Alright Boyz, here we go! Madden 10 first impressions thread

[TroyF]

I'm still playing the game without any patches. I'll gladly wait until November to start a full franchise. If you can't tell, I still love this game.

NBA2K!0 around the corner to keep me occupied for awhile until the next patch comes out. (I bought NHL10 and I really like it. . . I just really don't like playing NHL games now. I'll give it another shot or two, but it doesn't look good)

[Eaglesfan27]

On OS, Phil has said that the first patch "will definitely be out by tomorrow evening." Also, Man coverage is one of the things that is supposed to be tuned, so that may help against TE's and slants. As far as the flats, that will be one of the focuses for patch 2.

[Kodos]

Also, for Patch 2, Loomis has addressed the simulated stats as best he could.

[Icy]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Ping Icy.

To tell you the true, Madden is still plastic wrapped around here. I received it with NHL10 and so far that one have had all my gaming time.

[Eaglesfan27]

The first patch is out now.

[Sun Tzu]

I'm really torn on whether to start my franny now or wait for the 2nd patch. I'm sure that we wont see patch #2 until December. Keep in mind that it takes a couple weeks for Sony/MS to approve and release a patch after it's been finished by EA.

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by Sun Tzu

I'm really torn on whether to start my franny now or wait for the 2nd patch. I'm sure that we wont see patch #2 until December. Keep in mind that it takes a couple weeks for Sony/MS to approve and release a patch after it's been finished by EA.

This is what I hate about this era of video games, everyone releases crap they know is not ready then when football season is over they finally get it turned into an enjoyable experience. About the only game I've really enjoyed was CH2k8 and even that before the patch was not all that great to me.

I'm interested to see what actually gets fixed by EA with this patch and the 2nd.

[MizzouRah]

I need to start up my franchise, damn you NHL 10..

Is the consensus to start on AP with 20 second clock run off?

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Balldog

This is what I hate about this era of video games, everyone releases crap they know is not ready then when football season is over they finally get it turned into an enjoyable experience. About the only game I've really enjoyed was CH2k8 and even that before the patch was not all that great to me.

I'm interested to see what actually gets fixed by EA with this patch and the 2nd.

Yes, this game sucks, no one at all is having fun with it, it's horribly broken, I don't know why I spend an hour a night playing it

Come on, this is like MBBF with NCAA09 all over again. Sure there are some holes that were found once several million people started playing it, but the game is good and fun as-is.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Come on, this is like MBBF with NCAA09 all over again. Sure there are some holes that were found once several million people started playing it, but the game is good and fun as-is.

Anybody who thinks that this game is even remotely comparable to the NCAA09 situation has their head up a tailpipe. Madden10 is a very good game out of the box and will likely be even better post-patch. There's no way that statement could be made about NCAA09 or 10 for that matter.

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Yes, this game sucks, no one at all is having fun with it, it's horribly broken, I don't know why I spend an hour a night playing it

Come on, this is like MBBF with NCAA09 all over again. Sure there are some holes that were found once several million people started playing it, but the game is good and fun as-is.

Don't get me wrong, I like the game but it sucks having to decide if I want to start a franchise with screwy stats or wait until the patch to start one which was my point.

[Kodos]

At least Madden still has a chance to get major problems fixed. At this point, NCAA 2010 is stuck being a flaming turd.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Anybody who thinks that this game is even remotely comparable to the NCAA09 situation has their head up a tailpipe. Madden10 is a very good game out of the box and will likely be even better post-patch. There's no way that statement could be made about NCAA09 or 10 for that matter.

I wasn't talking about the games, I was talking about the arguments: two people ticked off about the bugs and saying it's a fundamentally broken game, while lots of other people in the thread are discussing how much fun they are having.

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

I wasn't talking about the games, I was talking about the arguments: two people ticked off about the bugs and saying it's a fundamentally broken game, while lots of other people in the thread are discussing how much fun they are having.

haha considering most of my posts have been about how much I'm enjoying the game....

[JS19]

sooooo, not gonna lie, I rarely do anything online with my PS3, where exactly do I go about getting this patch?

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Kodos

At least Madden still has a chance to get major problems fixed. At this point, NCAA 2010 is stuck being a flaming turd.

The one good thing about NCAA 10 is I'm getting my arse handed to me.. something that didn't happen in 09.

[whomario]

don´t you just start the game and then get prompted to update it assuming you are hooked onto the internet ? (at least that´s how it is with the 360, allways assumed both are the same)

[Kodos]

Yes. Eject your game, put it back in, and it should prompt you to download the patch, assuming you are on the internet.

[JS19]

Originally Posted by whomario

don´t you just start the game and then get prompted to update it assuming you are hooked onto the internet ? (at least that´s how it is with the 360, allways assumed both are the same)

indeed it does. Wish I knew that before I spent a half hr scouring all the options on my ps3 looking for a "Madden 10 patch".

[bhlloy]

Any early impressions on what is fixed in the patch vs. what was promised/rumored?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Any early impressions on what is fixed in the patch vs. what was promised/rumored?

Only played 1 game so far, but my thoughts:

Pursuit seems better on outside runs, but that is all that I notice it being improved for. Power running backs feel more dangerous and Jacobs was consistently getting 3-6 yards per carry against me. Makes me wish the Giants used him more (although he did have 24 carries for 152 yards and a TD.)

- The short passing game is tougher. They have tuned down the effectiveness of the flats and the slants. Unfortunately, they have done this by slowing down the guys running them IMO (and that of others on OS.) There was one play, where it looked like Weaver, my FB, was jogging in place. He was working his way through traffic, but I didn't like the appearance of the play at all.

- The deep passing game is much more open. With the fix to WR/DB bump interaction/press release, burners can really kill DB's if they play a lot of press. I just played my Eagles vs the Giants and DeSean Jackson was open deep at least 4 times during the game. Of those 4 that I remember, 1 time McNabb connected for a 63 yard TD, one time McNabb overthrew him, one time he threw it wide, and one time he was sacked before he could get it to him. The CPU threw it truly deep more often this game. Steve Smith of the Giants burnt Asante once for a 65 yard TD which worries me a bit. Then again, Samuel shut him down most of the game. I also had 2 long attempts to Maclin in which he was open and connected on 1 of them for a 87 yard TD. Prior to this patch, I almost never threw long because guys just wouldn't get open deep no matter how much speed they have.

- Run blocking felt tighter, not perfect, but improved. I'm going to have to readjust my sliders as a result.

- Fatigue is the biggest change to me - The effects of fatigue are more noticable and it is more important to rotate guys into the game.

[RainMaker]

I'm confused. They did fix the flats and screens then? Because from what I read they said that wouldn't be fixed till the next patch? Have they confirmed this or perhaps a placebo effect in play?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I'm confused. They did fix the flats and screens then? Because from what I read they said that wouldn't be fixed till the next patch? Have they confirmed this or perhaps a placebo effect in play?

I wouldn't say it is completely fixed. I would say it is tuned down a bit, and I think they did this by slowing down the speed that backs run out of the backfield on pass plays. Hopefully, that won't be the final fix and is just a temporary measure until they can actually fix the coverage.

[bhlloy]

I played a game an a half this evening. Might just be bad luck, but I have to say this feels like a less solid game post-patch. #1 glaring thing is players running backwards/out of bounds instead of upfield after the catch. And the other thing is the running game being way, way too easy even with the player skill on a level of 2. Dede Dorsey had 150 yards against the Saints approaching half time (ok the Saints run D is bad but still, the Bengals line isn't much better) and LJ absolutely destroyed the Texans in game 1

Haven't noticed anything improved so far either. Flats/slants still seem to be open whenever I want it. Love to hear others impressions - a game and a half isn't exactly a solid sample size.

[gstelmack]

Started my new franchise last night. Switched to default All-Pro for difficulty and reset all CPU sliders back to 50 (since old sliders aren't applicable), although I left the tuned penalty sliders.

Beat the Bills pretty handily (as Patriots) 45-21, although the big difference was picks thrown by Trent Edwards and Ryan Fitzpatrick (after Edwards got hurt), including one we returned for a TD. Game was fun. I'm not sure I'm going to tweak sliders much at all yet, maybe on the running game (blocking / reaction time), but the gameplay felt pretty good.

On the "run backwards" bit mentioned above, that's been there all along. If guys are running a curl or otherwise turned back to the QB, they love to continue backwards towards you for a few yards before turning upfield, even if they were stationary when catching the ball. Something should be done about it.

My only real complaint about the patch, although it also may have been there all along, were all the "Flash Forward Tonight!" banners that kept appearing in the lower-right while playing the game. Sigh.

[Big Fo]

Maybe it was just one game but so far I am pleased with the AI's running game post-patch. Lots of normal type carries instead of many no-gainers with the occasional breakaway. And the AI quarterback didn't throw its customary five balls straight to a defender so I'll try to raising the interception slider from 3 to somewhere in the 20's maybe.

[gstelmack]

Second franchise game against the Jets was a much tougher game. We slowly pulled to a 20-7 lead, then started handing it back. Nursing a 20-14 lead late, Brady got hit as he threw and Kris Freakin' Jenkins snatched it at the line. The Jets punched it in for a 21-20 lead. Got the "Sprint 2-minute drill" achievement by driving down for the winning field goal, then picking off Sanchez on the first play of their final drive.

We did pick off Sanchez three times, but it seemed good defense. He was otherwise fairly accurate. Both teams had trouble running, I may or may not need to tweak that.

[whomario]

had a fun game just now with personally tweaked sliders (but basically difficulty between all pro and all madden, running game made easier and blocking easier as well).
Key for me is having player threshold at 40-45 instead of 50 and reaction time on pass defense at about 25-30, players get open but not all the time either.
Play on slow speed. Seems a bit slow at times, but then again i haven´t played a football game before so i need some more time to make decicions anyway

3rd year of an association, as the Packers beat the Bears 30-27. 330 Yards to 353 yards offense, had Rodgers @ 206 yards on 17/28 with 2 TDs and no Int, Cutler had 228 on 17-27 with 2 TDs and a int on a desperation play.
Forte 29 attempts for 129 yards (4.2 YPC), Josh Davis for me had 102 on 20 attempts.

Really enjoy the game right now, really don´t have many complaints. Slants/Flats work better allready , mainly because pass rushing by the CPU isn´t as agressive as pre-patch.

[ColtCrazy]

I just finished the first preseason of my franchise pre-patch. Should I start over, or will the patch work from now on in my franchise?

[Sun Tzu]

You are fine for your franny now. The only reason you would need to restart your franny is when they release patch #2 which will fix some stat glitches. Even then, it's optional. You don't HAVE to restart your franny, you can just play with the LB's getting too many tackles.

[ColtCrazy]

Originally Posted by Sun Tzu

You are fine for your franny now. The only reason you would need to restart your franny is when they release patch #2 which will fix some stat glitches. Even then, it's optional. You don't HAVE to restart your franny, you can just play with the LB's getting too many tackles.

Thanks. Played my first franchise game, beat the Jags 37-22. Definitely can see some difference on the flats, my best pass to Donald Brown was a curl to the middle of the field that he broke some tackles on.

Anyway, thanks again. Nice to finally get the franchise going.

[CraigSca]

Personally haven't tried using the code (yet), but PS3 owners can get the AFL download pack for free by hitting the Reebok site and entering their email.

hxxp://www.reebok.com/US/afl

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

Personally haven't tried using the code (yet), but PS3 owners can get the AFL download pack for free by hitting the Reebok site and entering their email.

hxxp://www.reebok.com/US/afl

Thanks. It works. I wouldn't pay $7 for this content but free is nice. Like Sweed said you have to skip the video and then sign up for the code. I also used a junk mail address. Thanks for posting this, CraigSca.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

Personally haven't tried using the code (yet), but PS3 owners can get the AFL download pack for free by hitting the Reebok site and entering their email.

hxxp://www.reebok.com/US/afl

Saw this at OS too and it does work. Wasn't worth $7 to me but for free? Sure why not. Even let me use my gmail address so if they end up sending junk mail out it won't hit my main address.

Maybe I'm a little dense(and maybe this can help someone as challenged as I am ) or maybe it's something in my firefox settings but it was a little confusing getting to the registration screen. Link takes you to a video of the AFL pack. I watched the video and then nothing, it just ended there with no prompts on how to enter my email to get the code. Wasn't sure if I had to register to reeboks site or what? Even used the search function and got nothing At the bottom of the video screen is a button to skip the video, pressed that and it went right to the registration screen. Success, at last!

Like I said, maybe I'm just dense and totally missed something but it just seemed like a bit of bad design.

[rowech]

Is there a way to set fatigue levels so that guys are automatically subbed?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by rowech

Is there a way to set fatigue levels so that guys are automatically subbed?

Yes. I forget which sub-menu it is in, but there is way to set your autosub in/out for each position. Look under my madden settings first. I think it might be there.

[Raiders Army]

Be careful. If you set the fatigue sub-in level at 95%, the starter may not ever come back in. I set my sub-in at 95% and McFadden didn't play in the second half.

By this result, I'd guess that the fatigue level never gets back to 95% in the second half (which would be realistic).

[rowech]

Originally Posted by Raiders Army

Be careful. If you set the fatigue sub-in level at 95%, the starter may not ever come back in. I set my sub-in at 95% and McFadden didn't play in the second half.

By this result, I'd guess that the fatigue level never gets back to 95% in the second half (which would be realistic).

Hadn't thought of that...that's a good point.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Raiders Army

Be careful. If you set the fatigue sub-in level at 95%, the starter may not ever come back in. I set my sub-in at 95% and McFadden didn't play in the second half.

By this result, I'd guess that the fatigue level never gets back to 95% in the second half (which would be realistic).

Yeah, the developers have said that max energy level is lowered with use throughout the game. Even if you set sub-in at 85, if you run a back enough times, they will disappear for the rest of the game because they can never get back above 85%.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by rowech

Is there a way to set fatigue levels so that guys are automatically subbed?

It's under Gameplan on the ps3. IIRC You can't do it while in your franchise it has to be done on the main menu.

[Sweed]

Madden 08, never completed a season due to the game sucking (uncontrollable turnovers).

Madden 09, I actually completed one season with decent stats but it just didn't feel quite right so it went to the shelf.

Madden 10 is finally giving me a game of football, first time since 05 or so on the ps2.

Started new Viking franchise with the patch. I have to say the fun is back in the game for me. 3 games in and I'm 3-0 knocking off Cleve., Det., and SF.

Cleve was a blow out 51-31 and had me worried about my sliders but total yards were good and a couple of scores came due to TO's.

Detroit I beat 21-14 in a game I dominated as far as going up and down the field. However I never scored a TD, just 7 FG's. I don't think that's ever happened to me before and was actually fun to see. Game was 18-0 through the 3rd qtr before Det was able to get a scoring drive early in the fourth. Then scored again with less than 3 minutes left to get to 21-14 and I was able to run out the clock with a heavy dose of AP.

SF, I just finished this morning final score 26-14. Half time I was down 14-10 and AP had 3 yds rushing while Gore had a big half with ~80 yds (124yds for the game, 60+ yard td run called back for holding) rushing plus a receiving and rushing TD. Defense got going in the second half and AP started grinding out yards and one TD with Longwell banging in 3 FG's. AP ended with ~115 yds and only one run over 20 yds (24yds on a toss play). SF allowed me only 298 yds of total offense.

Season stats so far from memory..
I'm second in Total offense, (8th passing, 2nd rushing).

8th in Total Defense (14th vs rush, Gore killed me. 4th vs pass).

Sacks: 9 putting me 3rd or 4th. Balt IIRC leading the league with 12.

Penalties: middle of the league with 10 called against (league high 18. low 5)
Yeah, they could be higher but at least I'm not the low man with 2 penalties for 10 yards like other years.

Only converting 40% of 3rd downs putting me in the middle of the league.

Turnover differential: I am first at +9. Second in league with 7 picks and second in fumbles recovered with 4. Game doesn't track fumbles caused but I have turned the cpu fumbles back to default 50 after SF fumbled in the first half (starting to feel like too many caused).

Is the game perfect? Of course not but it does come down to what one can accept as reasonable. Madden 10, for me, is playing a fun game of football with reasonable stats for the most part. I'm playing with a high powered Viking offense and a very tough defense and am not dominating the league, something I could do with middle of the road teams in previous Maddens.

My biggest complaints now is DT's getting too many tackles taking away tackles from linebackers. RDE (Jared Allen) being controlled by cpu not getting sacks he should. For comparison I play with Edwards, on the other side, and have 3 sacks. Not ideal but I can live with it.

Next test will be how the franchise actually progresses when I start to complete a few seasons.

[ColtCrazy]

I'm in the same camp. I'm really enjoying Madden 10. Sure, it's got some quirks, but overall I can't complain.

I'm 4 games into my Colts dynasty now.

I won my first game over the Jags 52-24. The Jags were pretty bad, and this score is slightly inflated due to some defensive TDs late in the 4th quarter when Garrard was trying to make plays.

In game 2, I beat the Dolphins 28-24. I blew a 21-7 lead and had to come back with a TD with 7 seconds left to beat them. Great game. Something I don't think I ever really have against the computer in Madden. I didn't churn up near the offense I had against the Jags. My running game was stuffed and even Manning only had 242 yds passing.

Game 3 was a 37-20 win over Arizona. Much like the real game, Manning and Warner had about 300 yards each, but Manning had the TD advantage. Also like the real game, the Colts ran the ball well, but the Cardinals didn't.

Game 4 was my only weird blowout as I beat Seattle 63-21. This is the worst the AI has played against me in any game, franchise or exhibition. It should have been 63-7 but they returned two picks for TDs. The score is odd because I ran the ball the entire 4th quarter. They blitzed a lot and if I got by that, I had long TD runs. Donald Brown ended up with 120 yards on just 17 carries. Way too much offense in this game, but those games happen in Madden.

After 4 games, Clark and Wayne are the leading receivers with Brown and Garcon in 3rd and 4th (I traded Gonzalez to get LB help). Manning's TD pace is a little high, but that's because of the 5 TD performance against Seattle. Addai is averaging about 84 yards rushing per game, Brown 50 mostly because of game 4.

My spread offense is #1 in passing, 2 in rushing. That will decrease as I noticed a few plays that worked in week 1 haven't worked as well since.

Defensively, I'm 7th versus the rush, which is nice to see that I'm not 1st by a mile. So they still can run on me, even though I've had big leads in 2 of 4 games. Passing defense is 18th. I'm 30th in sacks, probably because I get excited and hit speed burst and get the QB duck throw a lot. I'm 11th in INTs.

Overall, while the offense is a little high, I'm happy with the stats and think they'll even out well over the season. Would like to see more sacks, but I think that will come.

[RainMaker]

Can you guys post which sliders you are using post-patch?

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Can you guys post which sliders you are using post-patch?

To get my sliders I played 20 or so games using My Skill and then input those numbers into custom sliders with only one minor tweak.

human custom sliders
pass-12
rush-14 (sub-slider set fumbles to default 50)
pass defense-9
rush defense-14

CPU sliders (courtesy of Heelfan at OS with some tweaks to fit my abilities Heelfan's "MY SKILL" Sliders (Cpu adjustments) - Operation Sports Forums)

Passing
QB accuracy-25
pass block-5
WR catch-45

Rushing
Broken tackles-40
Run blocking-70
Fumbles-50

Pass Defense
Reaction time-40
Interceptions-25
Pass Rushing-40

Rush Defense
Reaction Time-60
Block Shedding-40
Tackling-45

Penalties and sub in\out(courtesy of dfos81 at OS, Zero Custom HUM/CPU FRANCHISE SLIDERS! by: dfos81 - Operation Sports Forums)

Offside-100
Holding-49
Face Mask-60
Off Pass Int-99
Def Pass Int-99
KR\PR int-99
Clipping-85
Int Grounding-99
Roughing Passer\Kicker-99

dfos81 put face masking at 60 to make up for the almost total lack of pass interference calls as a way to get number and penalty yardage up to more reasonable numbers. First I thought WTF but it does work out pretty well.

Sub In\Out
Offense:
QB out-50
QB in-80

RB out-79
RB in-80

WR out-65
WR in-80

FB\TE out-60
FB\TE in-80

O-line out-55
O-line in-80

Defense:
DT out-79
DT in-80

DE out-79
DE in-82

LB out-60
LB in-80

CB out-65
CB in-78

S out-65
S in-80

[RainMaker]

Thanks, I'll try those tomorrow night.

Do you know why they took pass interference out of the game? It used to be somewhat decent back on the PS2 years ago.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Thanks, I'll try those tomorrow night.

Do you know why they took pass interference out of the game? It used to be somewhat decent back on the PS2 years ago.

I don't know how they fucked that up but I think it's been that way on every next gen version. It does get called but very rarely.

Funny thing is I played one more game yesterday against Green Bay at The Dome and a pass interference call kept a drive alive for me contributing to my 29-24 win.

Now 4-0 with every game being fun and for the most part believable.

[INDalltheway]

Most all of my pass interferences have occurred when I attempt to hit stick a receiver and miss time the hit. The computer very rarely interferes though which is pretty annoying.

[whomario]

Had a lot of fun with the game the last couple weeks, similar sliders than Sweed has posted.
Once i learned how to actually get by a defender on pass rush moves (hey, played madden 05 for a couple weeks, that´s it for football games ...) i was perfectly happy with my setup as i then finally could get pressure on the QB and get some user sacks which just is an awesome feeling everytime it works
Still suck on defense as i have no stick skills in that area whatsoever and end up instinctively switching to a defensive back and than do sth dumb like run in the wron direction and give the receiver an open path towards the goal line ... Or tumble into my own guys ... Stuff like this, you know Plus i have no idea what the hell i´m actually calling most of the time. Really am a casual football fan that started to watch about 2 years ago, so my knowledge on strategy is very limited...

Offensively its much better, just more straight forward for me on that side of the ball. As a result my games are often rather high scoring (but not allways and not really extreme) since i have to score to keep up.

Now in my 4th season with the Packers. Not all that many players left from the original bunch, although the best players are still Rodgers, Jennings and on defense Raji is a beast, Matthews, Hawk, Barnett also still there.

Reached the conference final the 3rd season after an awesome regular season. Grant got injured and i ended up passing the crap out of the ball, Rodgers with 4800 yards, 46 TDs but also 24 Ints (although 12 of those happened in the first 4 games, got it together later in the season), have a great receivers unit with Jennings, Robiskie, a created player rated 90 now, Nelson and 2 more drafted players that are usefull. Plus 2 really good passing TEs.

Anyway, lost in the conference finals against Chicago, fumbled twice in the 4th quarter (on a return and with a receiver ...) and couldn´t stop their passing attack at all ...

Fun game

[JS19]

Originally Posted by whomario

Really am a casual football fan that started to watch about 2 years ago, so my knowledge on strategy is very limited...

For the most part, I'm in the same boat. I definitely consider myself more than a casual football fan, and I've been watching for years, but playing baseball my whole life, I never got into the ins and outs of football. Offensively, I know what I'm doing, but on the defensive side of things, I usually just do the "ask Madden". I'm slowly starting to pick up on some packages and whatnot, but in all reality, I have no clue what defensive strategy to use in different situations. So, that brings me to my question... Anyone care to give a brief/basic rundown on what defensive strategies/schemes to use in what situations?

On another Madden note, how often do you utilize the pump fake, and does it actually help you out?

[ColtCrazy]

Had my first WTF game. I beat the Texans 63-45. Yeah. Manning had 7 TDs...Texans constantly blitzed, even though I had consistently scorched it with quick slants or go routes. Had 4 TDs of 50+ yards. Andre Johnson only had 4 catches, but for 199 yards. He was impossible to stop on the deep throws.


So I adjusted sliders to give both me and the defense less time in the pocket. The next game, against the Patriots, there was still a lot of passing, but it wasn't unrealistic. I won 37-20.

I'm still scoring a ton, but part of that is the offense I run with Indy. I've played some games with other teams using the same sliders and don't have near the success.

It's going to be rough when I lose Manning down the road.