As promised, I did some research last night and today so I figured I'd put out as much information as possible.
First, let me start off by talking about the sliders for
Madden 08 (and basically all previous Madden games):
08_Sliders.jpg
As you can see, we have 10 sliders here for the CPU:
- QB Accuracy: Directly changes the CPU's QB Throw Accuracy rating
- Pass Blocking: Modifies the various Pass Blocking ratings of the CPU OL
- WR Catching: Directly changes the CPU player's Catch rating (the one about to catch the ball)
- RB Ability: Directly changes the applicable ratings for the CPU Running Back (BTK, Juke, Spin, etc)
- Run Blocking: Modifies the various Run Blocking ratings of the CPU OL
- Awareness: Directly changes the CPU defenders Awareness ratings
- Knockdowns: How often the CPU DL will jump to attempt to bat down your pass
- Break Block: Directly changes the CPU defenders Block Shedding, Finesse Move, & Power Move ratings
- Tackles: Directly changes the CPU defenders Tackle ratings
What does Madden 09 do differently?
Madden 09 has a very different approach to sliders, as they now are the key determining factors in your skill level. Whereas before the skill level change was kind of a nebulous thing, now you can see that a skill level change is actually a modification of a few sliders. These are all HUMAN sliders...and here are some examples:
09_AllMaddenSliders.jpg
09_PassSliders.jpg
09_RushSliders.jpg
09_RushDSliders.jpg
So as you can kind of see in the images, there are 4 main HIGH LEVEL sliders. These are Passing, Rushing, Pass Defense, and Rush Defense. Playing at the All-Madden level means that all of these 4 sliders are at 15 (on a scale of 0-20). These sliders indicate how DIFFICULT it is to play the game in each of those areas. So in researching this I kind of realized that there apparently is actually a level ABOVE All-Madden now (i.e. you can go all the way up to 20 on each of those).
This was apparently implemented this way so you can hypothetically be really crappy at passing yet really good at running and still have a fun yet challenging experience. If you play with the "My Skill" preset, then the sliders adapt and change to you after every game based on your stats. However you can always turn that off and just tune and tweak to your liking.
Within each of these High Level sliders, there are 3 sub sliders. These sliders are actually the core set of what changes, and these are the HUMAN sliders. So for each High Level category, you have:
Passing
- QB Accuracy: Modifies your QB's Accuracy rating
- Pass Blocking: Modifies the run blocking ratings of your OL
- WR Catching: Modifies the catch ratings of your receivers
Rushing
- Broken Tackles: Modifies the broken tackle chances of the human ballcarrier
- Run Blocking: Modifies the run blocking ratings of your OL
- Fumbles: Modifies the fumble chances for any human ballcarrier
Pass Defense
- Reaction Time: Modifies the reaction times for your defenders by modifying the man coverage, and zone coverage ratings
- Interceptions: Scales the catch chances of your defenders
- Pass Rushing: Scales the Finesse & Power move ratings of your defenders
Rush Defense
- Reaction Time: Modifies the reaction times for your defenders by modifying the play recognition ratings
- Block Shedding: Modifies the block shedding ratings of your defenders
- Tackling: Modifies the tackle ratings of your defenders
I have to run to a meeting - looking at this, please feel free to post what you think you will NOT be to adjust for the CPU AI. I see a few off hand that we knew (CPU WR Catching for example). I will be back with more info later but I wanted to give some details so you all can discuss from here.