Tag: Madden

Trading Draft Picks In Madden 12 – A Broken System For A Broken Mode In A Broken Game

Now that the regular season is over and my Browns are set to get a Top-5 pick that they will use on Tim Couch, Courtney Brown or William Green it is time to focus on fake, digital, monopolized football gaming from EA Sports.  The issue of trade logic has been a contentious one to say the least.  While we will be covering more Madden issues in the coming weeks we will start with what kicks off the football season for most NFL fanatics – the NFL Draft.

The Draft is one of the most popular parts of the NFL (minus the Super Bowl).  Draft picks are often held at a premium, even more than superstar players… okay, maybe not all teams feel that way (The Oakland Raiders).  The issue with Madden’s trade logic is on-going and has been since the game came to PS3/360.

One issue that has been in Madden’s trade system since Madden 2002 is the ability to milk teams for draft picks or players based on faulty logic and a broken system.  This is covered in the video below.

There are many issues with this game that seem cosmetic to most people.  However, if you pay attention to sports gaming like some of the people of that niche community do (myself included) you will see that EA has put out an inferior product ever since they got the sole license to create NFL videogames.  Back in 2004 they had to compete with 2KSports and NFL2K.  While I was never a big fan of 2K’s games, they noticeably pushed EA to put out a quality product every year.

Now that that time has passed, we are stuck with Madden and the only growth that comes year after year is cosmetic.  While this may seem like is a rant, there is a sincere hope that EA Tiburon makes the needed improvements we will cover in the coming weeks.

On a personal note, I have to say that this iteration of Madden has given me a lot of confidence that they MIGHT be going in the right direction.  I am now in my 5th season of Franchise Mode and it is going strong.  Here’s hoping that 2012 brings a fresh face to football gaming – and maybe a fix to a pathetically simple exploit in the trading system. (Watch the video) 😉

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Sports Games – The Most Complicated Controls In Console Gaming

To effectively run the ball in Madden or NCAA Football  you have to move the left stick in the direction you want to run, cover the ball with the RB shoulder button.  Then you have to make sure you get through the hole formed in the correct gap and press the sprint button (Right Trigger/RT).  However, you don’t want to press it too soon because the defense is programmed to move faster once you press the sprint button (RT).  Once you have broken away you might have to juke with the Right Stick or Stiff Arm with the ‘A’ button, maybe follow that up with a spin move (‘B’ button) and then jump a defender (‘Y’ button).

[sarcasm]That isn’t complicated at all! [/sarcasm]

In the coming days we will be covering the basics (which are inherently advanced) controls in Madden and NCAA football.  The problem with this being that as simple as one video would be there is the problem that each game has different control schemes and handles differently.  However, it must also be said that these controls are necessary for these games to continue growing in the way they have.  Is that a good thing?  No… but that is a different discussion and it can be had right here in our forums.

If you haven’t noticed, sports games are rather disposable at this point.  New versions have a new year plastered on them and that is usually about all you need to worry about (at least in Madden and NCAA Football) from the control perspective.  The developer, EA Tiburon tried (and failed) to effectively simplify their games with “One Button Mode”.  Sorry, but that just rings of short-bus controls for what Robin Williams would refer to as ‘damaged people’.

We will be making a concerted effort to show you how these controls work on the most basic level and work up to the more complicated parts of these games.  You truly have to learn to walk before you can run in gaming (sports games especially) and we are here to walk you through the process.