I heard some good reviews from friends on this game but something tells me this wont be that much greater than madden 10. But I will take their word for it. Bought it for $52 online should arrive in 3-4 days. I bought this game even though a lot of great games are coming out in the upcoming months. How are you guys liking it?

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Skittles - The candy of champions.

The running game has improved by leaps and bounds. The RB is so responsive and the blocking is much better too. I think it's an improvement all the way around. They even have the dark blue pants which IMHO look great. You'll enjoy it for sure.

Screens work.

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Man up, stand in line.

Thanks for the info Greenhell. Also smurf HB screens always worked for me and I loved those plays, its just the WR screens that I suck with and never works.

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Skittles - The candy of champions.

They all work...

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Man up, stand in line.

If you're having problems running a WR screen, as soon as you drop back, sprint backwards about 10-15 yards to suck the surrounding defenders in, then bomb it out.

WR screens actually work! For the first time ever in Madden. I always hated those plays but after running them several times the WR can actually get some good yardage (7-8 yards).

I really like the fact that 1, there is actually some semblance of a ZBS, and 2, you can effectively run inside.

Really.....WR screens have been awful for me this year and in Madden 10 they made up about 50% of my offense. I mean my WR's don't even try to block anyone.....They just start running down field and hit no one.

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I'm liking it so far, mostly because of the running game improvements. I also like what they've done for a Seahawks gameplan, rather run heavy with some deep patterns and a few screens. Here's my dislikes:

#1 - the audibles are horrible using the directional pad... its so hard to use it quick enough to react to an offensive audible. I heard this is geting fixed and it can't happen soon enough for me
#2 - I don't like that you can't finish the head to head online game if your opponent quits. I've only played 3 games, but in two of them the loser quit. One guy quit in the 1st Q, down 21-0 and I couldn't continue vs. CPU. I didn't even get credited with a Win, but I imagine he got hit with a DNF. The second game the guy quit down 52-35 late in the 4th. I did get the W, but I couldnt finish the game so I didnt earn any coins to improve my Ultimate Team. The last game I won by 14, and thankfully he stuck through till the end. I earned 135 coins and at this rate, I'll have to play almost 30 games to earn enough coins to buy the cheapest pack of player cards to improve my Ultimate Team... ha.
#3 - I don't think I like the new kicking meter... I mean its easier than before which is good because I often shanked makable kicks with the analog stick, but this meter gets impacted big by lag. If you don't have a great connection, expect some bad kicks trying to compensate for lag.

thats all for now... but in summary, it's always worth the buy for me since it's really the only reason I have a console.

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"Hard work beats talent when talent fails to hard work"

Random online madden play sucks, unless you are playing with people you know (like the .NET online franchise)...People suck and dont like losing. If you get out to a lead bigger than 14, bam, they quit. And the lag can get so bad that you have to score as much as possible because you dont know what might happen while you lag. I never play sports games online because it isn't worth the time...and when I do play its a pickup game I REALLLY don't care about or in a franchise mode.

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Man up, stand in line.

Yeah the lag really hurts the new kicking meter...unfortunately I don't believe they can really do anything about it besides slowing down the meter.

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You are probably holding the ball to long. WR screens have to be executed with either a 1 or 3 step drop. Rarely will a 5+ step drop be productive.

It is also important to call them against the right teams, at the right times. In obvious passing situations where the CB's have dropped off, do it. But don't call it against the Green Bay Packers or another team that uses Press-Man coverage.

BTW, using anyone 1 type of play 50% of the time is not going to cut it. Need to mix it up. This game is VERY good about forcing you to change habits and tactics. Its not just in a certain game either. I have found that opposing teams learn my tendencies, and seem to have actually scouted me.

A great example is when I played the Cardinals. First game, at home, I dominated 56-7. I established the run early, opened up the playaction, then standard passes, then draws, then screens, it all sort of fell together on offense. On defense I was effective with edge rushing with Curry and making Leinart hold onto the ball. Curry had 5 sacks, Tatupu 2, Reed 2, Bryant 1, Mebane 1, and Vickerson 1. There line was swiss cheese.

Second game was brutal. I could not get to Leinart. 1 sack...the entire game. I hit him every play, but just a hair after he released. He threw for 222 yards and 3 TD's. I swear, I hit him on EVERY pass play. They shut down my run game, got an early lead and forced me to throw it. Game finished 24-21 after I failed a 4th and 8 just outside of field goal range (had I gotten the first, I would have been in range).

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Man up, stand in line.

i really like this years game.

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Are the green jerseys in there?

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"Some people here have been groomed to accept mediocrity and lame ducks, I'm on board with the vibrato!" -SouthSoundHawk

Sure are. They also have the darker pants to go with them.

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Im getting it for the jerseys alone.

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"Some people here have been groomed to accept mediocrity and lame ducks, I'm on board with the vibrato!" -SouthSoundHawk

no one type of play should make up 50% of your gameplan... you run 2 screens against me, and I promise I'm going to make sure it doesn't happen again.

I was over stating how much I used the screens.....I only used them every 10 play really. And you don't have to sound so mean in your response.....

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I'd say its way better than Madden 10 with the revamped running controls.