Madden NFL 18 Retail Impressions

[RogerDodger]

Quote: Originally Posted by DeuceDouglas

This has pretty much been my exact experience. I think I'm on a run of at least 7 games in a row where there has been a non-offensive score. I started up a game against the Broncos a little bit ago and quit in the first quarter. First it was this: Okay it happens, whatever. Then they get the ball back and this happens: They kick the FG and then I return the ensuing kickoff for a TD. They get the ball back and I sack them on back-to-back plays to start the next drive and I turned it off. I'm over trying to make it work for now. Maybe later down the road but as it stands right now I don't feel like I'm playing football. The only semblance of defense is sacks and turnovers. It doesn't feel like the patch did anything to make players smarter or even better in coverage. I played a game yesterday where Marcus Peters got beat twice by Luke Kuechly playing TE in man coverage. Every game is high scoring and has a ton of huge plays. It's the exact same issues that led to me putting down 17 so quickly and this year has the added problem of QB AI. I really would like to start a CFM but when I sit down to play an hour and a half game I don't want to have to deal with that stuff in pretty much every game. Hopefully the next patch will touch on some things and I can get back into it but I'm about to take a couple weeks off because it's not enjoyable at the moment.

I really hope you tweeted this stuff to Clint and Rex, they should be embarrassed.

[pietasterp]

Quote: Originally Posted by Prilosec

Facts: *play every game with two-controllers and custom playbooks. *control every offensive snap. *close your eyes and pick defensive play via quick or strategy. *you must lower QB throw accuracies across the board and I know the scale from testing. You will now enjoy the game.

LOL. Nice.

Honestly, for that much effort, I think I'll go back to the old "vibrating sheet metal" football game where you set receivers' routes with little plastic prongs on the base of the figurine.

[soulsearcher]

There is an issue with pressing a button to throw the ball, but the game does not recognize it in time before getting sacked. There have been occasions where I've pressed a receiver button WELL before being hit, yet I still get sucked up in a sack animation that never should have happened. NEWS FLASH EA: it is possible to throw while being hit. So many times though it wouldn't even be while being hit, but the ball should have been released before the actual tackle. Very frustrating.

[Other Guy]

Quote: Originally Posted by soulsearcher

There is an issue with pressing a button to throw the ball, but the game does not recognize it in time before getting sacked. There have been occasions where I've pressed a receiver button WELL before being hit, yet I still get sucked up in a sack animation that never should have happened. NEWS FLASH EA: it is possible to throw while being hit. So many times though it wouldn't even be while being hit, but the ball should have been released before the actual tackle. Very frustrating.

Which would increase incompletions (decreasing completion percentage) and reduce sacks, both of which are greatly needed in the game.

[airborn0071373]

Every year I hate the fact that defense players come flying in at a speed of light and 5+ feet away otherwise I'm liking the game.f

[Shogunreaper]

Quote: Originally Posted by airborn0071373

Every year I hate the fact that defense players come flying in at a speed of light and 5+ feet away otherwise I'm liking the game.f

4.2 seconds?

[azdawgpound]

I've had madden 18 since Aug 22nd....I had a reg ps4 ....and I don't know why but the game was sluggish players running were like stuck in mud and all around slow.

I just got a ps4 pro other day and its like night and day....the players move like they suppose to no stuck in mud and games not sluggish at all.

I've played 2 games since and was shocked at difference I have same set up as before with reg ps4.

Glad I made upgrade because before I would be getting mad at how game played with slow mud running etc.

[ehh]

It's been almost a month since the game came out and I can say that for all its issues and shortcomings I am enjoying the game and am immersed in my CFM. I'm a few weeks into Year 3 with the Jets, slowly rebuilding, but I've got a great core of young players via the draft.

To me, the key to this year is playing on All Madden. After spending a few weeks on All Pro and seeing all of the bugs that the community has been complaining about, I was pleased to see that most of them disappear on All Madden, especially CPU QB play. No statue issues, not an abundance of sacks, etc. There is minimal cheese. I felt that '17 was a big step for All Madden in the cheese department and '18 is even better.

Two other things that I don't think are given enough attention given the history of Madden is that...

1) Sliders work this year.
2) Ratings matter big time on All Madden.

I don't know if this is due to Frostbite (I'd guess the latter definitely is) but it's a big improvement from '17. I'd purchase '18 just for these two reasons alone (combined with the visual and physical improvements from Frostbite).

Users can liberally tweak sliders this year with no ill effect. I started with Charter04's set and made quite a few changes to open up the game a bit more as his set provides a defensive slugfest type of experience. But stuff like lowering CPU QBA no longer makes the CPU only throw checkdowns or call running plays 70% of the time. Upping HUM Pass D and Reaction Time actually does something this year. Now that's not to say it fixes the weird animation issues where DBs cut strangely or stop for no reason but it's a much better experience on All Madden with sliders than it is on All Pro.

Ratings have such a massive impact on the game. In Year 2 with the Jets I had one OL rated in the 80s (an 81 at that) and everyone else was in the mid or high 70s. It was a painful year, both running and in pass protection. My terrible WR couldn't get any separation. I started a test CFM with Atlanta using the same settings and the difference was massive. I could easily run the ball, Ryan had ample time to throw and Julio was open every time he wasn't double-teamed. After making some big FA acquisitions in the off-season leading up to Year 3 with the Jets, I immediately noticed an improvement in how well the new OL performed, how much more elusive a good RB is and how WRs in the 83-85 range can get open somewhat consistently compared to my previous WR who were all in the 74-77 range.

Overall, I'm happy with the game. Bugs need to be fixed and obviously, CFM needs a massive overhaul but I think '18 is a bigger step forward than many are giving it credit for - at least on All Madden.