M
mj44
Guest
While I've only played a couple of games and am still getting used to the controls on a pc gamepad, some people have said the game is too easy. Here are some house rules and settings that might make it more challening:
House rules:
1. Don't use lightening fast backs. Speed makes a back better than they really are in this game, partly because the AI doesn't defend properly. It gives the players a little more room than they might have in real life.
2. When you make a break don't just do the easy "grubber, recover and score" tactic. Most of the time the player will try to beat that last defender or look for the pass.
3. Don't kick to the opposite touchline when you're facing sideways. When you kick facing sideways it gives the ball a nice long bounce, and doing this to the opposite touchline will see a 22 to 22 type kick. It is an exploit and a cheap tactic.
4. Don't contantly use the backline diagonal run. It is an exploit and in real life a player won't know what is going to happen.
5. Don't overuse dive tackles, especially when the opposing player is running at you. In real life players don't dive into each other. Dive tackling to stop a break is obviously ok, and it doesn't seem to cover as much ground as in '06. Might just be me though.
6. Don't just load up a team with star players in world league. It seems sexy to create a team full of your favourite players but come on, of course it's going to make the game much easier.
7. When kicking for touch, don't aim the kick just inside the sideline when you knock the defence will run it out. This is really cheap
8. Maybe choose a kicker who is only 'ok' at conversions (if you're good at conversions yourself). Eg in world league you might only ever use a guy with 70 goalkicking skill.
I think that is about it for house rules, so onto Settings
1. Simulation offloads. There will be more dropped ball so it will make it a little harder.
2. Choose higher stamina, injury and knock on settings. Stamina will force you to use the bench and will make it harder to finish off a break. Injury obviously so you don't always have your best players available, and knock on to make it harder to maintain possession.
3. Lineouts. Arcade makes it harder to win lineouts so this might be an option if you want a little more challenge, but obviously sim is more enjoyable.
4. Camera. I like to use end cam, zoomed most of the way in and at a low height. Zoomed in makes it harder to recognise when we've got an overlap, and the height makes it harder to judge how much room you have. Basically zoomed in at low height gives a player's perspective, which is realistic
We have to remember that in real life players do not have the benefit of seeing the whole field. When they make a break often they won't see the support, often they'll throw a poor pass, often they'll hesitate and hang on to the ball. A scrumhalf/flyhalf won't always see the overlap so they'll often make the wrong choice. We should really be playing with the same handicaps. Lately I've been playing madden superstar mode a running back (with my AI coach and his poor playcalling). The view is low and zoomed in. It makes it harder to see just where the gaps are and where defenders are coming from. I can really only see where I'm going. Using the custom cam we can do something similar with R08.
I'm sure we can also make the game harder by tweaking stats. Maybe lower the speed differential between players, lower passing skill, lower kicking skill etc.
House rules:
1. Don't use lightening fast backs. Speed makes a back better than they really are in this game, partly because the AI doesn't defend properly. It gives the players a little more room than they might have in real life.
2. When you make a break don't just do the easy "grubber, recover and score" tactic. Most of the time the player will try to beat that last defender or look for the pass.
3. Don't kick to the opposite touchline when you're facing sideways. When you kick facing sideways it gives the ball a nice long bounce, and doing this to the opposite touchline will see a 22 to 22 type kick. It is an exploit and a cheap tactic.
4. Don't contantly use the backline diagonal run. It is an exploit and in real life a player won't know what is going to happen.
5. Don't overuse dive tackles, especially when the opposing player is running at you. In real life players don't dive into each other. Dive tackling to stop a break is obviously ok, and it doesn't seem to cover as much ground as in '06. Might just be me though.
6. Don't just load up a team with star players in world league. It seems sexy to create a team full of your favourite players but come on, of course it's going to make the game much easier.
7. When kicking for touch, don't aim the kick just inside the sideline when you knock the defence will run it out. This is really cheap
8. Maybe choose a kicker who is only 'ok' at conversions (if you're good at conversions yourself). Eg in world league you might only ever use a guy with 70 goalkicking skill.
I think that is about it for house rules, so onto Settings
1. Simulation offloads. There will be more dropped ball so it will make it a little harder.
2. Choose higher stamina, injury and knock on settings. Stamina will force you to use the bench and will make it harder to finish off a break. Injury obviously so you don't always have your best players available, and knock on to make it harder to maintain possession.
3. Lineouts. Arcade makes it harder to win lineouts so this might be an option if you want a little more challenge, but obviously sim is more enjoyable.
4. Camera. I like to use end cam, zoomed most of the way in and at a low height. Zoomed in makes it harder to recognise when we've got an overlap, and the height makes it harder to judge how much room you have. Basically zoomed in at low height gives a player's perspective, which is realistic
We have to remember that in real life players do not have the benefit of seeing the whole field. When they make a break often they won't see the support, often they'll throw a poor pass, often they'll hesitate and hang on to the ball. A scrumhalf/flyhalf won't always see the overlap so they'll often make the wrong choice. We should really be playing with the same handicaps. Lately I've been playing madden superstar mode a running back (with my AI coach and his poor playcalling). The view is low and zoomed in. It makes it harder to see just where the gaps are and where defenders are coming from. I can really only see where I'm going. Using the custom cam we can do something similar with R08.
I'm sure we can also make the game harder by tweaking stats. Maybe lower the speed differential between players, lower passing skill, lower kicking skill etc.