Fever Rating Weirdness and other observations

[Bill_Abner]

OK three 5 minute games under my belt so take this with a grain of salt:

The player ratings are...weird. Just plain weird. Fever suffers from Maddenitis in that it thinks every team in the NFL is pretty much even in terms of overall talent if you go by the overall team ratings.

So I'm looking at the Browns roster and everything looks at least plausible until I see that rookie LB Chaun Thompson has an 86 speed. Holy Fastness. I then look at a few other teams and Dwayne Rudd of Tampa Bay has an 88 speed. As a die hard Browns fan who has watched Rudd play in Cleveland the past few years let me just say: No. Way. In. Hell. OK so you can edit player ratings however you like, but come on. An 88 speed is ungodly for a LB.

So I'm in practice mode on All Pro level and I notice that there's a obvious speed cheat on this level. It's not subtle either. Again, using Cleveland in this mode, if Kevin Johnson catches a post and gets past the secondary it's going to take a fast player to chase him down. Johnson isn't track star, but if he has 5 yards on someone you better be damn fast to catch him. Lo and behold..who catches him from behind? None other than LB Chaun Thompson and his 86 speed. Seeing an outside LB (who is listed as being a shade slower than KJ) run down a WR who is streaking for the end zone is not only silly, it makes this level of play, at least for me, unplayable.

So hopefully Veteran level will not prove to be too easy.

I like the running game quite a bit. Holes open up and you really can glide right through them. And it doesn't feel scripted, and has a nice overall feel to it. I'm not sold on the passing model, though. I really think Fever is onto something with this Read and Lead thing. I like this approach a lot; it's very hard but you can see the potential in playing like this. But there are times when things just don't look right. The ball lacks zip, for one. Not always but often enough to be noticeable. I'm making sure my QB's feet are set and isn't throwing on the run, but the ball feels like it has helium in it. There are plenty of times when the ball is hanging in the air and the WR and DB are waiting for it to come down as if they are boxing out for a rebound. It really does look a bit odd.

I'm still working on it though and it may grow on me. But those are some initial thoughts. Oh, and why in the name of Merlin Olsen can't we select exactly how mamy minutes we wanna play? Why limit it to 5, 8, 10, 15? I don't get why that's so tough to add...weird.

[Chodite24]

ugh....

[Illcat]

Thanks man....feeds us more if you can. That passing thing sounds fishy.

[PopoWRX]

I think it has alot to do with your arm strength rating of your QB. Like in training mode using Brett Farve, you can see the zip in his bullets, they go out like cannonballs.

Player ratings need to be worked on definitely, Team ratings as well.

I'm loving Trigger and RnL though, its challenging and fun at the same time.

[Illcat]

The crazy thing is if you can "read and lead" a Wr then why in the hell would the ball be hanging??? I wanna like this game so much.

[PopoWRX]

It would be hanging if you lobbed the ball or just didn't throw the ball hard enough.

I also advise you to come to your own conclusions and rent the game first to check it out.

For what its worth, after going through Fever 2003, 2004 is a godsend.

[KBLegolas]

You are just tapping the button right? It's not like Madden where if you hold the button down, it throws a bullet. It's the total opposite here - you hold it down and it lobs it, you tap it and it throws a bullet. Strange, but oh well...

[PopoWRX]

It switched KB, you press and hold and its a bullet, press lightly and let go and its a lob.