Honestly, this is the most fun I've had in Madden since Madden 03

[Pikesburgh]

I had been playing a lot of MUT before I really got into my sliders and rosters the past week. I finished my defense ratings, where I edit all the starters on each team as I feel the ratings of some players are really off. I am starting to edit the offense ratings as I speak. I had done CPU vs CPU sliders all summer, and had some fun. I was having an alright time. I let CPU vs CPU games play out while I ate dinner and did stuff outside. Then, 2 days ago I decided to do something...crazy.

I decided to go back to my Madden 03 way of playing video game football. Nothing but Play Now.

I have had so. Much. Fun. I'm a big Steelers fan so I've played random games against teams. It took me all of 3-4 games to create a slider set/penalties I enjoy. It plays so realistic. I kept Big Ben in, just because he's my favorite player.

I beat Indianapolis 23-17. That felt very realistic. A healthy Steelers team with Big Ben, could very realistically put up 20-24 points against the Colts. The Colts, with Jacoby Brissett, put up a decent amount of yardage and points. The Steelers defense felt right. They contained the run decently, but didn't shut it down. TY Hilton shredded the Steelers. 9 catches for something like 150 yards and a TD. Minkah Fitzpatrick had a pick on defense, that helped the Steelers get out to a 23-10 lead in the 4th. Colts got a last minute TD as Hilton again shredded the D. The star players truly FEEL like star players. Juju had a good game, TY Hilton had a good game, Darius Leonard was all over the place and I had a key interception with Devin Bush inside the red zone. (That one was all me, user pick for once). I ended up with 2 interceptions in the game. One mainly CPU, one mainly me usering. I also threw a pick when a Colts corner undercut a square in. It felt really good.

Then I played Kansas City. Holy hell. What a game! I ended up winning 34-31, which, when you think about it makes some sense. If the Steelers and Chiefs played, the only way the Steelers would beat the current Chiefs team is in a shootout. As much as I'm a fan of defense, a shootout every now and then isn't bad. I have to tone down the offensive holding and roughing the passer. There were a few too many holding calls that hurt the Chiefs and one killer roughing the passer (just getting bumped, hardly any contact) that gave the Steelers a first and goal. Here's the stats and animations I saw.

Big Ben: 18/25 for 193 yards and 2 TDs. This was by far my highest completion% but I used the same playbook that I use in MUT so I think that's a big reason I completed 72%. Kansas City has an iffy pass defense, so this stat isn't too unrealistic. Also, I edit every QB's sense pressure trait. It showed big time with Mahomes.

Patrick Mahomes: 33/44 for 343 yards, 2 TDs. I couldn't stop him. To compare, I held my other 3-4 opponents at 70% or less. Mahomes was at 75% and was a beast.

James Conner: 16 carries for 98 yards and 1 TD. Also by far my best outing with him, but he also broke off a long run to help his average.

LeSean McCoy: 18 carries for 89 yards and 1 TD. He was a nightmare for me. Sometimes my D-Line got a good rush and stuffed him. But he had a good 5-6 carries where he broke tackles and caused mayhem getting 7-10 yards those 5-6 plays.

I contained Tyreek Hill to 7 catches for 71 yards. They preferred to throw underneath to him though, so that helped me. For me, Juju was the one guy I consistently found. He had 7 for 68 and a TD.

I was up 31-23 with 4 minutes left. Ran the ball a lot, pick up a big first down, kicked a FG. 34-23. Mahomes takes the Chiefs right down the field and scores a TD with 30 seconds left. 2pt is good. 34-31. Kansas City recovers the onside kick. They end up running out of time at the 50 yard line. I ALMOST blew an 11 point lead with under 2 minutes left. It felt so real. Kansas City really should have won this game. The holding calls that killed their drives was the difference. Bud Dupree had a strip sack (okay okay, that part isn't realistic haha), on Mahomes inside the redzone in the 2nd quarter and TJ Watt picked up the fumble and returned it for a TD. That, was the massive difference in the game besides the penalties.

Animations-wise, I saw a bit of everything. The strip sack was neat looking, along with quite a few 2 man tackles. LeSean McCoy made my secondary look silly, and Devin Bush's hit power created some nice animations. One really cool one was Juju not keeping 2 feet inbounds, then 2 plays later I throw to him again and he makes sure he has 2 feet in. Big Ben felt like Big Ben. A lot of good throws, with incompletions being good plays by DB's, but also some overthrows by Ben (which is generally his style for missed throws on flys).

Total Stats:
Pit 193 Pass Yds, KC 309
Pit 106 Rush Yds, KC 100
Pit 299 Yds on 46 Plays, KC 409 Yds on 69 Plays
Pit 13 1st Downs, KC 19
Pit 0 Turnovers (I finally played good), KC 1.
Pit 3rd Downs: 3/8 37%, KC 6/12 50%
Pit 18 minutes possession, KC 22

So as you can see, KC had the advantage in passing, plays, yardage, 1st downs, 3rd down conversions, and time of possession. The Steelers had 1 crucial advantage. 1 takeaway for a TD. That's how the NFL goes. In a 3 point game, 1 takeaway can make all the difference. It felt so good. Without drive killing penalties (there was holding right before the fumble return TD), KC wins this 34-27 or 34-24. I also changed decent-good offensive lineman's sense pressure to average. This created more holes. I truly feel editing each offensive players sense pressure setting can affect how they run & block.

I tell ya, I'm having so much fun now. I still like MUT a bit (I like the competitiveness except when people run the same 3 plays all game), I'm dabbling in Franchise Mode, but at the end of the day, I've had so much fun in Play Now mode that it brings me back to Madden 03. I can post sliders if anyone wants them. Human and CPU have almost identical sliders, so if I penalize the human sliders, I might start losing (which I want). Something like going 10-6, 11-5, every 16 games sounds nice. I'm having fun, and it feels so good. I will never cave into the negativity some people have for this game.

[audbal]

Great write up! Play now is all I have ever done. I would like to take a look at your sliders. Thanks again.

[bucky60]

I'm really glad that you are enjoying it. But I can't do play now games. They just seem meaningless to me. And the last franchise that I thought was going in the right direction was M12.

[TheShizNo1]

Quote: Originally Posted by bucky60

I'm really glad that you are enjoying it. But I can't do play now games. They just seem meaningless to me. And the last franchise that I thought was going in the right direction was M12.

Let's not do this. My man is expressing his joy of the game; don't turn this thread into something it isn't.

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[Shosum13]

I'm definitely having more fun with this Madden than I have in a few versions. Especially with playing vs the CPU, the game plays much smoother and gives you more varied results with the new superstar and x factor abilities. My frustration lies with the user vs user play. I play in a 32 user league so I get a lot of user vs user play in as well and there are some weird animations that trigger that I don't see vs the CPU. I feel like the game played smoother at launch for user vs user play and after the last couple of patches I don't know what changed but there have been some funky animations triggered that don't make a lot of sense.

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[bucky60]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheShizNo1

Let's not do this. My man is expressing his joy of the game; don't turn this thread into something it isn't. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Do what exactly? I meant that I was very happy for him that he finds so much enjoyment and he gave his reasons why. I gave a very short opinion on why I can't do play now games. How is that turning the thread into something it's not? My response was pretty benign and supportive of him enjoying it. If you want to take this to PM's, I'd be glad to.

[timhere1970]

What are your time settings, length of quarter and minimum clock time? The stats look good but it depends on those timing issues.

[mikey04]

I have to say that I am too. Been playing madden since the very first one and have not missed one madden over the years and I believe this is the best playing and best looking version ever. It's smooth and it looks great. For the first time maybe ever, i have not tweaked one slider. Well except the injury slider and penalty sliders and stuff like that. It is not perfect but close enough for me! I have usually quit by now and playing nba2k. THe only issue i am having right now is what team to use for franchise. Cannot make my mind up!