Madden NFL 17 Gameplay Improvement: Competitive Focus

Hardcore Madden players have a passion for the game that goes beyond down & distance. Whether it's all-day MUT streams or climbing leaderboards for the Madden NFL 16 Challenge, it's clear these guys enjoy the game as much as we do here at the studio. There's a lot of additions we don't want you to miss, and they're sure to make gameplay fresh for even the most experienced Madden Player. Here's what I'm looking forward to the most in Madden NFL 17 on Xbox One and PlayStation®4.

Man coverage is on the top of my list as biggest gameplay improvements. In Madden NFL 16, man press made defensive backs stick to receivers effortlessly. It forced guys to resort to motion routes, and the same type of routes, to beat it. This year, an enhanced Win/Loss system has been created to ensure that any route with a cut has the potential to get open against this coverage. Man press is a two part battle and it all starts with the chuck. Using a slant as an example, when the receiver wins, he'll successfully fight off the corner to gain inside leverage. 

Another great defensive addition is the revamped zone coverage system. If you want an overview of all of the new zones, be sure to check out Madden NFL Designer Anthony White's blog on them.

Continuing with defense improvements, I'm hyped for the opportunity to stop the QB scramble more effectively than previous years. The “Spy Crash” feature has now been updated to also include any players in coverage. By clicking R3, you can send your closest defender rushing after the quarterback. There's an added strategy here, as you might be leaving part of the field or a receiver wide open when your guy bails. 

What's also a relief from a competitive standpoint this year is that “Quarter”, and other formations like it, have been recreated to be more authentic in terms of how they defend the run. The biggest issue here was the defensive backs. 

Moving over to offense, every hardcore player can agree the Double Juke was the most effective move in Madden NFL 16. It got to the point where players on defense would anticipate someone doing it when pursuing in the open field, which made just running straight forward an actual decent strategy on offense. While it was cool to see some of the breakaway runs that resulted from it in the Madden Challenge, head to head is more engaging when there's a variety of fakes that are all effective, depending on how skilled a player is with them. 

Finally, we've made improvements to online play that should result in users encountering less lag. These changes also include preventing players from attempting to boot opponents out of game sessions and forcing a loss.