Why is it that everytime I get a good drive going, or get a lead or get any kind of momentum, the game makes me fumble, or get a stupid penalty? Is it just a coincidence that my kick returner fumbles the rock like 2 or 3 times in a row? How come every time I complete a thirty yard pass to Moss, I get it called back for a penalty? How come Michael Bennet keeps breaking his leg in my game?
It seems like it’s too much to be a coincidence and it’s always stuff that i can’t control (the player cannot control fumbles, false starts, holding calls or injuries).
So what is it? Is the game programmed to cheat if the playeer gets ahead of the computer. what determines the frequency of penalties and fumbles?
(I have noticed this with all the Madden games not just this one, but this one seems worse than usual).
I don’t know if it’s ever been officially said, but all the Maddens I’ve played seem to cheat when you get ahead. I once took a 73-0 lead with a custom team against the freakin’ Bengals and the final score wound up being 80-79 because my passes would fall mysteriously incomplete and so on.
I’ve noticed that in the last 2 minutes of a half, the CPU has a FAR greater chance of intercepting the ball. I think they did it on purpose to mess with people like me who would rather score 3 touchdowns in 2 minutes than take a knee a couple times.
The same problem is in NBA Live 2003! It’s like the computer gets upset that it’s losing! Like it has feelings or something!
Check it: In real life, it’ impossible for a human being to run faster than a thrown ball… but not in the NBA Live universe!! If I steal the ball and throw it up court, the CPU player I stole it from will run past the ball in mid-flight, knock over my intended target and steal the ball back. Uhhh, cheating??? HELL YEAH!
Or, I love this, there will be a lose ball and my man and the CPU man will be running after it. We’ll be neck and neck, but as soon as we get close to the ball, my man will suddenly slow up, while the CPU keeps right on going.
Damn, why doesn’t the CPU team just take the ball and go home when they’re losing!!! :rolleyes:
I call it “No way in hell you’re winning” mode. And when I’d play a season, I’d notice it a LOT. Like every other game. I’d whip off three 80 yard TD passes with my QB in the first quarter and then he couldn’t complete another pass for the rest of the game for some mysterious reason. 5 yard. 50 yard. Screens. Nothing. My QB completion percentages always hang around 46% because I always take the deep strikes early, which pisses the CPU off.
I’ve never played it myself, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that yes, it is cheating. Most video games cheat to make the game challenging: it’s easier than programming effective AI.
I’ve noticed that the CPU team suddenly turns All-Madden in the the last 2 minutes of the half, especially when down by 14+ (I’m playing All-Pro setting). As an experiment, I turned pass-blocking, QB accuracy and Receiver AI down to 10. In the two-minute drill, I could not get a sack with an all-out blitz against a four-wide offense. Playing Quarters defense, I watched their QB throw completions into triple coverage, often passing straight through the man covering underneath.
Heck, anyone remember the arcade classic Championship Baseball from 1983? You would rack up points by getting bases, scoring runs, getting outs on the computer, etc. but the game would end as soon as the computer had more runs than you. Typically, the game would tolerate you for three innings or so, then suddenly all your hits turned into pop flies and all the computer’s hits were at least doubles. Game over.
On the plus side, the Playmaker feature is a great addition to the series. Works very well in roll-out passing plays, switching run direction pre-snap, and adjusting zone coverage. PC gamers are kinda shorted though, as you can only access it with a dual-analog gamepad or joystick. I happen to have one I bought for racing and flight sims.
Yes. The game cheats like mad if it gets down. If you play a season mode, you can see it very clearly. I’ve played 2 seasons and went 10-0-0 in my first ten games each season, then I lose at least 2 of my last 6. Even if you have the best players, they are useless against the pissed of CPU. If you’re up by more than 21 points in the second half, you could play Quarters prevent with the best pass rushers and best cover corners in the league; the computer will still throw 80-yard touchdown passes. Your return men will still fumble. You will still get the unavoidable 15-yard facemasking, and you will not intercept the ball, even if they throw a lollipop right at your best corner.
The game also let’s you catch up a bit if you’re down big. I’ve got huge plays mainly when the game is tied or I am down a few scores. So it goes both ways, but for most players, they don’t have to make up big deficits.
Madden 2004 drives me crazy sometimes. I’ve experienced that miracle-comeback-right-before-the-half that others have mentioned. I’ve had the computer score three touchdowns on me in less than one minute of game time. Often it irritates me so much that I exit the game in disgust, only to be irresistably drawn back to it a half-hour later.
If the computer gets the ball on their own 21-yard line with a minute and a half left in the 2nd quarter, you’re screwed. If, however, they get it on the 19, they’ll try to run the ball up the middle and end the half. If one of those runs happens to get past the 20, look out! It’s passing season; their receivers are bionic and your cornerbacks and safety play like they just got cut from a junior varsity team.
If they score quick and I get the ball back, suddenly my runs go nowhere and any time I try to pass it’s either a sack, incomplete, or a pick. Of course their defensive line is suddenly comprised entirely of titanium men with rocket packs, while my offensive line appears to have gotten into some Quaaludes between possessions.
Another Madden gripe: after all these years, they still can’t get the announcers to say the right things? Granted, it’s not as bad as it was in previous years, but when my scoring drive was 87 yards according to the short screen, it sounds kind of stupid when Summeral says “They take advantage of the short field and drive the distance to the goal!”
Yeah, I bitch, but it’s in the same “I really love this and want it to be better” way that Simpsons fans bitch about the 10th season.
There is usually an option on this type of games to keep the games close. I can’t remember of the top of my head what they are called but check for something like “computer assisted handicap” or the like in the option settings and turn it off.
APEX does that crap too. If you don’t drive just right, the other 5 cars will pass you no matter how far ahead you are. And I lost races with cars that were indentical to mine by, like, laps.
Hell yeah, I remember that. The worst thing was that it took you a few goes to figure out what was happening…you thought you just weren’t playing well enough.
How about reverse cheat AI? On another arcade classic, Super Konami Basketball, it was almost impossible to miss a shot at the buzzer. You could throw one in from the other side of the court! And, if you did manage to miss the shot, you could tip it back in, even though the clock had hit zero!
Ha you’re computer players are lowly mortals compared to the ones I play against. I can have the ball in one corner behind the 3 point line being double teamed. The guy that the computer left to double team me would be standing behind the three point line in the other corner. I pass the ball crosscourt and the computer player beats it to the open guy!
The worst thing about football games, college in particular, is the blocking of outside blitzes. Say we have a 4-3 defense with the OLBs blitzing. Lets see what should our blocking scheme be? The programmers seemed to narrow it down to 2 options. Option 1: Have the guard try to pull back and block the blitzing LB. Of course no guard in college football is quick enough to do that, result? Sack. Option 2: Have the tackle pull off the end and block the LB and have the running back pick up the end. Again of course no tackle is quick enough to block the LB and no back is big enough to take on a DE result? Sack.
It is also Impossible to rush up the middle with no lead block irregardless if the defense is in quarters or dime.
It is impossible to run to the outside against Dime defenses or 3-4 defenses.
Safties in college football have no problem covering the entire field and can close on any long pass with any sort of touch.
In college football I can recruit a guy with a 4.16 40 with the scouting report saying 40 time seems about right and have him come to camp as a 92 speed. How fucking fast are these people that are 99 speed?
Play Action should be replaced with “Get Sacked” in every damn paly book. Although 2004 is much better in this regard.
Phew those are all the things that piss me off in football games that I can think of.
A friend and I called this phenomenon the third-quarter blitz back during NFL QB Club on the Nintendo 64. Both of us always seemed to lose our shutouts to one or two amazing drives by the computer in the third quarter.
I don’t think this sort of thing is as noticable in NCAA Football 2004. I don’t play Madden.
You sould get help from my friends who are merciless power players. I mean I thought I was good at football computer game, but damn, they recreate Georgia Tech-Cumberland at the highest level.