Madden NFL Mobile launches 2016 season on Android
If you’ve tried to play Madden Mobile on your Android device the past few days, you were likely met with a message indicating the servers were down. EA Sports was huddling up and preparing to unleash the wrath of a brand new Madden Mobile and it’s finally here. Go ahead and download the update to begin playing (if you haven’t already).
Where’d my team go? That’s the question you’ll probably ask if you haven’t played in awhile. With the new season comes new everything, which unfortunately means all of your accomplishments are now relegated to the record books. You’re starting from scratch.
They’re not gone for good, though. EA is keeping the all the information stored in a trophy room of sorts and your old team – dubbed your “Legacy Team” – will be accessible selectively, for example through some special Live Events.
Complaints about missing players, missing teams, missing coins, and missing collectibles have been abundant, but I like this approach from EA. It gives us a new game, new challenge, and puts everyone on equal footing for a new year: just like any real sports league. Not to mention they gave users plenty of advanced notice and constant reminders over the past couple months.
What’s new in Madden Mobile for the 2015-16 season?
The biggest change is that on offense you can now play as the Running Back or Receivers on passing plays, running your own route and calling for the ball. It allows the game to be a lot more fun and dynamic, but takes some getting used to, and personally, I still prefer to be the QB on passing plays and RB on running plays 99% of the time.
Some other changes I’ve noticed include:
- Before the snap (in head-to-head), you can tap on players to see their card/rating
- Kickoff returns are improved and you can actually get some room to run
- Passes have a much higher visual arc (takes some getting used to)
- Power of kicks now determined by the speed of your swipe (love this but getting 100% is too easy)
- Defense boosts require better timing
- Timeouts stop the clock at the right point (rather than adding time back on the clock to end of last play in previous season)
- Can now throw the ball away with trash icon when out of the pocket
- Harder to retrieve onside kicks
The game itself is largely unchanged. Mostly the same mechanics, same plays, same play picking layout, just with UI items spruced up a bit. When you open a new pack of cards you’re greeted with fireworks and when you unlock a special card it’ll animate with a glowing border or flaming ring. Cool eye candy, but most of these changes – as are most changes in Madden Mobile 2016 – don’t affect the gameplay at all.
- Slide out navigation feels much more “Android”
- UI is shiny and glitzy (which I actually find distracting)
- Sorting and browsing of players, cards, items much better
- Auctions much improved with far less glitches and resetting of options
One thing I would have really liked to see is more achievements, especially on defense. Piling up sacks and interceptions finally earns you something and I’d love to see even more. Give users reasons to continue playing and playing and playing!
EA decided if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. They spiffed up the surface graphics, ironed out bugs, added gameplay from position players, and it’s more than enough to make starting from scratch worth the enjoyment. Enjoyment for me, that is. For you, well.. getting crushed isn’t very fun.
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