JasonM

Well clearly playing an average team when you yourself aren't that skilled in the game makes the game all the more harder for you. A tip I can give you is to not gun it on every play, the AI realises you are pass heavy and will adapt and either try to attack your QB or just cover all the receivers to death. One will get you sacked a whole lot and the other makes you throw lots of interceptions. Try a run play at least every down, you don't have to run for much but just do it to keep the opponents guessing. On throwing plays you don't have to throw it as soon as the ball is snapped, most of the time you have a window in which you can throw the ball and try to make a quick glance at all the receivers and see if they are being followed or someone is standing between you and him. If that is the case, don't try to toss it to him and move on to the next guy. You get faster at it the more times you do it and if you can make quick reads of the snap you have enough time to let the receiver do his thing and throw it at him... Also another new thing in Madden 13 is that you can lead your passes, so for instance you got WR1 breaking free of his CB and he running into the open, you can aim in front of him or wherever with the left analog stick whilst you are pressing the respective button. That makes the QB toss it to the area you have chosen and your WR can run right into it and grab it. When you see a target, try to lead the ball where there are no safeties or cornerbacks close. Just remember that not all your passes will be completed, and in real life the stud QB's (talking bout Brady, Rodgers, Manning&Manning) only hit around 50-60% of their passes. The biggest thing I can suggest is to stay calm and see play develop, your controller will vibrate when people are getting close so you get an indication that you are under pressure or not. Try to wait for the precise moment where your receiver loses his coverage or gets in that gap between zones and throw it to him. If it's good then it will hit, and if it doesn't then it doesn't. Another big thing is that you mustn't go for big gains every single time down the field, that is a sure fire way to get quick 3 and out offenses and also interceptions. Try to play quick passes like slants and focus on the small yardage stuff whilst doing a run here and there. For an intermediate hint, you can also audible during passing plays and ordering your receivers to run different routes. Changing a guy from a streak (straight line) to a drag (runs horizontally for short gain) makes that receiver a nice go to guy when the rest is covered. The tough thing is with Madden, it's hard to learn from reading and I can only advice you to keep trying and keep working at it. I myself didn't know diddly poop about American Football 3 years ago, but I just tried to keep at it and stay calm on every passing play and eventually you start to learn what is a good play and what is a bad play, and I still throw boneheaded passes right into the hands of the defender a lot of times.

The first thing I must say, the Seahawks are a team that aren't exactly a team that are going to be competitive against anyone in the NFL from the start. Secondly, I suggest you ramp down the difficulty to a more accomodating level and try starting from there. If it gets too easy then you make it harder again. There is no need banging your head into a wall whilst there is a door right next to it.

Any rookie with 90 overall is rediculously overpowered. In fact, anything above 80-83 is overpowered for a rookie if you ask me. The real rookies have been pretty well done with Luck and RG3 hovering just under the 80 mark, which is a fair number seeing they are unproven and all. And I feel that every rookie should be around that spot, I don't want to draft and have a guy who immediately turns into solid gold from the get go, that hardly ever happens in real life. Like 5 rookies a class should be 80-85 rated but the rest under 80, else in 4 years the game is filled with guys under 26 dominating the stat sheets.

I think I've got the juke down, but the spin eludes me. I either just get hit, or I start running the wrong way. The spin has worked once for me to date, and that was in a goalline inside handoff where I did the spin for the hell of it and amazingly got him into an open hole and away from the defender when I looked on the replay. Also I found a good tip on scouting in Madden 13, it's a bit gamebreakery but it will help everyone a lot when you want to have a good say on who is good and who isn't without spending too much cash. For the first parts of the season only scout the ''awareness'' of the future rookies and that is a great way to check if they are any good to start with or just scrubs. F (<60)= Scrub D (60-69 = Semi scrub, not a lot of talent there C (70-79) = Decent to good player, Better than the scrubs and I am pretty sure these guys can make great backup players anywhere. B (80-89) = Good to great player, most of the time B's have good development grades and I was shocked in how many of them there can be found. A (90+) = Bonafide superstar, have not found any A awareness kids yet, but seeing A would mean it's 90+ I don't think there are any of them to be found in any given draft, maybe that one guy in a generation or something. The thing is, scouting awareness only costs 25 to get the letter grade and too me it's way to cheap for the actual importance of the game, maybe QB/HB don't need awareness seeing you are controlling them directly almost always. But I am pretty sure you can scout every awareness skill in the draft in the first 5-6 weeks of the season. And after you have scouted awareness you can continue scouting players that pique your interest. Of course, in Madden 13 there is no direct ''potential'' skill anymore, players are dictated by their growth trait and if it's on quick then you could even make a 50 overall into something special given enough gametime. Use at your own behest, it takes a lot of the guesswork out of the draft though. Especially since I myself found a B awareness QB in the third round with B in all accuracy stats, play action and A in throw power. And he is certainly going to become the future of the Cardinals franchise. Not sure if he appears in other drafts with the same talent but if he does, his name is ''Eddie Murphy'', not kidding you. He is 20yrs, 232lbs, 6'1'' from East Carolina.

I would love to get some more features added to the tactic engine, but like I have said. They could easily toss in more flexible player placement and some more options when creating tactics, but aside from the new tactic system to replace the classic system, there isn't really anything different in the way you create tactics other than how you want to design it. Classic and New System are essentially the same, but the new system is more user friendly where you can give roles and duties and Classic is designed for a lot more user input. But you can create the same tactic with both systems. The only thing I really want is a feature that has been part of every other Football simulator of the past years. That is giving complete freedom on where you want to place instead of 20 something fixed positions. I would like more than just forward and backward arrows, I want to be able to drag and drop exact arrows to where players need to run to so that I have a more direct experience when creating tactic. FM is a great game I am not doubting anyone on that, but the tactic system could use a lot more refinement as it's arguably one of the most important features in the game and I just want more tactical freedom.

Hey I love FM as the next guy, but in it's core the tactic engine is essentially the same as what I played when I started playing at CM01/02. I expect them to actually continue improving it every once in a while instead of slapping a new paintjob on it and calling it a 2012 BMW.

I am in the naïve hope that they will revamp the tactics system. You can argue that the whole new/classic modes is totally different but it isn't dammit. It's still putting 11 dots on predefined spots on a grid and giving them a certain set of orders. I rather have it like in games likes PES/FIFA/Fifa Manager where you can freeform players on the pitch and have crazy shit like two AML's or whatnot. I want to be exact in the fact I want my winger to stick to the sideline or to play closer to the AMC. I know you can add stuff like ''byline/cut inside/norma'', but if you ask me it is not encompassing enough. And the current engine is way too exploitable like you could see in FM12 where some blokes upload 53423 versions of their ''godly'' 433 tactic that makes you win the Premiera Division with Almeria in the first season. SI, Y U NO GIEF MOAR FREEDOMZ?!

Running game has been decent for me on All-Pro, getting around 80 yards every game with Javarris Jackson (Beanie Wells is injured with a broken jaw). I am good at just running the ball, but quite honestly juking and spinning and all that jazz is just something I can't get the hang off. I see other people who play Madden juke the crap out of defenders and doing the perfect spin moves. But the only thing I get with a spin move is a tackle in the back. And with the juke I just get tackled. Does anyone know how you even pull those moves off without getting absolutely murdered by the LB?

I don't mind Auto Sprint this year. With the improved O-Line and D-Line intelligence the line doesn't immediately implode the moment you start to sprint in 13. The playcalling reverting back to Gameflow on the other hand is quite annoying. I mean it's only 3 things you gotta do in every game, but you shouldn't have to do it more than one time. I hope EA patches quite a few things in the next patch. Also one thing I want to see fixed or made easier is adding sliders to CCM. As far as i'm aware a couple of things are impossible to change once you have started a CCM career (player speed threshold among others)

Should I get this game? I have never played Dark Souls or the game before it, and the only thing I really know is that it's apparently extremely hard and unforgiving. And that the forward dive looks like a Mick Foley bump.

1: Are you throwing the ball too hard? If you gun every pass especially on short ranges, they have a harder time gripping it. 2: Is it raining or snowing in the game? If so, the game pretty much fucks you right there because everyone forgets how to hold a ball. 3: Is your receiver any good? It helps if your receiver has good (85+) catching and also catching in traffic. 4: To add to number 3, do your receivers get smacked right after they catch the ball because there are only a few receivers who can hold onto a ball when they get trucked a second later. 5: All of the above?

BLUE16! BLUE16! OHIO! OHIO! RED25! OHIO BLACK13! OHIO! OHIO! OHIO! HIKE!

Third and short is almost guaranteed for me to try a HB Draw. If they jam the line I will audible into a passing play and I will have WR's already present.

R.I.P. MCD. One of the most gifted yet underrated actors out there, he showed us that he could make us smile (the whole 9 yards) and feel sad (Green Mile) It gets thrown around a lot, but he truly died too young, only 54. That's just as old as my mother. A talented actor taken away from us, I truly hope he is in a better place now.

The thing I dislike about Gameflow the far most is the thing's tendency to do boneheaded moves in stupid situations. Like it tells me to do a run play on 3rd and 14th whilst there is no ghost of a chance for me to get into field goal range or even first down barring a complete miracle. Or wanting me to do a Play Action on 3rd and long even though the Ai knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am going to pass it anyway, leaving me open for a sack. That's why I hardly ever use the Ask Madden function either, it tends to come up with stupid ideas in stupid situations. I rather select my own through ''play type'', it was challenging at first but you tend to find and create your own playbook inside the playbook with plays you like. After a while you will find that nice I-Form pass that you can also audible out of quickly and safely or that 4 wide set that is effective as a draw play. Once I started to use ''play type'' the game got a lot more fun for me and a lot more hands on too, I still make boneheaded moves but I got quite a few go-to plays that I try to use often. Be it draw plays, slant plays or a long gain play... I can suggest using ''Play Type'' to everyone, I am not a NFL savant, heck I am pretty unknowledgeable about the sport in terms of plays. But it gives you a lot of freedom to pick the general type of play you want to run (Quick Pass, Standard, Inside handoff, FB Run etc etc.) It has become unmissable for me.

Silly question but have you tried un-installing and installing it again? Maybe there is a problem with your install that makes the game think you don't have the other episode? If not, have you watched through the entire ''in the next episode'' bit, I am not sure but maybe the game saves after that?

I am not certain but I am pretty sure that is possible yes. If you retire the universe you play in continues to exist so you can jump in as a new player... But I am not certain.

Just played another round of Madden 13 with my Cardinals CCM. Third week was against the Eagles, hard fought games with some terrible passing from me (Skelton, you suck) and Eagles manage to edge it out in the last minute with a field goal kick to end it 27-24. After the game I decided to drop Skelton to give Kolb a try and in the two weeks that followed it was clear I made the good choice. Then a game against the Dolphins, I don't know Garrard for the life of me but he had me running in circles all game long and when I shut down his passing game he decided to rumble down the line for a first down himself, stupid West coast offense... But I came back by working hard and mostly lots of effective passing with Kolb I survived the game and finished 30-15, too bad Beanie Wells got injured in the game =( Then I faced the Rams in St. Louis, and mother of god I absolutely destroyed them for the latter 3 quarters of the game. I threw a pick early in the game giving them an early 13-3 lead but I came back and gotten a lot of defensive stops and Larry Fitzgerald was on fire all game long getting 3 TD receptions and proving to be the safest guy on offense, he had some magnificient catches that could have easily been interceptions if he hadn't jumped for it. The backup HB who is only 69 overall had a pretty damn effective game, he got lots of penetration and even 2 redzone TD's to boot for his efforts, he ended with like 158 yards rushing for the game. The player of the game though was Greg Toler the CB who had 2 interceptions and returned both of them for 7 points. In the last quarter of the game Bradford went for waaay too much passes just to get close to my score and I slaughtered him with 5 interceptions and 3 sacks on the poor guy. And with the Rams going pass-first in the final quarters really helped me lock the game up. I won the game 63-27, a whopping 36 point difference, and I got a nice achievement for it for breaking the 50 point mark. For those who want to know, I am playing on All-Pro, 15 min, 15sec play clock. And I choose my own offense plays through ''play type'' instead of doing gameflow or askmadden. Default All-Pro is pretty fun, I have some extremely frustrating moments like the game against the Eagles where Michael Vick just straight up dogged me (pun intended), and also game 2 of the season where I lost like 17-50 to the Patriots. Sometimes you lose big, sometimes you win big, a lot of times the games tend to go straight through the middle until one team breaks the other guy's morale. The only thing that is annoying me right now is that the game keeps reverting me back to gameflow every single game, and I have to change it back to conventional before every practice/game, and that is quite annoying.

Wow, just wow is my feeling after I just finished episode 3. Spoilered due to size and massive plot spoilers. But really, Episode 3 is by far the best episode in this entire season. I never had expected it but it tugged every single heart string there was to tug. When Doug died I didn't care that much because I hardly knew the guy, and same with Mark. Larry was clearly gonna die the moment I saw him get the heart attack in episode 1, and I tried to salvage and made Larry like Lee but that didn't help so I wasn't really that angry when Kenny splatted his brains. Spoilered due to massive ep3 spoilers. Telltale has really done a phenomenal job and this game should receive so much more attention in mainstream, it is really the first game barring maybe MGS3 that has drained me emotionally by what happened in a game. It's amazing, it truly is. I can't wait for Episode 4 to come out, and I do hope that they get a chance to make a second season, maybe with another setting alltogether. Wow...

I had the same freaking idea. Also aside from her having a friggen gun, she could have tried to be a bit quicker with the killage and help Doug... Guess she didn't like him THAT much.

I started my coach version of CCM with the Cardies (All-Pro, 15 minutes, 15 second playclock) and after skipping through pre-season and cutting a bunch of players (Signed Plaxico as my only notable signing) I jumped into the Regular Season. First game against the Seahawks I dominated from top to bottom with a phenomenal 37-10 win locking down their defense and wearing out the defense with Beanie's lethal ground game (had a 63 yard TD on his second run!) And I had something like 225 yards rushing with him alone, sadly just missed out on the record list. The draw play was lethal all on it's own managing to fool the defense a lot. Skelton also threw 3 TD's and a pick and the recipients where naturally Fitz with 2 TD catches and Floyd with 1 beautiful catch in full stretch. My second game was against the pats, and that game was a complete trainwreck of a contest ending in 40-13 for the Patriots. Brady and Co. had my defense in shambles for the majority of the game and my offense was the drizzling shits for the majority of 3 quarters only recording 10 points through the first 3. Skelton threw like 1 TD and 5 interceptions as I was forcing passes left and right and the running game was flaccid and I couldn't get Beanie established, so I ended up being very predictable and the Pats whipped me for it. Hopefully my third game will be better than against the pats, still liking it a lot.

Hey Dragsy, do you know in what situations to use the O-Line shifts? I guess they are used to make sure the O-Line covers the correct side when they are showing blitz or something, but I have no idea what order to use in what situation.

my GT is LarZieJ, and if I catch a ball I always get tackled and lose the ball again I feel your pain Larziej, i have the same thing with playing above Pro. Once you go above pro the game starts to ''cheat'', or give themselves an advantage or you a disadvantage to make the game more ''challenging'' which is absolutely crock since it only makes it unfair for the gamer. I can't wait for the first proper slider sets to appear who are properly tested and solid.