Madden impressions from an average gamer - ryan36's Blog

ryan36's Blog

Madden impressions from an average gamer

Posted on February 2, 2010 at 02:04 PM.

I consider myself an average gamer, a true blend of sim/arcade style. I just bought a ps3 2 weeks ago (well documented by now LOL).

What do I mean by average gamer? I mean , when I took the Show 09 I used Knight's rosters, and made all my Mariners offseason moves, got Billy Wagner to the Braves, Jason Bay to the Mets, and got lazy. But it's still fun for me.

With Madden, I've spent a lot more time than the Show, probably because it's football season. I bought Madden 10 used with no instruction manual. It took me 3 games to figure out that the circle button next-gen is necessary to send a man in motion (why? what was wrong with the old way ? ) When I went into the controller layout screen it says "highlight stick" and different arrows, without listing the moves associated. I NEVER hit the spin or jump buttons in time to spin or jump, I always get tackled. And I spend a lot of time simming, or supersimming (defense) just to get back on offense.

So I thought here I'd tackle whether or not Madden is "sim" enough for most gamers. First off, I think most of the things we find here at OS really aren't noticed by people not looking for them. I wish I had read less Madden threads than I had, so I wouldn't recognize problems. I see the DB's knowing my WR's route before the cut , and am like "oh so that's what they're talking about." But it's not glaring. The fact that OL/DL ratings don't matter? I'd have never , ever known, and still run behind my highest rated OL because if I can't notice it, why not make it "sim" in my head? The flats problem? Well I just throw to the open guy, and play a lot of press coverage, sometimes effectively sometimes not.

Overall, I don't think so many of the "horrible problems" in Madden 10 are all that noticeable, and I'm not sure they weren't in ps2 as well. I will say what they did to the Wildcat is a mild irritant, because I was REALLY looking forward to running it in the game this year. (Especially since I can't just go into the Depth and make a RB a QB.) I do notice that whenever I try to get upfield on a streak , I get jammed at the line a LOT. So sometimes I have to focus on underneath routes. I notice when my lineman backpedals with no one to block , pantomiming an interaction with a defender.

Scouting is cool, but there needs to be an option for the computer to do it. I like it but if I accidentally skip 3 weeks, I'll screw up my offline draft. The average gamer in me knows that FA's ask for too high of contracts. And we need to be able to frontload/backload contracts like you could in 2k5. Also , a cap screen for 3 to 5 years in the future would be cool. And to see what the cap hit is when we trade.

Now is the game "sim" enough? I think for me yes. I can tell when great receivers make catches my 5th stringer would not have. They've done a good job of showing the different team styles, each game, each team DOES feel different. This is their biggest accomplishment. I don't like all the forced dropbacks, and running back first steps (wildcat) etc...because I don't play a lot online. I'm not a cheeser. And if I want to run all day out of the wildcat and it's insanely succesful, well that's just my gameplay experience. Hell, last night I ran 15 running plays for a row against the Rams (just because I played against HS team that did this 10 years ago). I got a TD! Sim no? Fun yes.

Overall: It's the best Madden yet, I notice the difference between teams better than any game of Madden ever. Obvious fixes: Extra Point (either announce highlights or don't have 'em, BORING , and annoying to 'x' through. Challenge system (Madden has never gotten it right. Options, on what to challenge and make the replay actually correlate to the result.) Average gamers notice this stuff. We dabble in every aspect of the game. If it's sim, we'll play. We just want freedom to treat a video game , like a video game every once in a while. Sim feel, fun game play/presentation.

Definitely glad I got my ps3 though! Thoughts?

Comments

# 1 denverbro89 @ Feb 2

I guess I must be a hardcore Madden gamer. I don't have online capability, so I update the roosters myself, and its a lot of work. During gameplay, I replay every play that seem to have gone bad or plays that worked and that's where I see a lot of stuff going bad. If DE are some-what good they blow by your tackles or shed the block very quick when you try to run outside the C lets the NT get in the backfield more than often. CB plays routes way too good, they break on the ball too fast, and they jump way too high on deep passes while running full speed, eliminating the so-called realism to the game.

# 2 stlstudios189 @ Feb 2

I consider myself an average gamer myself. I once played a game where I passed the ball every play in the 1st half going 20 of 30 or so for 350 yards and the score was 28-28 fun as heck. update rosters myself to an extent and try not to notice flaws in the game. have fun w/ the games my man.