Madden NFL 17 Review (Xbox One)

[BenGerman]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Review (Xbox One)

Poor, binary player interaction. You mentioned the pocket, but left out the lacking dynamics. It's still basically win or lose. I'm not seeing pockets collapse, for example. And DEs still get up field way too slow.

Despite gap assignments, contain is almost non-existant. One of the hardest things to do in the NFL is to take the corner. I'm seeing this happen regularly in vids I'm watching. Stretches & tosses still look like the go to run play. And QBs still escape the pocket too easily. When there is contain, it's only because the d-linemen or OLB disengaged. They can't maintain outside leverage while engaged. Very binary.

Despite the emphasis on special teams, still no gunner interaction. In the NFL, those guys try to engage the gunner asap and keep him from getting up field. In Madden, blocker(s) turn, run and set up blocks near the returner.

More special teams, the o-line on field goals are still pass blocking instead of the bend don't break style used in the NFL. I'm sure there's some things I won't notice in a vid, but the only special teams improvements I see are a new kick meter and designated punt/FG blockers.

Footwork is still poor. Still no tiered defensive play calling. A lot of stiff animations that standout against the newer ones. Defensive matchups? No huddle / hurry offense differentiation, and players still get to the LOS too fast. No short yardage blocking animations. No special teams depth chart? No SOLB/WOLB or SS/FS alignment. I'm going to stop before I turn this into my wishlist.

I definitely take issue with the binary line play as well. A while ago (I think on OS), I wrote about how well Madden would do with more dynamic variation in the way line play should be handled. I'm totally on board with that line of thought.

It isn't so much that I am ignoring these issues or don't recognize them, it's that there are other things that I think (most) people will find to be more prevalent. As a whole, I thought line play works pretty well. But in a review that already has so much to say, the binary line play wasn't as big of an issue as some of the other things I mentioned (ie the QB play being too uniform across the board).

I get the issues with special teams as well. For me, ST was improved at such a level that - while there are certainly things to work on - I couldn't help but be gleeful with some of the changes.

[bucky60]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Review (Xbox One)

Hey Bucky.

I certainly understand your point. In year's past, the XP system has really bugged me as well. It was more subdued this year and I actually think it works pretty well. My guess is that EA is slowly moving toward handling franchise mode in some other way, but I can't confirm that in any way.

Thanks for the response Ben.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree on the bold. I've been very diligent about looking at CFM blogs and watching CFM videos and all the new M17 CFM abstractions are still arcade abstractions. So I just can't see how, the way XP is currently implemented in M17 CFM, works well for realism. I do think it works very well for the arcade/RPG crowd.

Thanks again Ben for responding.

[BezO]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Review (Xbox One)

I definitely take issue with the binary line play as well. A while ago (I think on OS), I wrote about how well Madden would do with more dynamic variation in the way line play should be handled. I'm totally on board with that line of thought.

It isn't so much that I am ignoring these issues or don't recognize them, it's that there are other things that I think (most) people will find to be more prevalent. As a whole, I thought line play works pretty well. But in a review that already has so much to say, the binary line play wasn't as big of an issue as some of the other things I mentioned (ie the QB play being too uniform across the board).

I get the issues with special teams as well. For me, ST was improved at such a level that - while there are certainly things to work on - I couldn't help but be gleeful with some of the changes.

Can't knock it. We're all looking for different things. With some of this mentioned by only a handful of OS members, I'm guessing most don't watch the NFL closely enough to even know what's missing. Others don't care. For me though, there's way too much football missing for this game to be rated any where near great.

[BenGerman]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Review (Xbox One)

Thanks for the response Ben.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree on the bold. I've been very diligent about looking at CFM blogs and watching CFM videos and all the new M17 CFM abstractions are still arcade abstractions. So I just can't see how, the way XP is currently implemented in M17 CFM, works well for realism. I do think it works very well for the arcade/RPG crowd.

Thanks again Ben for responding.

No problem, hopefully we get some more options in the future.

[BenGerman]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Review (Xbox One)

Can't knock it. We're all looking for different things. With some of this mentioned by only a handful of OS members, I'm guessing most don't watch the NFL closely enough to even know what's missing. Others don't care. For me though, there's way too much football missing for this game to be rated any where near great.

Sure, it has a lot to do with priorities. FWIW, it isn't that I'm not aware of the things you mention. But I liked the game and I didn't have enough room to bring up every small thing I didn't like about it - even though I agree with you on all fronts.

[The JareBear]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Review (Xbox One)

Sure, it has a lot to do with priorities. FWIW, it isn't that I'm not aware of the things you mention. But I liked the game and I didn't have enough room to bring up every small thing I didn't like about it - even though I agree with you on all fronts.

Thanks for your review and your responses in this thread so far, Ben.

[GiantBlue76]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Review (Xbox One)

Ben,

I agree with Bezo, but for me it's a bit different. I just want to get back to the football game standards set years ago. Slowly getting there. That being said, the main point of my post was that despite my disagreement with the score, I felt your review was well-written and objective. I appreciated your honesty about the shortcomings and the positives. To be honest, I don't really care about the score . It's all about the content. Nice job.

[RandallB21]

If there is one thing I wish they would have included this year it would have been custom draft classes because I am a big franchise mode guy..

All in all I am looking forward to playing this game and getting my CFM going.

[BezO]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Review (Xbox One)

Sure, it has a lot to do with priorities. FWIW, it isn't that I'm not aware of the things you mention. But I liked the game and I didn't have enough room to bring up every small thing I didn't like about it - even though I agree with you on all fronts.

That's the difference. To me, those things are huge. The binary nature of player interaction, for example, ruins the spacing & timing of the game & distorts the strategy.

The lack of tiered defensive play calling is another big one. Scheming your own defense is half the battle. But we're stuck with EA's limited pre-package schemes. I've always had to find the coverage I want and live with the blitz/stunt combo, or find the blitz/stunt combo I want, if it's there, and live with the coverage.

[ednaaard]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Review (Xbox One)

So the draft commentary from Schefter actually works this year? The past 2 years you would see him pop-up but 9 times out of 10 the audio wouldn't play.

Finally! This is huge and adds a huge amount to immersion just knowing players' back stories.

[BenGerman]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Review (Xbox One)

Thanks for your review and your responses in this thread so far, Ben.

No problem, folks. Appreciate all the kind words.

[DeuceDouglas]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Review (Xbox One)

Nice write-up and good review.

Definitely an interesting read as a lot of what I read, gameplay wise, seemed to contradict what I've seen from pre-release gameplay but I'll have to wait until I get my hands on the game to effectively judge most of it and especially so with CFM.

[BSchwartz07]

Decent write up, but I don't trust OS reviews too much. Pretty much every Madden they have reviewed has received between a 7.5 and 8.5, to include last year that got an 8. If this is no better than last year, and knowing EA it won't be, I'll once again be upset that I bought into the laziest sports game maker on the planet once again.

[roadman]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Review (Xbox One)

Thanks Ben, I thought it was a well thought out balanced review.

[roadman]

Re: Madden NFL 17 Review (Xbox One)

Decent write up, but I don't trust OS reviews too much. Pretty much every Madden they have reviewed has received between a 7.5 and 8.5, to include last year that got an 8. If this is no better than last year, and knowing EA it won't be, I'll once again be upset that I bought into the laziest sports game maker on the planet once again.

I wouldn't look too much into number scores to gauge if one year is better than the other.

The best reviewer is yourself if you trust them.

This Madden seems to be getting good scores around the net, so, I don't see where OS is different vs "all the other sites."