Madden NFL 18 News Post

Dissecting the Madden NFL 18 Features Reveal

11:46 AM - May 13, 2017 by RaychelSnr

All aboard the Madden hype train!

We've officially started the slow ramp up to a new season of Madden NFL, as the first details (and footage) of Madden NFL 18 hit the wild yesterday. The inclusion of Tom Brady as the cover athlete is a bold move -- but ultimately cover athlete's importance is probably waning quite a bit.

What is important are the details which were revealed about the game. Here's my quick breakdown:

Target Passing, who knows? This could be a major, major thing or a gimmicky feature like the passing cone. My question is how much is it forced upon players? My second question is, regardless, how good and effective is it going to be? I'm full wait and see on this one.
Frostbite Engine looks good. If nothing else, the trailer really sells that Madden is taking a pretty solid step ahead visually. The lighting and stadiums are a solid step ahead. It seems like some details weren't included in the trailer (did you notice the barren sidelines?). Animations and players look similar, but overall the game will likely look a bit better this year versus prior years.
The Play Styles Totally Are for eSports. I mean, there's no confirmation of this, but its pretty clear the Madden team is wanting to grow that segment of the audience and a play style fully focused on 'Competitive' will do that. Most OS'ers are looking at Simulation and hoping for the best. So am I.
Franchise mode isn't getting anything big. The description adds nothing new and is an overview of the mode as we know it. I have a feeling the Frostbite upgrade took a lot of time and resources and the actual enhancements to modes, etc. is going to be focused on the card and competitive modes. I know, I don't like it either but it is what it is.
Coverage Assignments, maybe it'll be fun to be a CB or S? There's been a lot of work in previous years to make Madden fun on both sides of the ball. The area that still lacks is playing pass coverage. Hopefully these will help with playing a DB in Madden.
Coaching Adjustments: I'm on full wait and see. The details don't sound like anything that I'm not already doing myself during games. But I am guessing something about this will enhance the strategic side of the game, maybe?

Overall

The big leap with Madden this year is going to be the Frostbite engine. FIFA last year went through the same transition with no huge areas of progress. It's likely the upgrade took a lot of time and resources and big back of the box additions probably were hard to come by. Regardless, the Frostbite engine was instantly noticeable as an upgrade in environmental visuals -- I'm excited to see gameplay to see how it all ties together when the game is actually running in a way we will actually experience it.

What did you think of yesterday's Madden reveals?

Game: Madden NFL 18Hype Score: 6/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 9 - View All

Member Comments

# 21 Quentin32 @ 05/13/17 07:47 PM

The cone was no gimmick. It separated elite from avg

# 22 Flgamma1856 @ 05/13/17 08:15 PM

I did the ea play test for madden 17 and all they had us focus on was CFM. I really hope I didn't waste my time giving my opinion and they change nothing. Then again it wasn't a waste because I got FIFA and NHL for free.

# 23 KickassJohnson @ 05/13/17 09:22 PM

If nothing big is coming for CFM then there's no point in me purchasing the game after 10+ years in a row.. I rarely have time to play now and if there is nothing ground breaking, oh well.

I take time to come to this site and check to see if they're catering to the true fans, the ones who have bought and used their products for years upon years. If they're leaving us out to dry, I'm done. This is the make or break year for myself and the my small group of friends that still play.

# 24 Americas Team @ 05/13/17 10:18 PM

Play Styles
Simulation - True to player and team ratings using authentic NFL rules and gameplay.

Wonder what this means, does it mean player ratings will be different than on the other two modes? or does it mean all sliders will be turned off or turned way down so the players are more dependent on ratings than sliders?

Also I wonder what they mean by authentic NFL gameplay? fumble snaps? more fumbles and turnovers? more inaccurate throws, will their be a bigger difference between good and bad Qbs? Will the AI be smarter on both side of the ball?

# 25 GoBigRed29 @ 05/13/17 10:19 PM

My group tends to skip a few Maddens since they have a tendency to not really make much progress year to year, especially when it comes to franchise features. After Madden 2006 on the PS2...I've bought 4 years. They have so far missed out on 7 years of sales with me. Looks like they will be missing another year but we will see.

# 26 Americas Team @ 05/13/17 10:28 PM

Im waiting to hear about pass blocking and pass rushing before I decide to buy or not, if it's another year of pushing two buttons and defensive ends getting sucked into and stuck on blocks, then its a no buy for me.

# 27 johnnyg713 @ 05/13/17 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayStarr


	That is so bad. Smh. In fifa frostbite is a minor improvement. Looks like sim fans screwed again. And don't expect to be able to have custom draft classes either. Ugh Ea why do you do this to us.

How do you know frostbite is a minor improvement? So far improvements have been made graphically and the engine has allowed for weather improvements (which could be game changing) and stadium upgrades.

Not to mention a whole new game mode. Story mode. That is only in the game because frostbite allows this type of storytelling.

They also added the new passing mechanic which allows for the ball to be placed exactly where the user wants it to. Could frostbite have a role in that mechanic as well? Maybe true ball physics or something of the sort?

# 28 roadman @ 05/13/17 11:09 PM

Too early to dissect for me.

I'll wait for the videos and blogs to come out.

# 29 33JAF @ 05/13/17 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	Too early to dissect for me. I'll wait for the videos and blogs to come out.

Same here, roadman. There's a whole bunch of people jumping to conclusions over a tiny bit of info.

# 30 CPowell007 @ 05/14/17 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeuceDouglas


	Suspensions definitely won't ever be in. Draft Class I'd say is extremely unlikely. Training Camp is a possibility but I think they're good with GamePlanning for practice. I could see them doing the old training camp with a few drills for attribute boosts or XP before the season but I wouldn't count on it. CFM is always unknown though so it's hard to tell what they're ever doing.

Any new additions you want to see or expecting to be in?

# 31 CPowell007 @ 05/14/17 12:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Americas Team


	Play Styles Simulation - True to player and team ratings using authentic NFL rules and gameplay. Wonder what this means, does it mean player ratings will be different than on the other two modes? or does it mean all sliders will be turned off or turned way down so the players are more dependent on ratings than sliders? Also I wonder what they mean by authentic NFL gameplay? fumble snaps? more fumbles and turnovers? more inaccurate throws, will their be a bigger difference between good and bad Qbs? Will the AI be smarter on both side of the ball?

What do you think they mean by authentic? Why throw that in their?

# 32 DeuceDouglas @ 05/14/17 01:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CPowell007


	Any new additions you want to see or expecting to be in?

There's tons of stuff I want to see in. Mostly realistic aspects that have to do with roster management. 90-man rosters, proper cut days, PUP-List, restricted free agency, compensatory picks, waiver wire, that kind of stuff. Option for obscured ratings would be awesome. Basically everything from this thread.

But as for what I'm expecting I think the "big thing" for CFM this year will be coordinators. I think they'll tie them into gameplanning and have certain gameday and XP boosts tied to them. I think GamePlanning will be expanded with more practice types and variety in regards to XP distribution. I think regression will get tweaked to be dynamic in some way and made more clear to the user. New ways to alter the DEV trait. I think Big Decisions will see some new options, as to what I'm not really sure but if coordinators were implemented then that would be an obvious move. News feed will probably be front and center again. And then the typical yearly stuff like draft class, confidence and goal tuning.

# 33 SolidSquid @ 05/14/17 01:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quentin32


	The cone was no gimmick. It separated elite from avg

Agreed. But it's something you either loved or hated, EA can't afford to have things like that in their games.

# 34 CM Hooe @ 05/14/17 02:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quentin32


	The cone was no gimmick. It separated elite from avg

It wasn't a gimmick, you are correct about that. It was a legitimate and valid attempt by Tiburon to make the awareness rating matter for user-controlled quarterbacks.

Upon closer inspection, however, the vision cone wasn't a net positive for the game. It made the game immediately and obviously less visually appealing and damaged authenticity of presentation by projecting a giant flashlight cone onto the field. It made the game's controls unnecessarily complicated for new players (even moreso than they already are). It artificially increased the difficulty of the game for all players without dramatically increasing authenticity of gameplay or skill ceiling. It also finally divided the player base, since even upon its release the entire system was optional.

Nothing about how that feature existed in its final state in Madden NFL 08 (or 07, I forget when it was fully removed) was worth keeping.

# 35 CPowell007 @ 05/14/17 05:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeuceDouglas


	There's tons of stuff I want to see in. Mostly realistic aspects that have to do with roster management. 90-man rosters, proper cut days, PUP-List, restricted free agency, compensatory picks, waiver wire, that kind of stuff. Option for obscured ratings would be awesome. Basically everything from this thread. But as for what I'm expecting I think the "big thing" for CFM this year will be coordinators. I think they'll tie them into gameplanning and have certain gameday and XP boosts tied to them. I think GamePlanning will be expanded with more practice types and variety in regards to XP distribution. I think regression will get tweaked to be dynamic in some way and made more clear to the user. New ways to alter the DEV trait. I think Big Decisions will see some new options, as to what I'm not really sure but if coordinators were implemented then that would be an obvious move. News feed will probably be front and center again. And then the typical yearly stuff like draft class, confidence and goal tuning.

I wouldn't be disappointed to have the addition of coordinators, that would be good. As far as the features that were released so far, any idea what in the world target passing means and how it's going to be used?

# 36 iLLWiLL @ 05/14/17 05:58 AM

If they didn't even re-do the quarterback throwing animations, I'm out.

# 37 iLLWiLL @ 05/14/17 06:00 AM

They also need to get rid of the sheen/shine of the jerseys & pants -- you can clearly see this in Brady's entrance. Ever since Nike took over and use different materials from Reebok, all teams' uni's aren't reflective of light.

# 38 ShaiLeGran @ 05/14/17 06:41 AM

Any word on 4k resolution on PS4 Pro?

# 39 SolidSquid @ 05/14/17 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iLLWiLL


	If they didn't even re-do the quarterback throwing animations, I'm out.

One of my biggest pet peeves with madden is that the qbs never really hold the ball, it just floats next to their hands, and release points look terrible. The ball comes flying out way before the end of the throwing animation

# 40 TheBleedingRed21 @ 05/14/17 08:53 AM

I honestly feel like this thread was created prematurely. I wouldn't call back of the box features from amazon and GameStop feature reveals.

The stuff that matters to most of us (the os simulation crowd) is not gonna be appealing to the masses and probably wouldn't make the back of the box.

To say in the article there will be no improvements to Franchise is nothing but a guess and gets people assuming things. I think we should wait before taking this leap.

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