My playoff run started in the divisional round with the Pats hosting the Titans in the snow, who turned in a surprisingly strong season in the simulations. The first thing I noticed was the newly revamped kicking game, which was disorienting at first, but adds to the challenge of making field goals. I immediately took to the new offensive controls, marching down the field on my opening drive to go up 7-0. Following a three and out by the Titans, I did the same thing again, mostly through the air, going up 14-0. The offense felt great, and everything was clicking, even a few deep passes. Following a 12 play drive by them that ended in a pick (I should note that the deflection mechanics seem improved), I had a 75 yard run to go up 21-0. FOR SOME REASON though, the commentary was still saying things that made no sense – at one point noting that the Patriots were “still trailing” in the game and saying a few other things that were just flat-out false. Regardless, I easily held onto the big lead to set up the AFC championship game.
The match up was once again between New England and a surprising team – this time the Jaguars. After going up 7-0 on a long drive, the Jags managed to respond to make it 7-7 with just 1:33 left in the first half. Nevertheless, that was enough time for Brady as I went aggressive in the 2 minute drill to answer their score and make it 14-7 with just 33 ticks left on the clock. The second half included a short-yardage Blount TD to go up 21-7, a lead that I held onto to close things out. The CPU's poor clock management at the end of the game was noteworthy though, with little urgency in the final two minutes of the game. I guess they just gave up, which was fine with me, but questionable AI for sure.
All of this set up the Super Bowl against the Seahawks. Unlike my first two games, my offense struggled, particularly on third down. Countless times, I would make it third and short only to get stuffed or throw an incompletion (often deflected). After defensive stands on both teams, it was 0-0 going into the half. Just when nothing seemed to be working on offense, a sustained 13 play drive to open the second half got me my first points of the game to go up 7-0 with a Dion Lewis TD. The run mechanics were working beautifully on that drive, showcasing the positive changes made to Madden 17 in this arena. I got another chance to score late in the forth, driving to the 9 yard line, but instead opted to run out the clock and preserve the 7-0 win. After posting 21 in my first two games, the Seahawks proved a more challenging defense (just like in real life), but my defense was rock solid across all three games and kept anyone from being a real threat.
In my final estimation, Madden 17 is definitely the best Madden game on the current generation of consoles. It continues to build on game mechanics and with the exception of a few strange comments from the commentators and questionable CPU clock management, seems solid top to bottom. A great time for Madden fans and well worth investing some time into.
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