I got a bonus at work last week that just happened to be a little more than the price of a new 1TB PS4 and Madden 18, so I hit up Best Buy on my way home from work last Thursday…
Anyways, anyone playing? Thoughts? Tips? Gripes?
My thoughts:
I haven’t played the “Longshot” mode, but I’ve watched a few videos on YouTube and it appears to basically be just a game-engine short movie, with the occasional dialogue choice and some football mini-games thrown in so you don’t get too bored. I doubt I’ll ever play it.
As for the actual gameplay, about the same as ever. I’ll admit I’ve not owned a console for some time so I’ve not played Madden regularly since maybe 10 years ago but it still plays pretty much the same as I remember from back then.
I’ve found the AI running to be extremely lacking. It’s awful. I’ve started a “Player” franchise mode where you play as one player and the CPU controls everything else. My guy is a QB, and the AI running is so terrible I’m pretty much forced to pass on every single down. I’m good enough at it that it works, but it’s incredibly unrealistic.
Seriously, the AI RB will literally run directly at a defender, even in the open field. I’ve tested this by turning all the sliders to 100 and running a rushing play. OL opens up a humongous hole, like 5 yards wide, and the AI RB still runs directly into a D-lineman for absolutely no reason. Sometimes he’ll break outside and you’d think he’d be home free, but instead of just running down the field like anyone would, he inexplicably turns back into the middle of the field and is promptly tackled. A probable TD (or at least a 30+ yard run) turned into just a 9 yard gain because the computer is galactically stupid.
Other than that, the graphics are great, the animations are smooth, the collision detection is much improved (only rarely do players walk through each other), and the controls are mostly pretty responsive. QB scrambling doesn’t quite react as quickly as I’d like, but that may be more my own reaction time than the game. The AI running thing is disappointing, but I’m going to start over as a coach and control everything, so no more dealing with that.