Madden NFL 15 added a number of new features, specifically on the defensive side of the ball, but one of the funnest is a part of the Skills Trainer known as The Gauntlet. Within this mode, you will be faced with 40 randomized skills training mini-games one after the other, with boss battles mixed in every five levels.
The first advice I can give with The Gauntlet is to actually use the Skills Trainer lessons prior to get a feel for the various tasks you may have to endure throughout The Gauntlet. There are plenty of them, especially on the defensive side due to the new techniques, that you may lose a life on simply because you were not prepared enough. Beyond that, let’s take a look at the first four boss battles you’ll find during the mode with a few hints on how to survive each one.
Boss Battle 1 – Hurricane Season (#5)
Make a field goal through hurricane force winds. Pull back the right analog stick to fill power meter, then push up in the direction of the cone when the meter is full. Tip: Worry about aim rather than power.
- This one is rather simple to complete. As the description says, power is not a concern as long as you are decently far up on the power meter.
- Just look down the field and make sure that the moving directional lines are around the goalpost and pull back when it is as close to the middle of the goalpost as you can. If you do this, you should be able to beat this boss battle easily.
Boss Battle 2 – Entourage (#10)
Follow your blockers! Score a Touchdown on the play without getting tackled or going out of bounds. Use stumble recovery by pressing down on the right analog stick if needed.
- This one is a little harder than the first one, because it somewhat requires a little luck. You basically will be running down most of a football field with a bunch of blockers in front of you, but will have a number of defenders randomly pop up in front of you that you must avoid.
- First of all, make sure you follow your blockers instead of trying to just dart down the field straight down the middle.
- Secondly, have your fingers ready to make moves such as jukes, spin moves, and the aforementioned stumble recovery. This is one that you may lose a life if you are not careful, but it’s still not too overly hard.
Boss Battle 3 – RB Gauntlet (#15)
Score a Touchdown on the play. Make sure to use special moves, especially jukes with right and left on the right analog stick
- Following up on the last boss battle, this one is quite similar. However, this time you do not have the blockers in front of you at all, but that means there are far fewer defenders in your way, four to be exact.
- The best course of action is to try and just outrun the first defender to the left or right and then use a juke or spinmove to avoid the second from the outside, while watching out for the return of the first defender.
- The next two shouldn’t cause too much problem, as the third can easily be outrun to the edge, with the last probably requiring some sort of move on the outside to get around him. At this point, the endzone will be in sight.
Boss Battle 4 – Extend The Play (#20)
Complete the pass inside the Hot Spot and you have conquered half of the Gauntlet. TIP: TAKE YOUR TIME! Also, you can use playmaker by holding L2 and using the right analog stick.
- Now this one is the first truly complicated one. As you can see across the field, there are right rectangles known as Hot Spots scattered in different areas. The play call will change every time on this one, so you will just kind of have to play it by ear.
- Just keep an eye on the hot zones, with something across the middle probably being your best bet due to being closer and having a better chance at landing then something deep on the outside.
- As the description says, take your time as you have time to watch the play set up.
