Madden NFL 18 Retail Impressions

[bcruise]

Okay, some entirely-too-early thoughts from my first full game (Cloud CFM, Week 1 NYG @ DAL). 15 minute quarters, 15 accelerated, Default All-Pro except injuries to 25:

Fun game to play, saw some good and bad.

Good:

- AI running game. As I had watched on many pre-release streams, AI Shane Vereen chunked me when I tried to call too much pass-oriented defense early on. He had almost 100 yards after the first quarter, and carried 27 times for 143 yards. Once I started putting more guys in the box and/or run blitzing the ground yards went down. Some people might see this as something to immediately be concerned about, but I actually like that the CPU's ground game has teeth this year, and I'm not going to jump the gun on slider tweaking.

- Coaching adjustments work (both ways). Not only did I have the opportunity late in the game to see what happens when you go full aggressive to try and force turnovers when playing from behind (hint: it's not pretty, I had a holding call and some badly missed tackles), I also got to see the notification of the AI using one although the circumstances were a little unusual. It used the strip ball adjustment and forced a fumble when leading by two scores in the 4th. The thing is though that I had taken a lot of sacks by that point (more on that later) so the AI might have determined that it was open season on Dak regardless of the situation. It's something I'll watch for, but it's the first time I've actually seen visual confirmation of the AI using adjustments so I see that as a good thing.


Bad

-My QB play. Of course that's not a knock on the game, but the main reason I lost was poor throwing decisions, as it usually is. Or deciding not to throw, as the Giants got to Dak 6 times. 3 INT's on top of that made this a laugher. Sim style will punish mistakes.

-Sacks. Again part of this goes back to my play, but Manning got sacked 5 times too and didn't really do a great job of avoiding pressure. He had one nice looking play where he stepped up and hit a 5 yard throw on the run for a first down, but didn't move a whole lot other than that.

Meh (or need more time):

-Fatigue. Not much cycling at default 50. I did see NYG's backup Perkins come in for a carry in the 4th (and not on 3rd down), but Vereen was the workhorse. And although Zeke did drop into the yellow several times, it didn't force him out of the game except on 3rd down for McFadden. I pretty much expected this and wasn't too surprised, but fortunately the fatigue slider is pretty responsive and it'll probably be one of the first things I look at adjusting.

-Penalties. 0 on the Giants, 4 on me - 2 false starts , a neutral zone infraction and a hold. The neutral zone foul and hold were caused by defensive adjustments (i got the drop-down showing those), and the two false starts were early in the game and just happened naturally on fake snap attempts. Again, not going to knee jerk - I saw a stream of a game at default that actually had 2 PI calls, and various other penalties besides. So I'm going to give this plenty of time to breathe.

[BleedGreen710]

Spoiler

Quote: Originally Posted by BleedGreen710

first game impressions, default all pro simulation Eagles (Me) vs Cowboys 12min. Quarters with 15 Seconds Run Off First of all the game looks outstanding. I was mesmerized by the graphics and was so happy being able to see them on my own TV finally. The gameplay in general just feels smoother, and animations play out more realistically. Momentum felt like it had more of an effect. Also saw a few new animations that looked really nice. Now onto the gameplay.. I know the Eagles have a great defensive line but I was not expecting to get so many sacks, especially against a very good Dallas offensive line. With no particular defensive gameplan, and using the suggested plays, I managed 11 sacks. Brandon Graham had 6 of them. There were only a few where my lineman got to the QB quickly, the rest were just Dak standing there until my guys reached him. He never scrambled once the whole game besides the run to the sideline thing the CPU always does. Concerning to see so many sacks against a good offensive line, and to see the CPU QB never take off and run. I'm hoping this game was a fluke. Running the ball was way too easy. Blount is good but I could have had the same success or more with anyone with decent speed. First contact was typically made 5 or more yards past the line of scrimmage, and was usually one of the safetys or corners. The Cowboys leading tacklers were both corners and safetys. That should never be the case especially with a big power back like Blount. Finished with 24 carries 154 yards. I'll have to be adjusting the run block slider again this year to make it much harder, I think I had it on 35 last year. Passing was also way too easy. I haven't played Madden in like 6 months and I threw for over 400 yards with Wentz using the suggested plays, on only 20 attempts. Short routes feel automatic. Next game I'll be putting the coverage and reaction time sliders at 99 like I used in Madden 17 and see if that makes a difference. I did not use target passing. As for the CPU offense, Dak was 19/23 for 1 TD and 0 INT. It was very similar to Madden 17, check down throws, didnt take any chances, didnt scramble, didnt make any inaccurate throws, it was bad. All his longest completions were on plays where he would sit in the pocket for like 10 seconds and his receivers would stop their routes and come back to the quarterback. Coverage seems to always break down when this happens leading to easy completions. And remember the Eagles have probably the worst cornerbacks in the game - but it never felt like a weakness. Elliot's first run was 75 yards untouched up the middle and he also scored on a 70 yard screen pass for a touchdown, also untouched. Just got the perfect blocks each time. Besides that he didn't do much at all. Couldn't get much of a feel for the CPU running game, it had its good moments and bad moments. Special Teams was uneventful, and more of the same. Kicking seems automatic, as I missed the mark on the accuracy part every time but still made every kick. Also the CPU had a 10 yard punt, it just went straight up in the air basically. When it came down it hit my returner in the helmet during the catch animation leading to a fumble. This happened in Madden 17, sadly still happens in 18. In the stick skills department, I was not able to successfully execute any of the new jukes and spin animations. Practice is needed. But trucking was as powerful as ever. Hit Sticking on defense felt harder to do and when I did finally land one I forced a fumble and fell on it so that felt very rewarding. The Commentary remains the same, its as repetitive as ever. Mostly the same lines as before. Charles Davis talks for a long time and goes over into the next play which is annoying. If I have to hear about Carson Wentz being sneaky athletic again I might have to use a different team. It was also disappointing after my 7th sack or so they stopped announcing how many sacks I had and would repeat the same line over and over after each successive sack. Something about how this offense has such a tough time getting things going cause they have absorbed so many sacks. I thought they would say something when I got sack #10 but they just repeated the same line. Didn't see any penalties all game, and there was one off ball injury. Presentation was about the same except the awesome new pre-game team run outs which is one of my favorite things about the game. Next game I'm going to adjust some sliders and try the same matchup hopefully it will play out better.

2nd game, this time I had CPU Pass Coverage at 100 and Reaction Time at 100 and I was still able to shred the CPU through the air easily. Another 400 yards passing for Wentz without ever really having to think about how to out smart the defense- and I just used the suggested plays. Too easy. Looks like I'm going to be using coach mode for passing plays once again this year to make things fair. It worked decently last year I'm hoping its the same in Madden 18. But with CPU QB AI being very bad I have my concerns about it.

Running game remains way too easy still after I moved the run blocking slider from 50 down to 35. I actually did much better, I started with 13 carries for 200 yards with Blount and finished with 250 yards and a few touchdowns. Again, first contact with a defender is not coming until 5 or more yards and its usually the safety or cornerback.

The CPU offense did nothing to impress me. Again had no scrambles with Dak and Elliot didn't do anything that made me think he was an elite player. Dez Bryant's name never even got called and again, the Eagles have the worst cornerbacks. I should be having trouble stopping them, but I don't. They took way too many sacks too. The first game it was 11 the 2nd game I got 8 sacks. Jordan Hicks had 12 tackles and 3 sacks.

This time there was a few facemask penalties and one unsportsmanlike conduct for a late hit which was nice to see but still no pass interference or defensive holding or even holding/clipping on runs plays have been called in 2 games so far. Have seen 2 off ball injuries.

Biggest issue so far is the CPU QB AI they are taking way too many sacks and not scrambling which is unrealistic and it hurts their offense as a whole so much that I can't get them to have anywhere close to a normal performance on offense. The issue of offense being too easy for user can be remedied with sliders but I'm not sure what I can do about the CPU QB.

I have to take a break now, overall I'm still neutral about the new game. I am seeing too much that looks copy pasted from Madden 17 which is irritating. I was expecting some things to be like that but its way more then I thought. The gameplay as a whole just feels almost the exact same. I can't think of any moments that made me think wow I never saw that happen in Madden 17. Its smoother and more fun to play but I just expected more of a difference. But I can't wait to play some more later today.

[pmurray20]

Can beat longshot in just a few hours of playing, It was fun but it's just dispointing that you learn the story and don't get to do much of anything let alone once the draft hits it's over? i don't get to play in the nfl or anything. I just think it would have been better if Longshot was tied into my player like NBA 2K and it continues after the story. If i create him in my player there won't be the story around him as well as no Colton Cruise so it's just not the same. Also at the end it basically says there will be a season two which means madden 19 will have it as well

[ultralow36]

Quote: Originally Posted by mikejs210

The PS4 and Xbox One retail versions are exactly the same. The PS4 Pro version does look better though obviously.

That's what I just said

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[ultralow36]

Quote: Originally Posted by yanek27

I can't seem to notice much difference from Xbox ea access to PS4 pro. I only played it on my Vizio so maybe that's why. I just wanted to make sure the enhance PS4 pro version was in the update. I'll try on the Samsung tomorrow to see if it was in fact the Vizio causing the issue

You can't tell the difference on a 4k screen? I can tell you one thing xbox one s ea access jaggy..mess.....ps4 pro no j aggy

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[Armor and Sword]

I only played one full game last night. Dolphins vs Bucs week one in an offline test CFM.

All-Pro default

15 minutes quarters with a 25 second runoff.

For me it is too early to even get into gameplay impressions just yet.

Visually this game is stunning on the PS4 Pro on a 4K TV. Just flat out gorgeous.

And true 60 FPS, no frame rate issues, animations and gameplay as well as menus are silky smooth, responsive and fast.

Just wow. A true next gen Madden title visually.

I want to play several more games (lot’s actually) in my test CFM before I give a true impression/review.

I look forward to posting my thoughts soon.

[permanent1]

Quote: Originally Posted by ultralow36

You can't tell the difference on a 4k screen? I can tell you one thing xbox one s ea access jaggy..mess.....ps4 pro no j aggy Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

I played it on EA access as well and not a jaggy mess for me on my xbox one S on my 4k tv.

[ultralow36]

Quote: Originally Posted by permanent1

I played it on EA access as well and not a jaggy mess for me on my xbox one S on my 4k tv.

if you think the ps4 pro in 4k and the xbox one looks the same then I'm happy for you

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