- Instant Replay: I’m obsessive about using instant re-play; I re-watch about two-thirds of my offensive plays, especially passing plays where I may the wrong read. This feature worked flawlessly the last time I played Madden in 2004 or 2005, but in the most recent Madden, if you hit the start button too soon and go to where the “instant replay” option should be, you end up calling timeout. So you either blow a timeout by mistake, or you catch yourself, but then you have to exit out of the menu, wait an extra second, and then hit start again to get to instant replay. There is absolutely NO REASON why this should happen. If I can call a timeout, then the play is over enough to go to instant replay. And once you get into the instant replay mode, zooming out is very slow, and if you’re inside your own 25, the goal posts get in the way of your instant replay.
- Camera angles: I would really like to use the wide-angle camera lens on offense (so I can see the outside receivers), and the standard or zoomed in camera lens for defense (so I can find a path to the ball). So far as I know, this feature has never existed in Madden, and I think it should be there for the future.
- The play-clock: I always have to rush to call the first play after a change of possession, and I’m not quite sure why the playclock runs down like that. Also, the play clock doesn’t automatically wind down when the other team is in a clock-killing situation, so I have to sit there for 30 seconds while the play-clocks winds down from 35 to 2 seconds when they snap the ball. There’s no reason for this, the last Madden I played would wind down the playclock automatically. I might be able to change some settings, but I don’t know which ones.
- Play-calling: The “Ask Madden” feature that gives you three plays is nice, but I prefer to cycle through formations and find my own plays. So far the play-calling seems a little clunkier than in earlier versions. However, apparently there are ways to set up favorites or recently used or something, though I haven’t figured it out yet.
No other complaints so far, and the graphics of course are really good.
