Started my single player franchise and beat Arizona with New England by 5, but it was a good back and forth game... Was only 13 - 7 at the half (me), and then Arizona went up by 9 on me, but I managed to finally get a stop and a couple late scores to win 33 - 28.
I'm really liking the gameplay thus far. It's much more challenging because those wide open plays last year, like tight end post routes, fast slot WR drags, and TE out routes are not money anymore. Safeties jump those TE out routes and do a good job of breaking up the pass.
I'm playing on All-Pro, default sliders, with gameplay speed set to "Slow," 12min quarters w/ Accel clock down to 18 seconds.
Really enjoying both run offense and run defense. David Johnson gained 100+ on me, though a major chunk was 50 yard gain that he played my blitz perfectly on. Otherwise I'm loving how Cover 3 is effective against outside runs, and playing as the LB on cover 2 allows you to effectively fill gaps on inside runs. I ended up just getting 100 yards with Blount on the final drive (down at the goal line killing time I got a ~15 yard run). Running just feels really well balanced, where you have to work for yardage, look for holes, follow your blockers, and there don't seem to be money plays where your blockers just push back the whole defensive front like last year (on say shotgun zone runs).
I also like how CPU plays effective zone coverage, and seemingly bluffs coverage. Those wide open stick routes from 2015 and 2016 aren't 8 yard gimmies anymore. LBs shade tight ends and then come up on the ball to bat it or make an interception.
CPU playcalling was pretty good. They actually killed clock with more than 2 minutes left. They had the ball up by 2 with about 4 minutes left and ran run plays and used the full clock before snapping, which was a breath of fresh air.
There are definitely more fumbles but I don't think it's problematic
yet. QB's fumble a lot, especially when scrambling, and especially for non-scrambling QBs. Adding to the difficulty with this is that the QB slide button is now LT+RT+X (X1), which goes both ways. It's frustrating to have it be more difficult to QB slide and I accidentally dive more often than not (which is nearly a guaranteed fumble w/ the a QB), but this also makes me less hesitant to take off and run and instead accept an incomplete pass.
I also finally decided to set my Sammy plasma to "Game Mode" which has really helped with the QTE "tackle battles" that have come up. I missed every single one of them in every game I played, and then changed the settings on my TV and I'm getting them much more often.
The new features in franchise mode are neat like the scouting and practice having an actual affect on the game, but I doubt I'll use them much unless killing time in a multiplayer franchise. It just takes too long to load into the practice mode for me to want to do a handful of drills to give me a small on-field boost. I still like that they're there but I can't see myself using them in single player franchise much at all.
I haven't played quite enough games, but overall, the game is a solid improvement over last year which already had a strong foundation.
Did run into a really annoying penalty that I hope won't be seen often, but I busted a 51-yard TD run with Blount in the third play from scrimmage, right up the gut, and when I trucked the safety, Gronk was following behind me and ran over the defenders prone body and they stuck Gronk for an illegal block in the back. It negated a run that I'll likely never have again with Blount and it was weak. Hope that doesn't happen too often. It's also still very easy to trigger a holding penalty on kick offs as the return man by calling return center, running up the middle, cutting to the outside and using a juke. It generates a holding penalty ~50% of the time it seems.
Have not played Madden since 12/13, might get into this one.... or I might take the cheap way out and just buy Madden 16 on the cheap to get my NFL fix.
If you're on X1, Madden 16 is free with EA Access. EA Access is $5/mo or $30/year, so you might be able to get your MAdden fix for a month for a few bucks.
One thing that still annoys me is why upgrade the running when the blockers get in your way and either shutdown all of your momentum or literally trip you...
Well... that's probably on you if you're running into your blockers backs. If you run into the back of your blockers the game does a decent job of doing an animation of the player putting his arm on your blocker's back. You can try to hold R1/RB when approaching the line which is "Get skinny" which will help slip through some holes, and also it covers up the ball when being tackled as a bonus.
