarter. They also forced me to throw 1 pick.

I pumped up the pass block for the Human, and it suddenly became very enjoyable. I still messed up and threw two more picks in the 1st half. One of them was my fault, where I threw it into double coverage towards T.O. The other one was where I just had a pass tipped at the line and caught by a linebacker.

The game definitely pumped up the offense for the CPU. Actually, this was the most offense I've seen in any game of this version. Both offenses really flowed.

McNabb: 22 of 39 (56%) 3 TD 3 INT for 290 yards, sacked 5 times. 2 rushes for 27 yards too.

Manning: 11 of 21 (52%) for 4 TD 0 INT for 321 yards. sacked 3 times. The thing about Manning's numbers is that I stupidly blitzed almost everyone when they were on their own 1. Manning proceeded to throw a quick pass to Shockey who has suprising speed. He outran my guys thanks to the jump he had for a 99 yard TD.

Also, they were running so well that I put 8 men in the box and he hit another 64 yard TD to Toomer. Without those long passes, his numbers aren't so great, but I couldn't believe he didn't throw even a single pick (my guys dropped a few possible ones.) Also, he tore me apart with a 2 minute drive when they were down in the 4th quarter to give them a 29-25 win.


Westbrook: 20 carries for 50 yards. Rushing is hard for me on this level, but I did have one 11 yard run. Lots of 2-3 yard runs.

Buckhalter: 7 carries for 21 yards.


Tiki Barber: 32 carries for 125 yards. They pounded the rock and Barber kept many drives a live. I thought the CPU running game was tough but fair.

Mike Cloud only had 2 yards on 4 carries so it was very running back specific.


Terrell Owens had 7 catches for 158 yards and 2 TD's including a 59 yard bomb where it was play action single coverage and his corner bit on the play action a bit. His speed took over.

Westbrook had 5 catches for 28 yards.

LJ Smith had 5 catches for 42 yards and a 1 TD.


Toomer had 5 catches for 106 yards and 2 TD's.

Shockey had 2 catches for 119 yards and 1 TD which was a 99 yarder.

Willie Ponder had 2 catches for 59 yards including converting a key 4th and 14 for them in their final drive.

Three guys on each team had over 12 pancakes (which I've decided I just don't care. IF O-linemen get better from the inflated stats, I'll just have a harder team keeping them due to inflated salaries.)

Simon, Kearse, and Dhani Jones had my 3 sacks.


Anyway, All-Madden is definitely playable, and I'll probably just make slight tweaks to a few of the sliders.

[aran]

One of the most annoying things for me with the vision cone invovles when you press R2, but then release it without changing where you are looking. You lose control of the player for a split second and it can really cost you big time. It ended in me getting sacked four times last game i played.

I also have to get used to not dropping back so far... hehe. So many times i throw terrible passing because i'm still passing back when i throw the ball.

[Eaglesfan27]

I also noticed a better pocket forming with this difficulty level once I bumped up the pass blocking a few notches. One other thing that I just checked after the game. T.O. was repeatedly running over his cornerback, but the corner that was covering him only has a 49 tackling. Very nice to see that make a difference.

[jbmagic]

As long as you save your settings in your profile, they'll load everytime you load the game.

I might try the 82/87 sub settings, but I'm telling you that all penalties maxed and holding two from the right are about perfect. I'm seeing some penalties for once in a console football game.

There is a roster for the Xbox over at psxsports.com - it even has Ricky Williams and his photo in the game.

..and yes, make a mistake on AM and you will pay dearly... but the level is definitly playable this year, just practice like heck.


oh my gosh. Thank you Todd about lettign us know about All-Madden

i love all madden level compare to previous versions.

the cpu plays well but not super powerful like in the past.

they run and pass.


i had my raiders play the browns default setting. max penalty, 12 mins accerlation clock

i lost 30-3. but it feel so much better than all-pro.

it should of been 23-3 but with them ahead with like 1 min to go, instead of kneeling down they keep running the ball and got a late td.

kinda surprise QB dont kneel for sportsmanship :)


i still have a lot of work to do on my passign and reading defense, but i wanted to try all madden out.


Passing
Collins was 6 for 26 95 yards 2 sacks and 4 int.
but that my fault as i am still learning with the cones

T. Dilfer was 18 for 29 214 yards 2 int 1 sack.

Rushing
Jordan had 21 yards on 17 attempts.
L. Sugggs had 162 yards on 32 attempts 1 td

Pancakes
i didnt run well so less pancakes
top guy R. stone with 4 pancakes, Gallery wuth 3 pancakes

T. tucker 24 pancakes, Coleman and Shelton 16 pancakes each.

Raiders time of possession 16:52 and Browns 31:08



i think with some sliders adjustement, All-Madden is the level you guys should play on. The cpu plays more realistic on it and there not so powerfull on that level like in the past.

The cpu will have good long drives sometimes. you can stop there drives sometimes and there not unstoppable.

[korme]

I'm again playing on All-Madden. Last year I liked All-Madden, so it's not really different for me.

Thinking about starting my franchise over and picking a less quality squad than the Bengals. Bears, perhaps. Maybe the Saints or Seahawks.

[jbmagic]

do you guys play on long view?

i starting to like that view more and more because you can see more of the field.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Jeez, I was just starting to get comfortable on All-Pro, and now I hear all this about All-Madden. I will definitely need some slider help, though. I'm so confused. :(

[jbmagic]

Pumpy Tudors give all -madden a try on default sliders, max penalty and 12 mins acerlation clock.

it just has a good realistic feeling to it.

i think with a few minor sliders adjustment for All-madden it will be great.

i still going to practice on all-pro with playmaker sliders to get better at the passing before i switch over to all-madden

[jbmagic]

do you guys know what the color on some position players number change color when selecting a formation? i hardly notice it before on the pc, but console i do notice it.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Pumpy Tudors give all -madden a try on default sliders, max penalty and 12 mins acerlation clock.

it just has a good realistic feeling to it.

i think with a few minor sliders adjustment for All-madden it will be great.

i still going to practice on all-pro with playmaker sliders to get better at the passing before i switch over to all-madden
I did that when I first got the game. I got my ass kicked by the Texans 87-16.

[Pumpy Tudors]

do you guys know what the color on some position players number change color when selecting a formation? i hardly notice it before on the pc, but console i do notice it.
It means that they're fatigued.

[jamesUMD]

Played it this weekend andd have to say that I was unimpressed. On the field play is smoother, but they really did not add much of anything new. Cone vision is gimmicky, which we turned off, and there was practically nothing new added to the franchise.

[MizzouRah]

I also noticed a better pocket forming with this difficulty level once I bumped up the pass blocking a few notches. One other thing that I just checked after the game. T.O. was repeatedly running over his cornerback, but the corner that was covering him only has a 49 tackling. Very nice to see that make a difference.
So far, I haven't been sacked that much with the Rams OL, but when I see the blitz, I either dump it off to my RB or throw it away. I understand results may vary, but teams love to blitz in the NFL and reaction time is so much quicker in the NFL vs the NCAA. My mad skillz have diminished some though. :p

I'm going to practice a ton with passing on AM level as running has been quite fun and realistic so far. I think you really have to stay in the pocket on AM level as in the past I've been used to running outside the pocket. Also, the speed on this level is so realistic, which is nice.

My wife and kids will be gone tonight so it will be a full night of NCAA and Madden.

[Cuckoo]

Played it this weekend andd have to say that I was unimpressed. On the field play is smoother, but they really did not add much of anything new. Cone vision is gimmicky, which we turned off, and there was practically nothing new added to the franchise.

This is the reason I haven't purchased it yet. I wanted something new to the franchise, and while the superstar mode is intriguing, I suspect that it will get old very quickly and fail to justify 50 bucks from me.

[MizzouRah]

This is the reason I haven't purchased it yet. I wanted something new to the franchise, and while the superstar mode is intriguing, I suspect that it will get old very quickly and fail to justify 50 bucks from me.
$40 from Circuit City. :D

Honestly, this year's version has been quite a surprise for me as far as improvements go. Most are subtle, but I love the vision, precision passing and I like the little presentation additions. The game feels more lively imo and the graphics on the ps2 look improved.

I'm having fun with MVP on the PC and NCAA and Madden on the ps2 - a big year for EA in my household for sure. I didn't play Madden 2005 very much thanks to NFL 2k5, but I'm liking what I see with 2006.

[wade moore]

$40 from Circuit City. :D

Honestly, this year's version has been quite a surprise for me as far as improvements go. Most are subtle, but I love the vision, precision passing and I like the little presentation additions. The game feels more lively imo and the graphics on the ps2 look improved.

I'm having fun with MVP on the PC and NCAA and Madden on the ps2 - a big year for EA in my household for sure. I didn't play Madden 2005 very much thanks to NFL 2k5, but I'm liking what I see with 2006.
I love some of the new, subtle, presentation features.. the way the score is displayed at the top, the graphical drive summary after scores, and a few other minor things..

but above all, i bought it this year for franchise on-line.. i probably won't do a big franchise, but a few buddies i grew up playing with have grown apart and intend to do like a 4 person franchise with the cpu controlling the other teams...

[Cuckoo]

$40 from Circuit City. :D

Honestly, this year's version has been quite a surprise for me as far as improvements go. Most are subtle, but I love the vision, precision passing and I like the little presentation additions. The game feels more lively imo and the graphics on the ps2 look improved.

I'm having fun with MVP on the PC and NCAA and Madden on the ps2 - a big year for EA in my household for sure. I didn't play Madden 2005 very much thanks to NFL 2k5, but I'm liking what I see with 2006.


I have actually purchased every year's Madden since about 1998 so I'm betting I'll end up buying it. It'll depend on how bored I get with the other games I'm playing. :)

I don't really have a doubt that there are subtle improvements, but I just have a feeling I won't use the new "features" enough to justify even the Circuit City price. But I'll eventually want to transfer draft classes from NCAA so I'll probably cave.

[Philliesfan980]

Got the game last week, but haven't had much time to give it a go. Call me lazy, but this is a big thread :).

I haven't really played the last few versions of Madden (due to NFL2k series). I'm an above average gamer, but no stud by any means. Lots of discussion has gone on here regarding sliders. Now I'm hearing that All-Madden (which in previous years the CPU would act like football gods) is the way to go. Which is the best for me? I know that the best answer is "try for yourself", but I'm at work right now and would like some advice :).

Thanks

[jbmagic]

Got the game last week, but haven't had much time to give it a go. Call me lazy, but this is a big thread :).

I haven't really played the last few versions of Madden (due to NFL2k series). I'm an above average gamer, but no stud by any means. Lots of discussion has gone on here regarding sliders. Now I'm hearing that All-Madden (which in previous years the CPU would act like football gods) is the way to go. Which is the best for me? I know that the best answer is "try for yourself", but I'm at work right now and would like some advice :).

Thanks


i recommend to start off at all-pro and play there to get use of everything. also goto the practice screen on that level.


after goto All-Madden

[illinifan999]

Call me crazy but I thought precision passing has always been in there. In previous versions I was able to place the ball where I wanted it unless it was a coincidence everytime. :confused:

[MizzouRah]

Got the game last week, but haven't had much time to give it a go. Call me lazy, but this is a big thread :).

I haven't really played the last few versions of Madden (due to NFL2k series). I'm an above average gamer, but no stud by any means. Lots of discussion has gone on here regarding sliders. Now I'm hearing that All-Madden (which in previous years the CPU would act like football gods) is the way to go. Which is the best for me? I know that the best answer is "try for yourself", but I'm at work right now and would like some advice :).

Thanks
Watch the videos, go into practice mode, then try a game on AM default.. adjust from there.

[jbmagic]

Call me crazy but I thought precision passing has always been in there. In previous versions I was able to place the ball where I wanted it unless it was a coincidence everytime. :confused:


in the past they had pass lead.


this year if you go up on precision passing the ball go high and before with pass lead the ball would of gone ahead of the wr.

also precison pass you can go left or right of the WR.

[Kodos]

I apologize to Madden for my thread last week. This is the best-playing version in Madden history. And I suck at the vision cone passing! :)

[MizzouRah]

I've moved to 13 min accelerated clock as well, too few plays on 12. The average so far this year in preseason has been 124 - I was getting under 120 with 12. FWIW.....mileage may vary.

[Anthony]

i gave Madden another chance, and i'm liking it a lot now. i think my prob was that i would lock in on one WR with the vision cone thing and not realize i could change my target by again hitting the right trigger (i would do it at the line, but didn't realize you could change targets after the snap). i beat the Cardinals with the Giants in week 1, and in week 2 i got murdered by the Saints, like 33-14 (both long runs by Tiki Barber). it's more fun now. now it's all about practicing more and getting used to the vision cone. glad i didn't put this one down too quickly.

i play on All Pro (the level beneath All Madden i think), with accelerated clock with 11 minute quarters. i think i've tried 10 minute quarters as well, it takes too long to play a game and i usually only play Madden for about 2 -3 hours a sitting.

[CraigSca]

So...I guess the consensus is that Madden is better than NCAA this year? Nuts.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'll play my final preseason game against Arizona (I'm using Denver) later today. I'm going to keep it on All-Pro and see how it turns out. I came from behind against Indianapolis and won 29-28 after having been down 21-3 at one point. That point was halftime. Manning picked my defense apart. The backup, Travis Brown, played the second half. He couldn't do anything. He was missing receivers and holding on to the football for far too long. There was a massive difference between the QB with the single-season touchdown record and a journeyman who has four games of NFL experience over four seasons. I was able to come back because of two interceptions Brown threw, and I also got an easy touchdown when they tried to stack the line against my running game. I saw my receiver Triandos Luke in single coverage and just lofted a pass over the backup CB's head for a 34-yard touchdown. I didn't feel like anything was too easy for me just because I was on All-Pro. I want to play All-Madden just because I'm not sure that the CPU runs the ball enough, but I just don't know if I can go back to that.

[Kodos]

I tried out playmakers level 2 sliders and liked 'em. They're posted somewhere earlier in this thread...

[korme]

All-Madden is harder this year that last year.

The Bears just beat my revamped Redskins 33-6 on opening day.

[jbmagic]

I tried out playmakers level 2 sliders and liked 'em. They're posted somewhere earlier in this thread...



Playmaker updated his slider
http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showpost.php?p=867400&postcount=369

there no more level sliders

he has one set of sliders for all-pro

look above for the latest and use that. its much much better.

[jbmagic]

ok guys my big problem is passing.

i getting my pass deflected a lot and getting a lot of incompletions

any tips? thanks

[jbmagic]

ok two things not cover in the xbox manual.


how do you shade a wr on the xbox?

and how you tell your defense after the snap if its going to be a pass or run?

i know this was in Madden 2004 and they brought it back to Madden 2006


i wonder why they leave soem things out of the manual.

[MizzouRah]

I'm back to 13 mins accelerated clock, 12 is just not enough.

[jbmagic]

I'm back to 13 mins accelerated clock, 12 is just not enough.


you just said this. :)

http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showpost.php?p=866841&postcount=353

[Eaglesfan27]

I've moved to 13 min accelerated clock as well, too few plays on 12. The average so far this year in preseason has been 124 - I was getting under 120 with 12. FWIW.....mileage may vary.

I've been playing with 13 minute accelerated clocks ever since I got the game. I really like the number of plays, but I need to remember not to go to the line from the huddle unrealistically quickly during the 2 minute drill (unless I use the actual no-huddle feature.)

I agree with Kodos. This is the best playing Madden ever IMO. I'm also home alone tonight and plan on getting in a few games before and a game after the Eagles pre-season game tonight.

[Pumpy Tudors]

ok two things not cover in the xbox manual.


how do you shade a wr on the xbox?

and how you tell your defense after the snap if its going to be a pass or run?

i know this was in Madden 2004 and they brought it back to Madden 2006


i wonder why they leave soem things out of the manual.
I don't remember the exact button presses (I kinda do them by instinct now), but there are videos within the game that explains both of these. Check out "Madden Tutorials" from the main menu.

[hukarez]

Also, during a game, if you pause it, you'll see a 'New Features' option. It'll cycle through some of the stuff on offense, defense, etc...

[jbmagic]

how do you Sell your defense to run/pass defend on the xbox after the snap. do you accept the offense to run or pass.


After the Snap:
Hold left trigger and press up on the R Stick to call pass and down on the R stick to call run.

i use to love that feature in Madden 2004. i so glad its back.

but be careful of the play action it can bite you if you guess wrong.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Up yours, Al Michaels. For my final preseason game (which I just started playing), I decided to move Maurice Clarett into the #2 spot on the depth chart behind Tatum Bell. Al Michaels noted that a new running back is in (which is cool), but then it sounded like he called my new RB "Mike Clarett." UP YOURS, AL MICHAELS!

[Raiders Army]

BTW, I think it was posted earlier, but it was incorrect. On the Xbox to look down the middle, you need to hold the right trigger and hit "A" not "X".

[Eaglesfan27]

I just had a great game on All-Madden Level with only slight slider adjustments. My final pre-season game with the Eagles vs the Jets. McNabb was on fire in the first quarter and left the game with a 28-7 lead, but McMahon threw a pick to make it 28-14 at the half. In the 2nd half, I was trying to figure out why Blalock was running all over us (more than Martin did in the first half) and I remembered that my backup MLB is rated 62 and is a horrific tackler.


My only gripe is that in the 2nd half, Jay Fielder was able to connect on 2-50 yard bombs to Jonathan Carter. Carter is very fast, and he should have been able to burn us, but I doubt Fielder can throw it that far in real life ;) Seriously, he was right on the money with 2 deep balls and I doubt that would happen.

[jbmagic]

I just had a great game on All-Madden Level with only slight slider adjustments. My final pre-season game with the Eagles vs the Jets. McNabb was on fire in the first quarter and left the game with a 28-7 lead, but McMahon threw a pick to make it 28-14 at the half. In the 2nd half, I was trying to figure out why Blalock was running all over us (more than Martin did in the first half) and I remembered that my backup MLB is rated 62 and is a horrific tackler.


My only gripe is that in the 2nd half, Jay Fielder was able to connect on 2-50 yard bombs to Jonathan Carter. Carter is very fast, and he should have been able to burn us, but I doubt Fielder can throw it that far in real life ;) Seriously, he was right on the money with 2 deep balls and I doubt that would happen.


All madden they will kill you if you call the wrong play.

what Jay Fielder THA and THP rating?

you remember what defense you call on those two deep pass on you?

what sliders adjustment you made on all madden?

i was thinking of keeping all human side sliders at 10 and lower all cpu sliders to 8. and max out penatlies.

i let you know how it goes. but i am not good at passign yet. so if you have time give that a try.

[Eaglesfan27]

All madden they will kill you if you call the wrong play.

what Jay Fielder THA and THP rating?

you remember what defense you call on those two deep pass on you?

what sliders adjustment you made on all madden?

i was thinking of keeping all human side sliders at 10 and lower all cpu sliders to 8. and max out penatlies.

i let you know how it goes. but i am not good at passign yet. so if you have time give that a try.
Fielder is about 80 for each. The receiver was generally in single coverage and it was 4 WR sets both time with my 3rd or 4th corner covering him, but still Fielder had to make very good throws on both of them and they were both in the 4th quarter to help them come back.


By the way, Greg Lewis was able to draw 3 defensive pass interference calls with his speed! I love that finally pass interference and other penalties get called with some frequency (with sliders almost all maxed.)


Right now, I have pass blocking up to 15 (it gives me some time to pass usually which the Eagles Line should. Only elite DE's/DT's break through very quickly.)

I have knockdowns and interceptions down to 8 for both CPU and Human.

I have break blocks down to 8 for the CPU.

I have almost all penalties at max (clipping and holding are at 8 instead.)

[jbmagic]

yep, the penalties are the best it ever been on Madden


i love how the cpu and human team can go offside too by using the fake hike.


good way sometimes to draw them offsides.

[MizzouRah]

Nice to hear EF, I need to get some more Madden in tonight as well. :)

I forgot about the "under 2:00" part of the game - it's been taking me awhile to get the snap off though.

[Eaglesfan27]

In regards to pancake blocks and O-Line development. I just finished pre-season, and none of my guys with the most pancakes developed at all (Thomas, Fraley and Runyan were the guys getting a ton of pancakes.) The guys that developed were the younger linemen who didn't perform that well (due to being rated in the 60's.)

I remember the developers saying that development algorithms were being re-worked this year. Anyway, I'll revisit this issue at the end of the 1st year of my franchise, but it might end up being a non-issue.

Also, at other positions where they didn't do that well statistically the young guys developed. For example, Jamaal Green had 1 tackles, 0 sacks the entire pre-season. However, he developed three points (he was on the field quite a lot despite not doing well.)

Finally, I noticed that many more of my defensive guys improved as opposed to my offensive guys. I wonder if that is because my defensive coordinator is more skilled?

[jbmagic]

In regards to pancake blocks and O-Line development. I just finished pre-season, and none of my guys with the most pancakes developed at all (Thomas, Fraley and Runyan were the guys getting a ton of pancakes.) The guys that developed were the younger linemen who didn't perform that well (due to being rated in the 60's.)

I remember the developers saying that development algorithms were being re-worked this year. Anyway, I'll revisit this issue at the end of the 1st year of my franchise, but it might end up being a non-issue.

Also, at other positions where they didn't do that well statistically the young guys developed. For example, Jamaal Green had 1 tackles, 0 sacks the entire pre-season. However, he developed three points (he was on the field quite a lot despite not doing well.)

Finally, I noticed that many more of my defensive guys improved as opposed to my offensive guys. I wonder if that is because my defensive coordinator is more skilled?


that good news about the pancakes so far.

thanks for checking it out.

i think coaches helps in the development.

i know a good medical staff helps reduce injuries.

[MizzouRah]

I love the CPU on AM level, but I haven't won a game yet and I'm wondering if I should give AP a shot with CPU offense boosted sliders?

I might try bumping up the pass blocking like EF did, which should help with all the INT's I've been throwing. The level is much better than last year, but maybe AP with some (cringe) slider tweaking is in order.

[jbmagic]

I love the CPU on AM level, but I haven't won a game yet and I'm wondering if I should give AP a shot with CPU offense boosted sliders?

I might try bumping up the pass blocking like EF did, which should help with all the INT's I've been throwing. The level is much better than last year, but maybe AP with some (cringe) slider tweaking is in order.

Todd

if you stick with All Madden. here is a suggestion

keep all human sliders at 10 and Make cpu sliders all 8 and max penalties. when i get good at passing i think that might work out well. Let me know how that goes.

if you go back to ALL-pro. try out playmaker updated sliders i just posted above. He explains it very well.

[Eaglesfan27]

One problem I'm seeing with AM is that the kick returns for the CPU are lethal. In 5 games I've given up 2 touchdowns and 2 other close calls. In week 1, I was having a nice low scoring defensive battle with the Falcons (my first low scoring game on All-Madden level) and it was 6-6 at Halftime. Well Rossum just returned it 99 yards for a TD to end that. Then again, watching the Eagles' special teams tonight, perhaps this isn't that unrealistic.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

One nice thing. Vick is actually scrambling against me a bit on AM. Of course after he ran off 2 rushes for 21 yards (both true scrambles) I started spying him. I ran three times for McNabb for 1st downs. Now, Atlanta is constantly spying him! Nice.

[jbmagic]

i love the new Nickle 1-5-5 prowl formation in the 3/4 and balance playbook.

can hide blitzes and zone assignments better than any other formation and can get pressure easily from the sides or up the middle.

Counters runs beat this easily.

For Nickle 1-5-5 prowl i would suggest using the the sub package called "DE pass rush" or u will have 5 linebackers on the field and not too many teams go that deep in the depth chart at LB....

[Eaglesfan27]

I just had my most exciting game of Madden yet. The season opener that I previously mentioned. Well, I was down 20-17 with 5 minutes left. I put together a beautiful 60 yard drive and was driving into the 20 with 2 and a half minutes to go. I tried a corner route by T.O. but didn't get enough air under it, and DeAngelo Hall intercepted it. I was so annoyed with myself.

Anyway, They ran it 3 times and I had 3 times outs so I got the ball back with 2 minutes to go. They punted to just about my own 40.

I put together a nice drive and got inside the 10, but LJ Smith who had been terrific all game, dropped a TD pass when he was crushed by Brooking. I had to settle for a FG with about 30 seconds left.

I figured it would be OT. However, rather than take a knee, Vick tried a bomb to Jenkins (who had burnt me once earlier) but Lito Sheppard did a good job in coverage and had a nice interception. I now had the ball on my own 30 with 18 seconds left. I thought no way could I get in FG range, but I had to try.

I threw a quick out to T.O for 14 yards and that only ate up about 5 seconds.

Then, I threw a quick out to Reggie Brown (who won the #2 receiver slot from Greg Lewis in pre-season) Brown put a move on the cornerback and scampered to the 30 before the safety pushed him out of bounds with 2 seconds left!

I had the dramatic view of the kicker with the heartbeat and they called their last Time Out to ice me.

Anyway, I still managed to barely hit the 47 yard FG! That was my first win in 5 tries on All-Madden and my Eagles are 1-0 in my dynasty with a 23-20 win over the Falcons! :)

[jbmagic]

nice win

i notice the cpu qb dont kneel down on madden 2006

[Eaglesfan27]

nice win

i notice the cpu qb dont kneel down on madden 2006
I've seen them do it when they have the sure win. Obviously with 2 minutes left and me having 3 timeouts it wouldn't have been appropriate in this game. However, my last pre-season game the CPU kneeled down three times in a row when I was out of time outs.

[jbmagic]

I've seen them do it when they have the sure win. Obviously with 2 minutes left and me having 3 timeouts it wouldn't have been appropriate in this game. However, my last pre-season game the CPU kneeled down three times in a row when I was out of time outs.



that strange

because i play all madden yesterday, and with a minute left and a 23-7 Browns lead, the Browns ran the ball and ran the ball, etc and score a late td to rub it againt my Raiders

they should of done a qb kneel, but they didnt.

[MizzouRah]

that strange

because i play all madden yesterday, and with a minute left and a 23-7 Browns lead, the Browns ran the ball and ran the ball, etc and score a late td to rub it againt my Raiders

they should of done a qb kneel, but they didnt.
Don't you know, everyone hates the Raiders! :p

[MizzouRah]

Nice game EF, what settings do you use on AM?

[ISiddiqui]

Wow... the game really sounds good... but I don't want to get it because I want to pick up Madden for the XBox360 when it comes out (and not pay for two versions of the game). MUST. BE. STRONG!

[gstelmack]

Wow... the game really sounds good... but I don't want to get it because I want to pick up Madden for the XBox360 when it comes out (and not pay for two versions of the game). MUST. BE. STRONG!
I was weak and got it yesterday. And it's the fault of everyone posting good things in this thread (well, that and the fact that NCAA 2006 doesn't allow saves mid-game, so now I can turn NCAA back to 5-minute quarters / arena-style action and use Madden as my realistic game...)

[TroyF]

I just had my most exciting game of Madden yet. The season opener that I previously mentioned. Well, I was down 20-17 with 5 minutes left. I put together a beautiful 60 yard drive and was driving into the 20 with 2 and a half minutes to go. I tried a corner route by T.O. but didn't get enough air under it, and DeAngelo Hall intercepted it. I was so annoyed with myself.

Anyway, They ran it 3 times and I had 3 times outs so I got the ball back with 2 minutes to go. They punted to just about my own 40.

I put together a nice drive and got inside the 10, but LJ Smith who had been terrific all game, dropped a TD pass when he was crushed by Brooking. I had to settle for a FG with about 30 seconds left.

I figured it would be OT. However, rather than take a knee, Vick tried a bomb to Jenkins (who had burnt me once earlier) but Lito Sheppard did a good job in coverage and had a nice interception. I now had the ball on my own 30 with 18 seconds left. I thought no way could I get in FG range, but I had to try.

I threw a quick out to T.O for 14 yards and that only ate up about 5 seconds.

Then, I threw a quick out to Reggie Brown (who won the #2 receiver slot from Greg Lewis in pre-season) Brown put a move on the cornerback and scampered to the 30 before the safety pushed him out of bounds with 2 seconds left!

I had the dramatic view of the kicker with the heartbeat and they called their last Time Out to ice me.

Anyway, I still managed to barely hit the 47 yard FG! That was my first win in 5 tries on All-Madden and my Eagles are 1-0 in my dynasty with a 23-20 win over the Falcons! :)


That's just ridiculous. Move the "comeback" slider all the way to the CPU where it belongs. You should be ashamed of yourself.

[jbmagic]

Nice game EF, what settings do you use on AM?

here you go. he posted this yesterday


Right now, I have pass blocking up to 15 (it gives me some time to pass usually which the Eagles Line should. Only elite DE's/DT's break through very quickly.)

I have knockdowns and interceptions down to 8 for both CPU and Human.

I have break blocks down to 8 for the CPU.

I have almost all penalties at max (clipping and holding are at 8 instead.)

[Eaglesfan27]

Wow... the game really sounds good... but I don't want to get it because I want to pick up Madden for the XBox360 when it comes out (and not pay for two versions of the game). MUST. BE. STRONG!

I'm most likely going to get it for the Xbox 360 as well. I'll almost certainly sell this version back when I do so (or maybe give it to my step-brother as a gift.)

[Eaglesfan27]

That's just ridiculous. Move the "comeback" slider all the way to the CPU where it belongs. You should be ashamed of yourself.
:D

[jbmagic]

hey FOFC members i need some help.

my passes are getting deflected a lot and going for incompletions. and i have Moss and porter as my wr too.

what am i doing wrong?

i tought precisions pass if you go up, it will throw it high, but i see some passes going way ahead of my wr.

i guess more time in practice for me.

[Eaglesfan27]

hey FOFC members i need some help.

my passes are getting deflected a lot and going for incompletions. and i have Moss and porter as my wr too.

what am i doing wrong?

i tought precisions pass if you go up, it will throw it high, but i see some passes going way ahead of my wr.

i guess more time in practice for me.

Sometimes, your QB just makes bad passes. Usually it will go high, but sometimes it sails far over their head or somewhere else it shouldn't. I imagine Collins doesn't have the highest accuracy rating. As far as passes getting deflected, I'd say practice a great deal on getting the right touch on your passes. I know that some routes I need to get a lot of air under. Other routes need to be thrown hard. Sometimes, I'll squeeze it in between two defenders with a bullet (which T.O or LJ Smith usually catch but my other receivers usually drop.)

[Kodos]

My completion percentage is awful, but I'm hanging in there. :)

[Philliesfan980]

I'm most likely going to get it for the Xbox 360 as well. I'll almost certainly sell this version back when I do so (or maybe give it to my step-brother as a gift.)


Without totally changing the topic, have they decided how much the xbox 360 is going to be yet? I see that most of the games are $59.95 which to be honest, I can live with. You figure if you buy 20 games a year (and thats a ton of games) you're only putting out an additional $200 bucks a year.

[Eaglesfan27]

The word for the manager of my local EB Games is that it will be 300 dollars. However, I'm not sure if it is set in stone. However, I've also seen several things on gamespot that indicates a 300 dollars price point on the Xbox 360. All speculation points towards the PS3 being 400. However, that of course is subject to change as well.


In any case, I've put down 50 dollars to "guarantee" an Xbox 360.

[DaddyTorgo]

Without totally changing the topic, have they decided how much the xbox 360 is going to be yet? I see that most of the games are $59.95 which to be honest, I can live with. You figure if you buy 20 games a year (and thats a ton of games) you're only putting out an additional $200 bucks a year.
check your math. i'm sure you must have typoed there, because with games at 59.95, 4 games will run you two hundred bucks

[TazFTW]

I think he is saying that if you are currently buying 20 games at $49.95 and then swtich to 20 games at $59.95, you're only paying $200 extra a year.

[Eaglesfan27]

check your math. i'm sure you must have typoed there, because with games at 59.95, 4 games will run you two hundred bucks
He said an additional 200 dollars which is true (compared to 49.95 for most games on the Xbox or PS2 now.)

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

20 games a year!!!!!

[sabotai]

20 games a year seems about right for me, but definately not $49.99 for all of them (a lot of older games, text sims, etc.)

[Philliesfan980]

20 games a year seems about right for me, but definately not $49.99 for all of them (a lot of older games, text sims, etc.)


Oh yeah, I agree. I was outlaying the worst possible case scenerio for me. Most years, I'll buy all of the major 4 sports, 2 college games, maybe a racing game, and one shootem up game. A few text sims as well..

[Eaglesfan27]

I just had my most frustrating game of All-Madden Madden. SF just intercepted McNabb 5 times to help them beat me 41-35. I definitely think I'll need to tweak All-Madden sliders further for it to meet my skill level. I'm 1-7 so far on All-Madden Level while using the Eagles.

[jbmagic]

Footballforever updated his sliders just now

check here for his updates
http://forums.operationsports.com/v...898&postcount=1

Free to register there


Footballforever's "Ultimate-ALL-MADDEN" Sliders

Well I played a few games on all-madden yesterday and I found that ALL-Madden is really the level to play on, if by far the best level in the game. The game play's do much better, it more fast wich I like. So I will be making sliders only for All-MAdden from here on, this is a base set, I will be fine tunning with these until I get the perfect ones.


*ALL-MADDEN* 12 MINUTES ACC CLOCK ON-
SUB OUT-84/SUB IN-89

Turn on the Fair play options on for all four options is lets you, This is a must with using my settings. It really keeps the game real and fair, so if you like to cheat the AI and go for it on 4th down in the first quater don't use these .



Last Upated as of 12:13am Thursday August, 18

**=indecate changes

OFFENSE

HUMAN
QBA-14
PASS BLK-20
WR CATCH-13
RBA-12**
RUN BLK-8**

CPU
QBA-12
PASS BLK-11
WR CATCH-10
RBA-12
RUN BLK-10

DEFENSE

HUMAN
AWR-16**
KNDWN-7
INT-9
BRK BLK-16
TKL-13

CPU
AWR-11
KNDWN-1
INT-1
BRK BLK-4
TKL-11


SPL TEAMS

HUMAN
FGL-9
FGA-7
PNTL-13
PNTA-7
KOL-9

CPU
FGL-8
FGA-6
PNTL-13
PNTA-7
KOL-9

PENALTIES
False Start-10
Holding-7
Face Mask-8
Offensive Pass Interference-10
Defensive Pass Interference-10
KR/PR Catch Interference-10
Clipping-8
Intentional grounding-10
Roughing The Passer-10
Roughing The Kicker-10

[jbmagic]

Thanks to Todd again


ALL Madden guys is the level you guys need to play on.

the CPU playing calling is so much better on ALL Madden and the stats are more realistic. It has a great feeling when you play on that level.

with the right sliders its going to be great.

Try the sliders Todd and I posted above for ALL Madden.

Have fun.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm going to try Footballforever's sliders tomorrow. I just was blasted by the stinkin Raiders 34-14 on my limited All Madden Slider set. It was pouring rain and I fumbled the ball 4 times, recovering once. They only fumbled once and recovered once. However, I did notice that Fargas was doing the cover-up animation before getting tackled frequently. I didn't use the coverup button at all.

Rain definitely seemed to affect the fumbles and I saw more dropped balls than my past three games combined.

You know what was really annoying? I was down 21-14 going into the 4th quarter and McNabb "fumbled" on the Raider's 4 while scrambling. I'm fairly sure the ground had caused the fumble, but I had wasted my challenges earlier in the game :( They returned the fumble 96 yards for a TD to make it 28-14.

[jbmagic]

they better fix that pass/run glitch that was discover for the ps2 and xbox.

if you want more info goto maddenmania forum, VG sports forum or operations sports forum.

i dont want to spoil it for others here.

[Eaglesfan27]

From reading operation sports, that glitch doesn't seem to affect single player games, and I'm still not sure what it even is, nor do I care to know since it is just a way to cheat. As long as the CPU doesn't do it, and I know my best friend who I play against doesn't do it, I'm still happy with my Xbox version of the game.

[Pumpy Tudors]

OK, Playmakers is getting out of control. It looks like he's now saying "Set all this stuff to 0 and fix it on your own." Hell, I could've set the sliders on my own from day one. For now, I'm just going to stick with his previous set of "final" sliders (:rolleyes: ) and see if I stay happy with that.

[Eaglesfan27]

OK, Playmakers is getting out of control. It looks like he's now saying "Set all this stuff to 0 and fix it on your own." Hell, I could've set the sliders on my own from day one. For now, I'm just going to stick with his previous set of "final" sliders (:rolleyes: ) and see if I stay happy with that.
For future reference could you post his previous "final" sliders. If I can't find a good set of All-Madden sliders, I'll probably drop back down to All-Pro.

[jbmagic]

For future reference could you post his previous "final" sliders. If I can't find a good set of All-Madden sliders, I'll probably drop back down to All-Pro.

Eaglefan its a big glitch because it affects cpu teams. you will know if ther going to run or pas..


i posted his final sliders above.

i dont have his previous sliders anymore. Its been deleted on the web site. because he just re edits his post at that forum

but trust me. his latest is really good. how he has it. try them out.

[jbmagic]

From now on if you guys want Playmaker updated sliders.

go here for Playmaker ALL Pro Sliders updates
http://forums.operationsports.com/vBulletin/showpost.php?p=1802468&postcount=1
http://forums.operationsports.com/vBulletin/showpost.php?p=1817540&postcount=1


go here For Footballforever ALL Madden sliders updates
http://forums.operationsports.com/vBulletin/showpost.php?p=1809898&postcount=1


you have to register for free to view and post there at Opertation Sports forum

i not going to post there sliders updates here anymore because they update and tweak them sometimes over there.
.
its much easier to go there to see his latest sliders because if they changes anything, he will edit the post on the links i provided.

thanks

[jbmagic]

OK, Playmakers is getting out of control. It looks like he's now saying "Set all this stuff to 0 and fix it on your own." Hell, I could've set the sliders on my own from day one. For now, I'm just going to stick with his previous set of "final" sliders (:rolleyes: ) and see if I stay happy with that.


dont let that zero fool you.

the sliders is working out a lot better with some of his sliders set at 0. the player true ratings really shows.

try them out. you will be surprise.


Playmaker is getting very good results with his latest sliders.


i know at first i tought damn sliders at 0, they wont do shit, but you will get very good stats. i am surprise how well it playing so far.

[MizzouRah]

I f-ing HATE sliders. There, I feel better now.

NCAA is much better out of the box than Madden is. I like Madden on AM level, but like EF there is way too many INT's and super DB's. I might wait a week, get back into NCAA and then see where the slider guru's are at.

[Eaglesfan27]

Eaglefan its a big glitch because it affects cpu teams. you will know if ther going to run or pas..


i posted his final sliders above.

i dont have his previous sliders anymore. Its been deleted on the web site. because he just re edits his post at that forum

but trust me. his latest is really good. how he has it. try them out.
It won't if you don't read it. I skimmed it, and couldn't figure out what it is talking about. In this case, ignorance is bliss for me.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'm going to start up the game in about 15-20 minutes, and I'll post the last set of sliders I was using (which had come from Playmakers).

[jbmagic]

I'm going to start up the game in about 15-20 minutes, and I'll post the last set of sliders I was using (which had come from Playmakers).


but these latest sliders from Playmaker is way better than those last set of sliders he had.

try the new ones. and you will see.

[Pumpy Tudors]

but these latest sliders from Playmaker is way better than those last set of sliders he had.

try the new ones. and you will see.My problem with his new sliders isn't that it's made up of a lot of zeroes. My problem with it is that he frequently says things similar to "you can bump this up" or "tweak this to your liking" about the zeroes. Call me a puddle of goo, but it makes it seem like he's setting it to a bare minimum and asking us to do the rest.

[jbmagic]

My problem with his new sliders isn't that it's made up of a lot of zeroes. My problem with it is that he frequently says things similar to "you can bump this up" or "tweak this to your liking" about the zeroes. Call me a puddle of goo, but it makes it seem like he's setting it to a bare minimum and asking us to do the rest.


true you make a good point.

but on his post over there, he saying it for people that play and try his new sliders for awhile. if it becomes too hard or easy then you adjust.

he made comments like that on his old sliders too. that his style i guess :)

try the new sliders how he has it, ignore the comments :)

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm going to start up the game in about 15-20 minutes, and I'll post the last set of sliders I was using (which had come from Playmakers).
Thanks Pumpy! I'm likely to go back to All-Pro as I think my skill level just isn't quite good enough for All-Madden, and I'll be working with this last set (but will give the most recent set a try too.) I just don't think the Eagles with their great offense (with T.O.) and with their excellent defense (I have 5 defenders with at least 90 ratings) should be losing to teams that were horrendous last year.

I want a good challenge, but All-Madden is just too much of a challenge for me at my current skill level. It's good to know that I could go to it if All-Pro becomes just too easy even with a good set of sliders.

[Pumpy Tudors]

OK, below are the settings I last used. The numbers are HUMAN/CPU as usual.

OFFENSE:
QB Accuracy - 10/10
Pass Blocking - 5/7
WR Catching - 12/14
RB Ability - 10/12
Run Blocking - 5/7

DEFENSE:
Awareness - 6/12
Knockdowns - 4/3
Interceptions - 4/3
Break Block - 10/8
Tackling - 4/3

SPECIAL TEAMS:
FG Length - 8/8
FG Accuracy - 6/6
Punt Length - 8/14
Punt Accuracy - 6/8
Kickoff Length - 9/9

I don't know if the punt returns will ever be quite right. They still don't feel right to me on these settings, and I honestly doubt they ever will.

[hukarez]

I don't know if the punt returns will ever be quite right. They still don't feel right to me on these settings, and I honestly doubt they ever will.
I've thought about maxing out the Punt Length for the CPU, to see if it makes /some/ kind of difference...

[Pumpy Tudors]

I think I'm about to raise run blocking for the CPU. I'm bringing it up from 7 to 9 for three quarters of a game to see what happens.

[thatfguy]

Is anybody playing through a career on Superstar. Most peeps I see are talking about franchise play. I am just wondering if anything new happens in Superstar mode. I can see no point in the endorsements so far. My agent told me once I was the spokeman for Jed's Camp Grounds :eek: but that is about it. There are so many sponsors you would think it would actually mean something to get a deal.

I played Madden all weekend with JamesUMD and realized "I ain't as good as I once was, but i'm as good as I was once." Too many buttons for me :(

[hukarez]

Is anybody playing through a career on Superstar. Most peeps I see are talking about franchise play. I am just wondering if anything new happens in Superstar mode. I can see no point in the endorsements so far. My agent told me once I was the spokeman for Jed's Camp Grounds :eek: but that is about it. There are so many sponsors you would think it would actually mean something to get a deal.

I played Madden all weekend with JamesUMD and realized "I ain't as good as I once was, but i'm as good as I was once." Too many buttons for me :(
I tried the Superstar mode, and pretty much simmed through everything. Jed's Camp Grounds was my first endorsement too, but I haven't a clue what's going on to be honest. I keep getting voice mails from Terrell Davis talking about some 'movie' I did, which I seriously can't recall having done anything of that sort since my first year. http://dynamic.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/confused.gif

I'm still trying to figure out how my personality is 'Disruptive' on my web page...

[thatfguy]

Umm...can anyone say on Vick's nutz, Madden sure can. My simmed season saw Vick run for 1400+ yards and throw for 2200 yds 22 tds 18 ints and 11 rushing tds. LT only ran for 1500 and he was the leading running back. Vick's passing stats are about right though :p

[Eaglesfan27]

I've just finished a half of All-Pro with Playmaker's most recent slider set (he started a new thread and a new set focused on lowered pancakes again - the one that has lots of 0's for settings) and I have to say I'm impressed so far.

At the half: McNabb is 10 of 20 for 112 yards with 1 TD 0 INT and 2 sacks.

Westbrook has 11 carries for 73 in part because he broke off a 31 yard TD run.

Reggie Brown is my leading receiver with 4 catches for 49 yards. T.O. is being blanketed by Patrick Surtain.


Despite Koren Robinson being his best receiver, Trent Green is 8 of 12 for 97 yards with 1 TD 0 INT and 2 sacks.

Priest Holmes has 14 carries for 42 yards. (I'd like to see a higher rush average, but the Eagles do have a good run defense when Trotter plays.)

Tony Gonazlez is the leading receiver with 4 catches for 38 yards.

The leading Pancake blocks are Tra Thomas and Willie Roaf with 3 for each team.

Off to play my second half now.

[Eaglesfan27]

Well, I just finished my game. I feel like there isn't quite enough offense in some of my All-Pro games, but usually too much offense for both sides in my All-Madden games. However, I'm generally more happy with All-Pro I suspect. Here were some final stats from my week 4 matchup of the Eagles vs the Chiefs (using the aforementioned slider set in my last post):

Final Score: 17-10 Eagles Win. I tried to run the clock down in the 4th quarter.

McNabb: 15 of 29 (51%) for 178 yards, 1 TD 0 INT. 6 sacks (they blitzed the heck out of me, fairly successfully.)

McMahon: 2 of 4 for 18 yards.

That brings up a point I want to make. At the urging of some of the threads on Operation Sports, I bumped the injury slider up just a notch (and it is a 40 or more notch scale.) After I did that, I'm getting a few minor injuries each game, including 2 in the last 2 games to McNabb that made me hold my breath for a bit. Also, I've seen one major injury in 4 games. I lost McDougle for the season to a broken collarbone. Anyway, back to the stats.


Trent Green: 12 of 20 (60%) for 132 yards, 1 TD 0 INT, sacked 3 times.


Westbrook: 17 carries for 99 yards (5.8 avg)

McNabb: 5 carries for 24 yards.

Buckhalter: 8 carries for 19 yards (2.4 avg)


Priest Holmes: 24 carries for 72 yards (3 avg) before he was injured in the 4th.

Larry Johnson: 2 carries for 5 yards.


Terrell Owens: 6 catches for 81 yards.

LJ Smith: 6 catches for 44 yards.

Reggie Brown 4 catches for 49 yards.


Samie Parker: 6 catches for 81 yards.

Tony Gonzalez: 4 catches for 38 yards.



Leading Pancakes:

Tra Thomas - 6

Willie Roaf - 7


Leading Tacklers:

Derrick Johnson had 15 for the chiefs.

Trotter had 11 for the Eagles.


Leading Sacks:

Kearse with 2 for the Eagles.

Kendrell Bell with 2 for the Chiefs.



Anyway, I'm tired of looking around with sliders. I'm reasonably happy with these and am going to play out my entire season with them. I'll only try out another set if I become unhappy with them. If they are good through a few games, I'll apply them to my superstar dynasty as well.

I doubt I'll go back to All-Madden unless I start dominating everyone including teams that are as good or better than the Eagles.

[Pumpy Tudors]

EaglesFan27, are you using the zero sliders from Playmakers?

[Eaglesfan27]

This has nothing to do with the game impressions, but I just saw a childhood friend's picture in my scouting report! That is cool! Darian Barnes and I hung out when were children despite my being a few years older than him. I "watched" him sometimes when his mom went out because she trusted me to keep him out of trouble. I actually hung out with him a bit when I visited NJ last summer. Now, his picture is staring at me in Madden! I'm going to feel bad tackling him, but it is the Cowboys so I'll do what I must ;)

[Eaglesfan27]

EaglesFan27, are you using the zero sliders from Playmakers?
Yes. I set my awareness to 4 since he gave a range of 3 to 5. I usually go for the middle when a range is given.

They are the ones called the AP reduced Pancake/Awr only sliders. I set them before he just made the change to bump CPU pass blocking up to 2. I don't see the need to make that change that he just did as the Chiefs generally did a fine job blocking my guys and Trent Green did a good enough job passing against me.

[jbmagic]

Playmaker's ALL Pro Madden 2006 Sliders.

In the future go here for any updates. Free to register there.

Playmakers AP reduced PANCAKE/AWR only Sliders
http://forums.operationsports.com/vBulletin/showpost.php?p=1817540&postcount=1

Playmakers Hybrid All-Pro Sliders
http://forums.operationsports.com/vBulletin/showpost.php?p=1802468&postcount=1


Playmakers AP reduced PANCAKE/AWR only Sliders

ALL-PRO/12 MINUTES ACC CLOCK ON/FAIR PLAY ON

ALL PENALTIES MAXED ACCEPT HOLDING-6 AND CLIPPING-8

SUB OUT-82/SUB IN-87-U WILL SEE MORE BACKUPS ON DEFENSE WITH THIS.

QBA-10/10
PASS BLK-0/2
WR CATCH-10/10
RBA-10/10
RUN BLK-0/0

AWR-3/10.......(THE OLD SETTING WAS AT 5 FOR HUMAN BUT 3 IS GREAT)
KNDWN-0/0.....(BOTH SIDES WILL DEFLECT PASSES THE HIGHER THE AWR)
INT-0/0..........(SAME AS KDWN COMMENTS POSTED)
BRK BLK-0/0....(EVENS OUT OL VS DL PLAY AND THE TKL SLIDER HELPS THIS)
TKL-0/0.........(THE HIGHER THE AWR THE BETTER THE TACKLING)

These Special Teams Sliders are under testing.

FGL-5/5
FGA-10/10
PNL-5/5
PNTA-10/15
KOL-9/9


Playmakers Hybrid All-Pro Sliders

GAMEPLAY SETUP

ALL-PRO/12 MINUTES ACC CLOCK ON/FAIR PLAY ON

ALL PENALTIES MAXED ACCEPT HOLDING-6 AND CLIPPING-8

SUB OUT-82/SUB IN-87-U WILL SEE MORE BACKUPS ON DEFENSE WITH THIS.

PLAYMAKERS "SMASH MOUTH FOOTBALL" LEVEL 1 SLIDERS (CPU AWR 10)

QBA-10/10
PASS BLK-0/2.......(Old settings were 4/5)
WR CATCH-10/10
RBA-10/10
RUN BLK-0/0.........(Old settings were 4/4)

AWR-5/10........(Old settings were 6/10)
KDWNS-0/0......(Old settings were 3/2)
INT-0/0...........(Old settings were 3/6)
BRK BLK-0/0.....(Old settings were 9/10)
TKL-0/0..........(Old settings were 3/6)


SPECIAL TEAMS-WILL BE THE SAME FOR BOTH LEVELS

FGL-8/9
FGA-6/5
PNTL-8/14......(I'm currently testing CPU's Slider so this might change)
PNTA-6/10
KOL-9/9

PLAYMAKERS "SMASH MOUTH FOOTBALL" LEVEL 2 SLIDERS (AWR 12 & 14)

QBA-10/10
PASS BLK-2/3.......(Old settings were 4/5)
WR CATCH-12/12
RBA-10/12
RUN BLK-2/2........(Old settings were 4/4)

AWR-7/12 or 14...(For CPU AWR 14 read comments below)
KDWN-0/0..........(Old settings were 2/4)
INT-0/0.............(Old settings were 2/4)
BRK-0/0.............(Old settings were 8/8)
TKL-0/0.............(Old settings were 4/4)

If you play the CPU AWR 14 increase Human PASS BLK & RUN BLK SLiders to 4

[Pumpy Tudors]

Looking at Playmakers' "Reduced Pancake" sliders, there's no friggin' way that the FG Length should be set to 5. With it set to 8, Jason Elam can only get the ball about 53 or 54 yards max.

[Pumpy Tudors]

The following quote is exactly what I don't like about the "zero formula" slider idea:

As a result of my latest findings regarding the Blocking Sliders on Offense and the BRK BLK and TKL Sliders on Defense I've decided that the best way to balance out this situation is to go the ZERO Slider formula. This way the Human can best determine which Slider needs to go up or down to better fit gameplay. Now, if guy's are getting too much pressure on the CPU's QB or if the CPU is not running the ball as well as you would like there is a real simple solution to solve the problem. Everything is at 0 or already setup by me for you to start. So, now you decide how many clicks to go up because you can't go down anymore...
It really looks to me that he's saying "I give up. If something is too easy or too hard, you can change it." So, uh, exactly what the hell did Playmakers DO, then? Now we have to test his slider sets for him and decide what to move up or down? I'm trying to play a franchise here, not a bunch of test games. This is why I'm not keen on using the zero sliders.

[Eaglesfan27]

Looking at Playmakers' "Reduced Pancake" sliders, there's no friggin' way that the FG Length should be set to 5. With it set to 8, Jason Elam can only get the ball about 53 or 54 yards max.

Yeah, I agree. I forgot to mention that I did NOT use his screwy Special Teams sliders. I only used the sliders for defense and offense. However, I did use the idea of someone in that thread and kept Length at 10 and accuracy I lowered to 5. I hit a 55 yard FG with Akers in the game that I just played. However, I also missed one from 51 and 49 yards.

Speaking of stats (which I think are useful for evaluating sliders) I have the stats for my Eagles - Cowboys matchup.

Of note, the Cowboys had a 42 yard Julius Jones TD called back for holding and a 34 yard pass to Galloway called back for holding as well.

We beat them 34-3.

McNabb: 23 of 40 (57%) for 348 yards (including a late 73 yard TD to Reggie Brown in which they blitzed both safeties) 3 TD's 0 INT. Sacked 0 times. Donovan narrowly avoided a sack by Nguyen in the 1st quarter when he ducked under it and shrugged Nguyen off. He then recovered to throw a 23 yard TD strike to T.O.

Bledsoe: 14 of 28 for 184 yards 0 TD 0 INT, sacked 4 times. Quincy Morgan and Galloway each dropped at least 3 passes, otherwise he would have had a nice day.


Westbrook: 12 carries for 29 yards (2.4 avg) and 1 TD.

Buckhalter: 13 carries for 26 yards (2 avg).

McNabb: 3 carries for 12 yards.


Julius Jones: 20 carries for 80 yards (4 avg) Had a 42 yard TD called back. Ran with a great deal of shiftiness, using jukes a lot. I'm glad to see that isn't limited to All-Madden.

Darian Barnes 2 carries for 3 yards.


Terrell Owens: 7 catches for 81 yards and a TD.

Reggie Brown: 4 catches for 113 yards and a TD.

LJ Smith: 4 catches for 68 yards and a TD.

Westbrook: 4 catches for 34 yards.


Quincy Morgan: 5 catches for 45 yards. 3 drops.

Julius Jones: 3 catches for 42 yards.

Terry Glenn: 3 catches for 49 yards. 2 drops.


Leading Pancakes:

Tra Thomas - 4

Andre Gurode - 4

Leading Tacklers:

Michael Lewis - 9

Roy Williams - 8

Leading Sacks:

My DT's dominated their guards and Walker and Corey Simon each had 2 sacks.

[Eaglesfan27]

This is way off topic:

Pumpy, did you call the Jerry V show today? There was a guy on there that sounded sort of like you who called from Pennsylvania saying he had just moved there from New Orleans (he was listening to the webcast.) Quite the coincidence if it wasn't you.

[Pumpy Tudors]

For the record, here are the stats from my last game (a 31-26 loss to San Diego):

SAN DIEGO
Drew Brees: 14-21 passing, 217 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
LaDainian Tomlinson: 30 rushes, 50 yards, 7 yard long (these numbers are the only ones that terribly concern me)
Keenan McCardell: 5 rec, 64 yards
Kassim Osgood: 4 rec, 85 yards
LaDainian Tomlinson: 2 rec, 43 yards
Antonio Gates: 2 rec, 18 yards (both touchdowns)
Justin Peelle: 1 rec, 7 yards

All of the CPU numbers except Tomlinson's rushing look fine to me.

DENVER
Jake Plummer: 31-52 passing, 333 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT
Tatum Bell: 9 rushes, 24 yards, 12 yard long (I had to abandon the run, though)
Jake Plummer: 4 rushes, 21 yards
Maurice Clarett: 4 rushes, 6 yards
Ashley Lelie: 12 rec, 181 yards
Tatum Bell: 7 rec, 45 yards
Jerry Rice: 3 rec, 15 yards
Kyle Johnson: 2 rec, 25 yards
Rod Smith: 2 rec, 8 yards
Triandos Luke: 1 rec, 10 yards

All of my numbers looked fine except maybe Bell's rushing, but it could've just been a bad game. Obviously, nothing is forcing me to consider switching slider sets, but if I can just get the CPU's rushing numbers up, I'll feel really good. Clearly, the RB is getting a good amount of touches. The YPC just needs to go way up.

[Pumpy Tudors]

This is way off topic:

Pumpy, did you call the Jerry V show today? There was a guy on there that sounded sort of like you who called from Pennsylvania saying he had just moved there from New Orleans (he was listening to the webcast.) Quite the coincidence if it wasn't you.
Nope, it wasn't me. That's really wild, though!

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'm gonna give the "zero sliders" a try for my next game against Kansas City. We'll see what Priest Holmes does to me.

[MizzouRah]

Ok, I consider Bill Abner pretty close to my level of play in sports games.. at least he made NCAA 2004 next to perfect as far as gameplay goes and most of his beefs with games I can definitly relate to.

I just read this from his blog: http://sportsgamer.blogspot.com/


Holy Cow Best Madden game EVER
I have been playing Madden since the start of the next-gen console craze. Yep, that's right, I never played a Madden football game prior to the PS2. OK..that was a lie. I had played some of the Madden PSX games over at a buddy's house back in college and thought the game was so terrible I never had ANY desire to buy it and play it on my own. This was back when there really was a PC/Console war going on.
PC people, for the most part, pointed to Front Page Sports Football as the essential football game while PSX gamers pointed to Madden (and later Gameday for a year or two). I never had a need for Madden in the 1990s because it was nowhewre near the kind of football agme I wanted to play and I had FPS, which I still contend was much the better game until the last two versions.
Anyway enough history. I've been playing this generation of Madden games for six vesions now. That's the point. Today I played, by far, the best game of Madden I have ever played against the CPU.
I beat the Ravens 19-15. It was one of those rare times when I play a game and sit back when it's over and think, "Wow, that was just a helluva lot of fun." The main reason was that this particular game had zero "bullshit" moments.
That's really what I ask out of my sports games -- if they can limit the moments where I say to myself, "That is total bullshit" then I'm usually a happy gamer. It's why NCAA frustrates me and why I hated Madden back in the PSX days. Too much bullshit.
The game I played tonight against the Ravens (as Cleveland) is the kind of game I could see actually happening. Dilfer was 15/24 171 yds and 2 INTs. Droughns and Suggs combined for about 105 yards. Boller was 15/22 208 with a TD and a last second INT that sealed a win for me. The Ravens were w/o Jamal Lewis and still managed around 90 yards rushing.
I took the lead with a 1:00 left and the Ravens marched down the field to my 20 yard line and with 5 ticks left Boller was picked. If a game makes my palms sweat...I consider that a job well done.
I'll post the sliders I am using when I get the chance (Ashley has the TV for now..)
The only thing I have to say after this is, "Tell Ashley it's time for bed and post those sliders!" :D

[jbmagic]

Looking at Playmakers' "Reduced Pancake" sliders, there's no friggin' way that the FG Length should be set to 5. With it set to 8, Jason Elam can only get the ball about 53 or 54 yards max.


but his comments on it says

These Special Teams Sliders are under testing. :)

[Eaglesfan27]

Ok, I consider Bill Abner pretty close to my level of play in sports games.. at least he made NCAA 2004 next to perfect as far as gameplay goes and most of his beefs with games I can definitly relate to.

I just read this from his blog: http://sportsgamer.blogspot.com/


The only thing I have to say after this is, "Tell Ashley it's time for bed and post those sliders!" :D
Despite my vow to not switch sliders anymore, I'm certainly interested in seeing what Bill comes up with. I share your opinion of his views on games. Usually, he is on the money.

[jbmagic]

hey guys thanks for all the help. i really respect your opinions on sports games.

i try Madden 2006 and ncaa 2006

but today i return my xbox at Target for a full refund.

and i am going to sell my Madden 2006 and NCAA 2006 on ebay.

i really like Maddne 2006 more and i am going to get Madden 2006 on the pc for 29.99 at Fry's or Best Buy. Usually they will have it on sale the first week or 2nd week its been release.

i enjoy playing the games more on the PC. i have MVP 2005 on the pc too and previous madden.

but going to revisit the new Xbox when it comes out for the holidays.

Good Luck with the sliders.

[MizzouRah]

hey guys thanks for all the help. i really respect your opinions on sports games.

i try Madden 2006 and ncaa 2006

but today i return my xbox at Target for a full refund.

and i am going to sell my Madden 2006 and NCAA 2006 on ebay.

i really like Maddne 2006 more and i am going to get Madden 2006 on the pc for 29.99 at Fry's or Best Buy. Usually they will have it on sale the first week or 2nd week its been release.

i enjoy playing the games more on the PC. i have MVP 2005 on the pc too and previous madden.

but going to revisit the new Xbox when it comes out for the holidays.

Good Luck with the sliders.
Have you been drinking tonight? :confused:

[MizzouRah]

NCAA has been great and all I need is a good slider set for Madden and I'll be set for the football season.

[Eaglesfan27]

Have you been drinking tonight? :confused:
He mentioned in the Xbox 360 pricing thread that he was selling his xbox and xbox games so he will have money to buy the Xbox 360 in November, or at least, that is what I think he said.

[MizzouRah]

He mentioned in the Xbox 360 pricing thread that he was selling his xbox and xbox games so he will have money to buy the Xbox 360 in November, or at least, that is what I think he said.
Crazy kid. :D

Now on to Bill's sliders!!

Thanks Bill...


Back to Back Classics + Sliders




Well, that was another classic game and I'm really, really having a lot of fun with Madden now.

Browns 16
Lions 13

Dawson nails a last second 38 yd FG to win it. Has anyone seen the last second game winning FG heart beat thing? Is this new? Maybe I just haven't had a last second kick like that before but it was very different than your average FG attempt..

Harrington started out 8/9 but finished 12/24 and ol' Dilfer put in his standard 13/25 1 INT performance, missing a WIDE FRIGGIN OPEN Braylon Edwards in the end zone. Kevin Jones had 26 carries for 154 yards, but my defense was a bend but don't break group tonight in the rain. It rained for the first half but was sunny the 2nd, which I thought was cool but the rain stayed on the field as I splashed my way through the 2nd half.

Thr Browns move to 4-2! I have won some nail biters, though. In truth the Lions had me, but Hanson shanked a 41 yarder late in the 4th and twice had 1st and goal and kicked FGs. I'll take it though. I did lose OLB Peter Boulware for the season, though, which is going to hurt. I fudged and signed him in the preseason because well, I wanted to. :) So much for that plan.

Here's my franchise set up:

All 32 teams set to human controlled. I then go into every coach profile and set CPU assist to ON for everything but the Draft. The draft AI is ass, so I'll do that manually. I love the draft so this is totally fine with me. I also check each week if someone (on a CPU team) has a season ending injury, if so, I slap em on the IR because the AI won't do it.

This is important. Really important. Before each game I go into the coach profile of the team I am about to play and change the run/pass ratio and the conservative/aggressive bar. I make it about 70 to 80% conservative so that the CPU doesnt chuck the ball 50 yards downfield all the time. This makes for a very good short to medium CPU pass game, which I love. The CPU WILL go deep, but not so much that it'll complete 35% of its passes as result. I also usually slide the run ratio to about 65%. I did this after testing out the Browns/Colts matchup about 5 times and each time Edge got about 10 carries. This fixes that.

12 Minutes
Accel Clock ON
SUBS: 85% out/90% in
Defense Pass Assist OFF (important)
All Pro Lvl

Sliders:

Human Off:
QB Acc: 7
Pass Bl: 8
Catch: 10
Running: 10
Run Bl: 9

Human Def:
AWR: 2
KND: 0
INT: 2
Break Bl: 18
Tackle: 6

Human ST:
FGA: 8
Punt Length: 8
Punt Acc: 8
All others 10

CPU Off:
QB Acc: 20
Pass Bl: 7
Catch: 10
Running: 10
Run Bl: 11

CPU Def:
AWR: 11
KND: 0
INT: 3
Break Bl: 11
Tackle: 5

CPU ST:
FGA: 8
Punt Acc: 9
All others 10

A few notes. When passing, I ALWAYS use Precision Passing by using that right analog stick. For every single pass. This seesm to do two things.

1) I rarely see the Matrix style DB jumps that result in pass break ups. Maybe 2 per game. If you lead that receiver, this is no longer an issue.

2) It also makes passing a bit tougher, esp. on long routes. When I missed Edwards in the end zone? It was on a post/flag and I used the right stick to lead him but overthrew him by 5 yards. If you just press the pass button QB Accuracy is too high AND you bring back those dumb ass DB jumps.

Anyway, I hope these provide some good results for you guys because I'm really having the most fun I have ever had with Madden right now, poor kick return game and all.

[jbmagic]

He mentioned in the Xbox 360 pricing thread that he was selling his xbox and xbox games so he will have money to buy the Xbox 360 in November, or at least, that is what I think he said.

Exactly

i rather get the new xbox during the holiday

and i had time to return the xbox for a full refund still.

i will get Madden 2006 for the pc and sell my only two games i had on xbox NCAA and Madden 2006.

i dont drink during the week, only on weekends :)

[Eaglesfan27]

Interesting, I'm surprised that his break block for the human is so high and that the CPU is mounting a good run attack against him. In any case, I'll probably stick with the "zero" slider set for now, but I'll be interested in hearing how these play for you Todd.


Edit to add:

I'm surprised that he finds it necessary to edit all of the CPU profiles as well. Right now, teams that throw short in real life seem to be doing so in the game for me without any editing.

[chinaski]

I really dont like the game that much, ive played every Madden in existence (far as i know) and its just doesnt do it for me. Too much time wasted on hokey gimmics (Superstar & QB Cone). Superstar is barely neat, and just for the 1st season; then it just becomes tedious. QB Cone is a JOKE... how do they think you can hold a trigger, then select the receiver & then throw to him? To top it off, you cant even select another receiver if youre doing PA, you have to wait until after the fake handoff animation is done. - impossible.

Take away Cone and SuperStar, and I dont see any improvements THAT huge since 2004. For a company with an exclusive license and more money than any developer can imagine, its just another polished turd for the football season. I do admit, im highly critical of EA. I feel they just have way too many resources and cash to ever put out a Madden that isnt close to perfect. Madden STILL says the same lines from 3 years ago! Thats just unexcusable. I just dont see myself working there and saying "Ya know, we should never change Maddens commentary!"

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

Anyone have any ''Great Game'' stories?

[Emiliano]

i try Madden 2006 and ncaa 2006

but today i return my xbox at Target for a full refund.

and i am going to sell my Madden 2006 and NCAA 2006 on ebay.

What? Noooooooooo :eek:

Just out of curiosity: how much does the Xbox cost now in the US???

[Kodos]

QB Cone is a JOKE... how do they think you can hold a trigger, then select the receiver & then throw to him? To top it off, you cant even select another receiver if youre doing PA, you have to wait until after the fake handoff animation is done. - impossible.



I dunno which system you have, but on PS2, you can move the cone quickly by using the right thumbstick rather than R2 + receiver icon.

[TroyF]

I really dont like the game that much, ive played every Madden in existence (far as i know) and its just doesnt do it for me. Too much time wasted on hokey gimmics (Superstar & QB Cone). Superstar is barely neat, and just for the 1st season; then it just becomes tedious. QB Cone is a JOKE... how do they think you can hold a trigger, then select the receiver & then throw to him? To top it off, you cant even select another receiver if youre doing PA, you have to wait until after the fake handoff animation is done. - impossible.

Superstar mode sucks.

The cone is terrific. It makes you think. The PA animation is exactly how things are in real life. A QB can't read the defense while he's running a PA. He has a hot read from the line of scrimmage (and in the game you can change your number one read there) and then progresses from there. He doesn't do the PA and automatically see the entire field.

I'm having great success switching between receivers now. Took me a few games, but I'm absolutely loving the cone. Just my opinion, but I think it's the best addition to any console football game in quite some time.

[MizzouRah]

Hey EF,

Have you tried Bill's sliders and tips just to see what you think of them?

[jbmagic]

What? Noooooooooo :eek:

Just out of curiosity: how much does the Xbox cost now in the US???

$149.99 plus tax

[jbmagic]

here a good tip i found


I think i find the secret as well. when passing deep do not use precision passing. press the receiver button AND then after the ball is released press up un the left stick. pressing up at the same time just throws the ball high but not farther. To hit the guy in stride press up after the ball is released.

[Raiders Army]

What does that do? Is it like follow-through for the QB? I'll have to check it out, but I just don't see it.

[Eaglesfan27]

Hey EF,

Have you tried Bill's sliders and tips just to see what you think of them?

No, I was just commenting without trying them from my quick view of them :redface:


I'm fairly happy with the 0 sliders, and probably won't switch unless I hear very positive things from you or others who have given them a shot.

I'll also consider switching after the season if my stats look out of whack.

[jbmagic]

one of my budddies from work has been trying the Footballforever's "Ultimate-ALL-MADDEN" Sliders and he really likes it a lot. he been getting very good realistic result from it. he said its not been super hard or super easy. it just feels right.
he is 7-3 with the Rams in his dynasty with that slider.

madden is like religion to him. he plays it every chance he gets.

[Eaglesfan27]

one of my budddies from work has been trying the Footballforever's "Ultimate-ALL-MADDEN" Sliders and he really likes it a lot. he been getting very good realistic result from it. he said its not been super hard or super easy. it just feels right.
he is 7-3 with the Rams in his dynasty with that slider.

madden is like religion to him. he plays it every chance he gets.
Your last sentence is the problem. I think All-Madden skill level (even with those sliders) is going to be too hard for me. I tried a half of it with the Eagles vs the Cowboys, and I was getting beat by 14 points at the half. I need a skill level just slightly harder than All-Pro, but somewhat easier than All-Madden to fit my skill level.

That being said, I'm enjoying All-Pro for now :)

[Pumpy Tudors]

The zero sliders just didn't cut it for me in the one game I played. There was no running game. By the end of the game, I had bumped run blocking up to 4 for each team, and it still didn't feel right. I'm gonna give it another shot later. With that said, the passing seemed fine.

[chinaski]

I dunno which system you have, but on PS2, you can move the cone quickly by using the right thumbstick rather than R2 + receiver icon.
I have the xbox and you can do the same thing, but its near impossible for me to move the cone over to the receiver I want. The movement of the cone is reaaaaaallllly sensitive on the xbox version appearantly. I really like the idea of the cone, ive always used precision passing in the past, I guess ill give it another week and see if i can perfect it.

[Emiliano]

The zero sliders just didn't cut it for me in the one game I played. There was no running game. By the end of the game, I had bumped run blocking up to 4 for each team, and it still didn't feel right. I'm gonna give it another shot later. With that said, the passing seemed fine.

Yeah I didn't like that too. I'm sticking with the "Playmakers' Final version" of 2-3 sets ago... I'm getting good games and having fun.

I'm playing Superstar right now, I was drafted by the Vikings in the 2nd round. I'm a RB, I was rated 87 post-draft (I dominated at Ohio State), pretty high. I started immediately and in week 7 I'm 2nd in the league in rushing behind LT. Anyway, as someone as said, it's becoming pretty tedious. After the draft, IQ test, interview and the movie role ( :confused: ) there isn't a lot to do off the field... You can't interact at all. On the field I'm having fun, the Vikings are a great team on Madden.

Overall, I'm liking the gameplay. The cone is a huge addition to me, I'm learning it fast with Culpepper.
My 2, BIG complaints:
-punt return doesn't exist (this is really pissing me off...)
-why they didn't include the juke stick to juke left/right like NCAA 2006?
These are really EA mysteries... How can you "forgot" punt return in a football game??? Bah...

[Eaglesfan27]

I take it back that All-Pro is too easy. Using the zero sliders with some slight tweaks - I upped interceptions to 2 for both sides and I upped the CPU run blocking to 2, I just had a good game.

San Diego dominated me in the 1st half. Donnie Edwards was all over my running game and they disguised their coverages well making for a poor day for McNabb. They were up 17-0 at halftime and LT had already run for 100 yards on 20 carries. However, in the beginning of the 3rd, he was hurt and Antonio Gates was hurt. It suddenly changed the whole tempo of the game. Drew Brees had been 11 of 11 in the 1st half, but without LT and Gates he missed his next 10 or 11 passes.

Unfortunately, LT came back in the 4th and ran just enough to put the game away.

SD beat me 27-21.

Stats:

McNabb: 23 of 46 (50%) for 256 yards 2 TD 3 INT (2 of them on passes that the receivers bobbled into the hands of DB's) sacked 5 times on some vicious blitzes.

McNabb: 7 carries for 123 yards including a beautiful 68 yard run in which he received 3 perfect blocks and was caught inside the 10 by a Safety.

Westbrook: 7 carries for 14 yards.

Buckhalter: 3 carries for 9 yards.

Terrell Owens: 9 catches for 93 yards and a TD.

LJ Smith: 7 catches for 69 yards and a TD.

Reggie Brown: 5 catches for 64 yards.

Tra Thomas: 4 pancake blocks.

Trotter: 10 tackles, 2 for a loss.

Kearse: 1 sack.

Dhani Jones: 1 pick.


Brees: 18 of 30 passing (60%) for 236 yards, 3 TD 1 INT, sacked 4 times.

LT: 31 carries for 144 yards (4.6 YPG!! Finally!)

Lorenzo Neal: 3 carries for 11 yards.

Gates: 5 catches for 62 yards and a TD.

Reche Caldwell: 5 catches for 115 yards and a TD.

LT: 4 catches for 42 yards and a TD.

Toniu Fonoti: 9 pancake blocks (the price of upping the CPU Run Block I guess.)

Edwards: 7 tackles, 3 for a loss.

Jamal Williams: 2 sacks.

Antuan Edwards: 2 interceptions.


Overall, that was one of my most fun games of madden ever even though I loss.

[MizzouRah]

Allright, I'm interested to see your sliders EF!

[Eaglesfan27]

Allright, I'm interested to see your sliders EF!
I'm upstairs (been working/playing on the computer) but I'll post them tomorrow.

[MizzouRah]

After I get some house work done today, I'm turning the passing cone off and trying AM level once again. The cone just doesn't do it for me and I think if I turn it off, I'll pass much more effectively.

NCAA plays quite well for me without sliders, I really wish Madden would.

[Ironhead]

Has anyone gone through a few seasons of franchise mode yet? I am seeing reports where people say that progression is messed up, and others who say that progression is just fine. I am going to be giving the game a rental soon, but whether I buy it will hinge on whether franchise mode is a viable option a couple seasons down the line.

[jbmagic]

After I get some house work done today, I'm turning the passing cone off and trying AM level once again. The cone just doesn't do it for me and I think if I turn it off, I'll pass much more effectively.

NCAA plays quite well for me without sliders, I really wish Madden would.


if you turn it off, no precision passing and no leading your wr.

[illinifan999]

I turned if off in practice mode and I can still lead/throw behind my recievers like I could in previous versions.

[jbmagic]

I turned if off in practice mode and I can still lead/throw behind my recievers like I could in previous versions.


so if cone is off, it turns off precision passing, but then you can lead the wr like in 2005?



if cone is on, then you can use precision passing, but leading wr is off right?


because with precision passing the ball goes high if you go up.

leading wr makes the ball go forward.


i dont think you can use both precision passing and pass lead wr.

[illinifan999]

You can still use the directional pad to direct the pass, like in previous versions.

[jbmagic]

You can still use the directional pad to direct the pass, like in previous versions.


i try that and ball go high when i go up on the d-pad . that is precison passing.

it even says it on the screen when i do it.

[illinifan999]

i try that and ball go high when i go up on the d-pad . that is precison passing.

it even says it on the screen when i do it.
Yeah the ball goes high when you press up on the d-pad.....

[jbmagic]

Yeah the ball goes high when you press up on the d-pad.....


so that precision passing.


this is not pass leading like in 2005.

[illinifan999]

so that precision passing.


this is not pass leading like in 2005.
What the fuck are you talking about?

Whether the cone is on or not you can control where your throw goes just like in previous versions.

[jbmagic]

What the fuck are you talking about?

Whether the cone is on or not you can control where your throw goes just like in previous versions.


what i am trying to tell you


that in madden 2006 precision passing replace pass lead for wr. that why there no pass lead slider anymore.

and it says that if the cone is off, you lose the precision passing.

precisoon passing is different than pass lead.


in Madden 2005 passing leading the wr made the ball go forward if you hit up on the d-pad.

this year its called precision passing and if you go up on the d-pad it makes the ball go high now.

[illinifan999]

what i am trying to tell you


that in madden 2006 precision passing replace pass lead for wr. that why there no pass lead slider anymore.

and it says that if the cone is off, you lose the precision passing.

precisoon passing is different than pass lead.


in Madden 2005 passing leading the wr made the ball go forward if you hit up on the d-pad.

this year its called precision passing and if you go up on the d-pad it makes the ball go high now.
No...in previous versions it went up, if you pressed down it went low, right would throw it more to the right, and left would go more to the left...

[MizzouRah]

I don't care, I hate the damn cone. It's off. Games are much better now and I still think AM defaults are the way to go.

[TroyF]

Just a quick bump on this. . .

This game has had staying power for me. More than any football game I've played since NCAA '04. It's better than NFL2K5, my favorite pro game released during that time.

I love the cone, I love the running game.

I just finished a terrific game. I've got a slider set I'm pretty happy with and drafted a team. My DL/LB core is simply pathetic. My WR/TE/DB's are solid.

I play the Dolphins in Miami. Leftwich gets off to a hot start for me. Hits Moss on a hook pattern and Moss turns it up field for a 25 yard gain. End up scoring a TD on a short pass on the drive. The Dolphins use Ahman Green to simply thrash my front line. I can't control him no matter what defense I run. They use PA passes and runs to batter me all game long.

I blitz on one of the play action passes and knock their starter (Kitna) out of the game. Their backup is Mauck. Needless to say, this turns them into a one dimentional team. Not that it matters much, outside of a long bomb on a play action to Moss, I can't do anything on offense. They bottle up my running game completely. (Kevin Jones finishes the game with 58 yards on 22 carries) They also pic off a Leftwich pass and take it back to the house for six. (damnit, I never saw the safety sneak up in my pre snap read. One to many slant passes and Mike Minter is dancing in the end zone, ugh)

A back and forth game, we are knotted at 24 with 1 minute left. They ahve the ball on their 40 and I force a punt. I get the ball on my 37 after they shank one and I start my drive with 55 seconds left. A quick slant pass to Gates turns into a 20 yard gain after he breaks a tackle. I run a draw play with Jones for another 12. Two more running plays and the clock goes down. Kris Brown comes in for the game winning kick. They call a TO to freeze me. I hit the chip shot and win 27-24.

I'm not sure I've played a full season on a football game (actually play, not sim some games) since NCAA '04. That's going to change with this game.

[MizzouRah]

Damn... sold mine on Ebay for $41.00 (included shipping), very quick.

Glad you're liking it though Troy, I feel the same way about NCAA 2006.

[jbmagic]

Damn... sold mine on Ebay for $41.00 (included shipping), very quick.

Glad you're liking it though Troy, I feel the same way about NCAA 2006.


wow nice price you sold it for.


i going to do that too for Madden 2006 and Ncaa 2006. sell them each on ebay.


how much you charge for shipping and how much was your starting price?

do you have a link. may i use your description as an example.

thanks

thanks

[Eaglesfan27]

Just a quick bump on this. . .

This game has had staying power for me. More than any football game I've played since NCAA '04. It's better than NFL2K5, my favorite pro game released during that time.

I love the cone, I love the running game.

I just finished a terrific game. I've got a slider set I'm pretty happy with and drafted a team. My DL/LB core is simply pathetic. My WR/TE/DB's are solid.

I play the Dolphins in Miami. Leftwich gets off to a hot start for me. Hits Moss on a hook pattern and Moss turns it up field for a 25 yard gain. End up scoring a TD on a short pass on the drive. The Dolphins use Ahman Green to simply thrash my front line. I can't control him no matter what defense I run. They use PA passes and runs to batter me all game long.

I blitz on one of the play action passes and knock their starter (Kitna) out of the game. Their backup is Mauck. Needless to say, this turns them into a one dimentional team. Not that it matters much, outside of a long bomb on a play action to Moss, I can't do anything on offense. They bottle up my running game completely. (Kevin Jones finishes the game with 58 yards on 22 carries) They also pic off a Leftwich pass and take it back to the house for six. (damnit, I never saw the safety sneak up in my pre snap read. One to many slant passes and Mike Minter is dancing in the end zone, ugh)

A back and forth game, we are knotted at 24 with 1 minute left. They ahve the ball on their 40 and I force a punt. I get the ball on my 37 after they shank one and I start my drive with 55 seconds left. A quick slant pass to Gates turns into a 20 yard gain after he breaks a tackle. I run a draw play with Jones for another 12. Two more running plays and the clock goes down. Kris Brown comes in for the game winning kick. They call a TO to freeze me. I hit the chip shot and win 27-24.

I'm not sure I've played a full season on a football game (actually play, not sim some games) since NCAA '04. That's going to change with this game.
Even though, I haven't posted much. I'm still very actively playing Madden and enjoying it as well. I expect to go further in my franchise than I ever have (despite the fact that I will likely get Madden for the Xbox 360 in November and give this version to my step-brother along with my Xbox.)

[Pumpy Tudors]

Arrrgggh. You guys have me ready to play it again, and I was just about to step back to MVP Baseball (it's amazing to me that MVP still has "playability" six months after release). Can't play tonight, but I'll get to it again tomorrow, I'm sure.

[Raiders Army]

I can tell this is a great game; however, it's currently shelved until I can complete year 4 of my NCAA dynasty. At that point, I'll pick it up and play it for four years.

Last year I played 9 years of NCAA and 7 years of Madden. I have no doubt that this year will be the same.

[TroyF]

For anyone reading the posts who hasn't purhased the game, there are flaws. The kick return game is just plain broke for instance. The draft hasn't been changed a ton and still has some poor picks. (which may force the serious player to control the draft)

But the game is jsut incredibly fun to play. After that wild 27-24 game against Miami, I followed it up with a 24-6 thumping of the Chargers at home. Leftwich struggled for a majority of the game. They doubled Moss all day, making it very difficult to get the ball to him. Their doubling of Moss allowed the running game to take off, however, and Jones ran for 96 yards (23 carries). Leftwich threw for just enough to put some drives together. The Chargers still ran over my weak D-Line, but the bend but don't break defense worked. I picked off one pass at the goal line (my only INT all game) and forced them into two 52 yard field goals that they missed. The game was 9 - 6 (nothing but field goals) at the start of the fourth quarter.

Every game has a different feel to it. I just didn't find NCAA as fun this year. I doubt I'll spend much more time with it and am only going to hold onto it for the draft classes. (all simmed)

[Kodos]

I'm enjoying it when I get a chance to play, but I have yet to win a game. Still tweaking sliders to help my passing game and the computer's.

[MizzouRah]

Here you go jb:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8214214600&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESO%3AIT&rd=1

Games are really easy, just input your UPC code and ebay will do the rest. I charge $5.00 shipping for 1 game and a $1 option for insurance. I ship everything Priority mail in the US only.

[Julio Riddols]

I just wanted to say something about punt returns that I have been noticing.. The game doesnt measure the return properly.

Pay close attention to where you actually catch the ball and then listen to the commentary.. it will constantly say that you started your return from 3 or more yards further up than you actually did.. For instance, yesterday, I had a 10 yard return with Peter Warrick, from the 34 to the 44.. However, the announcers said I started my return from the 37, costing me 3 return yards.. I am thinking maybe this is a big part of why there arent realistic punt return numbers in the game.

[jbmagic]

Bad News

there a major bug on the console and pc of Madden 2006.

there is a fatigue bug on sim games. the fatigue is broken for sim games.

so the starters play the whole game. there no Subs at all. only time a backup will come in if a starter gets injure for sim games.

Fatigue only works for in game play.

no wonder the sims stats are off on franchise mode.

This has been reported on Maddenmania forum.

[Emiliano]

Bad News

there a major bug on the console and pc of Madden 2006.

there is a fatigue bug on sim games. the fatigue is broken for sim games.

so the starters play the whole game. there no Subs at all. only time a backup will come in if a starter gets injure for sim games.

Fatigue only works for in game play.

no wonder the sims stats are off on franchise mode.

This has been reported on Maddenmania forum.

Damn! I haven't played Madden in a while, but I didn't know this.

Hey jb, did you buy the PC version then? If you did, how does it play compared to the xbox?

[General Mike]

I haven't bought this game yet. Is it better than Madden 2005: Collector's Edition?

[MizzouRah]

I haven't bought this game yet. Is it better than Madden 2005: Collector's Edition?
I liked Madden 2005 much better.. but I didn't give Madden 2006 enough play.