Madden 22 Beta Impressions

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by Armor and Sword

Fatigue is certainly back and a factor. I am playing around with the fatigue slider and it is really nice. Already saw Hunt rotate in for a tired Chubb after three straight carries. Will report back on the CPU side as well. Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

That jumped out at me. Jones ran it 3 times and Bernard was in on the next play for the CPU and it was 3 consecutive times.

[Armor and Sword]

Ok advancing to week 2 we saw a cool prospect spotlight cut scene between the assistant GM and your Head Coach discussing a RB in college…..folks some cool stuff has been added to spice up franchise mode….wow.

Inside your weekly strategy menu you can see your playcalling report and see situational play calls. First and long, second and long third and long and your top used concepts.




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[MizzouRah]

XSX fired up a franchise with the Jags just to test a bit

I like how you get much more data presented to you on the screen but I'm not sure I like how you navigate through them, maybe it will grow on me over time.

Performance mode vs graphics - I don't really see much of a difference between the two, performance feels a tad bit smoother, or maybe it's all in my head. Not enough graphical difference for me to use the enhanced graphics mode, at least for now. (default is performance)

Franchise mode has a lot of changes, which A&S has pointed out already with coordinators and such, need much more time with all of it before giving any feedback.

Getting into a game, the presentation is a little different and has more next gen stats and stats are shown after each quarter is over. To me, colors pop a bit more but graphically it looks the same as M21. Game play is smooth, kicking meter goes super slow for some reason (default AM) and I still see collision issues where two DB's collide and the WR is wide open. Passing seems easier to me so far like the WR routes got a bump or something.

I like the halftime adjustments and the home field/visitor advantages.

It's a beta and I need to play more but for someone who is still playing M21 franchise mode, nothing besides the franchise mode additions has me wanting to play it over my current M21 chise. I was looking forward to a real next gen graphical jump.

[CM Hooe]

I'm on PS5.

This beta does crash a lot. Which. It's a beta. There are two months until launch, so I assume this gets cleaned up. But the game as unstable as it is now would not pass retail certification lol.

It looks like there is going to be a pre-order bonus for something with coach XP in Franchise; most online sim leagues are going to want to make sure to disable the use of this during their initial setup. The option is pretty obvious, just making a note.

I've mostly been hopping in and out of games to get an idea for what is possible with the stadium boosts. There is a wide variety of knobs those can turn on the gameplay. Depending on the stadium, everything from kick and punt distance, player ratings, momentum meter gain amount, X-Factor player in-the-zone status, QB hot route speed, success rate of audibles, success rate of hot routes, coach cam play art, and coach cam receiver icons can be changed. My favorite I've seen so far is at Arrowhead Stadium, if the Chiefs have enough momentum then opposing kickers always have an Iced kick meter.

This system is probably going to be more noticeable at venues of teams known to have good home field advantage. The boosts at AT&T Stadium (Cowboys), for example, are not very powerful (decreased road team punt distance, distorted play art for opponent WR1, increased home team WR catching). Compare this to Levi's Stadium (road team Change Of Direction rating decreased, road team coach cam play art is incorrect, road team QB has trouble seeing non-checkdown WRs). The good news is that road teams don't bring their own stadium boosts with them, so I wouldn't necessarily call the system imbalanced? Just won't be as noticeable if you are using a team with a less renowned fan base.

I can't find an option to edit stadium boosts. Gonna assume that's only possible in Ultimate Team at launch, and maybe it gets patched in later if enough people request it.

The other thing that is immediately obvious to me in franchise mode is the practice system changes. On default sliders, I ran one full-intensity starters-focused practice with the Cowboys and had three starters sidelined with one-week injuries. You're going to want to be careful about how you manage your veteran players' practice reps so they are actually available during games. I haven't gotten nearly far enough to see the effects of the season-long fatigue system, but I see that it is there.

On the field, the core football gameplay feels very similar to what you have on PS5 M21 right now. So there's still no trips check for Cover 3 Match, for example. Expect most of your "new game" enjoyment of M22 to come from the stuff EA is layering on top of familiar football gameplay.

[Armor and Sword]

Playing games on All-Pro now and I like that level. Will give some more feedback tonight.


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[XtremeDunkz]

I'm happy to say franchise is on the right track.

We still need a whole lot of things, as to be expected, but you can tell that things are changing for the better. Meaningful additions are being added. For the first time in a decade franchise mode feels fresh.

Just have to keep letting EA know that we expect this amount of work EVERY year.

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[joshtree14]

It’s very difficult playing on the road. 90% of the time your play art and icons on offense are all jumbled and invisible, it makes it really difficult when your pressured and the receivers icon is a question mark, leads to lots of picks


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[XtremeDunkz]

I will say though, as far as actual gameplay is concerned, I don't see anything "new".

The way the game plays is the same as last year. No new abilities or buttons or fancy gimmicky animations. Just a tuned experience. Some people may not like that.

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