Madden NFL 17 Impressions

[Millennium]

This thread is to be used for IMPRESSIONS ONLY. Questions go in the Q & A Thread.

Thread is now open to everyone who owns the game.

[reverend_heat]

Played 2 games so obviously very early impressions here.

So, in no order of importance, random thoughts only. I am dictating this post so if there's grammatical errors or any weird words that's why

All pro default game speed and sliders
Pros:

Menus/calling plays are snappy, last year seemed very slow and sludgy to me

Graphics/lighting are slightly improved, and gameplay overall feels smoother, especially running the ball.

I know the zone improvements have been talked about a lot as helping the defense but to me it seems maybe even a bigger change is that if you can extend plays as quarterback wide receiver's come open in a more organic looking/feeling way. this definitely adds to the emergent feeling that we've been lacking in madden that random things can happen like they do an actual football games . I stepped up in the pocket with David Carr as Crabtree broke open across the middle and hit him for a 64 yard gain it felt awesome.

The special teams which I thought maybe wouldn't be that big of a deal are actually a really nice improvement . Again adding to the feeling that something could happen out of the norm which I obviously 16 did not have special teams wise. In my first game the Vikings tried an onside kick at the end of the game and the ball got passed me because I made a mistake with my user controlled player and it kind of caused a mad dash for the ball that looked pretty cool I have a video of it but I'm pretty sure I can upload them as last year they were taken down almost immediately.

The commentary is so much better it's not even funny I made a tackle for loss with Kahlil Mac and was just looking at the replay that the game provides you and Charles Davis starts talking about Mack, and then at the end of his comments says that was a great tackle by Kahlil Mac hard to explain but it just seemed and sounded so much better than anything I had ever heard and a Madden game before again I have a video, wish I could share it.

Pass defense and the swat mechanic are a lot of fun in my Raiders versus Seahawks game Amerson was running down the field with Baldwin and as he looked back to locate what was going on in the backfield he kept his left arm out in an attempt to feel where Baldwin was like you see real NFL defensive backs do. Again I've never noticed that before and it looks very very good on replay.

Almost forgot one of my very favorite things in my first two games that I had noticed is the user control dive that you can do it anytime this is absolutely huge in my opinion as in the past you couldn't really dive unless you were at running to the pylon or trying to dive over the goal line now you can do it at any point on the field and it is so useful when you need that extra yard for a first down hard to believe it took this long to get that in the game

Cons:

My number one complaint early early on is that on all pro default sliders the CPU offense and maybe even defense simply aren't good enough. My second game has Raiders against Seahawks I shut them out 24 to nothing. No way I should be shutting out Seattle on all pro. Specifically the CPU seems to struggle mightily running the ball I am not a big slider move guy, hopefully someone can figure out a fix for this or I might have to bump it to all Madden.

I have a video of some really bad offense of line logic as the play happened Russell Wilson took of the snap and I am mediately had three defenders on top of him and sacked him when I looked at the replay the guard completely ignored the defense of tackle in front of him and focused on the linebacker behind him which is what allowed basically a jailbreak to sack Wilson I have a video of this and it does not look good .

Overall though there are some really nice additions at least super early after two games it feels like an improved madden 16 I'm not sure people that didn't like the game last year will fall in love with 17 but I do think if you enjoyed 16 you will really enjoy 17 if that makes sense

[reverend_heat]

Just played a game with Atlanta at Carolina, and Stewart ran the ball much better than the other two games I played. There was one play at about the 4 yard line where Stewart ran the ball up the middle kind of got stuffed broke off to the side and dove into the endzone with the ball extended in one arm, it looked crazy good, especially because it was the CPU AI that was pulling it off

[reverend_heat]

Played a handful of games last night so a few further thoughts. For some reason the juke moves seem to be a little difficult to pull off in game. Using Jamaal Charles, I had a tough time getting them to work consistently. Went into skills trainer and they worked flawlessly, hopefully they aren't contextual. You should be able to do them anywhere you want at anytime, going to test this more tonight. One thing about the running game that does feel improved, when running parallel to the line of scrimmage with a HB as a DE chases, it seems easier to beat them to the edge, in the past this was a great spot for suction tackling to occur, it doesn't happen anymore. Adds to the improved running game for sure.

[TOmuch81]

Hey Everyone!

Just to clarify, I haven't played any CFM and I don't have time to post videos or pix of certain cleats, jerseys, player appearances, ETC. Just thought I'd give a few EARLY impressions of my 26 hours with Madden 17.

All of my game play has been on All-Pro and mainly in MUT and Play Now.

First off, the game looks a little better. Colors pop a bit more and there's also a contrast toggle in the settings, not sure if that was in last year.

The time they put into the game sounds paid off, at lease for me. It drastically needed to be rehauled and I'm glad they did. It's not prefect, but an improvement.
The QB cadences sound different to me, and no, they don't have every starting QB, from what I can tell. Romo, Brady, Rodgers all sound great.

Zone coverage has been improved in a big way and they play more realistically.

Props to EA for investing the time and money into the new commentary team! Gaudin and Charles Davis have a great dynamic and the banter flows much better than any other Madden has. I was really impressed with about the 10-15 games I've heard thus far. Only thing I noticed is that they will always question why you're kicking a FG to win a game and say it's only 2nd down or 3rd down, even with time expiring.

The running animations are a nice touch. They will take some getting used to but can be really rewarding.
The stiff arm is back!!!
A few game with Adrian Peterson I was able to get a beautiful animation and another 10-12 yards. It looks pretty sweet, but with that reward comes some risk. I've had quite a few fumbles with AP, Gio and Zeke Elliott. They don't have high carry ratings, but I was also holding R1 and they still fumbled.

I will try to post some more later. Again, these are just a few observations from my time with the game so far.

[vannwolfhawk]

Got the game earlier today...

Just a couple things I'm loving early on as I went thru the trainer and into practice mode to test a few of my pet peeves and madden legacy issues. As I play I'll update with more impressions.

1- man to man this year is redone and better than it's ever been. The 1st thing I always do when I get the game is go test curl routes vs Sherman. In years past I could throw it for a completion 9/10 times. This year maybe 1/10x I completed vs Sherman. On out breaks he breaks on the ball and doesn't get stuck in mud animation on the cut leaving wr wide open. He's a monster as he should be. You can tell the difference between browner and Sherman as I was able to eat browner up but struggled vs Sherm to do anything... I can't tell you how refreshing this is.

2- I'm loving the running game. Patience is the key as turbo is not needed for inside runs. The LT moves are very well done and feels very rewarding. You have 100x more control over running back when moving left to right and right to left. In years past you couldn't really change directions. This year it feels incredible moving to the left and seeing a hole on the right then back to the left. Hard to explain but when you play it you will notice the difference if you can stay off the turbo button.

3- gap play is great! I had a little trouble operating as mlb as he doesn't have the same agility. What I mean by this is I'd get fooled going in a direction and as I changed directions I felt a delay. What I learned is strafe is huge on defense with pre snap immediate post snap along with turbo for realistic and good agility.

4- I'm also loving the kicking game. Very well done this year on both sides of the ball. You can block a kick by diving with outside guys or by jumping with the inside guys. I missed my first 3 fg. Was used to faster meter. The ball physics are nice too especially on punts. Gone are the days where the ball bounces out of bounds at 100mph and 1 bounce. I saw some die inside the 5, the backspin bounce back a few yards. Only thing I wish for is kick return and punt return blocking were redone. The cou still runs straight ahead. Nothing new in returns.

Those are just 4 immediate things that have popped out to me so far! Finally the Seahawks defense should feel dominate.

[vannwolfhawk]

Just finished my 1st full 12 minute game on all pro vs CPU.

I was Seahawks vs Rams

The Rams won 17-13. I was rusty and threw 5 interceptions with Russell Wilson including 2 huge ones late. It was a defensive battle. Here are some things that stood out.

- Donald was a beast! He had 2 sacks and 6 tackles but forced me into some bad throws as well as disrupted runs to his side. He felt dominate.

- the cou run game was non existent but it was against the Seahawks. Hurley was 14 yards on 14 carries. Mason only had 1 carry. On the flip side Thomas Rawls had 197 yards on 19 carries. Late in the game tied at 10 the cou punted and pinned me on the 1 yard line in a coffin corner with 5 to play. Rawls on the 1st carry broke a 86 yard run to put us in field position. It felt great! We kicked a fg go to go up 13-10 with 1:58 to play.

- CPU late game ai - the cpu called a timeout after 3rd down with 1:58 to play to stop the clock so I couldn't run it down on 4th before the fg. The 1st 2 plays they ran sideline routes, caught it then ran out of bounds. They then caught a few more in the middle of the field while running hurry up offense. They called a timeout with about 38 seconds to play. They then scored a td on the drive (with a running Robo qb throw across the field which was the only thing about the game I didn't like besides Russ's 5 interceptions.

- the CPU qb threw the ball away at least 5 times to avoid sacks. He was 31-48 and had numerous errant passes as well. Wilson also had some errant throws. Keep in mind no slider adjustments on all pro.

- the running game like I stated in another post is amazing!

- punt returns is a little different too. If you choose to catch ball on end zone for a return they will go to the X instead of run away. They also don't have max protect from what I can see. Unless it's a punt block? So 2 gunners and blockers on each side. You can't put a guy back anymore on the line so it led to some pretty cool returns from Lockett. CPU return still the same.

- I did see the CPU use some LT moves and got me a few times with it.

- defense felt great! I still need to get in habit of swatting ball rather than playing the ball (Bad habit). Zone defenses are awesome and realistic and gap play is great! I blew up a couple runs with B wags and KJ wright and it felt amazing! The CPU tried to attack Sherm a few times but was unsuccessful and for the most part three other places and beat browner on a streak once for a big gain with no over the top help from Thomas.

- pocket felt like it collapsed pretty quick but that's versus the Seahawks line and a good Rams dline. So realistic.

- superstars feel like superstars!

- commentary is refreshing and very well done. I really like gaudin! Huge difference here! At 1 point they were talking about how the Seahawks needed to do a better job protecting Wilson. Right before halftime they mentioned highlights and Charles Davis said not many to show there as all the highlights will be from the defensive side as it was 3-3 at the half.

- the CPU Rams missed 2 fg as did I!

- I have only played 1 game and I have been in skill trainer and practice mode as well for a few hours but I can say this game is the best madden game ever made (I've played every madden ever made). I can only imagine how it will play with slider adjustments! Last year I stopped playing because of a few game breakers for me with we and CB play but this game feels night and day different. This is not madden 16.5.

Off to play another game!

[mrprice33]

Max protect on punts was in the game when I played in June. Check in the special teams formations. You can also audible to max protect while punting. Audible then press right on dpad


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