Madden NFL 16: A Noob's Perspective
 

I have a confession: I’m not a Madden "noob" in the purest sense of the term. Actually, I’ve been dipping in and out of this series since '99, but I never really took the time to learn the game -- or even the sport -- aside from its fundamentals.

I’m a UK citizen, so I naturally gravitated towards sports such as soccer throughout my childhood. In recent years, I’ve had a renewed interest in American football, a sport that continues to rise in popularity throughout this part of the world.

With the advent of new subscription-based services such as EA Access, I'm now able to get my hands on the latest incarnation of EA’s long-running series without dropping full price on it. So, as someone who is far from a skilled Madden player, here’s my perspective on a game I know very little about.

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Re: Madden NFL 16: A Noob's Perspective
 

<< I Have No Idea What I’m Doing On Defense >> - from the article.

The Madden football series has come a long way over the years and Madden 16 is the best it's ever been and I think Madden 16 made some really good steps from Madden 15. But we are not there yet. And one of the problems with the Madden series are the defenses. Yes to those new to the game of football, defense can be confusing. There is a lot of concepts to learn. But it does not help when the game does not play defense like it should. It would be nice for the game makers to spend a little less time on the offenses and some more time to improve the defending aspects of this game. I think we are still a good 10+ years away from the point where it will be difficult to tell the difference between the game and the real world. But at some point in the future, it will be hard to tell the difference between a real world game on TV and the virtual game. Of course I have been saying that for the last 10 years. haha. In the meantime, I will enjoy Madden 16, warts and all.

PS: I do wonder with all the concerns these days about concussions and other injuries in the game, how will real football evolve or is it doomed? Would people accept watching the virtual games instead of the real games if concussions can not be controlled? I played lots of contact sports in my youth. I played 6 years of football, rugby (I remember going head on head in a rugby game one year on the goal line to prevent the opposition from scoring. Ouch. We must have been two footballers playing rugby LOL). I played 30+ years of hockey (I suffered more hockey injuries than any other sport) and yes I have suffered concussions and my memory is not as good as it used to be. Back in my day when your bell was wrung in game or in practice, you just sat out of few plays and then got back into the game. Now what was I talking about? Hmmm ... dang my memory ... Oh yeah I remember. LOL

Re: Madden NFL 16: A Noob's Perspective
 

Football is not doomed because of concussions. It will take a hit and dip but will rebound to stay at the top in the US and grow worldwide. Other sports just like you said also have injury problems. Because the NFL is so rich it is a target for people sueing over concussiions. Soccor and hockey will eventually fell this same thing. Kids still love football and will continue to play. With kids in small poor areas see sports as a way out, there will always be kids playing.

Madden NFL 16: A Noob's Perspective
 

I think it will be a very long and slow demise, but I do think the NFL as we knew it is done for.

Guys are just too big and too fast. The League can't make the game safe, or safer. More kids will choose baseball or basketball, or be made to choose them by their parents.

.. doesn't really bother me personally, though. The quality has slipped considerably, IMO. The League and their product were MUCH stronger 20 and 30 years ago.

... As for Madden, as a football gamer since the Tecmo days I look at it this way;

Buying Madden is like paying for a Corvette ZR1 but being handed the keys to a Z28 Camaro at the dealership.

Nothing wrong with a Z28, mind you. For most, it's a great trip around the block. But for the enthusiast, it's not even worth the ride.

30 years of console football, and in the last 10, there hasn't been significant progress. Despite an ENORMOUS leap in technology over the same span.

Extremely disappointing to many.


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Re: Madden NFL 16: A Noob's Perspective
 

What counts as significant progress?

In the last five years Madden NFL has added real-time physics to collisions, refactored components of the game such as blocking, passing accuracy, and pass coverage countless times to make the behavior more authentic, produced and built upon the only full-featured online franchise mode in modern sports video games, built a whole new way to play the game in Ultimate Team which has introduced the game to a whole new audience, and is the only sports video game to-date with a comprehensive teaching tool to not only familiarize new players with the tools needed to succeed in playing the game but also the strategies and concepts real football teams use to win on Sundays.

In fact, a bunch of these things are called out in this article as things which the self-proclaimed "noob" user enjoyed and/or found useful. Heck, I personally think Skills Trainer is one of the best things - if not the very best thing - that's ever been added into any sports game.

Madden NFL 16: A Noob's Perspective
 

Features from 10 years ago aren't in the game.

That's their motto isn't it? If it's in the game, it's "in the game"..

Franchise mode has been broken to some extent since 2006.

Madden is great if you want to play online. It's absolutely great. I get why that crowd loves it and is behind EA. Meanwhile, they've basically waved the finger at a generation of dedicated fans who grew up with the game and want a different experience.

And this is a dead issue if not for the exclusive license.

I GUARANTEE 2k or the MS Studios would have hit EA where it hurts if they had the opportunity.

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Re: Madden NFL 16: A Noob's Perspective
 

The coach suggestions and defense sections say a lot to me.. First, I would wager that a lot of posters on here aren't noobs when it comes to this game. Coach suggestions are nice for people who are, for casual players, etc but for the advanced users that have been playing for years, we are stuck with the same old while the new players are being taken care of.

I want a game that is oriented towards advanced users.

For example and also regarding defense, I want to put my shutdown CB on the opposing team's best WR for the entire game, and I can't do that in Madden without making serious, time-consuming adjustments. If I play the Saints and they put Brandin Cooks in the slot position, this gives them a #1 vs #3 advantage because my best CBs are on the outside and my 3rd best is on Cooks. This is stupidly basic strategy in real life but it doesn't exist in Madden.

Hi folks, author of the article here.

Some really interesting responses so far. I hope you enjoyed the "noob" perspective!