Madden 2016 comes out tomorrow

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

uber was giving away free copies of this game. did anyone get in on the deal?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

The big problem with Madden from year to year, is that no matter how many strides the game takes aesthetically (and it's VERY good in that regard, easily surpassing superior playing games like The Show and NBA2K), there's ALWAYS at least one or more AI or gameplay bugs that any real football fan will be struggling with for weeks.

If I remember correctly, despite Madden 15 otherwise being very solid, the big issues last year were WAY too many sacks and INTs.

I must have tried at LEAST 5 different slider sets from Operation Sports, plus my own tweaks, and still ended up with too many of one or the other.

You can still have a lot of fun with the game, but real fans of football will always be left frustrated.

I enjoy Madden 15, but you're right - way too many sacks (I had one guy on my team get like 44 and the guy I controlled on defense had like 40) and very questionable INTs. Not sure if they've addressed the sack issue in Madden 16 but I've heard the DB/WR interaction is something they focused on so that might be interesting to see. Also heard they changed up passing significantly.

I'm a sucker for NFL football though -- the only Maddens I haven't played since 1999 are 2001 and 2011. If I see Madden 16 on sale for under $40, I might go ahead and get it. If the user reviews and ratings are stellar, I may go ahead and just bite the bullet and buy it even if it is over $40. Yeah, I'm a sucker.

 

[artemicion]

Anyone know if you can do a *local* multiplayer franchise mode with a fantasy draft at the beginning of the season? Wondering if some friends and I can play a season with fantasy drafted teams on one console/one game.

 

[thehotsung8701A]

I probably wouldn't even get this game if it was $5. I guess I clearly underestimate how many people buy Madden every years since it a monopoly. I don't particularly blame any of you guys because I understand wanting a football game every year but dammit, it a monopoly and a sucky one at that. It funny cause Blitz player run more realistically than Madden.

EA has never made a single decent sport titles other than for hockey.

 

[TeknoBug]

So, to clarify:

You hate Madden because EA's exclusivity deal has made the Madden franchise stagnate. So, your solution is that you want Madden to go away and for NFL 2K to return. You want EA out of the picture, but you want 2K, who has filled its NBA 2K franchise with microtransactions and couldn't run a decent baseball franchise to save its life, to be the sole option for football?

Or do you want Madden to die, NFL 2K to return, and another third-party offering to magically appear?

NFL 2K5 was amazaballs! NBA 2K14 was a great basketball game and apparently so is 2K15 (they fixed the outdoor court servers) but yeah the microtransaction gets in the way but that's going into EVERY game nowadays so there's almost no avoiding it anymore. Seeing as how EA's Ultimate Team is growing in popularity, chances are in a few years EA will just release these sports games with just that feature alone and charge extra for GM/Franchise/Be a Pro/etc modes just like they're doing on mobile version (FIFA 14 only comes with FUT and charged $5 for franchise mode).

EA has never made a single decent sport titles other than for hockey.

Madden 04 and 08 for PC were good releases, I still have 08 and play it sometimes, also still have Madden 09 for XB360 and it wasn't bad but after that it all went downhill- Madden series back in the 90's were the most fun I've had in a football game (besides Tecmo Bowl). For NHL I've been playing alot of releases since NHLPA in 92-93 and NHL 10 I think was the best well-rounded release but NHL 13 had the best gameplay.

 

[artemicion]

And, to let you guys get super salty, Tony Romo higher rated in MUT than Rodgers. Only Steve Young and John Elway appear to be higher rated and he is tied with Randall Cunningham at 92.

Also, OBJ looks to be 99 rated... Wtf?

Where are you getting your info? EA's site says Romo isn't even in the top 5 in MUT and Rodgers is #1 at 91:
https://www.easports.com/madden-nfl/ultimate-team/news/2015/mut-16-top-qb

OBJ is 88:
https://www.easports.com/madden-nfl/ultimate-team/news/2015/mut-16-top-wr

 

[thehotsung8701A]

NFL 2K5 was amazaballs! NBA 2K14 was a great basketball game and apparently so is 2K15 (they fixed the outdoor court servers) but yeah the microtransaction gets in the way but that's going into EVERY game nowadays so there's almost no avoiding it anymore. Seeing as how EA's Ultimate Team is growing in popularity, chances are in a few years EA will just release these sports games with just that feature alone and charge extra for GM/Franchise/Be a Pro/etc modes just like they're doing on mobile version (FIFA 14 only comes with FUT and charged $5 for franchise mode).


Madden 04 and 08 for PC were good releases, I still have 08 and play it sometimes, also still have Madden 09 for XB360 and it wasn't bad but after that it all went downhill- Madden series back in the 90's were the most fun I've had in a football game (besides Tecmo Bowl). For NHL I've been playing alot of releases since NHLPA in 92-93 and NHL 10 I think was the best well-rounded release but NHL 13 had the best gameplay.

I have Madden 04 for PC. Great game but it constantly crash and there is no fix.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I have Madden 04 for PC. Great game but it constantly crash and there is no fix.

I never had that issue with Madden 04 or any other PC version of Madden.

 

[artemicion]

Ahhhh another Madden release brings about another Madden thread which inevitably brings in some outsider spouting on about how Madden sucks and 2k5 was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Reminds me of grade school when a bunch of kids would gather around to play Pokemon and some kid would inevitably bust into the group spouting off about how POKEMON SUCKS, DIGIMON IS BETTER.

Hey guys! Look at me! I have a hipster/contrarian opinion on this topic that I think demonstrates my intelligence! Nevermind that I probably haven't played Madden or 2k football for years!

Also, monopolies are bad! I learned that in 6th grade! Nevermind that EA doesn't have a monopoly on *football* video games, they only have a monopoly on the use of NFL trademarks and that in no way would stop a video game developer with a compelling gameplay model from developing and releasing a football game that doesn't use NFL trademarks. You know, like how several companies have done with baseball games, soccer games, and golf games.

 

[mvbighead]

NFL 2K5 was amazaballs! NBA 2K14 was a great basketball game and apparently so is 2K15 (they fixed the outdoor court servers) but yeah the microtransaction gets in the way but that's going into EVERY game nowadays so there's almost no avoiding it anymore. Seeing as how EA's Ultimate Team is growing in popularity, chances are in a few years EA will just release these sports games with just that feature alone and charge extra for GM/Franchise/Be a Pro/etc modes just like they're doing on mobile version (FIFA 14 only comes with FUT and charged $5 for franchise mode).


Madden 04 and 08 for PC were good releases, I still have 08 and play it sometimes, also still have Madden 09 for XB360 and it wasn't bad but after that it all went downhill- Madden series back in the 90's were the most fun I've had in a football game (besides Tecmo Bowl). For NHL I've been playing alot of releases since NHLPA in 92-93 and NHL 10 I think was the best well-rounded release but NHL 13 had the best gameplay.

I have NBA2K14 on PS4... was pretty much constantly annoyed as I try to build up an underdog team and my GM was constantly getting fired in his first or second year, with the team trending in the right direction. It happened so many times I finally just got tired of it and quit playing. Great game? </shrug>

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Ahhhh another Madden release brings about another Madden thread which inevitably brings in some outsider spouting on about how Madden sucks and 2k5 was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Reminds me of grade school when a bunch of kids would gather around to play Pokemon and some kid would inevitably bust into the group spouting off about how POKEMON SUCKS, DIGIMON IS BETTER.

Hey guys! Look at me! I have a hipster/contrarian opinion on this topic that I think demonstrates my intelligence! Nevermind that I probably haven't played Madden or 2k football for years!

I think that describes multiple topics on Anandtech -- god help you if you happen to say something like "I like Pizza Hut" or "I like Olive Garden" in ATOT. All the contrarians come out of the wood work and will berate you at light speed.

Also, monopolies are bad! I learned that in 6th grade! Nevermind that EA doesn't have a monopoly on *football* video games, they only have a monopoly on the use of NFL trademarks and that in no way would stop a video game developer with a compelling gameplay model from developing and releasing a football game that doesn't use NFL trademarks. You know, like how several companies have done with baseball games, soccer games, and golf games.

I do wish they had more competition to be honest, but I don't have any particular issues with Madden over the past few years. The first 3 versions on Xbox 360/PS3 were AWFUL (06, 07, and 08) but 09 was solid and I think it has only improved since then.

I do miss the AT league we had (I believe you played in one of them I ran) - that was a lot of fun.

 

[artemicion]

I do miss the AT league we had (I believe you played in one of them I ran) - that was a lot of fun.

Haha, man that was ages ago. Any interest in scrapping together another league? Was thinking about joining one of the slower paced leagues on Reddit (1-2 games per week). Maybe something with a fantasy draft at the start of the season to make things interesting.

 

[thehotsung8701A]

I think that describes multiple topics on Anandtech -- god help you if you happen to say something like "I like Pizza Hut" or "I like Olive Garden" in ATOT. All the contrarians come out of the wood work and will berate you at light speed.



I do wish they had more competition to be honest, but I don't have any particular issues with Madden over the past few years. The first 3 versions on Xbox 360/PS3 were AWFUL (06, 07, and 08) but 09 was solid and I think it has only improved since then.

I do miss the AT league we had (I believe you played in one of them I ran) - that was a lot of fun.

Shakey is way better than Pizza Hut man! I'll take (insert name) over Olive Garden any day!

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

So, anyone play this yet? I might grab it after work.

 

[smackababy]

Where are you getting your info? EA's site says Romo isn't even in the top 5 in MUT and Rodgers is #1 at 91:
https://www.easports.com/madden-nfl/ultimate-team/news/2015/mut-16-top-qb

OBJ is 88:
https://www.easports.com/madden-nfl/ultimate-team/news/2015/mut-16-top-wr

http://www.muthead.com/16/players

Though, there are multiple versions of each card, so OBJ has an 89 and a 99.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Haha, man that was ages ago. Any interest in scrapping together another league? Was thinking about joining one of the slower paced leagues on Reddit (1-2 games per week). Maybe something with a fantasy draft at the start of the season to make things interesting.

Well, I have a PS4 and suspect most of you guys have an XB1. Otherwise I'd buy it just to play in a league.

 

[artemicion]

http://www.muthead.com/16/players

Though, there are multiple versions of each card, so OBJ has an 89 and a 99.

Yeah I wouldn't count the stats on special edition cards making sense. They're purposely inflated, like last year's 99 OVR Richard Sherman.

 

[Imported]

Picked up my PS4 copy. I'll finally play something besides MLB now.

 

[smackababy]

Yeah I wouldn't count the stats on special edition cards making sense. They're purposely inflated, like last year's 99 OVR Richard Sherman.

It is kind of silly the way they do these. The number of cards above 90 in Fifa Ultimate Team are legends and Messi / Ronaldo / Robben / Zlatan. There is like one 99 OVR rated card per year and it is generally a Team of the Year card. Everyone is perfectly happy with the mid 80 cards being the best. Also, not a huge fan how common the legends cards seem to be in MUT.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Just got Madden for the PS4. Will be trying it out later when the kids go to bed.

There was a day 1 update but it seemed to DL quickly. Not sure of the size but I'd guess 50-100 meg.

 

[artemicion]

It is kind of silly the way they do these. The number of cards above 90 in Fifa Ultimate Team are legends and Messi / Ronaldo / Robben / Zlatan. There is like one 99 OVR rated card per year and it is generally a Team of the Year card. Everyone is perfectly happy with the mid 80 cards being the best. Also, not a huge fan how common the legends cards seem to be in MUT.

Having one 99 on a soccer team (11 guys on the field) is a bigger impact than one 99 on a football team (11 offense + 11 defense + special teams). There's more substitution in football as well, so it makes sense to have more players with higher rankings in football? I dunno, I haven't played MUT yet (this will be my first year, pretty excited) so I'm not entirely sure how it works.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Wow, how much does EA pay Google to control search results?

Search for Madden 2016 with the following words:
wiki
faq
tutorial
controls

The list goes on forever. The whole first page of google is god damned EA.com links! Seriously, WTF. I'm trying to learn about the game and how to play it while my 8 year old daughter watches Short Circuit (spoiler:

Spoiler

I don't want to watch Short Circuit

)

 

[happy medium]

I'll stick to NFL 2k2 on my Dreamcast.

 

[smackababy]

Having one 99 on a soccer team (11 guys on the field) is a bigger impact than one 99 on a football team (11 offense + 11 defense + special teams). There's more substitution in football as well, so it makes sense to have more players with higher rankings in football? I dunno, I haven't played MUT yet (this will be my first year, pretty excited) so I'm not entirely sure how it works.

I think a lot of it has to do with there simply not being a ton of comparison in football. There is one league and college, as with soccer there are thousands of players in tons of leagues. Plus, NFL players actually complain to EA about their ratings. I don't think Ronaldo is calling up EA when he was only rated 92 in Fifa 15. It also doesn't help rookies actually think they should be rated around the low 80s. Rookies... A soccer player getting called up to the a Premier League first time is going to be high 60s IF he has a ton of potential.

And some of the Madden ratings make no sense. Bo Jackson is only rated an 80 and not one of the fastest players in the game. The guy who ran the fastest combine 40 in NFL history. He ran literally a tenth of a second faster than the next fastest time...

 

[artemicion]

Played on XB1 last night. Played some of the solo challenges and a game in Draft Champions.

The solo challenges strike me as something that is *horribly* un-optimized. Super long loading times for *really* short game sequences (like replaying the final play of the Super Bowl). Though, I laughed out loud when I replayed the infamous play, ran a simple running play up the gut and easily scored the touchdown Marshawn Lynch should've scored last year. LOL. Still laugh thinking about how easy it was. Sorry to any Seahawks fans. Seems like they could've improved loading times on these solo challenges by preloading stuff for the next challenge so you can do a bunch in sequence without suffering the horribly long loading times.

Draft Champions strikes me as something super fun that could have a lot of replayability. Huge mistake though not implementing a local multiplayer version of Draft Champions. Maybe even something with a slightly different setup (like giving you a random pool of draftable players that you and your opponent alternate picks from)