Madden 12 Day 1

Being the only real resident Madden Geek I have decided that I will be putting a post together each day (time permitting of course) detailing things from the game as I go through playing franchise, be a pro, online (head to head), online franchise, and MUT (Madden Ultimate Challenge) that for those who haven’t played a Madden title in a while it is a combo of card collecting and a on-going season where you start with a “deck” of players that is not even a complete team of  NFL players, but you earn coins that can be used to buy packs of varying value to upgrade your team as you go along. For anyone who has tried the FB Madden game it’s that game mixed with actually playing a game with the players that you have on your team. I’ll add more to the MUT mode after I’ve put some time into it.

First off I decided to use some of the MS points I had sitting in my account since at the current time there’s nothing in the arcade or coming in the near future that I wanted. I decided that with my plans to get NHL12 at some point, and already having Madden 12 paid for I’d drop the 2000MS points for the new EA Sports season pass. While some look at it as a waste of MS point, and they might be right I thought that it was going to first allow me to start playing Madden as of Sat. evening instead of Tue. on the date of release. Plus it’ll give me a three day playing head start on NHL 12 if I plan to get it on release, but if I don’t get it on release it’ll still give me 3 days of play with the game to see if it’s everything it is cracked up to be. This pre-view isn’t just a demo like you’d get from the marketplace, but instead it’s an actual full digital copy of the game so I looked at the use of the MS points like renting a game for 3 days. Considering that I have Madden for 3 days, NHL12, and Fifa12 (other titles to be added also like PGA etc..) all three days before release I figure at $2-$3 a day for most rentals it would come out to be roughly $16 of rentals just at the $2 price for the three title I intend to give a run with the free days.

Now back to Madden 12 itself, and I decided that since all of the major improvements outside of the visual presentation were put into the franchise mode that I’d go there and start playing there. Of course before actually starting the franchise I jumped online, faked that I was going to play a game, and got the newest roster update. That in itself is still a piece that sticks in my gut as a “needs o be fixed” option. For guys like me who play both online and offline it doesn’t matter much, but having to go into the Madden online game (not just the lobby) has been something that’s pissed me off for a few seasons when I only want a new roster update that I know is out.

So now on to the beginning of a dynasty with my favored team of course being the Mn. Vikings. With the new roster update they already had the fat lazy McKinnie gone to FA, McNabb sitting in his lovely purple #7, and A.P. ready to run the ball down the throats of every defense in his way.

The first thing I did was look around the new menu design, and while not easy to manage at first just because they are different in look and placement from the last couple seasons it wasn’t much different to control the menus after only a few minutes. Using the triggers moves you one group up or down from areas such as news, team management, coaching and other areas. Once I jumped into the team management area the first thing that caught my eye was one of the cool new features I was looking forward to using and seeing how it has been implemented, and that would be the new roster “cut down” that has been added for more depth and making the pre-season games worth playing. So now after each game in the pre-season before you can simulate the ret of the week you need to evaluate your roster, and decide who is going to be cut. In my first pre-season game I decided to use what can only be deemed as a “ground and pound” gamelan into effect. This had me using an offensive attack that was based on the legs of A.P. to start, followed by Toby Gerhart, and from there the combo of Booker and Young did some work also. The final score of the game was deceptive, but much like a pre-season game as the late game scores were the big points. Final – 27-10 Vikes over the Cowboys with all but my 1^st score being scored in the second half of the game. The first possession of the game had my Vikes plowing down the field on a 72 yard drive that was made up of 8 carries from A.P., 2 carries by Gerhart, and 2 pass completions from Mcnabb to Harvin and Shiancoe respectively. The scoring play was a 5 yard dive play with Peterson where he ended up carrying a LB the final yard as he wouldn’t be denied his first touchdown of the season. After that drive the AI actually pulled the starters as most coaches in the league do in the first pre-season game to be replaced by the 2^nd team offense with rookie Christian Ponder at the helm. Overall the rest of the game was a mix of rushing and passing about 50/50 with Ponder feeling actually like a rookie even with him being human controlled. He would make a stunning 20 yard lightning bolt to a WR only t be followed by a pass that would fall 3 yards short of the TE on a crossing route.

So with the way the players were playing I realized that  had already experienced another new feature of Madden 12, and that’s the “Dynamic Player Performance” where a player may play hot or cold not only from game to game, but it can change in game. So coming into the game I didn’t have any players on an up or down, but at the final gun it had me sitting on A.P. being on the HOT side, and as expected 2 of my 2^nd/3^rd string DB’s on the down after being chewed up on a couple deep balls.

Now after the game was over, and I returned to the main screen it was now time to choose who would be part of this first round of roster cuts. As I scrolled from position to position it was nice to see that they are making you want to play the pre-season games and the reason for this is that as you play, and players either perform poorly or step up it’ll show more of their stats. No the veterans don’t have to have their stats opened up, but for the rookies you draft or pick up via free agency after the draft this is where you can finally find out what they are all about. So the first week cuts were fairly simple as the team was sitting on 4 QB’s  so that meant former practice squaders QB Rhett Bomar and FB Ryan D’Imperio were gone along with Veteran DT Fred Evans and rookie FA WR Andre Homes to round out the four who were cut after this first pre-season game.

Pros –

1. Pre-Season - up to this point would first start with making the pre-season worth playing and no longer a 4 game sim that was just in the way in previous versions of the game.
2. Blocking / Tackling - Love.. Love… LOVE the fact that there is no longer the suction cup blocking or tackling that has plagued all Madden games since well… forever. It’s now great to not just hit the hole with a HB and make a run for 3-4 yards even. It’s just as cool to replay a play here or there and see the O-Line on passing plays or rushing plays blocking like a real line would. Seeing the right tackle sliding out to pick up a blitzing OLB only to have the DE he was blocking be picked up by the LG is great. Or a RG pulling out to the left on a counter, and picking up a MLB that is hitting the hole to allow the FB to get in front of the HB and lock up the OLB to turn the play into a nice 8 yard gain.
3. Player progression – The example I like best is the choice I made to put my rookie DT Christian Ballard in as the 2^nd  team DT spot over the veterans on the roster. With that he was able to play almost half the game, turned in a 4 tackle, 1 sack, 1 TFL game. He wasn’t on a hot streak, but his improvement did show on the stats when I was looking at who to cut he had an increase of his overall rating of almost 10 points. That’s huge on a defensive line I know I’ll be trying to find a second DT to start.

Cons –

1. Sound/Commentary – While this is a version of the game that very well might not be what I get from retail at this stage I can only ask EA WTF were you doing during this step of the game making process? It’s horrible with the same two guys in the booth as last season I’m yearning for the days of Pat and John so much more now. They cheated and seem to use at least half of the same comments from last season and it’s sad to hear Collinsworth (I hate his voice BTW) telling me that A.P. is an “up and coming back in the league”. Wha… What? Really? Up and coming back you say? Huh ok so I know that unless the retail version is different I’ll be listening to much more of my custom music off my Ipod than every before.
2. Super backers – AKA: Linebackers who can jump high enough to swat down a ball thrown for a guy 15 yards behind them. This has been one continued issue from the last few seasons I’d think they would fix by now, but I guess not, and so it just means I’ll be throwing to the flats, drag routes, and other non post patterns.
3. Punt returns – Well this is something that is tough to say is a “Con” because it is a real world difficulty for a lot of NFL teams. Even the best of the best aren’t getting big returns on a regular basis, but it needs to be made possible. It still feels like you might as well just wave your hand and accept the ball where you catch I because returning for more than a yard or two is very tough.

Overall I’m liking what I see so far, I’m looking forward to digging deeper in to the game, and the next few updates will continue the franchise mode with smaller details and they will lead up to how the new scouting worked during the season, and what the new FA model for the game is like as well as more presentation information etc…

Please post any questions you have about the game, information you'd like to know, and I'll do my best to respond to them.