Madden 08 online play review
August 12, 2007 by pastapadre
After how poorly the entire online experience turned out for NCAA Football there was a great deal of concern whether Madden 08 would be afflicted with the same issues as well as a similar lack of options. So after spending time playing and going through the online mode, how has it turned out? Click through to read all the details and full analysis.
Lag:
This seems to be hit and miss and quite frankly I’m perplexed by it. Previously (pre-patch Madden 07) it was easy to surmise that it was distance based. West coast vs east coast was practically unplayable. The farther away the two players were led to a more degraded performance.
So far with Madden 08 I have played Rac (Seattle vs Orlando) in a smooth lag-free game. We had never been able to play pre-patch. I’ve played Point Blank (Seattle vs Maryland) and that was smooth as well. Yet I’ve played Fred (Seattle vs Chicagoland) in a game that felt slightly suggish and had some stuttery lag. We had always gotten smooth games even pre-patch. I’ve also gone up against Finch (Seattle vs Tennessee) and we had a very similar experience as the game with Fred.
While the lag in the two games made it feel slower and somewhat stuttery, it didn’t make it unplayable such as with NCAA. However it certainly was noticeable and bothersome. This just shouldn’t be the case anymore.
Other performance issues:
Depth chart and menu lag is still evident although it isn’t quite as bad as with NCAA. There is also a slight delay while flipping through the play call screens.
Options:
Once again Madden lacks a number of simple options that would improve the online experience.
You can’t change depth charts offline and have it transfer to your online games, which means many people will be pausing before kickoff prior to every single game to make depth chart changes. Years ago we were able to change depth charts offline and use them online and it is ridiculous that they took that away.
There is no variable weather, night games, selectable stadiums, or alternate uniforms.
Unranked games are still treated as if they never actually took place. Why can’t win-loss record and stats be tracked for unranked games and just not included into the ranking system?!?!
Annoyances:
Some aspects of the actual game are frustrating and accented even more so when playing online.
The 7 seconds to select a play on defense simply isn’t enough time in many cases, especially because of the slight delay in flipping through as well as the next issue I’ll address.
You get defaulted into Ask Madden - Punt Block on 4th downs. If you want to choose punt return, safe, or a regular play you have to back out of it and find it all within 7 seconds which will take you to the wire on it. If you don’t make it in time, the CPU calls a regular defensive play for you even if the opposition is punting. So you won’t have a punt formation on the field to return it.
You get defaulted into Special Teams after a change of possession. Numerous times I have accidentally selected punt block on 1st down. This is somewhat due to the button response, which I believe I would be pressing A to get to the play call screen but then it accepts it as me choosing the play that comes up (punt block).
Sometimes you get defaulted right into a formation instead of the formation select. As with the previous point made, because of this I’ve selected a play several times on accident and not even seen my play call screen come up. I think this may actually be due to it registering a button press being made to get back to the play call screen following the end of the play as you choosing the formation. Regardless it happens a lot and has never been an issue in the past.
This isn’t online specific, but the overpowered kickoffs means you can kick out the back of the end zone consistently and never have to risk giving up a big return. Not only that, but because of the kickoff cinematic you’ll never have to kick to someone like Devin Hester if you don’t want to. Either kick out the back of the end zone or kick it to the other side of the field and the other player back there will take it instead.
I address the “Smart Weapon” and its impact on the games later in this writeup however there is one problem that has been noticed and gives an advantage to smart offensive players over the smart defensive players. Because of the 7 seconds to pick a play, if you don’t get your call made in time the CPU picks the play. The CPU tends to pick the same basic plays. So in my game with Fred, I was able to utilize the smart feature with Matt Hasselbeck four times. However in my next game I didn’t get to use it at all and in the third game I got to use it one time. But this is something to monitor because people who are slow getting play calls in on defense will be giving more opportunities for smart QBs to read their plays.
New additions:
What is new to the online aspect this year?
Challenging calls is in and comes in handy. However it doesn’t always work as it should. There was a play against Fred where after I intercepted a pass, on the return I was stripped of the ball and it was recovered by Rex Grossman who then fumbled himself and I recovered. Fred challenged the play but the challenge looked at the first fumble (mine) and not the second fumble like it should have. Still though most of the time it works pretty well and it is fun to have it for the online games now.
You can select other players on your team to control and block with like last year but now you can also run routes with your WR. When Fred took over as the WR I saw the circle under the player as teal.
You can play for trophies which is kinda neat but at the same time they don’t really mean anything unless you create a story behind them.
Gamecast shows live updates of games being played. You can view them by “Top Players”, “Recent Players”, and “Friends”. It shows the current score and quarter, what team has the ball, down and distance, and yard line. However it doesn’t specify which side of the field they are on so the yard line info is pointless and it doesn’t show the time remaining in the quarter. It also only displays ranked games. Basically I’d say this is similar to what you used to get in the EA Messenger so it isn’t anything special.
EA Sports World makes its way into Madden but not in the way it was utilized in NCAA. Unfortunately there is no saving of screenshots or highlights and uploading to the website. What it does in Madden is tracks all of your stats and accomplishments (which is similar to a list of 360 achievements only specific to your online games). It only does this for ranked games. All this info is supposedly transmitted to the website to view as well but so far the site shows all 0s. It has a section for “Session History” which is likely a list of your games and results, however it isn’t showing anything under that for me. Half the stuff is broken on the EA Sports World website anyway so I’m not sure how much people will care about this other than checking out their stats and accomplishments.
Best new element to the online:
This isn’t online specific but totally affects strategy and will change how games are played. The “Smart Weapon” is awesome. This is especially because your opponent doesn’t know when you use it. However you’ll probably only get the chance to use it once or twice a game (if at all) unless your opponent is calling the same plays over and over. At the same time it doesn’t mean you’re going to be successful. I read one of Fred’s plays which was a man 2 deep. I had called a play sending my receivers deep. Once I saw this I hot routed to a curl thinking this was a smart move in man coverage. Yet I threw an INT on the play so you still have to execute.
Missing?:
An EA Producer spoke about the ability to use custom teams and created stadiums online in a recent Gametrailers interview.
However there seems to be no way to do this. There is no Live Opponent which is how you used custom rosters for online games last year and there are no additional options when setting up unranked games.
Update: A way to use custom rosters & created stadiums has been discovered. It certainly isn’t the most simple process and because no one knows about it or how to do it there probably won’t be many who take advantage of it. Check this thread in the forum for the details.
Win-Loss record:
The online win-loss record from last year has carried over. Whether it will remain or be wiped clean is unknown.
Needs:
What can EA do to make online play a strength of Madden instead of its main weakness?
Co-op (2 vs 2 or 3 vs 3), lag issues to be properly addressed, online leagues, spectator mode, tracking of unranked games, depth chart changes to carry over from offline, use of custom rosters & created stadiums, variable weather and night games, selectable stadiums and uniforms, fixing of play books defaulting to special teams and punt block, and longer time to select plays on defense.
Overall
The online games have been fun simply because Madden 08 is a very good game. However there are a lot of frustrating things surrounding it which makes for a mixed experience.
Well Put.
thanks for the info man.
ya definately looking forward to playing my first online match
ps3 smooth with no lag
“ps3 smooth with no lag”
Thats definitely not a uniform experience everyone is getting from the reports I’ve been reading. Pretty similar on the PS3 to whats being seen on the 360. Its an iffy proposition whether you’ll get a smooth or laggy game. Although it seems that disconnects may be inflicting PS3 players more often than those on the 360.
lol ps3
Already got my 3 month live card and ready to jump back online….
I wish Madden would step up the online department, even a simple use of alt. uniforms and random/selectable weather would be a nice change of pace.
I hope they call some penalties online. In real life even the Texans can drive the ball down the field regularly. Yet penalties are real drive killers. Some holding, defensive holding, illegal block to the back, clipping, even a random illegal formation would add some realism.
Padre- notice any pick up on the penalties besides “running into the kicker” from last year?
an occasional clipping call, maybe pass interference. You won’t get many penalties called in games.
who did you play with and against?
hey ya big douche-sickle your ass is laggy you tard.
we all dont wanna here you whinney pansy ass reviews.
go APF 2k8!
APF sucks with all those anerexic players and his reviews are awesome
maybe it was lagging cuz the other dudes connection wasnt as good? or maybe he was d/ling something.. its not always cuz of distance
his reviews suck…and APF 2k8 HAS OJ HAHAHA OH YAH BABY!!!!!!!! i hope you dont like when you get madden and the game turns into a pile of dog crap when you take i out of the box!!!
so glacia plays APF now?
lol @ Billy. what a douche.
Jake- I knew all the guys so there weren’t any outside factors. We were playing specifically to give me a chance to evaluate the game. Fred based his review at SG partially on our game just like I have here. But its not just me anyway, widespread reports of (hit or miss) problems from the people who have the game already. Just unable to pinpoint a reason why.
Billy, if his reviews suck so bad why do you read them? Pastapadre gives reviews on what he has experienced in the game, not some fanboy crap you pull out of your ass. Go back to GameSpot or wherever the hell you came from!
You saying all that nonessense crap Billy because you want madden to be like APF 2k8…a total and complete bust?
Hey little billy, I thought your mother told you to behave. I’ll remember to tell her next time I’m in bed with her. Now you be a good boy and stop whining.
P.S. who out sold APF 5 to 1. yea I think ncaa football did and ncaa doesn’t even have a third of the fanbase as madden. Yea so I hope you and the other 13 people who bought the game have fun.
My friends and I were all planning on upgrading from PS2 to 360 for this years madden. Now I know there’s no online leagues, but is there any feature comparable to the EA Locker and Spawning Games in 08? I haven’t seen that mentioned anywhere yet.
Thanks for a ‘real’ online review. No saving online depth charts is pretty weak. As well as the playcall screen issues.
Saving Online Depth Charts….. WOW I really can’t believe this is still in the game. The more I was turned on and hyped for this game then simple stuff like the things you noted really bums me out and makes it harder to totally enjoy the product.
The three big annoyances you mentioned were all my annoyances from last year, other than no online leagues support and that still is lacking behind most all of there products.
The quick defensive clock was a pet peeve last year and now with this unintuitive playcall system I see it will be even more a pain in the ass. That along with the kickoffs, and depth chart really makes me wonder if they really even play these game online at all for testing. Because any amount of time online would make it so obvious that these things were shortfalls since Next Gen.
I really thought this game would be one of the greats but I am already dissapointed and it hasn;t even dropped yet.
Have you had a chance to ask RAC at EA about these issues and whats the big deal about fixing especially depth charts transfering from offline, or including the EA locker, or where the heck did the custom teams and stadiums online go for online play? Is this stuff patchable and would they even consider doing that?
Wow Billy your pathetic. APF 2k8 is a pile of crap, i rented it and seriously thought i just poped in NFL Fever. Whatever, but anyways im pretty pshyced for tonight, i ahvent had any issues with NCAA online so im hoping my Madden is the same, actually no one at all in my area has had problems with online. Wes, the expierence all bases on how good your connection is, if its crappy your game will be crappy, if its good youll be happy, but you cant blame Madden for ALL of that stuff, sure it lacks some but its sill good (as i see it so far).
well said pastapadre.
Brownsboy315,
Billy is an idiot but 2k8 is far from a piece of crap, especially if you play online, and the passing game in 2k8 is so much more realistic then Madden….I digress…I won’t get started there. Great review Pasta. Brownsboy315, your idea that it is some how somebody’s connection quality is absurd. Sure if somebody has a bad connection it affects lag but look at other games, heck look at 2k8, there is rarely lag. Let’s call it what it is, an EA problem and stop excusing it. What really scares me is there aren’t nearly as many people that will be on it by this time Tuesday. EA has failed miserable with the online experience, from not being able to save offline settings to lag, and everything in between. At this point it is inexcusable and should keep the game from being rated very highly.
its madden if it get a 10 or a 0 people are going to buy it, if it sucks they don’t care they have there money and that’s all it comes down to simple as that all the ranting and raving does nothing but cause more argument with that said be different everyone pisses on the floor I say shit on the ceiling!!
Hey Pasta:
I’m a 2k fan who thinks you give good, objective reviews. Please ignore our resident fanboy, Billy.
While I miss a lot of features in APF, it just “feels” more like real football to me. Madden this year will be no more than a rental. Until EA proves they can make a good game, that will remain my stance. My MAIN gripe is they bought up the ESPN license and have done NOTHING with it! I don’t give a damn about the NFL, but to have that lame radio announcer when they have the entire stable of ESPN announcers at their disposal is inexcusable!
Anyway, Pasta… keep up the good work.
dave
So, am I to gather from your review Madden 08 still has no online Co-op? WTF? What happened to next Gen games EA?
Right, theres no online co-op. Thats one of my favorite things about The Bigs that you can join up with a buddy on another 360 to take on the CPU.
Well thats a buzz kill. Considering my brother and I have played very madden(capable)co-op until he moved to the other side of the world. We look for games with Co-op for a reason, (GOW, NBA2K7,R6 Las Vegas, Halo 3?) and wish EA would understand “Next Gen” doesn’t just mean putting out a pretty game, but also giving the consumer everything they want. I KNOW I’m not alone in this…
Here’s a hint folks: don’t use bluetooth headsets, they clobber your wireless network on the PS3 and they also can interfere with your sixaxis controllers.
Glaringly missing from this review: The online game lobby does not show a headset to indicate headset active for players. EA you idiots. NCAA 08 does this just fine.
Maddeningly wrote:
ah nice call. I can’t stand the lobby rooms to begin with. I went into the full east room today and the room lags like crazy, you can barely scroll down the list. Even the ESPN ticker at the bottom barely moves lol
[...] and since Bryan’s usually on top of these things, it’s probably fair to say that EA still has some work to do when it comes to online [...]
As for 07’s stat’s being carried over and if they’re going to be wiped/reset or not, I can confirm that they will STAY! I emailed EA about this because I was not happy about my 07 stats and then being they carried over asking for a reset or at least resetting just the DNF% and I got a To bad so sad, they will be carried over from now on starting from Madden o7 and EA will/can NOT reset anyone’s stats for any reason.
I dont care about my W/L record, I just cared about my DNF%, because I DO NOT QUIT/DISCONNECT during online ranked games or even un-ranked games. However, Madden 07 was just HORRIBLE last year online and my DNF% was like 20%+ and it was ALL the server dropping the games or people glitch disconnecting. There was games I was WINNING and it dropped and still gave me a loss and a higher DNF%, so finally I just stopped playing and ended up with a 6-21 record with the DNF% at 20+%..
I tried explaining to them everything and even told them to see my stats in 06 and now in 08. In Madden 06 my record was 120-115 with like a 7-6% DNF% so obviously I wasn’t quitting games, alot was just the game freezing or lost internet connection and that was very rare hence why was so low. With Madden 08 my DNF% is still at 0% and a record of 14-7, so already just 3 weeks since its been released I’m already about to play it more online then I did having 07 since it came out.
But of course they wouldn’t or even try, nothing. It wouldn’t be a to big of a deal but I use the DNF% when going to play someone online and I wont play with people with a high DNF%, but it’s the same and people wont play me cause they think I’ve quit or will. Then you have to give the benefit of doubt for the other person if they had the same problem as me and it’s from last years stats. Then I’ll end up getting someone who just quits, disconnects, tries to glitch dc, whatever…
Just another thing I would like to point out, I wish they had fair play back in the game as well as the menu system like in Madden 06 on xbox.. That was alot easier to see peoples stats and such vs the way it is now.
Using the disconnect glitch is akin to cheating … here are four recent Madden 08 cheater tags to keep an eye out for (posting them wherever I can):
freeze1988
dallas-vaqueros
gravy1914
snoopalfy
Nothing is more annoying than playing people who don’t punt, try for on side kicks. I’m not complaining about those decisions but when they fail I will run up the score on you if all possible. Then they disconnect. Seldom do they concede defeat.
the delay in Madden online SUCKS…….u get sacked on every play..and is madden 09 going to be 60 frames a second like it is for xbox360…were falling short n 08!!!!!!
acutally madden 08 online is a bunch of bullcrap. im winning a game 14-0 he offers a freindly quit and i decline. then game just wonders the crowd and says pause i had nothing to do but go back to dashboard when i viewed my carrer it gave me a loss even though he is the one who quit thats SAD!!!
I think its great but how do you send messages while playing in the game!!??
Played online lastnight 11-4-08 and the guy I played kept waiting to select my team after he kept switching. Finally I select my team and then he select a Team Call Visitor really fast and I end up having to play an illegal team with every player a 99. The Team was red and black and called Visitor. He only had a couple of plays, but with every player a 99 it was to difficult to overcome. I finally quit at halftime and filed several complaints with with XBOX live. Has anyone else seen this?
theseatownbaler wrote:
Haven’t heard of anything like that. The only way to use a custom team is in an unranked game, which it sounds like was done here.
My biggest pet-pieve about madden 08 on ps3 is when your opponent quits you are not awarded a win (it takes 3 quits to receive a win). However, the second you quit a game or disconnected you receive an automatic loss. This is unfair and miscontrues your actual record.
how do you play a 2 vs. 2 match-up online? can it be ranked?
ATTENTION EA SPORTS Several people are going to agree with me. I was disappointed to find your not counting disconnects as automatic losses. PEOPLE DONT PLAY ONLINE TO PLAY YOUR AI. Also carrying over the record hurts. People should be allowed to start a NEW GAME WITH A CLEAN RECORD.
100 PERCENT RIGHT IN ALL CASES
does anyone know how many total players play Madden 08 ps2 online because im ranked about 150 and i want to know out of how many people that is
Hello man, well i had a question. i wanted to know how do you put an image when you do the online playing. For example say your name is David and then you have your points and their is a bland image. Well ihave been trying to add an image to it. Do you know how to add that image.
hi
wat up
I can’t stand it in Madden when my player runs out of bounds on purpose after catching the ball with NOOOOOOOBODY around him. It is s0000000 STUPID. No real player is going to do that.