For Christmas I got my younger brother Madden 2005 for the PS2. He was thrilled. Since he brought his PS2 with him while he is staying with us, he offered to play me a couple of games.
Man did I get whooped! He beat me 2 consecutive games, the first one 25-12, the second one 28-7. What’s cool is that you can contest iffy calls and possibly get a penalty reversed/down redone. Football games get more and more realistic these days, I remember football games where they wouldn’t even LET your guys run offsides, but now you can get called on every penalty out there.
Case in point- I was on the 15 yard line, I do a beautiful passing play tying the game. But what’s this? TWEET! Holding! HOLDING?! WTF?! :mad: All I did was pas to a guy and run him through a gap. I didn’t ‘hold’ anybody! I’ve also had a ‘facemask’ penalty called against me, but I don’t know how the hell I am doing that deliberately…
Anyway I was getting yelled at because as you can imagine I was a pretty sore loser about the whole thing. But it was kind of funny how hyperrealistic the game is. Another shocker was kicking- kicking used to be very straightforward. But now it is really complicated (and DIFFICULT if you have a crappy kicker) so a band punt can practically be kicked backwards and field goal kicks often go wide (my brother had a 45 yard kick that hit the horizontal bar of the goal post and bounced BACK :eek: sooo close! )
I remember when I first got my Xbox. I popped “Madden 2004” in, and proceeded to get my Colts ass handed to me. Badly. The final score was something like 71-18.
They (the Ravens) knocked Peyton Manning out of the game with a torn ACL, ending his entire season. On the THIRD PLAY.
I’m impressed with the realism they’re putting in these games. And apparently Midway is going to make it even more “realistic” off the field as well. I probably won’t play it though - I gave up on video game football after even Tecmo Bo couldn’t save my sorry 8 bit ass.
I’m devoted to the ESPN NFL series. I thought I was good until I played today. Vkings vs Cowboys. Now, the online mode to this game keeps the teams with actual stats from the real NFL. Now we all know the Cowboys are no first class team this year. The Vikings on the other hand, first class all the way. Final score in my game? 68 - 28 Cowboys. Insane. Jones running the field like he’s by himself. Johnson making catches like the football is placing itself in his hands. Billy can take some cues from the kid I was playing, apperently his using the team right.
Incubus - I have noticed that the 2005 version doesn’t have the comback AI of previous years. Maybe I’m just better, but it was very, very noticable in 2003, but 2005 doesn’t have it (at least on PC). I really like 2005…best version yet. There really are no major gripes this year. The defense is great, the running game is very well balanced, passes are picked off if you don’t read the coverage right, just like in real life. It’s just overall pretty good. The kicking is much, much harder this year, but I’m glad…it shouldn’t be easy to kick a 50+ yard field goal, and it was pretty much a chip shot in previous years. After playing a full season, I’m actually quite good at kicking now.
Being able to import classes from the EA Sports College football series, scouting the rookie class to fill the various holes in your lineup, scouting reports on the players you’re interested in, drafting, negotiating contracts, signing free agents (and resigning your own players), trades.
Not to mention the training camps, where you can try to improve your players’ skills.
I’ve been known to simulate an entire season just to get to that.
This is the thing that piss me off about Madden games. Everytime you have a big play, there’s a 4 in 5 chance it’ll be called back on some BS holding or facemask call.
For instance, I was playing my cousin. I was the Rams he was the Eagles. I had three consecutive touchdowns returned because of “holding.” I hate that shit.
So, maybe this is the place to ask… How do I get better at Madden Football?
Specifically defense. Offense, I understand, and can practice a set of plays until I’m familiar with them.
Defense, I always feel lost. I’m like the guy who ultimately ends up just mashing a bunch of buttons trying to get something to happen. What actually happens is I send every defensive player that’s close to the ball on a flying tackle to nowhere.
I also think part of the problem is I don’t know what defense to use at any given point in the game. Nickle? Dime? Huh?
Under the Game Settings (dig around under the options when you pause the game) you can set sensitivity for penalties. I tweaked those until it felt right to me. Chop blocks were happening on every kick return, and pass interference was never called in four straight seasons, so I lowered and raised the sensitivity of those penalties.
You can practice defensive plays, too, using the practice mode. The different formations consist of different players. The standard 4-3 defense has four down linemen and three linebackers, but maybe your linebackers are better than your linemen, and you’re better off with a 3-4 defense (3 linemen, 4 linebackers). The nickel and dime packages involve 5 or 6 defensive backs instead of the usual four. They’re more useful in passing situations, broadly speaking.
On defense, I usually call the play and then select one of the linemen. I generally let the AI control the other players, since switching to each defender and making a diving tackle usually results in everyone missing. Sometimes, though, I will switch to the defensive back and try to make an interception by jumping for the ball, but I avoid doing that unless there’s a safety further back to make the tackle in case the defender gets the ball anyway.
Without knowing precisely what you have problems with, it’s difficult to give more than the most general advice. What’s worked for me is to start on Rookie difficulty and move it up once I can win consistently. After an eight-game win streak, it was off to Pro, then All-Pro, and I’m struggling there. I dread playing on All-Madden…
I select the leftmost (from my point of view) lineman, and move him a bit to the left. As soon as the play starts, I rush forwards towards the QB, very rarely do I hit him, but I generally spook him, and sometimes even get the sack. As soon as the ball moves, its as simple as switching to closest player and making a tackle.
Offensively, I HATE running up the middle. Simply despise it, unless I’m inches away. Otherwise, I generally let “madden” make the call, or whatever the auto-call is, unless I’m actually playing a big play I want to make the call on.
Never field a punt at the end of a half if you have the lead. Just get your returner out of the way and let it bounce. The computer makes you fumble every time, and I mean every time. Even if you try to fair catch it, it’ll still make you fumble.
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