Looks to be pretty sick stuff included by the fine folks at EA Sports. After a solid day with the game, I have come to the conclusion that the DB AI cheats and that interceptions are based off of the QB in question, not DB AI skills.
The cheating stuff is pretty simple to spot. Every DB breaks on the ball as soon as it leaves the QB arms. Would not be that big a deal except that the guys all must have 360 vision or something. I have had plenty of passes knocked down by a defender that magically sees the ball at the last minute, turns, deflects the pass. I could go on, but I have better things to do tonight.
The next part is a little more interesting. Falcons vs. Bears; I pick off Grossmen 4 times. Falcons vs. Saints; I fail to pick off Brees, but I dropped at least 4 potential INTs. Next up, I decided to do a more random sampling – as the Jets I took on the Cardinals. Leinart gave up 7 (count ’em, 7) INTs. I am going to hazard a guess that I am not going to get many INTs against P. Manning, McNabb, Brady, and Rivers, but I will get plenty against bottom ranking QBs.
Still having fun with the game, but the DB AI is something akin to black magic, the CPU mismanages the game clock, and moving the penalty meters up 5 clicks (to 55) results in about 10 personal foul and holding penalties a game. I have yet to try the game online, but offline the game is fun (despite the previously mentioned problems). I am not seeing jittery graphics, slowdown, or anything of the like. Candy Mountain all around – sugary sweet and pretty. The 360 version must look amazing.
More later; maybe … hopefully.
