Terribly Inconsistent

One phrase that can completely summarize this games dynasty mode is “terribly inconsistent.” There are many places to start but we can start at the qb.

Qb Inconsistencies: Essentially what i’ve found out with the quarterback accuracy stats are that they are just numbers on a board and not how the quarterback actually performs. You can have a season with a 73 overall quarterback that has low to mid accuracy stats  and complete every pass you throw with almost no deviance from the ball path. On the flip side you can also have a 90 overall qb with +15 in every accuracy stat from that 73 overall and somehow every other pass is throw 5 yards under in the dirt or aired 15 yards over the receivers head straight to the safety who picks it off every time. Now in vice versa you can also have a terrible season with a 73 and a great season with a 90, which leads me to the conclusion that the accuracy numbers don’t actually have any affect on how your quarterback plays.

Receivers/Rb: In relation to the quarterback the receivers/rb catching stats seem to also have no impact on performance. Can have a bottom barrel wr/rb with a 69 catch that mosses every receiver and hangs onto the ball through lb/ss hit sticks immediately after possession occurs. As well on the flip you can have a receiver/rb with 95 catch and can’t hold on through contact or drop wide open passes with 10 yards of separation, which is why again I believe the catching rating has no impact on the game.

OL: The offensive line might be the worst inconsistency in the game. One game you run for 150 and throw for 350 against a team like Bama, then next game you play bowling green and your offensive lineman seems to forget how to play football as a whole. If you run the ball it’s either a 10 yard gain or a 2 yard loss and not much between. Don’t even bother running play action because no matter the ratings of your exterior lineman, they will miss their man 75% of the time. Half of the time you lineman will run with your running back to pickup blocks but it’s a 50/50 if they will pickup a block or continue running down the field to the endzone without touching a body. On the other side if you decide to run the ball it’s either perfect blocking resulting in a large gain or a play where the entire side of the line crumbles or your offensive lineman guards nobody and blocks the only hole instead of going to the next level.

Now there are plenty of problems on defense as well but nearly as bad as the offensive side so we’ll only talk about the tackling as a whole. 

Tackling: The tackling in this game is a joke, you could run 75 yards full speed down the field and hit stick the ball carrier that’s just caught the ball and is 50 pounds less than you, and he just bounces off and keeps running. You can hit stick a receiver instantaneously after making a catch and he will somehow slide/spin off or eat the hit and keep running while your linebacker is now on the ground. Players can seem to break a tackle on every single play (which yes can happen) but this happens with teams that are 15+ overalls worse than your team and still get the animations. A 74 overall receiver at 160 should not bounce off a guy that’s is a 90 overall with 95 tackle at 255 every other play.

Animations: The animation are a joke in this game, from one half making every single tough catch, breaking every wimpy tackle, completing every contested ball, then be left speechless the next half when you seem to drop every pass contested or not, get tackled by players much worse than you on any bit of contact, and throwing the ball in the dirt on wide open routes. You will drop the contested ball the watch the other team catch the same exact route with contest at 10 overalls lower on a defender much better. You will hit the only open gap for a rb to run through and he just slips between the inch gap of your defender and the offensive lineman untouched up the middle.

And last but not least the penalties are terrible. The penalties seem to be called at complete random instead of a consistent pace throughout the season. You can go 8 games straight with no penalties and then as soon as you are at the end of the season you will get 4 in the same drive of one game and completely screw over your odds in the possession. On the other side, there countless penalties missed on defensive pass interference. You can have two receivers running any type of route where they cross at some point down the field (yes you can make contact within a short distance when the ball is not in air) but the route will cross 7+ yards from the line of scrimmage and the crossing defender will knock your receiver completely off path or just completely stop your receiver from moving forward, leading to an incomplete pass from overthrowing him or an interception from a play that should have had a flag thrown. I have actually seen the game call more offensive pass interferences on me from my cpu bumping the defender off his guy than them call defensive pass interference on the exact play.

Team overall: This is another overall that has no consistency to gameplay. You can start as a 75 overall team with you best player being an 80 and still win the championship with ease, beating teams like Georgia/Ohio State with a 76 offense and 73 defense. And of course on the flip you can be a 95 overall team and play a team like toledo and have them run you for your money in week 8 to ruin your odds of the postseason.

All in all this game is fun and definitely has its highlights but you will get tired of this game very very fast if you plan on playing it out, because you will be met with the same realization that I was in that you have to play the game knowing that it is not a good game and yet it will still anger you because of the egregiously inconsistent gameplay.

Has anybody else run into gameplay issues like this? After watching my buddies play their typical seasons out, I feel like the game is single handedly selling me out on a much higher rate. (I could also be bad at the game) but none the less the gameplay issues certainly don’t seem to help.