The degradation Of Managerial Mode

Dapics

I once loved this game.

That era of love was around 5 years ago when I bore witness to what I believe to be one of the best madden's - NFL 07.
It had it all.
Indepth roster management..... Full Offseason proceedure..... Stadium set-up and integration... rookie management... Tony Bruno Show and the much fabled newspaper where my beloved Denver Bronco's with QB Toy Tanto and MLB Dan Leonis were the best team in the league... we had it all... all due to the fantastic features enabled in the game....

Fast forward 6 years and we see much of these features removed from the game due to "Mainlining" Content . I understand this game is designed for playing matches and I used to love doing that... Yet I find I cannot do that anymore due to the degradation of manager mode... I feel as though I am no longer in full control of my team...as though there is no point in attempting to win 20 superbowls on impossible difficulty... Some good features have been implemented there is no denying that yet the fact is that this game has become a cash crop for EA. We get the same crap every year with the promise of "Extra content" and apparent "Dynamic Game Mechanics" that will enable us to play to a greater level... Yet despite all of these features being shoved in our faces at each launch I find myself hating this very game.... I firmly believe that the Madden of old trounces this EA cash crop hands down.

I will be boycotting this game for as long as it is published by EA games.:cool:

Anyone else' have any input to add?

Paully D

It's all about online now. Single player game modes are finished. I honestly can't remember the last time I bought a game with the intention of just playing the story mode.

Gone are the days when games were all about the single player experience. AI is completely robotic and boring and the difficulty levels range from either being stupidly easy to impossibly difficult. There's no point in even playing offline any more IMO.

I actually do enjoy the game because despite the bugs all I do on it is play online with the lads on here who play properly and don't exploit them, but I agree with you, the vast majority of the features they introduce are pointless and EA are completely focused on getting people to buy Ultimate Team packs etc to generate even more money. Some of the problems this year such as super linebackers and corners who can swat the ball down with their back turned ruin the game play. I have to admit Madden 13 looks much improved and after playing the sister franchise NCAA 13 I'm hopeful, but I wouldn't be buying it if I was only going to play single player.

Of course if people didn't buy the game things would change, but despite what is generally a regurgitation of the same game every year sales continue to go up and up. It's the same with other series such as FIFA (which I won't be buying this year for the first time since around 1997) Call of Duty (I also won't be buying it this year) and so on.

TL;DR version - Single player game modes are finished for 99% games. The online game modes if played with proper players are still enjoyable despite the many bugs in the game.

BigBadRob83

Well said Paully D, looking forward to having you back for Madden 13.

Dapics - have you been reading up on Madden 13?

The new Connected Careers could hopefully offer what you're looking for in a Franchise Mode.

I only got back into it with Madden 12 after an even longer absence (think Madden 04 was my last one), and didn't play single player at all. All Online Franchise here on Boards and am delighted I did. It's much better craic playing games against other guys and all the associated stuff that you can see on the forum here.

Worth considering it