So now that the first information on Madden NFL 19 is in the wild, what do you guys think?
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Matt Llewellyn
Cautiously optimistic. The fact that some of the things addressed in the initial PlayStation blog pertained to refinements of gameplay have me excited. As we all know, gameplay is king and it seems like new senior producer Carlos Guerrero is bringing the high standards for gameplay he learned at Blizzard.
As for the actual features, I am curious as to what the “player positional archetypes” are. I feel like they may be something like the archetypes were like in NBA Live 18 — though that remains to be seen. MUT Squads being expanded to having user vs CPU games adds a fun touch to it and definitely more utility to the mode. Also, the addition of Solo Challenge Leaderboards is a smart addition for those of us who are more competitive and like to see how we stand against the rest of the world.
Finally, the return of custom draft classes to franchise is something that many of us have been hoping for. It’s just a taste of what could be more substantial changes to CFM. The most important thing that I see is more open communication, earlier in the pre-release period. What I hope is that we can anticipate earlier gameplay videos and more insight into what will be changed in Madden NFL 19.
Kevin Scott
I feel like any Madden fans who were hoping for the announcement of some kind of high-profile game-changing new feature in this first bit of info are likely to be a little disappointed, but they do have to remember that this is just the tip of the iceberg here.
Those who remember True Step Locomotion being introduced in Madden 25 are naturally going to be a little skeptical of Real Player Motion until they see it in action and can judge for themselves. But hopefully it can make running the ball more dynamic and intuitive.
I do like the idea of squads vs. CPU but I would have been more excited to see them announce instead that they are expanding squads even further to include 5 vs. 5 or even 7 vs. 7. Maybe next year though.
I’m sure anyone who plays franchise mode in Madden would have preferred to hear about something a little more substantial than player archetypes (like a complete overhaul of the mode, for instance), but considering the mode has felt somewhat neglected for a few years now, we’ll take any improvements we can get.
Joel Smith
After seeing what has been released to us so far, it seems like the Madden team may be taking some of the advice of its community a bit more seriously. I don’t personally play MUT or MUT Squads, so I can’t particularly speak to the features announced for MUT, but after playing MUT Squads at EA HQ last summer, which was fun, adding in players vs CPU was a good idea to expand on the mode. I hope there are some other changes that were made to keep things interesting here.
Three items also stood out to me as “things that make you think” as well. As mentioned by Kevin, True Step Locomotion was the next big thing a few years ago. Now, after spending the last few years running into or getting tripped up by my offensive line when trying to get skinny hitting a hole with my running back, I just felt that that was a problem that wouldn’t get solved. It sounds like that might all change with Real Player Motion (RPM). That and (hopefully) a bevy of other player movements will get fixed up to give us the realistic player moves, cuts and other on-field movement we’ve been hoping to see the last few years. This, to me, is a big deal because it’s definitely the difference that could really take the run game and other affected areas to new levels.
Secondly (and thirdly), it looks like franchise might *finally* be getting some love. This has my little old heart beating at Sean Taylor-like hit speeds. Customized draft classes is a big addition for this year. It’s going to add a whole new dimension to Madden, and will possibly allow players to re-create real draft classes — that’s huge for Madden. It is unknown yet if these will be shareable. Also, player positional archetypes looks like it’ll add more towards actual strategy and research when building your dynasty this year. As news comes out about that, it’ll be interesting to see what direction the Madden team is going with archetypes.
These intro pieces of information have me cautiously optimistic about Madden 19. It’ll be interesting to see what other changes will be coming in this year!
Kevin Groves
Custom draft classes and player archetypes are welcome additions/re-additions but the feature I’m most curious about is Real Player Motion. True Step mentioned by Kevin immediately comes to mind and and I can’t help but to think how disappointing it turned out to be.
Running the ball is probably the first thing that comes to most minds, but as a former WR/DB the effect on the passing game is what intrigues me. Footwork to beat press coverage, breaks coming out of routes and the the flip side, defending those routes is what intrigues me. Madden has suffered for quite some time at “sticking your foot in the ground and exploding out of breaks” so if RPM fixes that I’d be happy. I would also be ecstatic if it makes over to FIFA, but that’s just the soccer enthusiast to me.
Josh Houtz
The last time Terrell Owens was on the cover of a NFL video game, the year was 2004. NFL 2K5 just released and still to this day, remains one of the best representations of the sport of all time.
This year’s Madden will head in a different direction, with the departure of creative director Rex Dickson shocking the Madden community. With new vision, comes new hope and that’s exactly what football fans should have after the latest news. Hope.
One new feature that raises intrigue is Real Player Motion. Although it isn’t entirely clear what this feature entails, it sounds as though this new feature will give players better control with the ball in their hands. Players will be able to cut/stop/accelerate/spin/hurdle at the drop of a dime, which should make the overall experience better. Having the ability to explode through an open hole, as the defense watches helplessly is something I yearn for. This might be the year.
Another new feature that should get plenty of use is squads vs CPU in Madden Ultimate Team. Having the opportunity to earn rewards while practicing with your squad on or offline is huge, and should make it easier for teams to buy packs and other rewards.
Lastly, it finally appears that franchise mode will take precedence over some of the other modes in ‘19. Custom draft classes are finally back and will add realism to a mode that has been severely lacking it. I just hope that more time is spent on the overall feel of franchise mode and gives users a reason to want to put the countless hours into building a franchise.
Time will tell, but Madden 19 should give us a glimpse into the future of the franchise. An early August release isn’t too bad either.
