Impressions

[seanmac]

I guess there should be an independent impressions thread. I'll give a little personal background- I have generally greatly preferred NFL2K and Madden to the last two Fever games, but I did play enough Fever to warm to the game a bit last year. So if you are a diehard Fever gamer, you may feel differently about certain things. OK, on to the impressions...

I've played parts of about five or six games and to this point I'm fairly underwhelmed. The player models look significantly better, as there is more variety to them than the previous two years. They still look a bit cartoonish, more on the Madden side than the ESPN side of things. There are also a great many more animations, but they are not seemlessly intergrated, so the game is a little jittery at times (at other times it seems very fluid). The first thing you are going to notice is that it feels SLOW. I thought the previous two games were much too fast, but 2004 may overcompensate. I think the speed probably needed to be toned down to make read and lead a viable option, but when I first ran back a kickoff, I thought the players were knee deep in snow. The exception to this is getting up to the line, when you can run at warp speed. Player control is much better than in previous years, but still not up to the level of EA/VC. The playbooks are still generic, but the coach's corner has been implemented nicely, and the pre-snap options are kind of interesting. I'll have to fiddle with them a little more before having anything definitive to say. To this point I feel like read and lead is a bit like playmaker in Madden, somewhat overhyped. It is a feature that I might end up really warming up to after some practice, but for now I'm skeptical. It seems very difficult to use it effectively in the short passing game. For a quick slant or in, you need to first hit the button of the receiver, then move the cursor (the default is straight upfield), then pull the R trigger. I'm sorry, but that is no way to simulate a three step drop and fire. It also really forces you to commit to a single receiver rather than going through progressions.

That's all for now. I'm going to go online and see how that works out and maybe post some more later.

[seanmac]

Also, the DBs have a case of old Madden-itis; they drop everything. I think it's a way of dealing with the read and lead and its tendency to put balls in bad places, but I threw about six balls in a row that ended up hitting DBs in the hands and no picks.

[xythander]

What difficulty are you playing on? Maybe upping the difficulty will help with them dropping passes.

Also, try the Read and Lead on unlock. If I understand it correctly, you don't have to hit the reciever button first. You just move the target icon to where you want to throw it.

[PopoWRX]

You are correct, Read and Lead unlocked allows you to place your cursor before you even snap the ball. And for Seanmac, all you need to do to get that speed bumped up is to change it to fast. It is a bit slower then Fever 2003, so its the ideal setting for me.

[seanmac]

I'll have to give the unlocked a try. I'm finding deep passing to be a little awkward at the moment- instead of floating the ball and having the receiver run under it, most of my deep balls seem to be severely underthrown and force the receiver to come back.

I'm definitely preferring this year's version to the last two. It feels very different. I don't think it plays as good a game as Madden or as the ESPN demo, but it's a major step forward.

[Bill_Abner]

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seanmac said:
I'll have to give the unlocked a try. I'm finding deep passing to be a little awkward at the moment- instead of floating the ball and having the receiver run under it, most of my deep balls seem to be severely underthrown and force the receiver to come back.

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I'm seeing this, too. This is what I meant by the players waiting for the ball like a rebound. I'm placing the cursor down the field and yet fly routes are way underthrown. Any idea what I could be doing wrong?

[MS_CanesFan]

Quote:

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Bill_Abner said:

Quote:

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seanmac said:
I'll have to give the unlocked a try. I'm finding deep passing to be a little awkward at the moment- instead of floating the ball and having the receiver run under it, most of my deep balls seem to be severely underthrown and force the receiver to come back.

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I'm seeing this, too. This is what I meant by the players waiting for the ball like a rebound. I'm placing the cursor down the field and yet fly routes are way underthrown. Any idea what I could be doing wrong?

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I still don't think you are leading them enough. You need to make sure the QB has a good arm, first of all, lead the receivers down field a LOT because once you throw the ball to a spot, it doesn't move with the receiver anymore. You need to give them time to run under it. Many receivers are really fast so if you don't lead them a looooong way, they will get to the spot way before the ball does. Make sure the QB throws while still and not moving backwards. And pull the trigger all the way. Practice with the read-and-lead mini-game in training camp also.

Hope that helps,
Dan

[seanmac]

Thanks Dan-

You could be right. I'm now leading about thirty yards downfield on deep throws and having a better time of things.