johnny_park
Member
I picked up a PS4 just for this game. I hope I don't regret it.
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Madden NFL '15 |OT| Now This is Current Gen
- Thread starter The Albatross
- Start date
I am probably the most ridiculous hyped up person here. Thing is, I don't play sports games. Ever. It doesn't end there, however, since I don't watch sports either.
So what the hell an I doing in this thread, you ask, as you sit there rearranging your fan gear. Well, I saw some games during the 90s, and some some weird reason it just hit me, "why don't I check some games?" Well, said and done this lead to me watching gameplay videos of Madden 25, remembering the series from the 90s or so. This lead to the realization that 25 seemed a bit...crap, that a new version was coming and that it looked awesome.
So here ai am, a non sports gamer, and I couldn't be more hyped. And oh, I just bought Game Pass. What the hell am I doing? At least I was hyped by gameplay videos and reading about features, not by forum talk.
So what the hell an I doing in this thread, you ask, as you sit there rearranging your fan gear. Well, I saw some games during the 90s, and some some weird reason it just hit me, "why don't I check some games?" Well, said and done this lead to me watching gameplay videos of Madden 25, remembering the series from the 90s or so. This lead to the realization that 25 seemed a bit...crap, that a new version was coming and that it looked awesome.
So here ai am, a non sports gamer, and I couldn't be more hyped. And oh, I just bought Game Pass. What the hell am I doing? At least I was hyped by gameplay videos and reading about features, not by forum talk.
so is there any type of demo for this game?
im on ps4, dont want to spend the money if I don't like it. But, being compared to 2005 makes me a little wet
There are plenty of sports games that are ludicrously fun without knowledge of the sport
Fifa, Tecmo Bowl/Super Bowl, Mutant League Football, NHL 94 are all very fun games if you don't know that much about the sport.
Hell, ive played Tecmo Super Bowl with people who legitimately hated sports, and they absolutely adored it.
im on ps4, dont want to spend the money if I don't like it. But, being compared to 2005 makes me a little wet
There are plenty of sports games that are ludicrously fun without knowledge of the sport
Fifa, Tecmo Bowl/Super Bowl, Mutant League Football, NHL 94 are all very fun games if you don't know that much about the sport.
Hell, ive played Tecmo Super Bowl with people who legitimately hated sports, and they absolutely adored it.
TalentBurke
Member
I don't know what you guys are talking about with Madden improving. Sounds like everybody just needs their fix of NFL football. I always bring this up and people take shots at me, but they still can't even program a real QB pocket into madden, the line play sucks. And wasn't the major focus last year "The war in the trenches"?
Here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvhcWJg-r9o&list=UUhxgJxe4LFuUYjDkziC_zlQ
Here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvhcWJg-r9o&list=UUhxgJxe4LFuUYjDkziC_zlQ
TheApatheticOne
Member
Like others, having played the 6 hour preview, I'm pretty excited to play more!
Things I liked:
- Flat out looks better.
- Defense is way more fun to play now with the jumping the snap feature, love all the easy changing on-the-fly camera angles on both sides of the ball.
- Presentation, and actually like the UI for selecting plays.
- The CoachGlass feature is pretty cool.
- Can't run worth shit yet (Playing Trent Truck, so true sim!), but it feels like you can work around your linemen more, although suction tackling isn't entirely gone.
Some bad animations are still there. Some throws feel like the CB is running the route before the WR even breaks (seems particularly present on out routes). Also, seems to get glitchy when the CPU goes into hurry up, camera changes like every play.
Overall, this is the best Madden, IMO, in FOREVER. This is the first one in so long where it feels like we aren't being fed the same game with an updated roster. The bar has been placed very low, so maybe that's why Im so high on it, but whatever. Still excited to play the full game more tomorrow!
Things I liked:
- Flat out looks better.
- Defense is way more fun to play now with the jumping the snap feature, love all the easy changing on-the-fly camera angles on both sides of the ball.
- Presentation, and actually like the UI for selecting plays.
- The CoachGlass feature is pretty cool.
- Can't run worth shit yet (Playing Trent Truck, so true sim!), but it feels like you can work around your linemen more, although suction tackling isn't entirely gone.
Some bad animations are still there. Some throws feel like the CB is running the route before the WR even breaks (seems particularly present on out routes). Also, seems to get glitchy when the CPU goes into hurry up, camera changes like every play.
Overall, this is the best Madden, IMO, in FOREVER. This is the first one in so long where it feels like we aren't being fed the same game with an updated roster. The bar has been placed very low, so maybe that's why Im so high on it, but whatever. Still excited to play the full game more tomorrow!
Have you played the game?
It's a night/day improvement from Madden 25. Biggest one year jump the series has made in a long time.
The Albatross
Member
CCM has been pretty good, although there have been some issues with it throughout the years. They call it "Connected" because at any time you can invite a friend (or stranger) to join your career mode, and they can take on any role, either player, coach, or GM. You can also switch between players, coaches, and GMs at any time... So maybe you start as a coach/GM with Denver, and you control the whole team, play through Peyton Manning's final seasons in the NFL, and then draft a hot rookie QB and decide to switch to take over the persona of that player. Now, your weekly tasks change from managing the roster to training and improving as a player... and you only play in the games you're involved in. Then, maybe you decide later to switch back to a GM and take over another team.
It's pretty cool.
There's some things that aren't great if you like to do one specific task, but overall, it's a good mode. It also integrates very well online.
The Albatross
Member
BTW, for those looking for long reactions... Here was my reaction to the game in the XBL / EA Access preview thread:
Played a fair amount on the preview... Sure, only 6 hours worth, but so far the game feels really improved and a lot of big and small improvements.
Off the bat, I bumped the game down to "Slow" for gamespeed, which I always prefer. I'm playing on all pro. On All Pro with "Normal" gamespeed, it felt too fast for me... but that's just a preference.
First of all, the gameplay feels right. Players have a weight to them and a fast nimble back feels that way, while a lumbering back has more weight and momentum. Players just feel like they move how they should and your movements make a difference.
More on gameplay, for the first time that I can remember there are actually realistic overthrows and incompletions. In Madden years past, we all know that Qb's would go 25 / 35 and all 10 incompletions would be either dropped passes, batted balls, dropped interceptions, or interceptions. When, halelujah, you actually have poorly thrown balls in this year that go beyond the WR or out of bounds or short, or are just off. Getting a 3rd down stop and having the ball just sail over the head of the WR and fall harmlessly to the ground felt a lot better than having my safety drop an easy interception, even though the result of the play is the game. Seems great.
New playcalling: Actually improved. Madden has tried to speed up the game in the past few years with the playcalling changes, but there's always been a sacrifice of choice for speed and often times, the coaches suggestions are very limited and just lousy plays that you don't want to run. The new enhanced suggestions play calling works and having 6 coaches suggestions, then 3 strategy suggestions,a nd then 6 community suggestions gives enough choice and balance while also keeping the focus on gameplay and less on menus. Though, when I do go back to the traditional playcalling which I do occassionally, I find the "expand / collapse" animation takes a little too long when you're trying to whip through plays and formations. But it hasn't gotten in the way at all and it's only when I go to traditional play calling that I run into this which is usually 1 - 3 plays a game.
Oh and FINALLY with the no huddle has been dramatically improved on offense. First, you can run a no huddle tempo if you want to.. this is similar to NCAA's tempo settings, but tweaked. No huddle tempo actually gives you full playcall screen but gets you to the line without dropping any time off the playclock and it's a quick tempo. Kill clock, or whatever, is like NCAA's where you take 30 seconds off the playclock every time. BUt, when calling an impromptu no huddle, you get full access to your playbook... not the limited 4 or 5 audibles like in year's past. Thank god for this, it's a hell of a lot more realistic and makes the no huddle valuable.
New quick camera changes are a significant improvement to Madden. being able to change on the fly depending on the type of playcall you have is awesome.
Defensive camera is good, it's better than NCAA's old player lock option, but I don't use it for long. I just don't find it as effective so I usually switch back. I use it mostly on the D-Line or when blitzing a line backer. It provides no advantage, but it mixes it up sometimes... and the benefit of being able to toggle it preplay on the field makes it useful. If I had to go into a menu to toggle that I'd never ever use it.
The game looks incredible. If you don't think that these graphics are improved you're insane. You can't tell that much with the gameplay camera when it's pulled back, but there are improvements there... but when it's close up, especially during the opening kickoff, right after touchdowns, and other ingame cinematic times, it's great.
The crowd noise and reaction is great.
Commentary is still pretty bad, mostly the same. It's improved but still mostly sucks. The pregame commentary from the guy in the studio when it goes into the game is natural and feels right... It surprises me that it flows so naturally. I can't tell if maybe they recorded every potential game scenario, but when I played the Bears vs. the Cardinals (which isn't really that "likely" of a matchup), the pregame commentary was relevant and stitched really well, he mentioned it would be a measure of two wide receivers, Larry Fitz and Brandon Marshall, and had both guys compared side by side on the screen with their season stats. Felt really good and normal, something you'd expect to see.
There's one very subtle improvement that I never thought I'd ask for but it's an improvement. There is no opening coin toss really... The coin toss is just simulated before the game, which makes a lot of sense. As a coach, before the game, you have coin toss options... "Receive first," "Defend first," "Take wind," "against wind," this is all on the controller select screen. And then the game loads right into the kickoff after the pre-game commentary. Some people might not like this and might like the coin toss for some weird reason but I never thought that this would be an improvement until actually noticing it and realizing that loading straight into the opening kickoff is way more realistic and TV-like. It's pretty rare that you're watching an NFL game and it shows the opening coin toss like how it's always shown in Madden years past, UNLESS it's a noteworthy game like the Super Bowl. And, FWIW, there IS still a coin toss if you go to Over time, that has not been removed.
The halftime show is pretty good, good to see those highlights and most of them are important plays. In game replays are great and quick. New injury timeouts look good. I like that they made a more TV-like timeout when you call timeout but it can get annoying late in games when you're calling TO just to stop the clock, instead it sort of goes into a TV-style cut of "Let's take a break for this timeout..." type thing. It's fine and not a big deal but I'd like to see that tuned down in late games when you're obviously calling timeout just to stop the clock.
At half time and quarters, I like how it has the pull away for "this game is brought to you by Head and Shoulders, the shampoo of the NFL.." or whatever it is. SOme people might think this is in game advertising, which sure, it is, but it's realistic too and happens similar to real games. Of course, you can "A" through them if you want to and they will never appear. But if you let the presentation take over between quarters you'll see it. They have a few of them, I've seen Verizon and H&S so far.
On the play types... I did the training camp which was fine. The gauntlet mode is fine but I didn't thnk it was amazing or anything. The other drills, some repeats from the past, bu a bunch of new ones with new descriptions and setup seemed good. A whole new area for "Strategy" which teaches you the strategy of specific plays and playcalling. This is something that Madden should have done a long time ago and I think it's a great addition.
I also played MUT for about 10 mins. I've never been an MUT guy and I likely won't this year, but I like how they had a bunch of video tutorials and overlays when you start MUT, like a guided experience.. "Do this, now do this, now do this..." felt like a tutorial in Civ 5,which I need because I don't get MUT at all. But, this helped me understand it a bit more and I liked it. I still probably won't play MUT in any meaningful way, but I liked the improvements.
Did not go into CCM at all, just leaving that for retail.
Overall I think Madden vets will really like this year's game from what I've played of it. Gameplay seems really strong and the graphics at certain points look really, really good... especially on those opening kickoffs. New presentation layers are appreciated, especially the small ones. People who hate Madden every year should probably still pass on it... It's a ton of improvements, but it's still a Madden game and if you live to hate Madden then you won't like this one any more than any other Madden game in the last 10 years. But, if you're open minded and haven't bought Madden in a while, this is the version to get.
-edit-
Just quickly, I did run into a few bugs/issues but nothing really crazy:
Played a fair amount on the preview... Sure, only 6 hours worth, but so far the game feels really improved and a lot of big and small improvements.
Off the bat, I bumped the game down to "Slow" for gamespeed, which I always prefer. I'm playing on all pro. On All Pro with "Normal" gamespeed, it felt too fast for me... but that's just a preference.
First of all, the gameplay feels right. Players have a weight to them and a fast nimble back feels that way, while a lumbering back has more weight and momentum. Players just feel like they move how they should and your movements make a difference.
More on gameplay, for the first time that I can remember there are actually realistic overthrows and incompletions. In Madden years past, we all know that Qb's would go 25 / 35 and all 10 incompletions would be either dropped passes, batted balls, dropped interceptions, or interceptions. When, halelujah, you actually have poorly thrown balls in this year that go beyond the WR or out of bounds or short, or are just off. Getting a 3rd down stop and having the ball just sail over the head of the WR and fall harmlessly to the ground felt a lot better than having my safety drop an easy interception, even though the result of the play is the game. Seems great.
New playcalling: Actually improved. Madden has tried to speed up the game in the past few years with the playcalling changes, but there's always been a sacrifice of choice for speed and often times, the coaches suggestions are very limited and just lousy plays that you don't want to run. The new enhanced suggestions play calling works and having 6 coaches suggestions, then 3 strategy suggestions,a nd then 6 community suggestions gives enough choice and balance while also keeping the focus on gameplay and less on menus. Though, when I do go back to the traditional playcalling which I do occassionally, I find the "expand / collapse" animation takes a little too long when you're trying to whip through plays and formations. But it hasn't gotten in the way at all and it's only when I go to traditional play calling that I run into this which is usually 1 - 3 plays a game.
Oh and FINALLY with the no huddle has been dramatically improved on offense. First, you can run a no huddle tempo if you want to.. this is similar to NCAA's tempo settings, but tweaked. No huddle tempo actually gives you full playcall screen but gets you to the line without dropping any time off the playclock and it's a quick tempo. Kill clock, or whatever, is like NCAA's where you take 30 seconds off the playclock every time. BUt, when calling an impromptu no huddle, you get full access to your playbook... not the limited 4 or 5 audibles like in year's past. Thank god for this, it's a hell of a lot more realistic and makes the no huddle valuable.
New quick camera changes are a significant improvement to Madden. being able to change on the fly depending on the type of playcall you have is awesome.
Defensive camera is good, it's better than NCAA's old player lock option, but I don't use it for long. I just don't find it as effective so I usually switch back. I use it mostly on the D-Line or when blitzing a line backer. It provides no advantage, but it mixes it up sometimes... and the benefit of being able to toggle it preplay on the field makes it useful. If I had to go into a menu to toggle that I'd never ever use it.
The game looks incredible. If you don't think that these graphics are improved you're insane. You can't tell that much with the gameplay camera when it's pulled back, but there are improvements there... but when it's close up, especially during the opening kickoff, right after touchdowns, and other ingame cinematic times, it's great.
The crowd noise and reaction is great.
Commentary is still pretty bad, mostly the same. It's improved but still mostly sucks. The pregame commentary from the guy in the studio when it goes into the game is natural and feels right... It surprises me that it flows so naturally. I can't tell if maybe they recorded every potential game scenario, but when I played the Bears vs. the Cardinals (which isn't really that "likely" of a matchup), the pregame commentary was relevant and stitched really well, he mentioned it would be a measure of two wide receivers, Larry Fitz and Brandon Marshall, and had both guys compared side by side on the screen with their season stats. Felt really good and normal, something you'd expect to see.
There's one very subtle improvement that I never thought I'd ask for but it's an improvement. There is no opening coin toss really... The coin toss is just simulated before the game, which makes a lot of sense. As a coach, before the game, you have coin toss options... "Receive first," "Defend first," "Take wind," "against wind," this is all on the controller select screen. And then the game loads right into the kickoff after the pre-game commentary. Some people might not like this and might like the coin toss for some weird reason but I never thought that this would be an improvement until actually noticing it and realizing that loading straight into the opening kickoff is way more realistic and TV-like. It's pretty rare that you're watching an NFL game and it shows the opening coin toss like how it's always shown in Madden years past, UNLESS it's a noteworthy game like the Super Bowl. And, FWIW, there IS still a coin toss if you go to Over time, that has not been removed.
The halftime show is pretty good, good to see those highlights and most of them are important plays. In game replays are great and quick. New injury timeouts look good. I like that they made a more TV-like timeout when you call timeout but it can get annoying late in games when you're calling TO just to stop the clock, instead it sort of goes into a TV-style cut of "Let's take a break for this timeout..." type thing. It's fine and not a big deal but I'd like to see that tuned down in late games when you're obviously calling timeout just to stop the clock.
At half time and quarters, I like how it has the pull away for "this game is brought to you by Head and Shoulders, the shampoo of the NFL.." or whatever it is. SOme people might think this is in game advertising, which sure, it is, but it's realistic too and happens similar to real games. Of course, you can "A" through them if you want to and they will never appear. But if you let the presentation take over between quarters you'll see it. They have a few of them, I've seen Verizon and H&S so far.
On the play types... I did the training camp which was fine. The gauntlet mode is fine but I didn't thnk it was amazing or anything. The other drills, some repeats from the past, bu a bunch of new ones with new descriptions and setup seemed good. A whole new area for "Strategy" which teaches you the strategy of specific plays and playcalling. This is something that Madden should have done a long time ago and I think it's a great addition.
I also played MUT for about 10 mins. I've never been an MUT guy and I likely won't this year, but I like how they had a bunch of video tutorials and overlays when you start MUT, like a guided experience.. "Do this, now do this, now do this..." felt like a tutorial in Civ 5,which I need because I don't get MUT at all. But, this helped me understand it a bit more and I liked it. I still probably won't play MUT in any meaningful way, but I liked the improvements.
Did not go into CCM at all, just leaving that for retail.
Overall I think Madden vets will really like this year's game from what I've played of it. Gameplay seems really strong and the graphics at certain points look really, really good... especially on those opening kickoffs. New presentation layers are appreciated, especially the small ones. People who hate Madden every year should probably still pass on it... It's a ton of improvements, but it's still a Madden game and if you live to hate Madden then you won't like this one any more than any other Madden game in the last 10 years. But, if you're open minded and haven't bought Madden in a while, this is the version to get.
-edit-
Just quickly, I did run into a few bugs/issues but nothing really crazy:
- Punt return, if you switch to defensive camera, then switch back to regular cam, and use the "jump snap" as the punt returner, I was unable to get the punt returner to move... he just locked up and let the ball bounce pass him. Only experienced it once, all of the others were normal.
- No-huddle is a little too fast when you're on defense. The cam zooms in on the QB doing preplay reads and it doesn't giv you enough time as a defender to make adjustments.
- Some visual bugs, like Geno smith came out at the beginning of the game and his face flicker and disappeared. Also on no huddle pass while I had the defensive game the game got overly contrasted visually and produced some field flickering post-play. None of these made any impact on the game while playing it, but both were weird. Haven't seen it since that first game against the Jets.
The_Almighty_Swan
Banned
I recommend when you get the game playing a lot of the Gauntlet mode and Skills Trainer. It'll make your transition to the game a lot easier and you'll learn a lot about football concepts and such so you don't get killed out the gate against most people you play.
It sure is.
Here I am, I don't even play games that much at all anymore, and with all this excitement, I'm looking to finally sell my last gen consoles, towards purchasing either a MaddenBox One, or a Maddenstation 4.
Which does kinda make me sad, since I'd rather just use that money towards a new pc or something, which would serve me in many other ways, but alas, I'd like to move on from playing Madden 08 PC I guess.
TalentBurke
Member
riiiiiiiiight same shit people say every year. No wonder we only have one NFL game and we will until the end of gaming.
Yea the game is good but not godly as most make it out to be...especailly corny stuff like winning games to add stuff to your "crib".
The presentation will never be topped though.
Yeah, I have been watching Youtube videos where people exploitation the rules and positions, just to be able to follow the games. The training in Maiden looks great.
Play All Pro Football 2k8. Even without all the modes, it's still a great football game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGnwCEQttM8
Youtube playlists of Madden 25 vs APF videos watch with sound at your own peril.
And it's like 3 bucks at gamestop. Make sure you get the 360 version if you want NFL roster updates. The PS3 roster edit is locked.
Lan Dong Mik
And why would I want them?
Awesome impressions Albatross! That was a good read
The Albatross
Member
Oh, I can confirm that SuperSim is still mostly broken. It's slightly more reasonable than in year's past, and you see fewer ridiculous plays, but the time management issue is still there. This bug has been going on 8 years, I think.
Speaking of night/day
is it possible for EA to fix the night games?
From what I've read night games look atrocious compared to the rest of the package.
So your post is different from the usual?
Don't understand your purpose. It's a madden 15 thread -- I've played the game and haven't thought/felt that Madden was a huge improvement each year. I definitely notice the improvements this year though.
HarryDemeanor
Member
I'll be picking this one up. It looks great.
The Albatross
Member
yes! I mentioned this in another post in the preview thread. There is definitely something wrong with the lighting in night games on XBox One (only played Xbox One version in the EA Access preview). I played a game in Philadelphia at night and it was as if the lights weren't turned on, it was very odd. I was surprised because this has never been a noticable issue in the last few Maddens, but this was the first thing I noticed in M15 in a night game... It looked way too dark. Not too dark to know what was going on, but just did not look right.
I suspect this will be fixed by an early patch. Seems like a bug that got introduced late because it was a pretty obvious lighting issue.
Difference is, these people have actually played the game and you haven't. The praise for this Madden is way, WAY higher than any other year in my memory.
THing is, you're probably going to never like Madden... ever. And that's okay. You just don't need to tell everybody that in every thread. This is an OT.
backbreaker65
Banned
If you have Gold or Elites and you still have your PS3 download "Footbal" preset makes a world of difference the Stadium ambiance is brought to life.
Mihael Mello Keehl
Banned
I would definantly not say HUGE leap over 25. Especially gameplay wise. Its better but lets keep it at that. I play and buy madden every year since 03, this year is one of the refining years.. Im not sure when we will see a HUGE leap for madden but right now I really dont care.
manny10032
Member
UCF in the house....we in there!!
Norwegian_Imposter
Member
I found the load times before the games, on the preview on xbox one to be quite steep. I wonder if its the same on the PS4.
Liquidsnake
Banned
Thank you very much.
ErasureAcer
Banned
Drexler avatar. You have good judgement.
Sho_Nuff82
Member
So wait, you're shitting on people's impressions without even playing it first?
Haha, that is a very tempting proposition. There are plenty of reasons why I should get it on MaddenBox One, one actually being a massive preference for the controller, but I figure if I get a Maddenstation 4, I'd at least be able to check out Hot Shots Golf someday too.
Xbox One League Here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=876956
Plently of Teams left
Plently of Teams left
Future PhaZe
Member
if nfl gaf is saying its gud
then its gud
hype
then its gud
hype
Enjoyed the extended demo this weekend but one thing still bugs me.. in the connected franchise mode for my player I hate all the views.. I want one higher like last year.
Are they doing this on purpose to make you "feel" like you are looking out over the field? It was still bugging me hours into my career..
Are they doing this on purpose to make you "feel" like you are looking out over the field? It was still bugging me hours into my career..
The Albatross
Member
Agreed. The load time fo the game to boot is pretty steep. I was Exiting out every time because of EA Access, so I'll be relieved when I can just leave it in quick boot and start where I left off.
Load time going into games is not improved by any discernible amount over the last 6 years.
I need to get that Storm Johnson and Blake Bortles combo back in madden 15.
Azzurri
Member
I'm pretty sure it's PS4.
Lan Dong Mik
And why would I want them?
Anyone know what time this will unlock on PS4 tonight? I'm hoping for 12:00am EST please!!!
DarthWalden
Banned
the rumble triggers provide a great addition to the game IMO when they rumble on hard counts in addition to the new pass rush moves it adds another layer to this game .
yes, that's what the timer on PSN says
Lan Dong Mik
And why would I want them?
Beautiful!!
For me that lives among the polar bears, how long is it until it "opens"?
8 1/2 hours
The Albatross
Member
The games are supposed to be the same, but some early reports are that PS4 looks better and has no noticeable pauses during post-play animations or rollovers. The gameplay was always smooth on the XB1 preview, but I'd notice that the transition effects during presentation moments would be a lower framerate, and also in postplay video replays, the game wouldn't be smooth.
Here's hoping he makes the team. He's looked good on kickoff returns.