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[TtTackler]

Stores released the game two days early for those who pre-ordered it, and damn, this is the most amazing and innovative football game by FAR. Whoever thought of the playmaker feature deserves a huge cookie, perhaps even two . The ability to change your receivers/running backs routes before and after plays, control who your blockers, well, block, and bring your defense in for the run stop or out for the deep pass brings the game to a whole new level of challenge.

Although I'm only two games into my preseason, so I can't start using the features until the regular season begins, it looks very indepth according to the tutorials and is going to be lots of fun. Hiring staff depends on the progress of your players abilities, and hiring good training staff helps keep injuries to a minimum and helps injuries heal faster. Not to mention the fact that you can build your stadium from scratch, add onto it, change the prices of food and mechandise, and etc. to just keep the fans happy with the team. If they don't like your team, you can just up and leave after the season is over, LA anyone? One thing I loved, before preseason starts, you get to do training camp drills and select certain players (good for highly drafted rookies) to do them. Do well, and you get points that you can add to the player's attributes. Very innovative as well.

Forget ESPN Football's first-person view, Madden has brought football games to a whole new level.

[Preventer Wind]

The franchise mode makes this game by far the closest thing to owning a real team. Though it is a huge disappointment to me that if you want a create-a-team in the franchise mode it generates players for you and the owner options have to be turned off. Though you can relocate during the off season and change your jerseys during the season. And the training camp stuff is kick ass.

But when it comes down to the game play part it's not as good as last years and last years wasn't as good as the year before. I think NCAA Football has better game play and I've cursed up a storm at the pass defense in that game The run game is boring and difficult and the passing game a balance of way too easy to how the hell did he intercept that. On D stopping the run was harder which is good (18 rushing yards a game in NCAA) But stopping the pass is still hard as hell. The QB seems to be able to get the ball off right before you sack him and 8 out of 10 times it's for a completion (3 sacks in 3 games). Though my team is not great it still seems like the game play swings from easy to difficult far too often. Back up QBs no matter their rating can still throw the ball as good or better then starters for some reason. Though I am thankful that balls don’t go through my defender’s hands

But hey I only have one regular season game under my belt so maybe things will change. The Owner mode makes it the best game out there. The game gets a 10 out of 10 as far as innovation and depth goes. I've been waiting for a franchise mode like this since Madden 99.

[Chara]

Yea what I hate about the game is that its so damn easy to get picked off. Throw a bad pass, interception. I had like 7 interceptions a game cause of this.

But I love the rest of it. Playmaker is truly a genius thought. I love having total control of what my team does. Makes you think what they can do next.

[Vicious_2003]

I pretty much agree with everything said here although i wouldnt give Madden 10 a 10 out of ten. Probably a 9.5 at best. But one thing I dont agree with is how so called "Great" these playmaker controlls are. Im playing the first game of the play-offs in my first season and ive barely even touched the playmaker aspects of the controlls. Changing routes is ok, flipping the play that way is good, but how the hell do you have time while your running to direct you blockers. Im usualy tackled while I try and figure out wich of my defenders im directing, so that's rendered useless. And unless you have a VERY speedy quarterback or a superb offensive line you dont have time to direct your receivers either. I was dazzled by this playmaker stuff watching the videos. But once I used them I dont see them as being much of an improvement.

The best improvements i think were the adding of hair/tattoos and the biggest of them all, Owner Mode , Which for me is the one thing that will probably prevent me from dropping Madden like a ton of washed up bricks and switching over to ESPN NFL football. Which, if not for so much attention to that stupid looking first person mode and these "Cribs" I would probably be more interested in purchasing (And still might be). As far as Maddens other faults i think the worst has got to be how IMPOSSIBLY hard it is to get sacks !. I mean, 90% of the time I lay a hit on the QB he lets go of the ball right when i hit him, it falls to the ground and they call it an incompletion (We call that a fumble here on earth), It SICKENS me that EA would make that aspect of the Madden franchise worse . Are they even testing this game before they release it !?. And as Preventer also stated the running game is boring and you gain yards like a snail (3,4 maybe 5 at a time) with the exceptions of a few VERY rare times when you can bust a, GET THIS !, TEN>>YARD>>RUN !(Keep in mind i was running with Ricky Freakin Wiliams). And while Owner Mode is a GREAT addition it renders create-a-team virtualy obsolete because I couldnt imagine starting a season without owner mode on. Editing your own NFL team jersesy is a crock of shit. All it does is let you create a jersey using the regular system (which sucks!)and you cant even use the nfl logo on it, how fu*ing retarted is that !?. For everything they improve it seems they make something else worse. And sence theres no online for X box, and sence the draft classes dont work due to their little glicth, im in the mood to dislike EA more than ever. Pretty soon Madden will be as bad as that garbage basketball franchise they call NBA Live (Did you see the preview in Madden, it looks like it belongs on the PS1). Anyway Madden is still a solid football game and i think they did improve a bit from last year, but Madden 2004 still FAILED to meet my expectaions

[Preventer Wind]

I still get screwed over on pass defense. I've heard a lot of people say how great the AI is when it sucks. Whenever I take control of DB my guy does everything to not defend the pass. If he has a good position to intercept the pass he moves to the outside of the receiver. Way too many big plays occur. It's like if the computer wants to score it just happens. I mean I can't tell you how many times I've bumped a guy and that's all that happened to the guy. But when I get the ball and I'm running the computer can dive barely touch me with one hand and take me down. If you try and play zone the computer picks it a part and throws it at the exact right time. Or if you play man the second before your DB turns his back the computer has already started to throw the ball deep.

On offense the receivers drop way too many passes. Not many receivers are bad enough to drop 9 passes in a season. But when you have one receiver with 9 drops in 5 games (make it 11 through 6) something is seriously wrong. And the guy is Joey Galloway. Not that he is the best receiver in the league but still I don't see him dropping more then 10 passes all year.

The line play is fairly good on pass coverage. I still get sacked a lot but it's more of a bad habit I have of backing up ten yards. Though I still have a problem with it sometimes. I don't think I've ever seen a DB shove a linemen to the ground. And if I have I've never seen it twice in one game. It happens far too much. And the running backs still don't know how to block.

And finally we get to the passing game. One of the only decent things about the game play. It is far too easy...most of the time. Sometimes you just get screwed. You throw a pass as hard as possible but a linemen or a linebacker can pick the pass off with ease. Or you get a ball tipped and the computer makes a sliding interception. Or you throw a pass in front of or behind the receiver and the computer will pick it off most of the time. Or if your receiver needs to be lead you can't possibly do it unless you lob the ball in the air a million yards because the DBs are so damn good they can run side by side with your receiver no matter the difference in speed.

Another thing I noticed is that it seems like the computer gets backspin on all their punts. I have seen only two balls bounce into the end zone.

Now I know I'm just ranting but I'm sick and tired of every game becoming a shoot out. I'm tired of having nobodies catch the ball all over me and my guys drop crucial passes (Galloway up to 4 drops this game and my team is at 9). I'm sick and tired of game developers adding things rather than fixing things.

All they had to do was fix the pass defense, make it a tad (I stress tad) bit harder to run, and make it a little tougher to stop the run. Instead they add this playmaker feature which doesn't do anything to help and they make the game 10x harder then it should be and they fix nothing. The game tries to make you follow the laws of physics but allows the computer to defy those same laws as you wait for the season to end so you can get to the good part of the game.

They should have done what they did with NCAA. Keep the game basically the same but add some things. I don't see how adding the owner mode would make you change the game play so much. It's not like they added more then 2 new tackles and 1 new swat the ball move. They tried to hit a homerun but fouled the ball off. This is the worst Madden Game.... ever.

And Vicious....when you have dreams about a game I don't think there is much of a chance that game will ever live up to your expectations

[Vicious_2003]

Oh man dont remind me. I mean, ive slept walked before but running downstairs to the fridge, breaking the TV with a forcefull stiff arm and spiking the lunch meat is just not right ! . Besides the only reason I fawned over this game so much before its release was because ive been feening for some football sence last season ended. I belive i did a post on this game like 3 months ago, sad..i know.

Oh and i almost forgot to mention how good a feature the training camp is. Cant leave that out, and i hope they dont in future Maddens. Oh and on the other hand how hard is the last level of the trench fight drill !? How is one LB supposed to get passed 3 big ass linemen !?. Anyway, i wouldnt say this Madden is the worst every, perhaps your loosing ways are just getting to you . Not that i dont loose, I failed to make the play-offs for the first time ever in a Madden game. I was edged out by the freaking Bengals !. Thats right im the browns and i tied the bangals regular season record of 10 and 5 (Something like that). And out of Pitty (And because the Bengals beat me in out last regular season game) they give the wild card spot to the craptastic Bengals. Sickening really, I am forever shamed. But oh well I fired Butch Davis, Hired Billic, hired a kick ass defensive coordinator, and got rid of that sorry excuse for a QB Tim Couch. Eli Mannning and Ricky Williams will leed me to the promised land

[Preventer Wind]

You think losing to the Bengals is bad? I lost to the Cowboys. And they were 0 - 10! They had the worst offense in the league but Hambrick still ran all over me. I still should have won. I got the ball first in OT (Which I got screwed into OT any way) was driving down field completed a pass to a back and he got the first down but after he cleary hit the ground the ball came loose and they returned it for a TD. No problem I was just going to challenge the play. Only I couldn't. Right after they scored I tried to challenge but there was no option so I figured I would wait a couple of seconds. But since if you score in OT you don't have to kick an extra point so that was the end of the game. I don't think I have ever been more pist off in my life.

[Vicious_2003]

OUCH. That is pretty bad. But i have the cure. It may seem cheap, but it really does a LOT to improve the game play. Go to the A.I and lower EVERYTHING you need to lower on the CPU and raise whats not fair for you the Human. I did that a little at first and things got a little better. But then i made some drastic changes to just about everything but special teams and the gameplay seems almost identicle to last years to me now.

[TtTackler]

I didn't read everything that was said..

But, 99.9% of the time, pressuring the QB is just as good as sacking the QB as it makes them mess up their throws and easier for getting picks. Not to mention that players don't get a sack everytime they almost get the QB also..

As for the DB's, yes, they still havn't fixed DB play yet, but made improvements AI-wise. I like the fact that if you throw into good coverage you get the ball deflected or intercepted, and 1 on 1 or blown assignments get you easy passes. That's how it is in real football, try to always throw it to your WR that is 1 on 1 and is in the best position for making the catch, playmaker helps get them away from defenders great by making them go through the middle of the field or come in. And when in doubt, always throw it to your RB in the flats.. Overall, its just that the DBs are mostly out of the position (facing wrong way, try swatting it down even though the already ran past the player idiotically and then let's the WR break away..etc etc) a lot to give up big plays..

As for the person who said playmaker hasn't helped them, I don't know, I've used it numerous times to set up blocks and gotten TDs because of it. Last night I was playing against my cousin and I set up 3 blocks in a row for the sweetest looking td ever where I pulled a Preist Holmes with Tiki Barber and hurdled over the last DB into the endzone

Other than that, keep practicing guys..

[Vicious_2003]

But, 99.9% of the time, pressuring the QB is just as good as sacking the QB as it makes them mess up their throws and easier for getting picks

You sure your playing Madden 2004 ?. I mean, Id say about 60% of the time I put serious pressure on the QB he somehow manages to run away spin, thrand throw a perfect pass as far down the feild as he needs to to hit the receiver. So instead of a sack as it should have been, his team gets a first down. Sorry but when getting 2 sacks in a game is a major accomplishment for you when you have some of the best linemen in the league and a superb secondary, somethings wrong. And those of my sacks that I get stolen from me that dont end up as huge completions just end up as bullshit incompletions where he just drops the ball at his side and goes down. Should be fumbles but I guess Madden changed the rules.

As far as your comment on playmaker controls . Sure i could probably use them well against a human player. Shaking human player is easy and I can see where youd free up enough time to see the field and direct your blockers. But try that against the CPU on All-Pro . I have Ricky Williams running and a good offensive line and I still dont have time to direct blockers before im taking hits, so i find it hard to belive you can with Preist Holmes. Maybe you can, i cant know for sure, but id sure like to know how

[TtTackler]

I use it all the time, and that game was my first against a human opponent. It's very useful, are you using the d-pad the to move your players?

As for the sacks, you won't get it every time. Just try setting up your defense to get better coverage and try using different packages. I usually wait for the offense to select a play, then it tells you what package they are coming out in (3 wr, 1 te, 1 rb, etc. etc.) and select the appropiate D. Another useful took is when you know the O is going for a long pass, use coverage audibles to bring your DBs back to cover the deep ball, and bringing them on up to stuff the WR at the line of scrimmage helps gives you an extra second or so to get even more pressure on the QB.

And on running plays, don't come out sprinting as soon you get the ball, slow down and wait for your blocks to develop then let loose. Always, always, always run right behind your lead blocker until he opens up the hole for you to break away.

I'm trying to tell you everything I do when I play, and I always have some pretty decent games, and getting overly frustrating with the game does not help at all.

[Vicious_2003]

I tried running slower at first but it seems like eveery linemen in the game is as fast as Ricky Williams and I get ran down by some guy whos near 300 LBS. Even if i direct my blocker well it usualy only illiminates one of the 4 guys that are on my trail. My only hope is to cut back in and charge up the line. Then I can usualy drag a tackle for a ghood 5-6 yards. But it is ALOT better with the A.I adjustments

[TtTackler]

A 5 yards per carry average is good..Lol

[Vicious_2003]

Yeah, but when your Ricky Williams alot of times you actually break tackles and go for far more than 5-10 yards. It gets broing when almost every run goes for a broing 1 3 or 5 yards. But thats enough about the running game, like i said. Its a little better with the adjusted A.I

[TtTackler]

Hehe, it's just so much sweeter when you actually break a big gain

I'm keeping all the AI at default for now, and when my current season is done (currently 4-1 with my Giants and next game is against my rival Eagles who are 3-2) I'll boost the game up to All-Pro.

[Preventer Wind]

I've found the game to be enjoyable lately. Though I now think that the owner mode is a little overblown and the Play Maker controls a little more useful. I still don't have enough time to change routes after the play but it is useful for blocking and on defense. Though I still have troubles on pass defense I revoke my words that this is the worst madden ever. It's just the most disapointing

[Vicious_2003]

Owner Mode overblown ? I disagree. If its overblown to you that means you over estimated it. Its not going to keep you busy for long no, but its still a great addition. And i too find the playmaker controls more useful now. Try playing with Vick once and they REALLY become useful

[Rev0lution]

This is one of the funnest yet most frustrating games that i have ever played. The abilities, enhancement modes, tasks are great like all the madden games before it now for the frustrating parts, the computer recievers not running their routes, the fact that i suck at the game .

Overall i give this game a 8/10