Madden 09

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (GMJigga @ Aug 12 2008, 12:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hudge @ Aug 12 2008, 11:38 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Don't come out till 15th in England
Where's Brett at?
Free Agent as originally stated he would be, Packers or Jets?
Also GMJ how do you update rosters on 2K5? Is it the long manual way or is there a quick way?</div>


Only the manual way That's why I stuck with just updating the Cowboys. Is there anyone who loves 2k5 and picked up Madden? If so, what do you think of it?
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I was obsessed with 2k5 way back in the day. Actually the first thing I thought when I got comfortable with the controls is that the passing is extremely similar to 2k5. They got rid of the QB vision cone thing so now you just press a button for the corresponding receiver and with the left stick you can control whether you throw it deep, short, low, high, ahead, behind, etc. TBH though its hard to remember a lot about 2k5, I guess I could pop it in and play a little bit but I'm way too lazy lol. I actually don't like how they got rid of the QB vision cone though, I was a fan of it. It took me a long time to ween myself back into 2k5 style passing controls. Kind of sucks that just as they made the running game realistic and anti-cheeser they make the passing game a lot simpler. I liked being able to stare down safeties (or opposing players whne I'm playing someone else) and then locking onto a receiver and throwing the ball. Good for me because I was good at it, it was very realistic, and now noobs will be able to just press a button and throw a pinpoint pass (since they all play with Brady/Manning/Rivers, etc.)

I like the running game in the new madden a lot though. It was way too easy to run the ball in past Maddens (and other games). In 09 most of your runs are 2-3 yarders like it should be IMO with the occasional 8-10+ yarder and every once in a while you break off a big run. You won't see LT bouncing off like 9 tackles and outrunning your fastest player to the end zone 4 or 5 times a game anymore (thank god). Its a lot more challenging to run the ball now and if you're a POS newb you won't be as dominant handing the ball to LT/LJ/Westbrook/whoever and just juking the shit out of every play. Its basically impossible to have any success against the CPU if you run the ball all the time with a single player. Now more than ever its important to balance your passes vs. rushes to keep the defense honest and open, I literally never used an O-Line audible but now if I'm running a play to either side I shift the line to block accordingly. In 09 its harder to run the ball and easier to stop the run on defense (almost too easy? I dunno because 60% of the time I "run commit" where you move all the D-Lineman inside to close the inside gaps).

My only real gripe so far is pass defense. It drives me nuts but it seems like theres a few plays every game where for no good reason my secondary players let receivers get 10-15 feet behind them and it leads to easy 80 yard touchdowns. This is the only main gripe as far as defense goes. I've actually read some places that people complain that its too hard to get interceptions but IMO the interceptions have been fine (worth mentioning I'm playing with the Raiders and everyone in their starting secondary are rated between 87-97). They don't drop nearly as many easy interceptions in this game and generally play a more realistic type of defense which also has to do with the improved trajectory of the passes. Again, if you're used to playing safety and in past games you could easily get 4 or 5 picks in a game then maybe you'll be disappointed, I personally like it a lot more but I'm always a DE on defense.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Moo2K4 @ Aug 12 2008, 03:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>So far, I'm loving this game...to an extent. I think I tested way too high on my Madden IQ though. I'm at All Madden in passing and rushing offense, so offense is freaking hard. I'm really hoping this game adjusts kindly to me. The defense though, seems spot on for the most part. Heh, I tested All Pro in rush and Pro in pass defense...</div>
Yeah the IQ thing sucks ass. My pass defense was in the rookie area while my rush defense was one notch below the max you could get. This is accurate because I always play as a D-Lineman, pretty much have my whole life and I do really, really suck ass at pass coverage but it made for a very weird style of play. Can't remember what my offense rankings were but it was impossible to run the damn ball, I might have more success now that I understand the running game more though. I might try it again tomorrow but for now I have no complaints with regular all-pro.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Legacy @ Aug 13 2008, 05:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I beat the Patriots online when I was the Raiders. </div>
Yeah the few times I've played online (I get disconnected CONSTANTLY) I've been doing good with the Raiders. My first game I was playing some guy with the Chargers and I was like "oh here we go again hes gonna cheese the shit out of me, LT's gonna have 300 yds and 6 TDs, Merriman will sack me 12 times, and Gates is gonna rape my ass". Only the Gates part came true (TEs are insanely good in this game). I was actually successful in stopping LT by run committing my D-Lineman which forced him to go outside and bought time for my LBs and safeties to come in and make a play. This is probably also why Gates was raping me but I'd rather have Gates rape me for 100 yds than LT for 300+. On offense I was actually successful by using realistic strategies (OMG!!11)- started off with a bunch of one to three step drop quick passes to get the blitz to alleviate and when my recievers caught the ball his whole LB corps was 10 yds behind because they blitzed. Started pounding the sh*t out of the ball with Fargas up the middle. Threw the occasional deep ball in classic Raiders fashion so that he'd stay honest. Throw in a couple outside runs but only to keep it in his head because its hard as hell to run in the flats against the Chargers.

Also one time I made a beautiful punt with Lechler and he didn't fair catch, right as his guy caught the ball 3 Raiders drilled him, fumble, my ball at the 10 yd line, score. I picked him twice as well because he was trying to do BS 25 yd throws while running full speed under pressure.

Hurray for anti-cheeser Madden!

 

Dude, I've never struggled so much on Madden before.

I can't pass the ball to save my life. Since I can't pass, the defense stacks the box, therefore, I can't run, either. I think I might need to go down to Pro difficulty and get used to the game.

 

Holy shit I just did the Soulja Boy dance with Kirk Morrison after he picked a pass and ran it in for a TD.

 

I dunno if its my 2k5 skills or what but I'm a beast passer in this new Madden. Playing on All-Pro with Jamarcus Russell I have the second highest QB Rating in the league, 70+% completion % and something like 16 TDs to 8 INTs which is good considering how low Russell's "smart QB" rating is. I was dominating on pro, switched to all-pro struggled for a few games (still only lost one game and it was a pre-season game) but now I'm winning by 10+ points every game. The games on all-pro are in fact very challenging but they just seem to break open in the second half or fourth quarter.

Anyone else think they're getting too many INTs? I've actually read people saying its too hard to get INTs but I get at least 2 a game (sometimes as many as 4 or even 5) in my franchise on all-pro- most of which is the CPU since I always play as the DE. Mind you DeAngelo Hall is out for the whole year (only played week one). Although I will say most of them come when I'm getting pressure on the QB and Asomogha gets a lot of picks because QBs always want to throw to their #1 reciever. In real life Asomogha only got thrown at 31 times last year and only gave up 10 completions but in Madden they throw at him 7-8 times a game. Wish they'd fix that so that certain Cs who don't get thrown at in real life don't get thrown at in games. I know when I play the Broncos I rarely, if ever, throw at Champ Bailey. In fact that first pass I threw to Javon Walker in my Chise against the Broncos was picked and I literally said, well that was a dumb idea, not gonna do that again.

As for the custom rating, I'm making sure to save my profile all the time after I play a string of games. I guess it doesn't automatically save your profile this year so you have to do it yourself but I want to just get a ton of games under my belt to try to get the custom rating accurate. When I first took the Madden IQ I got a 580something and it was insanely hard, then it didn't save it and having played a bunch of games on all-pro its up to a 582 again. Granted I didn't know how to run the ball at all at that point. I'll probably give the custom rating a go here later on.