The game is in a state where almost every single H2H match now produces clips that would have once made it into blooper compilations. But now, its so common that people have almost stopped talking about how terrible this game actually plays.
They’ve entirely broken the tackling mechanics. Players run into each other and weirdly latch on before tackling animations even trigger—sometimes they simply don’t trigger at all. You see players getting tackled and then half way on their way to the ground, they pop back up like The Undertaker where apparently the game can't decide if the player is supposed to be tackled or not. Its the strangest sight. There’s even this strange input lag between the animations, sound, and controller vibrations. “Broken” is often overused, but in this case, it’s fitting in the truest sense of the word.
I also feel like the AI is as bad as I’ve ever seen.On offense, players have no awareness of their teammates when running routes; you can see how they’re just on an imaginary track every play. The constant running into each other, bumping each other off routes, or getting stuck is ridiculous. The same issues are present on defense: players will drop into their zone and stand there without reacting to opponents entering the zone or even to the ball being thrown directly at them most of the time. You can throw to a receiver being “covered” in a zone, and the defensive back behind him will do nothing—or will trigger a way-too-late swatting or tackling animation. Sometimes, they glitch out, allowing you to move right past them.I also regularly see defenders dropping into a zone colliding with a receiver, bumping and blocking him 15 yards downfield, which obviously doesn’t trigger a penalty.
There are so many fundamentally broken elements that I feel like they couldn’t patch this game, even if they tried (which they clearly aren’t—heck, the lineup screen is still messed up). The state of the game really takes away from its competitiveness because the broken mechanics add so much randomness.
The worst damage to the skill gap comes from the usering. I think usering is terrible in this game. You can completely strap an opponent, but then you don’t get a catching animation, or your player doesn’t jump. I feel like usering, when done well, should be heavily rewarded, but I constantly see my opponents and myself getting bailed out on throws that really should be picked.Same btw for dropped picks by the secondary.
I’m torn about the fact that the most broken Madden is the one I’ve been the most successful in, but maybe it just shows that all this randomness makes it easier to win, which EA probably loves for player retention. I’d rather go back to winning just 10-12 games in Champs and actually enjoy winning them. But at this point, is there any hope for 25 or is the game fried?
