Madden NFL 15 Reviews From Around the Web

[roadman]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Reviews From Around the Web

I mean I hate to go by metacritic, but to my understanding it's a culmination of all the scores reviewed by the media, and Madden has scored no lower than a 74, and that was for Madden 06, which we all know was one of the worst Maddens in it's history. All the other games scored in the 80s.

Yeah, that's true, just hoping the Rex's of the world look at all the reviews, the great, good, bad or ugly.

That's how you become better.

[Armor and Sword]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Reviews From Around the Web

From Good Game Bro:

Things that were talked about ad-nausem now appear really improved!

In practice, both the blocking interactions and tackling make for a user experience which better engages the player in the defensive side of the game. In Madden NFL 25 particularly, defense felt like an afterthought and was nowhere near as fun to play or as balanced compared to the offense, which had run blocking and Precision Modifier gameplay controls which led to more shootouts than close games. By contrast, Madden NFL 15 gives defenders a weapon in the “War in the Trenches” to create a more organic pass rush and force quarterbacks into making tougher decisions which enable the linebackers and defensive backs to have more impact on the game. After being frustrated by feeling like my inputs had limited impact on defense in last year’s game, I feel just as engaged on both sides of the ball in Madden NFL 15.


On multiple occasions in last year’s title, I was able to run in excess of 200 yards with a running back with 7 minute quarters on All-Pro because of how poor the end containment was by the AI defense. Madden NFL 15 tightens up this weakness, funneling running backs towards organic holes in the line for more realistic gains (though big plays are still possible). On the same settings, reaching the century mark is a considerable achievement in this year’s game.


The balance of the passing game feels improved as well, with both zone and man coverage's appearing to work with more success year-over-year. Linebackers and defensive backs make smarter reads, and seem more able to get their hands on the ball for deflections and interceptions.


And of course some legacy issues that this team seems intent on fixing in future iterations!

Unfortunately, interactions between wide receivers and defensive backs have still not received much attention; if you’ve been frustrated in the past by receivers not fighting back to break up a potential interception, or by receivers making catches in traffic too frequently while sandwiched between defenders, you’ll find similar results playing out this year. On the same topic, you’ll find little change to the number of penalties and variety of penalties called on default sliders; only penalties occurring as a result of direct user input like offsides and false starts seem to be happening.


To me Madden 15 appears to really tackle a huge thing this year. Defense, and AI. To me this is a huge advancement that we finally are getting after a really tumultuous PS3/360 generation of frustration.

Not only that the game looks absolutely gorgeous, presentation and audio for me has been finally taken to another level of immersing me in the game and feeling like it's a real broadcast (judging by the tons of video I have watched) And CFM continues to evolve with the addition of confidence and game prep.

Madden 15 is truly shaping up to be the best version of this game in it's history and is starting to evolve to compete with other sports games as an overall sports title.

I only see a lot of positives here for Madden fans and those who have stayed away from the game for a long time and want a reason to come back.

You all know how big of a MLB The Show fan/junkie I am.....it's not why I bought a PS4 this past weekend (MLB 14 is a port, a great port....but ultimately a port.)

Madden 15 was the reason. That speaks volumes to how I feel this game is going to be. M25 on PS3 was the first time in 10 years I have played a Madden game year round. When I saw the videos last week of M15....I was doing cart wheels. I was pretty blown away how great it was looking. Now a lot of these reviews are confirming the really important improvements, like AI being much better and defense being dynamic and fun to play!

The game looks AWESOME!!!

And the reviews are very strong. A common theme is really emerging that this game has turned the corner for this console gen and will only get better.

Finally!

[SageInfinite]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Reviews From Around the Web

Metacritic effectively runs the game industry.

I don't think that's a good thing, either, but it is what it is.

Yeah that's my point. That's what these guys look at, and when it comes to Madden, no matter how terrible it's been as a football game, it's never gotten below a good score. It is what it is.

[jwilphl]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Reviews From Around the Web

Somewhat off-topic: I generally advise people to take published game reviews with a grain of salt. Don't look at the score itself. Digest the actual discussion of the game and see if there's any real informative content. Some reviewers may get cut-off from the early release if they give the game a poor review one year. Likewise, a lot of reviewers receive compensation in turn for their positive review, but they won't disclose that fact. Developer bonuses can, in fact, rely on the aggregate scoring of Metacritic, but I'm unsure if that happens at EA/Tiburon.

Trust the people you know who share similar tastes in games and get the goods from them. I'd generally like to see reviewers disclose the number of hours they've played a game prior to reviewing. Reviews usually take place while still in the "honeymoon" phase with the game, when everything seems great, but you haven't exposed the meat of the game yet.

Finally, if you aren't satisfied with the game, you must strongly consider not purchasing it, at least not first-hand. And don't preorder. Ever. Now I'm speaking more in generalities here, but as has already been said by others, without competition, EA has almost no incentive to improve outside of keeping their sales numbers up. If you hurt them in the wallet, they either have to make more of an effort, or drop from the market.

With that all said, one can certainly hope this year's Madden is the best of the bunch, but the reality is, it should be. We have new hardware to work with and many, many years of practice. Of the video I've seen (gameplay aside), the animation and movement seems like the last aesthetic hurdle to clear. If they can't get that stuff right by next year, I'll be very worried.

[Khanchus]

I enjoyed the US Gamer review the most, and it wasn't anywhere near as long as some of these other reviews. I feel she captures how a lot of people might feel like after a few weeks with the game. I think our excitement about it being football season again, and just an overwhelming itch for a football game, cause us to have amnesia. I don't deny this game taken a step forward, but it's just that, a step.

Whether we knew in advance or not, we are in the 2nd year of these next gen consoles, still lacking penalties, player movement unchanged, animation quality still lacking. I don't think people would be as hard on the game if we didn't see other sports titles(FIFA, NHL,NBA2K) doing the very things we ask for every year, and doing them well.

It seems like every year I'm telling myself, maybe next year. I just want to play a football game again and not be bored with it after a week or two.

i disagree 100%

never played fifa (i have access and still havent gotten around to play it ) so i cant compare it and also i havent played nhl since like 2000

i agree with you must compare to its other sports genre peers but idk i dont wanna get off topic and make this another 2k vs madden thread

but from the review scores they all seem in relevant range of each other so thats a great sign

i dont really read in to reviews especially this yr because i pretty much know everything i need to know about the game already

so much info and videos have been release i can basically write my own review but i needs my hands on time before i give a real opinion

[Hooe]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Reviews From Around the Web

Yeah that's my point. That's what these guys look at, and when it comes to Madden, no matter how terrible it's been as a football game, it's never gotten below a good score. It is what it is.

I mean, in order for a game's Metacritic score to be high, it has to get a bunch of good reviews, which means the game has to provide an enjoyable experience in the first place, speaking holistically. The critical consensus for the past umpteen years is that Madden has provided an enjoyable experience as a football-themed video game.

With the exception of maybe XBOX 360 Madden NFL 06 or the mobile platform derivatives, there's never been a point in history where the critical consensus of Madden is that "it's terrible".

[adub88]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Reviews From Around the Web

i disagree 100%

never played fifa (i have access and still havent gotten around to play it ) so i cant compare it and also i havent played nhl since like 2000

i agree with you must compare to its other sports genre peers but idk i dont wanna get off topic and make this another 2k vs madden thread

but from the review scores they all seem in relevant range of each other so thats a great sign

i dont really read in to reviews especially this yr because i pretty much know everything i need to know about the game already

so much info and videos have been release i can basically write my own review but i needs my hands on time before i give a real opinion

I feel you. The reviews have been close in terms of the score/rating. I really value the thoughts & opinions of you all in OS because I know most of you are hardcore Madden heads and want the best game possible. After you've had the game for about week or two, I'd be real interested to hear your thoughts and see if they don't line with up with the review from US Gamer.

[Mr.Smif]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Reviews From Around the Web

Madden is years behind other sports games but yet their review scores will be on par with those superior sports titles because those games have set the bar so high for themselves and are being judge on a higher standard, that's what I don't like.
For example, Fifa and NBA 2K have almost completely eliminated foot sliding from their games, which is hard to do in a video game, but yet Madden players skate around everywhere and no one dings them on it in reviews. Madden's play as a player mode has seen minium upgrades since it was implemented and no one says anything but NBA 2K which overhauled their MyPlayer mode gets bashed because its scripted. And I don't even want to get into animations, we all know Madden is the worst (maybe with the exception of NBA Live) but somehow these things get ignored in Madden reviews but other games get dinged on these things, imagine if only one player had a tattoo in UFC or WWE, their would be an uproar but Madden somehow gets a pass. This is why most Madden reviews are skewed high, only being compared to itself.

[LorenzoDC]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Reviews From Around the Web

Madden is years behind other sports games but yet their review scores will be on par with those superior sports titles because those games have set the bar so high for themselves and are being judge on a higher standard, that's what I don't like.
For example, Fifa and NBA 2K have almost completely eliminated foot sliding from their games, which is hard to do in a video game, but yet Madden players skate around everywhere and no one dings them on it in reviews. Madden's play as a player mode has seen minium upgrades since it was implemented and no one says anything but NBA 2K which overhauled their MyPlayer mode gets bashed because its scripted. And I don't even want to get into animations, we all know Madden is the worst (maybe with the exception of NBA Live) but somehow these things get ignored in Madden reviews but other games get dinged on these things, imagine if only one player had a tattoo in UFC or WWE, their would be an uproar but Madden somehow gets a pass. This is why most Madden reviews are skewed high, only being compared to itself.

I don't know about FIFA, but NBA 2k14 current gen has plenty of foot sliding, especially on defense. The game forum threads talk about it a lot. One of the things people are beginning to be excited about is that the devs claim this has been addressed a lot for this year's game.

Not defending Madden one way or another, just saying, NBA 2k14 did not by any stretch of the imagination eliminate sliding.

[bubba4]

I don't know about FIFA, but NBA 2k14 current gen has plenty of foot sliding, especially on defense. The game forum threads talk about it a lot. One of the things people are beginning to be excited about is that the devs claim this has been addressed a lot for this year's game.

Not defending Madden one way or another, just saying, NBA 2k14 did not by any stretch of the imagination eliminate sliding.

I believe Mr. Smif meant that foot sliding has been eliminated from NBA 2K15 coming up in October. Getting rid of foot sliding has been a point of sell for 2K so far.

[kjcheezhead]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Reviews From Around the Web

I mean, in order for a game's Metacritic score to be high, it has to get a bunch of good reviews, which means the game has to provide an enjoyable experience in the first place, speaking holistically. The critical consensus for the past umpteen years is that Madden has provided an enjoyable experience as a football-themed video game.

With the exception of maybe XBOX 360 Madden NFL 06 or the mobile platform derivatives, there's never been a point in history where the critical consensus of Madden is that "it's terrible".

That's the problem, with high meticritic scores every year how can you tell? My online friends and I used EA lockers for online franchise up to madden 08. We all upgraded together for 09 and within less then a week the league went back to ps2 because the game was that bad.

The 06-09 games were borderline broken and unplayable in a lot of madden fans opinions. No commentary at all for 3 of them. 09s online league wasn't usable. No way they deserved high meticritic.

[Armor and Sword]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Reviews From Around the Web

That's the problem, with high meticritic scores every year how can you tell? My online friends and I used EA lockers for online franchise up to madden 08. We all upgraded together for 09 and within less then a week the league went back to ps2 because the game was that bad.

The 06-09 games were borderline broken and unplayable in a lot of madden fans opinions. No commentary at all for 3 of them. 09s online league wasn't usable. No way they deserved high meticritic.

The Dark Years. I stayed away from PS3 till august 2009 mainly because I kept reading just how bad Madden was. Madden was my first love in sports games. Est Genesis 1991 baby. Baseball is my favorite sport, and I love my baseball gaming more than anything.....but my friends never played too much baseball on the console...it was all about Madden and NBA Live for a decade.

Madden is the best two player sports game in history...bar none. 1999 we got Franchise mode. 2005 we got the best Madden package to date. IMO M25 was about as close to that as we have gotten.

Madden 15 looks like a brand new era for Madden. It finally will feel like it is a next gen game. Because despite many varying opinions about Madden last gen I don't think they ever got it really right and made me feel like I was playing the glory years of Madden till Madden 25. I am talking about fun factor, vs the cpu, online CFM and offline CFM, the total package.


I played some of those early iterations (06,08 and 09) and yes they were an abortion compared to 10,12 and 25. But even 10 and 12 felt sterile, lifeless. 25 IMO finally captured the soul of Madden again (at least for me). I felt immersed again, I had fun again, and the game satisfied me tremendously. But that ship has sailed as that console has been pushed as hard as it could.

It looks to me (and of course I am not giving any gameplay impressions yet till I have my hands on the game next Tuesday) from many indications, videos, reviews, hands on from OS etc that the game really is fun, immersive and taking not baby steps but some big steps up in quality from the PS3/360 era.


That to me is very exciting.

[A_Quiet_Pro]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Reviews From Around the Web

Madden is the best two player sports game in history...bar none.

I must say NFL Blitz was a great 2 player game. Especially talking about football, Blitz was great.

[Skyboxer]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Reviews From Around the Web

I'd give the game a solid 8.5/10

Loved every bit of it so far. Really fun especially D camera

More work needs done (customization, full weekly highlights of all teams etc...) but it's a keeper that's for sure.

[Armor and Sword]

Re: Madden NFL 15 Reviews From Around the Web

I must say NFL Blitz was a great 2 player game. Especially talking about football, Blitz was great.

Yeah Blitz was a hoot. So is NBA 2K for those who know how to play it to the fullest. But my best two player sports game memories came from Madden 93, 99 and 05, 25 and of course the legendary Tecmo Bowl.

Go Bo Jackson!!!!!