The gameplay videos for Madden NFL 18 finally emerged from the ivory towers of the EA Game Changers as the footage embargo expired. Some of the videos came out with what strangely sounded like criticism of the still broken zone coverages, and that was the last of any sort of negative feedback from Game Changers. According to a couple EA Developer Tweets, they are working on fixing the situation. Pardon my skepticism, but I’ve heard this kind of thing before with numerous issues in the game. Usually, if it happens it ends up being in a patch that doesn’t come until October.
Based on the videos it is hard to see any sort of focus on improvements of actual gameplay issues. The same magnetic pull exists on sideline catches. The same broken man coverage and press situation seems alive and well. Screens and slip screens are still overpowered as well.
One of the nice aspects I noticed was decent double-team blocking – something that All Pro Football 2K8 had ten years ago on Xbox 360. It’s nice to see Madden catch up in that department. It seems that some of the animations might have been cleaned up, but not enough to say the game actually plays differently as a whole.
Another aspect of CPU not changing from strange decisions and wonky animations is noticeable when the ball carrier is going towards the sideline and the movement looks like it is being performed on a D-Pad instead of analog sticks. Somehow, these issues never seem to get fixed as the EA Game Changers go back to EA Tiburon year after year. Obviously, the changes to these issues aren’t in the hands of Game Changers, as they aren’t developers. One thing that can be stated is that these issues can be fixed because again – All Pro Football 2K8 managed to have these issues under control. It’s difficult for me to believe that any real effort is being made to fix this kind of weak CPU gameplay. Things like this become LEGACY problems because they are long term, unfixed and apparently – unimportant to whoever is in charge.
Madden 18 is focused on Madden Ultimate Team. They can talk about the marketing for Longshot (which will probably be the source of a few trophies just to make you play the mode if you’re a trophy junkie) being the focus of this iteration of Madden, but they make their money from Ultimate Team and that is what they focus on every year.
Connected Franchise Mode hasn’t been touched more than a few supposed fixes to draft logic and regression limitations, etc. Don’t look for a lot of changes to come from this aspect of the game anytime soon. If I had to guess about any new improvements in Madden 19 CFM it would be that they will include a better draft experience and maybe a halftime show with updates from around the league (like NFL 2K5 had back in the day). I find it funny that the commentator likes to make light of the fact that I skip every halftime show in Madden 17. I wonder if the developers at EA have metrics to show how many people skip that waste of time like they do for how many people spend real money on MUT coins…?
Now that I have let you know about some of the issues I have noticed from the first day of gameplay footage and other news from the EA Propagandists Game Changers I can move into what will be featured from NoobTubeTV in the coming weeks.
Just as EA Sports knows their money comes from MUT I have to admit that most of the NTTV’s views come from my coverage and posts about Madden. It seems that most of you enjoy the honesty that comes without the filter of being bought off by a developer. For that I thank you as it means a lot to see the view count spike here every year around the start of football season. I don’t have as much time to devote to gaming as real world responsibilities take precedent and frankly, I enjoy being away from my couch and console more and more as well. That won’t stop me from helping you out on Madden 18 on August 22. Here is a list of what you should expect from NoobTubeTV’s Madden 18 coverage once we get to release day.
August 22-
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NTTV All Pro and All Madden Sliders (Version 1.0) uploaded on PS4 and posted here on the site.
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House Rules for Offline CFM Scouting and Team Management
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House Rules for playcalling (offline vs. CPU)
August 23-
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Team Selection Guide
August 24-
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Official Review of Madden 18
NoobTubeTV 