Is there a way to make the announcers talk less?

Question

One thing that is driving my crazy about Madden 12 is the repetition in the announcers' dialog. It seems that there's only one scripted conversation per team to introduce the offense and defense. I am sick of hearing how Troy Polamalu is destined for the hall of fame and Hines Ward leads the Steelers' offense.

I don't want to mute the announcers completely, just lower their verbosity - or at least these repetitive scripted introductions. Is this possible?

Answer

There's an option to turn on offensive/defensive coordinator speech and subtitles. If you turn on coordinator speech, then the announcers will only speak in a handful of situations (the beginning of the game is the only one that comes to mind).

EDIT: These instructions are from the Xbox 360 version:

From the main menu, go to the "My Madden" -> "My Settings" -> "Game Options" -> "Coordinator Audio" (#10). It can be turned on, turned on for the headset only, or turned off. It replaces most commentary with a tutorial-ish description of what to do on the play. They're certainly less annoying than the announcers. The announcers will chime in at the beginning of the game and a handful of other times for which I haven't identified a pattern yet.

I don't know any other way to get them to talk less other than muting the announcer channel: Main menu -> "My Madden" -> "My Settings" -> "Volume Control" -> "In-Game Commentary". But you explicitly didn't want to do that; I'm only including it for completeness.

Check more discussion of this question.

Stopping or at least slowing down the Draw

Question

In my Madden history I usually have stout defensive play, but in this years release (Madden 12) I am having a lot of trouble with shotgun formation draw plays. I just can't seem to stop online opponents from gaining at least four yards per carry. Even if I know the play is coming, I can't seem to slow them down. I am using a 3-4 defense (Ravens, Steelers, Packers, etc). I pinch my D-Line and user a LB that is the QB spy while running 2-Deep man coverage. Occasionally if I sense the Draw play I can hit the hole quickly with the LB and attempt to make a play in the backfield, but it seems like most of the time my lineman and linebackers just get manhandled.

Does anyone have any advice to help stop or slow down the draw play? Formations, coverage assignments, user position selection, etc.

Answer

Try the 3-4 over formation with man coverage and play as a safety. Let your LBs take on open blockers and then run through the open line and make a tackle on the RB. Be careful though, this strategy will work great against keeping the draw to only a few yards (or negative yards) but if your opponent catches on they will have an easy time throwing the ball over you deep down field.

Check more discussion of this question.

Do contract cards only work on one player?

Question

Each player card on my Madden Ultimate Team has a limited number of games they can play on contract. I can get contract cards to increase the contract number, but is that card only usable one time on one player?

Answer

Yes, contract cards are single-use: one time only on one player only.

As with many other aspects of Ultimate Team play, there is precious little documentation available, but plenty of anecdotal evidence to sift through. In general, when you have a question about Ultimate Team, it's safe to assume that the least favorable aspect applies (having a player appear for one play will subtract one game from his contract, losing your connection during a game will count as if you had finished the game except that you won't get any coins).

Check more discussion of this question.

My Madden Ultimate Team has no healthy REs

Question

Alright, I just started playing an Ultimate Team because I want the last few achievements for the game. Right now I have a bunch of 50-60 rated players from the starter pack and a few players from playing the demo before launch. My problem is that in my very first game my Right Defensive End got injured and I didn't get any other REs in my Starter Pack. During the game I was simply able to put a Defensive Tackle in his place and keep playing, but now that the game is over I get an error "Your RE position is empty. You must have a player active for every position before you can play a game."

If I go to the depth chart to the empty RE spot and put the same DT in the spot the game appears to "change" the position to DT instead of RE because of what the player's position is listed as before I put him in the spot. This results in the same error as above.

I don't have an injury card to use on him and I only have about 200ish coins from my first game so I can't afford to buy an injury card or a player to replace him.

1. Is there a way to fix this bug without having to spend real money to buy coins or player packs?
2. Is there a way to start a new Ultimate Team and keep my 3 bonus players and my coins?

Answer

As you've seen, within the game this isn't a problem because you can play pretty much anyone at any position to replace an injured player. (Playing someone from a related position, like playing a DT or an OLB at DE, will work better than playing someone at an unrelated position. You'll see this in the depth chart when you look at ratings for that position: the ratings you see are the ratings for each player at the position you're seeing, not at their natural position.)

Also as you've seen, once the game is over, it's not as easy to fix. You can't actually move a DT to RE as you can in franchise mode, so you're right, your options are to acquire a new one or to get an injury card to heal him.

If you don't want to spend real cash, then another option is to trade for a RE. This will probably require you to find someone with an extra RE who also doesn't need a lot in return ... but I think that's your best option. To my knowledge, there's no way to reset your Ultimate Team.

Here are some details on trading from EA's blog. Note that this was posted in June 2011, so trading may not work exactly as listed below.

• Any card type can be traded. Players, coaches, stadiums, playbooks, legendary cards, etc.
• 1-for-1 Trades – multiple card trades is something we are looking at for the future in Madden Ultimate Team, but in Madden NFL 12, we have 1-for-1 trades.
• Post to Trade Block fee – there will be a fee associated with posting trades (only in the event that the trade is successfully completed).
• You can trade with friends or make deals with complete strangers! Just like the Auction Block, you have the ability to search through trade offers from others or send a card to your own Trade Block.
• You have the ability to set the overall rating range of the player you want in return for the trade. This ensures that you will not get spammed with junk trade offers.

I haven't traded before, so I don't know how much the fee is or when it applies.

There are quite a few places where you could look for trading partners, including chat and the Madden 12 forum on xbox360achievements. As always, use caution when trading with someone whom you don't know, even if you are just trading a low-value card; don't share anything other than your gamertag, and definitely don't give your login information to anyone else, even if they're promising to get you a really great card.

Check more discussion of this question.

Madden NFL 12 - instructions?

Question

Does anyone know of an actual useful and comprehensive list of the on-the-field controls for Madden NFL '12? A simple (but complete!) list of buttons and what they do would be rather nice.

The in-game manual is awful, and my google-fu is not helping.

Answer

Check out GameFly's list of controls and see if that covers it for you: it seems comprehensive to me, but then I don't currently have the game running.

OFFENSE CONTROLS (PASSING)

Ⓛ Lead the Receiver

click Ⓡ Throw Ball Away

Ⓐ A receiver, Lob Pass (Tap)/ Bullet Pass (Hold)
Ⓑ B receiver, Lob Pass (Tap)/ Bullet Pass (Hold)
Ⓧ X receiver, Lob Pass (Tap)/ Bullet Pass (Hold)
Ⓨ Y receiver, Lob Pass (Tap)/ Bullet Pass (Hold)
LB LB receiver, Lob Pass (Tap)/ Bullet Pass (Hold)
RB Pump Fake
RT QB Scramble (Hold)

OFFENSE CONTROLS (RUSHING)

Ⓐ Stiff Arm
Ⓑ Spin
Ⓧ Dive (Hold)/QB Slide (Tap)
Ⓨ Jump/Hurdle RB Protect Ball
RT Pitch Ball

DEFENSE PURSUIT CONTROLS

Ⓐ Defensive Assist
Ⓑ Switch Player
Ⓧ Dive
Ⓨ Jump
LB Strip Ball
LT Strafe

DEFENSE ENGAGED CONTROLS

Ⓡ Left/Right = Finesse Move, Down = Power Move
Ⓑ Switch Player
Ⓨ Hands Up/Bat

OFFENSE CONTROLS (AT LINE OF SCRIMMAGE)

Ⓐ Snap Ball
Ⓧ Call Audible
RB Fake Snap
Ⓡ Left/Right = Switch Direction of a Running Play

click Ⓛ Quiet Crowd
click Ⓡ Pre-Play Menu:

d-pad ↑, then Ⓡ or d-pad: Call a Hot Route

Ⓑ, then Ⓛ or d-pad ← or →: Send Player in Motion

click Ⓡ, then d-pad ← or →: Line Shifts

DEFENSE CONTROLS (PREPLAY)

Ⓐ or Ⓑ + Ⓛ or d-pad: Switch Players

click Ⓛ Pump Up Crowd click Ⓡ Pre-Play Menu:

Ⓧ Call Audible
LT Show Player Play Art
RT Show Play Art

SPECIAL TEAMS CONTROLS

Ⓐ Start Kick Meter, Kick Power, Kick Accuracy
Ⓑ Onside Kick
Ⓨ Fair Catch

Check more discussion of this question.

Zone Defense Play Art Colors in Madden 12 (and previous versions)

Question

I've played Madden for a long time now and I've always wondered about the different colors when one looks at the pre-snap play art for a zone defense. There are usually blue, yellow, and magenta 'zones' and I was curious if they referred to how the defender covers the zone or of if they're just used to differentiate all the different coverage areas on the field. Thanks!

Answer

This thread has an answer that seems to match what I see:

light blue = flat
purple = curl flat
yellow = hook
dark blue = deep zone

Sometimes there isn't much of a difference at all: mainly, it comes down to responsibility for the flat. Let's look at a couple of Green Bay's defenses in their 3-4 Under package.

Here, the corners are dropping back basically even with the linebackers, far enough back that the flat will be open.

Here, the OLBs are dropping out and back, but in theory could come down to cover a back or TE in the flat if necessary, as they're not quite even with the ILBs.

So you'll usually see purple in defenses where there are no other zones closer to the LOS ... but sometimes there are exceptions. See the Packers' Cover 2 in the 3-4 Solid package: it's got the same intermediate coverage as the Cover 4, but instead of dropping four deep, the corners come up and take away the flat, so the OLBs don't have the same responsibilities as they do in Cover 4, even though they have the some color ... it's just that the depth is the same.

Check more discussion of this question.

When is the right time to hit the ball protection button?

Question

Madden 12 has a button to be used when rushing that makes the player tuck the ball to prevent fumbles. The game does a good job of mentioning the button's existence, but just says to press it before being tackled.

I'm unclear on whether that means I press the button and hold it, or pressing it once makes them tuck it for the rest of the run. Hitting it right when I get tackled seems awkward, since at the same time I'm also trying to press the stiff arm button to break the tackle.

Answer

You have to hold the button, and you can't stiff arm someone and protect the ball at the same time. You have to pick, attempt to break the tackle, or play it safe, take the tackle and not risk a turnover.

I generally don't use it because fumbles are a lot rarer than successful stiff arms.

Check more discussion of this question.