Making a book is still confusing at times. You haven't to learn how to avoid the bugs. Last year, I found you could use the West Coast playbook to remove ALL plays as long as you left one shotgun set to avoid all of those formations showing up under Hail Mary. It's different this year. I had to pick a book I liked and roll with it. I think I decided on Tennessee, and I was able to remove all the formations except Gun Empty Base Flex without any issues. That formation is nice, and I don't mind it being at the top of my formation list.
I'm yet to play a game, but I do some some mechanics improvements. Playbooks have a good set of new plays (none broken), inside zone is almost every formation now (as it should be). Offset Gun has more off tackle runs and pulling guard plays that aren't 01 Trap. Screen game is much improved as well (receivers actually block?!). The new animations for the hand-offs are more realistic as well. Gun runs have the QB hold it out like a zone read on non-option runs, under center has delay steps, foot pivots, and QB spin handoffs to keep the user defenders guessing. They're actually starting to focus on the small things. They're just chipping away one item at a time, but it's a good sign and closer to what we see on the field.
I think I posted this last year, but Madden 15 was the best football game I had played to date. Were there still exploits? Sure. 16 looks to be another good move forward. Let's just hope they patch the major flaws and go from there.
Good breakdown.
They did do a nice job changing hand off animations and the play action that goes with them. They finally fixed that long standing legacy issue where the camera would do that weird zoom thing that would instantly know any PA was a pass and not a run. Now it's a lot harder: you have to read the OL to get a bead on that. FWIW though, they had different hand off animations and QB steps in last gen: QB would reverse out on gap schemes, front out on zone, front and switch hands on the zone misdirections, etc.
My biggest beef in the running game play wise is that 0/1 Trap: it's blocked right and all of that (Really), but it really shouldn't be in singleback under center/pistol sets: trust me when I say that you absolutely cannot run a trap IRL with the back any deeper than five yards (and really 4.5 is the ideal distance).
It's real early (a little bit of practice mode for me), but it also seems like there's some differentiation when it comes to elite receivers and corners: guys like Sherman and Revis really do lock down their counterparts without resorting to past EA bullshit like obnoxious route mirroring. Defenders in general make plays on the ball and knock passes down as opposed to making coverage an all or nothing deal of either completion or INT, etc. Was also impressed with safety play in Cover 2 and Cover 3, especially the latter: they actually make an effort to drive on post routes from outside receivers once the CB passes them off as opposed to what they've done in the past (guard air and never factor into the play). There's route combinations you can use to attack coverages and scheme guys open, but what's nice is that there's a greater sense of realism IMO.
I'm actually struggling a little bit labbing stuff and figuring out what works and what doesn't. It's probably a sign of age and apathy, but I don't have the energy to sit for more than an hour at a time playing around with things. Still, here's a few that I've found.
-the routes that were best in NCAA 14 against man (stem digs, stem posts, slants, and circus) are still best against man
-corner routes to slot receivers are still very annoying against man: you're better off getting into zone to deal with them
-bunch and snugs are extremely powerful: they make it very hard to play straight man
-inside zone and iso are the two most consistent run plays in the game. You can't really bounce them, but you can count on 4-5 ypc consistently
-toss plays are probably overpowered
-flood (weak and strong) should be a staple along with stick and spot
My main disappointment is probably the same as yours: custom playbooks. They have the old NCAA guys on their staff now: what's so hard about letting them fix that feature? Sure they'll have to start streamlining and stop making up so many team specific play names ("Rams HB Zone?" Really, Anthony White?) but that would be a good thing long term. Everyone has a thing they care about a lot: for some people it's fucking pink socks for breast cancer month. Me, I get the most fun out of building playbooks.
Really, there is a lot to like about this game. What it comes down to is that they should have made more progress in the year 2015, and that's where most of our utopians are justified in not wanting to bother with the game.
When it comes to Madden I'm a major noob so take this for what it's worth (and I only played about 1 half). First of all it was very annoying waiting all day for the damn thing to download, and then I had to wait for 10 minutes to get through demo (which I couldn't back out of or fast forward).
Anyhoo I go to play now mode at the Pro level and note the following:
- Graphics are off the charts. The physics engine seemed legit - I ran a few dives with L Blount (NE) and he legitimately finished runs like a guy with his power can do. It didn't seem overpowered. Touch passes and zip passes were on point.
- Hated the playcall screen. Maybe unfair since I'm so used to NCAA, but I didn't like it.
- Biggest gripe is the field of vision. It's very narrow. I could only see from tackle to tackle and had no idea what my WRs were doing until I dropped back to pass. In NCAA I have my view on coordinator cam so I'm very used to that. I could not find in the Madden options where I could change the view. This is probably "fixable", but I couldn't find it anywhere.
Go into settings (basically scroll all the way right on the main screen). You should see a camera option for both offense and defense: pick "All 22" as this is the same as coordinator cam. You can also try "Wide" if you want something that zooms in a little bit more but still keeps everyone in focus.