Most Of The Issues In Madden 18, Listed

Last week, I wrote an unfiltered review of Madden 18, but I honestly didn’t get to all the issues with the game that I wanted to, as there are a lot of them. So, what I am going to do is simply rattle off all my complaints with the brief hope that the NFL sees it re-evaluates their relationship with EA Sports (0.0001% chance) or EA Sports makes changes for themselves to make a better game for football fans everywhere (0% chance).

• No dynamic weather. Why is there no change from heavy snow to light snow, or no rain to rain? And the only cold-weather games are with snow.
• Again, franchise has almost been completely neglected. You can’t play 15-minute quarters without the score being astronomical.
• CFM: No coordinators or position coaches to hire.
• CFM: No option to be a general manager or start as coordinator (which was in NCAA Football games).
• CFM: No custom draft classes, just weak, generic scouting.
• CFM: No weekly gameplans or suitable formation subs for a running-back-by-committee.
• CFM: No “heart” at all, as the only change between months is players wearing pink in October. Thanksgiving and Christmas games should feel like it.
• Resources for Longshot should have been poured into the things above or into an actual career mode where gamers can make themselves or whoever they want.
• Target Passing is a gimmick for Longshot, not an improved way to throw in Madden.
• RAC steering doesn’t work all the time. Players have no awareness when catching (i.e. attempting to catch) a pass on the sidelines.
• No-huddle offense puts guys out of position. For example, Julian Edelman will end up at tight end when I change formations. Also, the full playbook isn’t available in the no-huddle offense, so you are limited to four pre-set audibles.
• No awareness for ball carriers near goal line, first-down line, etc. Players never reach out as they are being tackles because the game is so animation-heavy.
• Players can no longer purposely go down short of the end zone by hitting LT, RT, and X (L2, R2, and square).
• Poor passing mechanics and issue at times, with quarterbacks having their mechanics completely fall apart with no pressure around them. It’s not minor either, as they fly open their front shoulder and square their feet up like a bad high school quarterback would.
• Inaccurate kicking meter at launch.
• Start times are off, with the options being 1:00, 4:15, 6:30, and 8:30. First of all, there is no 4:15 start time for NFL games. And where are the 4:05, 4:25, or 8:25 start times. Even 9:30 for London games, 12:30 for Thanksgiving Day games, and 7:10 and 10:20 for the first week of MNF should be in there.
• Users cannot run down the clock at the end of the game when the opposing team has no timeouts. In real life, everyone doesn’t stand around like an idiot in the huddle waiting for time to expire before shaking hands on the field.
• No loose-fitting sleeves like Byron Maxwell and others wear. No forearm band like Antonio Brown wears. Tight sleeves still look painted on at times. These should all be simple fixes that never is ever done about.
• Commentary gets very stale and can be inaccurate/clueless. Also, we don’t want to be reminded it’s a video game after the halftime promo.
• On-field graphics also remind us it’s a video game with robot-looking introductions and “XP” popups. No one over the age of six wants that.
• Longshot just a way to get people to play Madden Ultimate Team. There is no actual playing for the final 32% of the mode, which is kind of a rip-off. If unlocking MUT cards and also playing as a safety (to get people interested in MUT Squads) wasn’t enough, there is literally a screen at the end of the mode telling people to play Madden Ultimate Team to keep playing with Devin and Colt. Like, it’s the first thing you see after the credits are finished.
• The actual story in Longshot is pretty hard to believe. Devin Wade would be the dumbest quarterback in NFL history if he can’t tell the difference between and single-high safety and slot corner and struggles to distinguish between different personnel packages. The Ari-Gold-wannabe Ross Fountain is just a bunch of unrealistic drama punching you in the face.
• My excitement for making decisions in Longshot turned out to be unwarranted, as they don’t really have an impact on the game as far as I could tell. It felt empty and limited.
• Lastly for Longshot, what’s up with the lack of save opportunities? There is a stretch in the middle of the story where I wanted to play for 15 more minutes and it turned into over an hour because it never saved.
• Watered-down Ultimate Team was a step in the wrong direction. Elites now include 80-84 OVR cards. Does anyone think Su’a Cravens is an elite player? Or Taylor Gabriel? No disrespect to either of them or the other players rated in the low-80s who maybe shouldn’t be elite, but elite should mean something… it doesn’t anymore.
• Even the appearance of cards is worse in Madden 18, as they don’t even look like cards with the bulging, child-like borders. Chemistry also seems cheapened.
• Of course, there is still no scheme versatility in MUT, meaning you can’t plug, for example, Myles Garrett (a 4-3 DE) into a 3-4 lineup because he loses his chemistry when moving to outside linebacker. As someone who runs a 3-4 defense, it’s stupid that I can’t use Khalil Mack (DE) as an OLB or Fletcher Cox (DT) as DE in a 3-4.
• Not being able to choose the game style in solos is a big negative. I want to play simulation all the time and I should be able to. It’s not fun having my 78-overall Leonard Fournette break 15 tackles every play on arcade mode. So far, about 95% of the solos have been arcade. Also, the bug that always shows the opposing team celebrate winning a challenge is super annoying.
• Overall, MUT in general is just off. The whole re-organization of the mode is weird.

It would be great if EA Sports used some of the hundreds of millions of dollars they bring in through Ultimate Team—which you can look up for yourself, it’s public record—to make improvements to gameplay and franchise mode, but there I go thinking logically again.