JOHN MADDEN FOOTBALL Okay the game is not that hard but it did take a while to figure out. Heres a little info that may help you play the game better. When choosing plays you are selecting from the B. The A and C are important so you should be aware of what these are when you select your plays. OFFENSE 1. You will choose HANDS, BIG, NORMAL, SPEED. These are for the players. It does make a difference who you choose especially when playing hard fought game run up the middle a lot and also if playing under icy or muddy conditions. Under fair conditions I have stayed with using the FAST guys especially for the running backs to break open to the outside. 2. Next you will choose your formation. Again this is from the B not the A or the C. Mainly, I guess this is used to make it harder for the other person to see what play you are choosing. 3. Select your play. Heres where knowing what the A and C are come into play. If you select your B play when you get to the football screen under the centre heres what you can do. a. Push up to choose an audible. When hitting up a sign saying audible will come up next to the QB. Now if you hit the left the A play will be selected. If you hit to the right the C play will be selected. Did you remember which plays the A and C were? this is especially important when playing against another person. b. Hitting back without pressing the button will have the QB say hut. This is to help throw the other players offside. Against the computer it will not work but against another player it's a good possibility. c. Last but not least hitting the button will hike the ball. If you are executing a running play hitting back and the button will start the play sequence. (The QB will pitch/handoff automatically) PASSING When passing you will press the button as normal in order to hike the ball. After doing so you can pull back and press the button to get a close up view of your receivers. I have found out that by waiting and watching the entire screen for about 3 seconds you can roll out, set up the QB to pass, and then pull back hit the button to view the receivers and select the receiver you would like to throw to. If you hit back and the button right away on a pass, you cannot see around you that well, and often times will either get sacked or throw an incomplete/intercepted pass because you cannot see your receivers surroundings. Hopefully that passing makes sense, it is very hard to get used to I would recommend playing the computer as New England and taking the all-madden team for a few games before playing a close game like San Francisco and Washington. Also, there is a little bug in the program. When playing the computer select a pass play roll out to the right and pull back and hit the button so the receivers screen comes on. Then start running usually you will get a touchdown. I have done this several times, instead of running for the TD I use it to get a 1st down then run out of bounds and do it only when needed. DEFENSE Defence is very simple if you can control the offence! First you would select your formation then if you want CONTROL, READ, COVER. CONTROL - Is used for anticipating the run and will give blitzes and line slants and things like that. Pretty simple to read READ - Apparently, this is used for like zone coverage and things like that. Under normal circumstances I have found that the zone does not work very well. So I use the man to man or blitzes. Mainly because I have a hard time covering receivers that I cannot see downfield. COVER - Man to Man and blitzes can be found here. Again pretty simple. I use the bump and run and all out blitz quite often. When the Defence takes it place you can switch which they are going to execute again by pressing up the audible will show up and then you can hit left for A right for C. After that they will move around and then be ready to attack in the secondary chosen formation. If you hold the button down and hit right or left you can scroll through the players and select which one you would like to play. Do it fast though because the offence will not wait for you. Also, find out which players are the fastest. I have found that on Chicago for example the right corner is the fastest player on the team so I use him and run him around to wherever I would like to go before the play starts. Against the computer it seems easiest to take the player that's the fastest bring them up to the outside on the line and blitz. that's the most effective way I have against the passing game. Again, covering someone without being able to see them is quite difficult.