It is no surprise that Madden 18 will come with a bunch of new changes. But this year we will welcome some gameplay improvements which may force users to quit some bad habits. Here are some of the confirmed changes coming to Madden 18.

1. Death of the Swerve

Hate it? Of course. No one likes this awful glitch that made it’s way onto Madden 17. They tried so hard to patch it but could never really find a solution. So, take Rex Dickson at his word if you’d like. But on Twitter earlier this year he gave a pretty concise answer to this problem:

2. Dropped Pass

Woof. This was one of the worst problems in Madden. It’s 4th and 7 and, of course, you’re gonna go for it (it’s fucking Madden). Your slot reciever, wide open. The ball hits him in the hands and he drops it. Jesus! That just could ruin my whole day if that game was on the line. Well apparently Rex says it ain’t happening in Madden 18 (at least not in Arcade mode):

3. Hit Stick

This is one that users might actually have trouble with making adjustments. As PS4 guy, I’m so used to hitting “Square” in order to try and force a fumble. This year you will actually have to use the sticks. It has been reported that different angles on the hit stick will cause different actions. We shall see!

4. Ball Hawk

While Ball Hawk will still be a feature in Madden, it will no longer be OP. You will no longer be able to simply just hold Y/Triangle to set up an interception. According to Rex, in M18 you will actually have to time it:

5. Coverages

Man, they were really broken this year. With the exception of the “Cloud Flats”, users were able to throw corner and post routes in almost every coverage. It took a ton of pre-snap adjustments to actually stop some exploiting SOB. Here is an interview with MBL Network from June 10.

Conclusions

From all appearances this year will be a growing period for Madden. With delays from EA in releasing game footage and a new game engine, expectations have been low amongst the community for how this will turn out. I’ve already tried making a few adjustments to my online play to account for the changes. Hopefully this is a push in the right direction. Some people may beg to differ as reports that a virtually untouched Connected Franchise Mode will be back again this year. It will be interesting to see how the community will react once the gameplay footage actually trickles out.