The #1 thing on the mind on many MADDEN BALLERS for Madden NFL 17…the aggressive catch. Is it still in the game? Is it still effective? After patches and tuners were released to address it in Madden 16, people STILL didn’t feel the developers got it right!
So to answer your main question, is aggressive catch still in the game? Yes. It’s still in the game, along with all of the catch types introduced into the game last year, possession and RAC Catch. But it has been GREATLY toned down and only the top WRs with high jump, spectacular catch, and catch in traffic ratings like OBJ, Julio, Hopkins and Dez would be able to go up and make those spectacular catches consistently. So, no more cases Darren Sproles going up in a crowd and snatching the ball down like a rebound. Going up for an aggressive catch now has some risk to it because if you go up in coverage and get rocked you can get your receiver injured.
There are people who believe EA has taken some skill out of the game with the one button catching, but just for you guys they have added a user bonus on the defensive side when you click on the defender and use the defensive ball in air mechanics. So all those ballers out there who click on and control there guys, rejoice as you will now be rewarded. They have also added a ton of more animations so that the DB and WR battle looks more realistic and the defender actually performs according to you input.
So not only is spectacular aggressives catch limited to top WRs, they improved the swat mechanic, aka the aggressive catch killer. This year using the swat will give you no chance for the interception but will basically shut down aggressive catch attempts. The only downside being you lose the chance of intercepting the ball.
The new ball physics system is a game changer. It impacts so many facets of the game from knockout when catching the ball, the kicking game, loose ball recovery, even QBs taking hits when passing. Those plays where the WR would catch the ball through the defender are gone. When a defender swats the ball or breaks up a play it’s not longer a “canned animation”, the ball realistically reacts how it would in real life. So the frequent high popups of Madden 16 are gone, but now they give defenders a better chance to catch it when there is a realistically tipped pass.
Individual physics on the ball now allows for randomness in the outcome of QB hits and the addition of strip sacks. In Madden 16 when a QB was hit most of the time it resulted in an incomplete pass into the ground. In Madden 17, the ball will organically go where it should. The new ball mechanics make recovering a loose ball look so much more organic as players dive and fight for a fumble it has a randomness to it the same way a fumble recovery does in real life.
That’s it for today guys, hope you enjoyed another breakdown. If you have any questions leave them in the comments below and I will answer the ones that I am allowed to speak about. Don’t forget subscribe to our YouTube Channel and check the site so you don’t miss any of our Madden 17 content as we release content daily!