EA Sports released the seventh title update for Madden NFL 17 this week for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This update focused mainly on the gameplay and announcer commentary, with the second aspect being one of the more interesting fixes for the game.
We will look at the the Madden NFL 17 update and discuss two major takeaways and whether this patch did enough to add depth to the game. Let’s start with the commentary changes and how the audio really affects the game.
Commentary
Commentary is an underrated part of sports games. So many times players hear the same lines over and over the more you play a sports game and by year three of your franchise mode, you are ready to play the game on mute. Madden NFL 17 has been very good at updating the commentary from play-by-play man Brandon Gaudin and analyst Charles Davis. Every week the two new Madden announcers record new lines to be added to Madden to keep the game as true to date than any other Madden in the game's history.
In Title Update 7, new lines were added for special teams plays such as PAT’s and on touchdown plays. There is a chance with Madden NFL 17 that players may not hear the same line more than once over an entire Madden season. More effort is being put into commentary in sports games across the board and Madden is leading the way in that aspect of the genre.
Gameplay
For Madden games, the gameplay is the bread and butter of the game. If the 17 gameplay is similar to the gameplay in Madden NFL 13, then we’ll see only the game at the used game section of a local Gamestop. EA Sports put a lot of work into improving on the gameplay within Madden NFL 17. This recent title update fixed things including the 3-4 defense and instances where players are not switching assignments properly when plays are flipped.
It is said again and again, it’s the little things that sports gamers notice and in this title update, those little things were noticed and fixed. This is the problem, however… there are still way too many little things that still linger inside Madden NFL 17. Patches and updates are okay but more things must be seen prior to a game’s release and not months after.
What are your thoughts about Title Update 7 for Madden NFL 17? Let us know in comment section.
Gameplay
- Addressed some RAC catch animations that were incorrectly triggering drops in certain situations.
- Addressed certain situations where Ice the Kicker was not triggering even though conditions were met.
- Fixed issue where catching a missed field goal in the end zone caused the position of the
- ball and the direction of play from the field goal play to be used in the play following the turnover.
- Addressed certain instances of defenders travelling across the field when the defensive play is flipped, instead of switching assignments.
- Fixed issue where receivers were getting a speed boost by timing the snap with motioning.
- Fixed several fatigue issues related to weather/temperature penalties for the Away team.
- Fixed an issue where using the give up mechanic after recovering a fumble would cause the player to fumble again.
- Fixed an issue where users could consistently place the ball in the coffin corner on a kickoff with an inaccurate kick.
- Fixed an issue in 3-4 Under where safety was taking himself out of the play vs. outside runs.
- Fixed a rare issue where the QB would pass the ball backwards when attempting to throw while crossing the LOS.
- Fixed an issue where user could ice their own kicker when calling a timeout during a field goal attempt.
- Fixed an issue where a successful fake FG run would result in the player being called out of bounds.
- Fixed an issue where player icons were displaying ‘grey’ color for fatigue on the play call screen.
- Fixed an issue where the ball would rarely hit the FB when running HB Lead toss out of I Form Tight.
- Fixed an issue where the wind direction arrow was backwards in CFM.
- Fixed an issue where increasing the fumble slider was not causing more fumbles.
- Fixed an issue where Defenders were not always being credited with a Sack and Forced fumble in the Stats screen when causing a sack-fumble
Madden Ultimate Team
- Added MUT Head-to-Head Seasons.
- Added Super Bowl presentation to appropriate MUT Head-to-Head games.
- Added the ability to give rewards after each MUT Head-to-Head game rather than waiting
- until the Event is over.
- Added additional logic to tell how many items you have available to add to a particular set.
Commentary
- New lines and logic added for post PAT scenarios. This is previously a spot in the game
- where we had no commentary.
- New/additional names added for RB’s, QB’s,Kickers/Punters, and WR’s.
- New post play analysis from the team for various different situations.
- Refreshed common touchdown analysis lines, and added additional logic and lines to fire
- new situational commentary.
- Hundreds of new lines added to Play the Moment to provide more variety during return to
- game scenarios.
- Legends names added.
- Numerous tuning changes based on common line telemetry.
Stability
- Various stability fixes in all modes including Franchise and Madden Ultimate Team.
