Positive words on Madden- Bill Abner

[therizing02]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bill_Abner

Tuesday is my 30 and over basketball league night and also the night that I coach my girl's soccer team. I'm booked. Yeah, Romo missed some guys with legit bad passes (overthrows mostly) I'm at halftime vs the Ravens and Flacco is 11/21. I'm very confident I have "solved" for lack of a better word the RoboQB issue. Man defense, baby. I noticed that OS ran an article re: NCAA and Man D. That is certainly the case w/ Madden. But listen guys, you are still going to see things that annoy you. As I was telling Bill Harris, if I see one more 5 yard square in on 3rd and 12 I'm gonna scream. The AI playcalling leaves a lot to be desired, plain and simple. I have yet to see the AI throw a bomb and 20 yard passes (20 yards in the air) are very rare. They happen more than NCAA 09 but by far the majority of passes are of the 4-8 yard variety. And then there's the whole "no onisde kick" thing. Ian already confirmed that they have identified the issue with players running out of bounds for no reason so I can only assume that'll be in a patch. But if you can live with that there's a lot to like and the 2 player game is a heck of a lot of fun.

Thanks for continuing to post your impressions Bill. Unless there is confirmation of a patch that comes out to address the absolutely HORRID play calling AI of the CPU there is no way in hell I blow $60. I'd rather buy you a bottle of Wild Turkey and keep what's left over for a couple Glen Livet on the rocks on Rush St.

Nevertheless, EA should have their collective azzes kicked for this. I honestly can't recall any game in the NCAA or Madden series having this big of a problem with the play calling that they're having this year. It's an absolute GAME KILLER.

I may have to dust off my old Bowl Bound and Statis Pro Football board games.

[Bill_Abner]

Quote: Originally Posted by AugustSatellite

Bill, Glad to hear you are warming up to the game. Everytime I read your blog I get more and more excited for this years version. Did the Shed Block Slider noticibly increase the YPC for the CPU at all? Thanks in advance, -AS

Yes, very much so. I checked and I REALLY gutted my rush d sliders. It's like 0 Reaction, 0 Shed and 25 Tackle.

[Bill_Abner]

Quote: Originally Posted by therizing02

Thanks for continuing to post your impressions Bill. Unless there is confirmation of a patch that comes out to address the absolutely HORRID play calling AI of the CPU there is no way in hell I blow $60. I'd rather buy you a bottle of Wild Turkey and keep what's left over for a couple Glen Livet on the rocks on Rush St.

I do like The Turkey.

And that's a very fair point to make. The playcalling needs some help, I certainly can't argue that. We'll have to wait to hear from Ian about any potential patches to that. I hope they do address it, though. It's a tough call in a way. The AI is SO much better at the underneath 7-10 yard stuff than it is when it throws 15+ yards. I dunno why that is but it seems like the QBs put a lot of air on throws that are deeper (too much imo) and it makes it easy to recover. And man..I wish it would run one streak pattern. I have yet to see a true bomb from the AI.

Quote: Originally Posted by therizing02

I may have to dust off my old Bowl Bound and Statis Pro Football board games.

Oh man now you are talking my language. When I was 10, 11, 12 years old I played countless games of Statis Pro and Bowl Bound with my dad. We had leagues, the works. Statis Pro Baseball, too. And basketball. People get on me a lot for being a realism stickler and those boardgames are a big reason why. As a kid they left an enormous impression on me.

[therizing02]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bill_Abner

Oh man now you are talking my language. When I was 10, 11, 12 years old I played countless games of Statis Pro and Bowl Bound with my dad. We had leagues, the works. Statis Pro Baseball, too. And basketball. People get on me a lot for being a realism stickler and those boardgames are a big reason why. As a kid they left an enormous impression on me.

Lol! That's where my desire for realism comes as well. I've played 'em all. Every Strat-O-Matic sports game, Statis Pro, and then on to Pursue The Pennant and Dynasty League.

As a kid I knew every player in every major sports league because of those games!

On topic, I noticed in the blog that you were trying to experiment with defending the pass yourself. This is something that I've never done until this year because of the RoboQB nonsense.

I've been playing strictly Man Press coverage in NCAA with OSU when I play the CPU. It's helped a lot.

The other big change I made was on the controller. I think the default swat button was the RT. I switched that to the Y button. With the B button being the switch, if you simultaneously press the B and Y at the right time it's a swat every time. It also reduces the INTs because the Y button used to be the catch button.

[Shock6822]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bill_Abner

Yes, very much so. I checked and I REALLY gutted my rush d sliders. It's like 0 Reaction, 0 Shed and 25 Tackle.

I hope you see some big yardage running games against you then, because it seems like you can do little else to adjust the run if cpu YPC is still low

[Bill_Abner]

Quote: Originally Posted by therizing02

Lol! That's where my desire for realism comes as well. I've played 'em all. Every Strat-O-Matic sports game, Statis Pro, and then on to Pursue The Pennant and Dynasty League. As a kid I knew every player in every major sports league because of those games! On topic, I noticed in the blog that you were trying to experiment with defending the pass yourself. This is something that I've never done until this year because of the RoboQB nonsense. I've been playing strictly Man Press coverage in NCAA with OSU when I play the CPU. It's helped a lot. The other big change I made was on the controller. I think the default swat button was the RT. I switched that to the Y button. With the B button being the switch, if you simultaneously press the B and Y at the right time it's a swat every time. It also reduces the INTs because the Y button used to be the catch button.

Ha. Absolutely. Growing up I knew all the players for the exact same reason. I was like a sponge with that stuff. Even today I can rattle off teams from the 80s from memory because of Statis Pro.

Swat defaults to the A button this year In Madden. (was it always that?) Makes it pretty easy once you get the hang of it and if you are in position. I REALLY suck when I am called upon to actually run my DB in position to make a play. If he's not already there, I'm cooked which is why I scored like a 5 year old child in the Madden IQ for Pass D

[Lisa_Bonami]

Bill what exactly have you done to get rid of the ROBO AI Passing??....because I am seeing that right now and its ugly. Even mediocre QBs will light it up for 21-23 completions and the rushing for the CPU is also pretty weak

Please tell me if you made slider adjustments and what settings your on


For clarification....what have you done to lower the CPU AI's PASSING accuracy?

[DubTrey1]

So far, on the fence guys (like me) will wait for OS reviews and perhaps even better still - a patch perhaps before even giving this years Madden a try. Minimal strides by EA each year are not enough to get my $. I want D to be as fun and challenging as Offense. So far, does not appear wil lbe the case and to make matters worse - the game is seemingly geared to multiplayer and skimps over the solo gamplayers drive to play franchise etc. 09 - guess I will have to pass....again.