Madden 2007 drives me nuts. From the cheating Artificial Intelligence to the instant replay that doesn’t work, it can be a (no pun intended) maddening affair.
It’s also the only NFL game going, and at times it can be incredibly fun.
During my time with the game I’ve come up with a few things the development team could focus on to make the next iteration of the game more fun and realistic.
1: More Accurate Playbooks Or Better Custom Playbooks
Just like the real NFL, playbooks are a big part of what makes a team unique. Half of the fun of playing Madden is taking your favorite real life team and replicating what they do on Sundays. Or taking your favorite time and ditching the coach you hate and hiring someone you like and running their offense/defense. But these things are hard to do when the playbook in the game doesn’t match the one you see on TV every Sunday.
Take the Seahawks for instance. In Madden 2007 there’s a formation called Singleback Flips Trips. It’s a four-wide receiver set with three wide receivers to one side, but two of those receivers are bunched close to the line of scrimmage. The Seahawks in real life run that formation about a half dozen times a game and it seems to produce some of their best and most effective passing plays. But in Madden 2007 that formation isn’t even a part of the Seahawks playbook.
Another glaring omission is the “stretch” play. Just about everyone in the NFL runs some version of the “stretch” play that the Indianapolis Colts have made so famous. Seattle runs the stretch play out of singleback formations about three or four times a game, but you can’t find one stretch play in the Madden 2007 playbook for Seattle.
In short, the playbooks don’t come close to matching their real NFL counterparts. Part of that is the failing of the developers to devote the necessary time to make the playbooks accurate. But that could be fixed… With a custom playbook.
It turns out the PC version of Madden 2007 has a custom playbook editor, much like the 2006 version. Only there’s a couple of huge problems that make this option worthless.
For starters, the playbooks on offense and defense are limited to a scant 11 formations and a total of 78 plays. The limitation on the number of formations is crippling enough, but limiting the book to a total of 78 plays makes it even worse. There’s barely enough room to get in a decent mix of plays.
The problem with a playbook that small is that during the course of a typical game you may run anywhere from 50-70 offensive plays. Repeating an offensive play is bad. Calling the same play more than once in the same game is a bad idea. The computer defense will account for repeated playcalls; it will counteract you by calling tougher defenses or it will just outright cheat and have it’s defenders beat your offensive players so you don’t gain yards. It’s the computer’s way of keeping you from running the same play over and over. This is a good thing (even if the CPU cheats to make it happen) because the computer shouldn’t allow you to call the same play over and over. But with a 78-play playbook there aren’t enough plays to go around.
Calling plays is about down and distance. And you cannot dictate down and distance during a game. You have no idea if you’re going to be facing 3rd-and-long all day or trying to eat away the clock with a lead, and thus calling a lot of running plays. A good playbook will have a mix of plays in it, and the better the mixture the more likely you’re going to have to repeat some plays during a game. And as I’ve said, repeating plays is a bad thing.
This could all be fixed if the developers of Madden would allow playbooks to have more formations and more total plays. The default playbooks have a LOT more formations and plays. Why not the custom ones?
Still, even with the limited formations and small number of total plays, my preference would be to use a custom playbook, but there’s one glaring bug in the PC version that causes custom playbooks to become totally useless: If you use a custom playbook and score in the final two minutes of the first half and have to kick an extra point or field goal, the game locks up. And not the nice kind of lockup where you can CTRL-ALT-DELETE to kill the game. No, Madden 2007 locks up with the really bad kind of lockup. The kind where you can’t get back to your desktop. Your keyboard and mouse become useless and you’re left with the last resort: turning the power off.
This is all sorts of bad.
The solution to all of this is to simply provide a much better custom playbook editor. CPU’s have a lot more memory now. There’s absolutely no reason you can’t bump the formations up to 15 or 20 and the total plays up to 150 per playbook. Give users the power to make their playbook what they want it to be. And fix the lockup bug.
Barring that….
2: Playbooks For Coordinators
Currently in Madden 2007 hiring your offensive and defensive coordinators is pretty much pointless. The playbooks for a team are defined by the head coach. Yet, in the real NFL, playbooks are often the product of the coordinators.
Take the Washington Redskins of 2006. They hired Al Saunders and his 700-page playbook to run the offense. But in Madden 2007 the playbook for the Redskins is based on Joe Gibbs. Same goes for the Patriots during their Superbowl runs: Charlie Weiss was the architect of that offense. Mike Martz is the guy running the offense in Detroit, yet the head coach is the guy credited with the playbook in Madden 2007.
I’d like to see certain offensive and defensive coordinators have their own playbooks. Sure, some head coaches call plays on one side of the ball, like Mike Holmgren in Seattle or Andy Reid in Philly. But a lot of coordinators bring their own playbooks to the team when they’re hired. If offensive and defensive coordinators came with their own playbooks it would make the offseason hiring phase of a franchise mode a lot more interesting and fun. It would make it more meaningful, which would be a good thing.
3: Fix The Passing Game
The running game got a huge makeover with Madden 2007. The developers added a feature to allow you to control the fullback or an offensive lineman on running plays, thus potentially improving the blocking. But more than that, the developers really worked on the blocking and tackling so that it is easier for runningbacks to find lanes in the middle of the field, making the running game slightly more realistic.
Unfortunately, while the running game has recieved a lot of attention, the passing game has suffered.
Madden 2007 has a couple of really annoying features that negatively affect the passing game, and these have to get fixed in the next iteration.
For starters, defenders covering recievers on a “corner route” have this superhuman jump-swat that they use with amazing regularity to knock down a pass intended for the receiver. For whatever reason it is basically impossible to throw a pass over the receiver’s shoulder to a point where the defender can’t get to it, and the jump-swat is a large reason why. What’s annoying about this is that I have yet to see this superhuman feat performed in a real NFL game. Linebackers who get beat downfield by a TE or WR, especially on a corner route, do not have the recovery speed, nor the vertical leap to make this move. It is a physical impossibility. They also don’t have eyes in the back of their head.
Another incredibly annoying feature, at least played on All-Madden mode, is that some routes are simply impossible to complete passes on because cornerbacks react unrealistically to the ball. You see, there’s this thing in the real world call “momentum“. Physics and the limitations of the human body dictate that a person cannot simply switch direction and accelerate at maximim speed without first slowing down and overcoming the momentum they have already generated. This reality is not reflected in the game, however.
A common and oft-used route in the NFL is the “deep in” route or “dig” route. It’s a simple route: the receiver runs several yards downfield in a fairly straight line, and then cuts “in” toward the center of the field. Against man-to-man coverage the receiver’s job is to convince his defender that he is going to run downfield on a fly or “go” route, forcing the defender to turn his hips and commit to running the length of the field. At that moment the receiver cuts sharply ninety degrees toward the center of the field. The advantage here is that the receiver knows where he is going, but the defender does not. There’s a split-second in there where the reciever is cutting and gaining separation on the defender, while the defender is attempting to stop his momentum and reverse field.
When run properly this route is incredibly effective and very difficult to defend without underneath coverage from the linebacking corps. However, in Madden, this route is utterly useless as the defenders ignore momentum and can not only stop on a dime and turn with the receiver, but can actually outrun the receiver and get in front of the route!
This sort of clarvoyant defensive backfield play makes the passing game in Madden annoying in the extreme.
Another serious flaw with the passing game is how receivers constantly bump into defenders in zone coverage and cannot get around them. This causes the receiver’s legs to churn away as he continues to futily bang into the defender, pushing the defender a foot or two at a time while never completing his route. Meanwhile you, the quarterback, take a sack while waiting patiently for your dumbass receiver to navigate a zone and get open.
What’s incredibly frustrating about this is that some of the logic necessary to fix this problem already exists within the game code. When a defender in man-to-man coverage follows a receiver who has gone in motion before the snap of the ball he could run into any number of linebackers and other defenders as he is running down the line of scrimmage. But the developers have wisely coded the defender following the man in motion to navigate the field correctly, and avoid contact with other defenders (this works 90% of the time, but sometimes the players still get stuck). The code handles this situation, so why not receivers running routes?
Adding to the frustration of this sort of problem is the fact that in the NFL a large part of the passing game is predicated on being able to “thread the needle” and get a ball in between defenders, either by dropping a pass over the shoulder of a receiver who has beat his defender (the jump-swat case) or by throwing the ball to a receiver who is not yet open, but will be once he clears a linebacker (the collision case and in-route case). This is a huge, important part of the NFL passing game and it’s missing from the Madden video game.
4: Add QB Slide As A Button
This is a small fix. And easy fix. Add the ability for the quarterback to “slide” after he’s crossed the line of scrimmage. It should be a simple button press, not some convoluted joystick waggle. Sometimes the defense just covers everyone really well. Mobile quarterbacks can make plays with their legs. But in Madden, unless you can get to the sideline you run a very high percentage chance of either (a) getting your QB really hurt or (B) causing a fumble when he gets hit. The QB slide has to be included in Madden 2008 and it has to be easy to use. Period.
5: Lose The “Tuck Rule” Anti-Sack
In 2002 the New England Patriots hosted the Oakland Raiders in the AFC Championship game in what has since then been dubbed The Snow Bowl. This game is infamous for the emergence of the “Tuck Rule.”
The Patriots were trailing 13-10 with less than two minutes remaining in the game when Charles Woodson sacked Patriot quarterback Tom Brady. Brady fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Oakland, effectively ending the game and sending the Raiders to the Superbowl. But since it was the final two minutes of the game a review of the play was called in from the booth upstairs. Upon further review the play was reversed and called an “incomplete pass”. Brady’s arm was technically “moving forward” at the time he lost control of the ball; he was attempting to “tuck” the ball into his chest to avoid the fumble. But the letter of the law said that the passer’s arm simply had to be “moving forward” for it to be an incomplete pass. The call was overturned, Brady lead the Patriots to victory and the rest is history.
In Madden 2007 the “Tuck Rule” makes its presence felt early and often.
Sacking the quarterback is something that is very difficult to do in Madden. It is made significantly harder by the presence of the “Tuck Rule” mechanics. Most of the time when your defender is sacking the quarterback, the CPU QB will have the ball fall out of his hand and hit the ground at his feet. This should be a fumble but it never is thanks to the “Tuck Rule”.
A better solution would simply be for the CPU QB to hang onto the ball and take the sack. After all, in the real NFL when a quarterback feels a defender starting to sack him, his first instinct is to protect the football – to hold onto it.
Ironically, that’s what happens to your quarterback when you get sacked in Madden 2007.
I don’t know how many hundreds of games I’ve played with Madden 2007, but I know that I can count on one hand the number of times my quarterback was successful at getting rid of the ball the moment I was being sacked, and having it ruled as an incomplete pass. The vast majority of the time my QB hangs onto the ball and I get sacked. That’s how it should be. But the rules don’t apply equally to the CPU.
And that’s probably the single most annoying thing about Madden: the rules don’t apply equally. Whether it’s the way defenders cover pass routes, or quarterbacks take sacks, or offensive linemen block, or quarterbacks slide, when you play the CPU things don’t happen equally.
A Couple Other Things….
Here’s a few final thoughts for features/fixes that would really improve the game:
- Defenders that recover a fumble or intercept a pass have about a 100% chance to fumble the ball if you don’t fall down or go out of bounds immediately. The only recourse is to press the “4″ button and hope your guy can hang on for dear life. This is unrealistic.
- In the real NFL the success rate for coaches challenging plays with replay is less than 50%. In fact, it’s closer to 30%. Yet in Madden 2007 if the CPU challenges a play you can bet the farm he’s going to win. I actually tracked CPU challenges for several games and a few franchise seasons. The success rate for replay challenges when called by the CPU coach was over 90%. This has to be fixed.
- Defensive backs never play “off”. In the real NFL, when a team’s defensive backs are outmatched by the receivers, or if the defensive coordinator is a more conservative guy, they will often command their corners to play 8-10 yards off the line of scrimmage. You hear the color commentators comment about this during games all the time: “Look how much cushion #32 is giving!” This is an ideal situation for throwing short curls, hooks and slant routes. But in Madden 2007 the CPU never has the corners play soft. Your receivers never have any cushion – and if they do, the defenders elilminate that cushion as soon as the ball is snapped. It’s yet another thing that makes the passing game in Madden unrealistic and aggrevating.
- Crossing routes are too closely defended. In the real NFL a crossing route can be a killer (this is why defenses employ zones and combination man/zone coverages while they attempt to fill passing lanes with linebackers). It’s very difficult for a defensive back to cover a speedy wide receiver all the way across the field. It’s impossible for a linebacker. Yet in Madden 2007, defensive backs and linebackers routinly cover wide receivers on crossing routes like they had their torso glued to the receiver’s shirt at the snap of the ball. More aggrevating: As you pass the ball to one of these closely guarded receivers, the linebacker covering them (who should be trailing by a couple yards by now) is able to speed up with Superman powers and swat the ball down. I’m still waiting to see this move in a real NFL game.
- Track play calling stats. In Madden 2007 you can go into something called the Weekly Gameplan and see the top three plays your opponent likes to call for passing and running, and the average yards per play that they gain using those plays. But that’s mostly useless information because the CPU is programmed to call plays in a fairly evenly distributed manner. What would be much better is a breakdown of the plays you have called over the course of a season, how frequently you call them and the AYPP. I’d like to see my whole playbook broken down, so I know if I’m not calling certain plays as often, or which plays absolutely stink because I get no yards from them. That sort of information would be invaluable (and fun).
- Shade plays you’ve already called during a game. In the real NFL coaches keep markers with them. As they call plays on their laminated playcall sheets they annotate things. One feature that would be really cool is if the playbook would shade a play you have already called – make it duller, and provide a counter in the corner of the playbox window so you would know how many times you’ve already called that play during a game. If the entire playbox window for that particular play was shaded slightly then your eyes could flip through your playbook for plays you haven’t called yet in very rapid fashion. All of this would make calling plays a richer game experience.
All right – I’m done. For now. Get to work EA. Your game doesn’t suck, but it’s not great either. You’ve got room for improvement.
Jeff says:
Great comments, 100% right on. My buddy and I laugh at the jump and swat. We call it the “Matrix” leap. My favorite issue that needs to be fixed? The fact that you cannot pass to a receiver sitting uncovered at the line of scrimmage (defense has wrong coverage) before the blitz can sack you or someone can tip the pass. In the NFL, if there is ever an overload of wide receivers that results in someone being uncovered, the QA will snap and fire without dropping a step to the open receiver and the its a guaranteed first down or touchdown. In Madden world its a guaranteed sack or deflection. The other anamoly? The color commentary by Al will sometimes provide a “tell” as to whether you should challenge. On 3rd down and inches the computer will show you 4th down, but Al will say, “He picked up just enough for a 1st down.” Whoops, time to challenge the spot.
March 21, 2007, 1:15 pmGabe says:
Cool blog. I found it while googling for Madden ‘07 reviews. I have a few thoughts/responses
For starters, defenders covering receivers on a “corner route†have this superhuman jump-swat that they use with amazing regularity to knock down a pass intended for the receiver. For whatever reason it is basically impossible to throw a pass over the receiver’s shoulder to a point where the defender can’t get to it, and the jump-swat is a large reason why.
I couldn’t agree more. This is probably the most annoying aspect of playing on All Madden. In 2005 I managed to get around this by employing a semi-cheating technique where I’d take control of the WR and as the ball was coming down on a deep pass, I’d hesitate ever so slightly. This would throw the CPU DB off a bit and create just enough space for the ball to sneak past his out-stretched arm. Technically this was a bit of pass interference, but it wasn’t major and it allowed for more realistic deep play.
In 2006 I found that if you directed the ball (inside shoulder, outside shoulder, deep, short), your WR had a much better chance of making the play. In 2006 I felt the super-human abilities of the CPU DBs weren’t quite as exaggerated, though they were still there. Another way I’d try to beat them is by using really fast WRs and occasionally having success beating them on a go route.
I recently started playing 2007 for the first time so I’m hoping yet again I can figure out a way to get around CPU’s super-human abilities.
As a side note, I know a lot of people who adjust the CPU’s intelligence sliders in order to make the game play fairer or more realistic. Turing down the CPU’s “swat ball” ability will probably help a lot.
Sacking the quarterback is something that is very difficult to do in Madden. It is made significantly harder by the presence of the “Tuck Rule†mechanics. Most of the time when your defender is sacking the quarterback, the CPU QB will have the ball fall out of his hand and hit the ground at his feet. This should be a fumble but it never is thanks to the “Tuck Ruleâ€.
Arg. This is the second most annoying thing about playing the CPU. The same thing happens to me. I notice it’s especially bad if the CPU QB has a high AWR. Occasionally my defenders actually make the sack. I’ve found success when I can get to the QB especially fast (i.e. overload one side of the line and send an unblocked OLB or DE). It’s not exactly nano-blitzing, but it’s the only way to get a sack sometimes.
Shade plays you’ve already called during a game.
This is a fantastic idea. Although I generally only call abotu 10-12 plays a game on offense anyway (I call the same I-form plays over and over), but keeping count would be nice.
March 26, 2007, 1:18 pmJimbo says:
As my buddy Jeff said, the “Matrix” leap is quite a hoot. Being a St. Louis native, I’ve played the Rams many times. The classic example is having 4WR, 6′1″ Jackson run out of the backfield to the sideline and forward for a pass. With the usual 3 or 4 D-line rushing (with 6 blockers, somehow they still manage to get through), I barely have time to get the ball off. Nice, it’s going to Jackson, near the pinicle of the jump, and wow, the 5″11″ LB leaps with a lower JMP to catch the ball. Since the ball is in the down motion of the trajectory, it should be even higher and more impossible to catch but not for the CWB (cheating wh*re b@stard – as we call the CPU). This happens too often. Turning down the swat ball ability I didn’t think about. I like having the penalties and such higher for a more challenging game that’s good to know and will be changed tonight.
You also have the engage 8 defense as a player, where I’ve seen from the normal 5 man to a TE and RB O-line pancake 4 players from a 4-3 or nickel package, leaving 4 others to “blitz” the QB with 5+ O-line to block. When the CPU blitzes, I’m lucky to get off the C. I change my D-line to pinch, he audibles (I presume) to run outside the tackle. I have a shift right (not where the line moves right but engages right after the snap), I hear an audible and he runs to the left. Why not suggest to a player’s QB depending on his AWE where the blitz is coming from? I call a 4WR run play, they call a 4-3 defense, but then I change to a pass play but still, it’s the principle of the CPU knowing what you’ve called. I’ve had a 17 point lead in the 4th quarter and the CPU calls 4WR on 3rd down, I think pass, and they run the ball 15 yards for a 1st. And the CPU throws are too perfect even for backup QB’s. A leap catch in double or triple coverage.
Don’t forget the “twist” catch on the run. From LB to DE to CB and S, as you toss a pass to a WR, he reaches up to catch it but wait, a defender sprinting to 6 o’clock twists his upper body to 10 o’clock for a catch over his shoulder (ok, the ball is travelling at a good speed away from this guy and he has better hands than most receivers?) and runs it for a TD. That’s another thing, I would guess over half of the INT’s are for a TD by the CPU. If the defensive CPU can do it to a player’s offensive CPU WR, the player’s CPU defensive players should be able to when the defending the offensive CPU. But that isn’t the case.
How about having a Challenge coach, someone who reviews a play and suggests when to challenge a play. Or at least show a replay if you are playing as the home team? And the sack/tuck rule thing mentioned above. I’ve had a my defender in a QB face and he gets off a great pass, whereas I have a guy 2 yards off and my pass starts to go awry into a defenders hands as if it were scripted. And the “Matrix” leap deflecting a ball into another players hands, what are the real odds of that in the NFL? That happens almost every other game in Madden. CPU throws the ball, maybe one of my defenders react. I throw a ball, EVERY player suddenly changes course. Rarely does the pump fake work effectively. By the time you pump fake, you have a guy in your face. Pump fake and move the QB vision across the field, forget it. It is too much for me.
The griping is endless but I still enjoy the game. Sadly I have to adjust my playing from realistic strategy to Madden CWB strategy. Run as much time off the clock in the final 2 minutes, maintain possession.
I’ve seen things you Madden players wouldn’t believe (paraphrase Bladerunner). Orlando Pace (LT) get highlight sticked by a CB on a KR and the guy keeps going (Pace outweighed him 2x) with barely a pause. Opposing teams kept to 3 points offense get 28 in the final 10 minute quarter. 2 hurry up drives in the final 2 minutes to win a game by the CPU. All these things should be lost, like tears, in, rain.
March 27, 2007, 8:17 amChad says:
Madden was getting a little better every year, since PS2 or X box came out even on ps1 but the problem is when the “next gen” systems and games come out they go back five years, with the exception of visuals of course. So will the new generation of Madden reach its potential or will a new system come out and bring us right back to 2001? The graphics are really cool but after about one or two games I didn’t even notice them being that different. My point is they have so much processing power and its not fully utilized in respect to actual game play.
Why can’t I edit a players jersey number, I live for the franchise mode and I want to be able to make it my own. For instance I was playing with the Seahawks and in free agency I picked up Reggie Bush cool, so I go to play the game and hes wearing number 0, I guess Gilbert Arenas’s commercial got to him. This is stupid and for 59.99 its wrong. The graphics to me are not impressive enough to support a total lack of features that we have all become accustomed too. The reason Madden is not he announcer on the new game is supposedly because he wanted too much money to upgrade his commentary. Doesn’t EA own the NFL license, don’t they make the sole football simulation profits year in and year out. I love Madden and EA but I am feeling like I am being taken for a ride. Year in and year out they give us these cheesy upgrades just to sate our appetite for a new game and just when we are almost happy with the product they start over Sorry about the complaining I just want to have a game that I am not sick of by September…………………….
Missing in action
FG nets
Situational substitutions
defensive match ups
player editing
number editing
gear editing
relocation of a team
hire new coach
Defensive playmaker control
o-line blocking shifts or even double teams?
the hot route system is really slow
the play selection screen Multi player, explaining to your friend how to use the bluffs system is very frustrating and time consuming, so go back to the old way and assign a specific button to each play on screen. Thats just common sense, for the self proclaimed leader in football simulation. Like the guy above me said get some Physics involved in the game, John Abraham moving around like Steve Smith, I know thats not what I payed for!
EA you can do it, you’ve eliminated all of the competition and left us with options like Arena Football “Yeah” or Nfl Street, oh but wait don’t you make those too. “WTF mate” well at least Blitz is realistic. Yeah and I like to play Ten Yard Fight, because the AI is amazing.
Seriously please read what your loyal fans are writing and try to give us something that doesn’t leave us feeling like Arizona Cardinals fans. We want Florida not Ohio State almost isn’t good enough even if you almost make it twice. You still lost.
April 9, 2007, 1:31 pmMike says:
One thing 2008 needs is the ability to play guys on both sides of the ball. I used to burn people with Charles Woodson at RB/WR.
April 13, 2007, 3:13 amGabe says:
Chad, unless I’m mistaken, they have a lot of the things you mentioned.
FG nets
They have these. I watch them go up and down after each FG or XP
Situational substitutions
On offense or defense? on offense you can rotate in different players at different positions simply from the play call screen. usually the options are to rest your RB, put the RB at wide out, move the WRs around, or put a TE wide.
defensive match ups
you can set certain players to guard certain offensive players and they will follow them around all game.
player editing
number editing
gear editing
They have all of this in the player edit screen. Go to the player info screen, the last choice in the list should be “edit info” or something like that
relocation of a team
you can do this in the off-season “owner options” menu choice.
hire new coach
also in the off-season. check the “coaching” menu choice.
Defensive playmaker control
you mean besides hit-sticking?
o-line blocking shifts or even double teams?
I don’t think you can set double teams, but in Madden ‘07 you can audible at the line to tell the Oline to block left, right, or center on the snap (if you see the D overloading one side)
the hot route system is really slow
you mean assigning the routes at the line of scrimmage?
April 13, 2007, 1:37 pmChad says:
Gabe,
We are obviously talking about different systems, I mean the Xbox 360 if you read my article you would know that. The whole point of what I was saying was that the Next Gen games took a major step back yet went up in price. I was merely pointing out that simple fact, evident in not only the jump from Xbox – Xbox360 but also previously from ps1-ps2 The Eddie George game. While I appreciate your Half Hearted attempt, I would like to encourage you to at least have some factual evidence before attacking a fellow Madden lover in such a condescending way, when in fact you are completely mistaken, or maybe I just was not making myself clear, in that case I would be misunderstood but not wrong. Next Gen in quotes like this “Next Gen” means Xbox 360 or Ps3 The Wii is not “next gen” it is the Game cube Game with a motion controller adaptation, and it still maintains all of the features from the current or previous generation if you will. Sorry for the confusion.
Thank you
Chad
April 17, 2007, 11:15 amJimbo says:
As a huge Franchise fan, what’s up with terrible IA team management. After the first year I noticed on the 49ers that original starting QB Trent Dilfer and #2 Alex Smith have a new starter, #6 overall in the new draft. What the heck? Then the second round, another stinking QB was taken. The 49ers had 5 QB’s by season start. The starter being the new guy leaving the original “Franchise QB” Alex Smith as #3. That’s terrible. Place some flags into the code to notice these things, if there are 3 total QB’s (assuming the drafted player is signed), don’t draft any more stinking QB’s. Especially with not having to cut players during pre-season to make the team. It not only over stacks teams with useless players but robs other teams of potentially useful players. Ravens had 8, yes EIGHT, CB’s and another team had 5 RT (only 1 LT without any injuries). That is a waste. Also, during the first FA signing, the Chargers signed 3 WR’s, two were put 4th and 5th in the depth chart. They were fairly decent players and that is a waste of money for the 5th WR to be sitting. I feel the terrible team management prevents balanced gameplay after 3 years.
April 23, 2007, 6:23 amGillman-Walsh Fan says:
Many of these complaints about Madden are well-founded but for me there is only one factor that prevents me from ever purchasing another Madden game, especially for PC:
It’s great that you can create your own playbook but….
Who gives a rat’s arse if you can’t USE your custom playbook against friends in LAN mode or INTERNET mode?
My personal playbook is based on SID GILLMAN’s classic passing tree and hole-numbering signals and BILL WALSH’s horizontal attack strategy.
Highly effective with the right personnel but what’s the point if you and a friend can’t compete HEAD-TO-HEAD?
Madden for PC offers players a chance to swap files from team folders from your Documents folders on your computer and create custom teams, load them on each other’s computers and play HEAD-TO-HEAD with the custom teams. It’s the ONLY way to do so on the PC version because both ROSTERS have to match.
By creating custom teams on one computer and downloading the same roster onto another, BOTH of you can create THUPERteams and play HEAD-TO-HEAD.
My friends and I have done so and created teams via the drop-and-sign method in order to get the very best players of the entire league onto our teams.
But like I said….
WHOOOPEE DOOOOOOOOO!
If I can’t use my own PLAYBOOK….I’m limitted to the crappy TEAM playbooks already built into the system.
And believe me….that “WEST COAST” Offense ISN’T the fargin’ West Coast.
Runningbacks running FLARE routes instead of SWING routes designed to get 4 to 5 yards a pop? Too fargin’ easy pickin’ for the linebackers!
No QUICK FLARE “out” routes built into the HOT ROUTES?
IMPOSSIBLE to run a PURE “West Coast” Offense without those QUICK FLARES!
It’s all in the SPEED timing with many plays and motioning a receiver across the formation and throwing a BULLET pass to a one running a QUICK FLARE route DESTROYS a defense’s ability to stop it.
THAT is the “WEST COAST” I know and love.
And just like REAL LIFE…once the moronic COMPUTER defense plays tight to cover the FLATs…..it’s easy to BURN ‘EM DEEP with VERTICAL routes ala SID GILLMAN/AIR CORYELL.
But like I said….if I can’t implement this strategy against FRIENDS and INTERNET players….
WHO GIVES A RAT’S ARSE?
I’m relegated to waiting and hoping ANOTHER company other than EA SPORTS creates a game which allows HEAD-TO-HEAD competition allowing for CUSTOM PLAYBOOK use.
June 13, 2007, 12:45 pmadam says:
Whats with playing madden on the 360 that when you are playing against a buddy at your house, you can see the plays that the other person is choosing? Does this really annoy anybody as much as it does me???
August 11, 2007, 12:08 pmBryan - LOS Angeles says:
madden 08 is a big disapointment . first, your offensive line never blocks. Second defenders are superhuman at least on all-madden. All pro is to easy though. The view is to wide on deep ball and usually blends in with the field . The running game is not all that great either, players run as if they have to bricks as feet . How did I ever fall into the hype of this crap. I played a full year with the jags and went 14-2 on Allpro currently in season 2 on allmadden and the game is so hard i have lost interest all together. Playing defense and making plays on a ball in the air is impossible for the knockdown button is useless. I dont know if i will buy 2009
September 15, 2007, 2:50 pmCharlie says:
I disagree about the number of running and passing plays. I’m a Redskins fan, and I can remember Gibbs going a whole half and only calling two or three different running plays. What he did was call them from a half-dozen different formations with two or three different motions per formation to get the defense confused and adjusting away from the play. I wish it was easier to do this in coach mode.
September 15, 2007, 9:25 pmrich says:
i am easports guy. i own madden 2005 collectors edition.
this is what i would like to see in the madden game:
-a character attribute for each player and epesically when your drafting players. it could be from like 0 as the lowest to 100 or 99 as the highest trouble maker. also i think if a team is loaded with trouble makers; there will be more problems; but if you have a good team; i think the trouble maker might fit in like how Randy Moss is starting to do in N.E.
-changing uniforms was horrible!!! When you created a team on NCAA football. you could do w/e you wanted to the uniforms. I think you should be able to do that and actually be able to have a team logo on the helmet. like one time, i was the saints. i change the teams uniforms and made the helmets black. i wanted to put the saints simple on there in saint’s gold but i couldn’t do anything!!! that sucked!! i think, like in franchise mode, you have the ability to change the team’s uniform anytime after or beginning of each franchise season which would be so awesome like real life. like if you have a bad team and u feel like changing the atitude of the team by changing uniforms in like year 3 of franchise mode would be just so awesome!!!!!
-i would like to see more of the broncos zone run blocking scheme implemented into the playbook for you smaller, faster offensive-linemen. and it would be nice if you could actually use all run blocking schemes like zone, straight up man, and angle blocking. this would be cool if you could do this when creating a playbook.
also, i didn’t like the 3-4 on my game; actually i made it so the OLB’s are actually on the line like how it is supposed to be.
-i wish there were hybrid guys like guys that could play DE or OLB in either 3-4 or 4-3. like in my madden, when i changed the OLB’s to DE’s they got awesome but when i went to change the DE’s to OLB they got horrible. for example, i wanted to get dwight freeney and play him at the monster Weak OLB position in a 3-4 but i couldn’t do this. the 3-4 and 4-3 is basically interchangable; all most all teams run a little of both but some like the stupid colts who want to get run on all the time don’t bring a OLB up when a TE is on that side. while everyone else does to stop the run. 3-4 and 4-3 do it and show a 5 man front. so, i would like to see some simalarity between the 2 defenses. note: like i run a 3-4 if i wanted to run a 4-3 my weakside OLB would go down to DE and if i was running a 4-3, the weakside DE would go up as a weakside OLB. The weakside OLB is usually the twenter or hybrid backer-end/monsterback like lawerence taylor of the Giants. so, if you add hybrid backer/ends make sure there on the weakside b/c if you have small ends, they would get pushed around by an OT or TE but like i said if they are on the weakside, they have more help and usually don’t have to mess with a TE. a hybrid weakside backer/end like OLB/DE.
i have played some of the newer madden; i don’t care for the off season being so long. i hate having to do those stupid drills to scout players. i like the old style of scouting my just checking them and getting info about ‘em. i think doing that and given the option of playing with them in a game like the new has would be great before the draft! i would mostly like to see those improvements and speed up the off-season more b/c when you playilng with a buddy on franchise mode doing all that drill shit to scout takes to long.
The QB cone is a nice idea EA has come up with but i think it’s more for the computer’s qb attributes. a good gamer passer would suck playing with a bad qb. madden challenage isn’t fair b/c of that. when players play they should all have a big cone and the computer should control of where the qb looks at the progression of the play; amost all passing playing are like the West Coast offense which involve timing routes. the cone would read the defense and look at the approriate recievers to get open. then it truely comes down to the gamer’s touch, power and accruacy to make the passing game excel.
one last thing, i have an idea for: Classic MADDEN games!!! like MADDEN 1970 or MADDEN 1979. Games with franchise mode that start in the offseason of that year and use the old time teams and players!! a gamer would get ready for that year’s draft and try to take someone like a Terry Bradshaw or Joe Montana. And it would be awesome!!! and the frianchise would last 30 years or more up to now!!. like Madden 1970 would last till Madden 2007. And then the gamer will be playing against real time players and historic teams of the past!!!
September 16, 2007, 12:35 pm