No stats from the demo copy.
Madden 27 Stats and Records
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Madden 27 Review
It’s time to check out the latest Madden! This time I didn’t order it day 1 since I got my fill with the last title but fortunately this one was got a full game trial across all consoles so I got to give it a go. I can definitely say that the series is still as elite as ever. It’s very familiar and for that reason I absolutely understand when people criticize EA but that doesn’t take away from just how amazing the game is. At least not if you ask me.
I jumped right into the main games with my Cowboys and everything is really streamlined. The gameplay is incredibly satisfying and the graphics are basically like looking at real life by this point. I figure I should jump into whatever differences I notice first off. I guess one would be that the coaching pop ups are a lot more frequent. This is essentially your coach making a recommendation and you can click yes which will have your players move the way he wants them to move. So far the recommendations were pretty accurate so I have no complains there.
And…well yeah that’s basically it for differences. Still, the gameplay is excellent like I’ve already said a bunch so that’s not a real problem. The tackling feels very satisfying on every play as well as the overall presentation. It’s nice to see the stats being shown live on the screen as well as the player records from previous years. The whole thing makes it feel like you are playing a real Football game, particularly when you choose not to skip any of these cinematics. They are all skippable of course as that would wear thin eventually but in the moment it’s a blast.
Each team has a ton of play options for you to call and of course no two games will be the same. You can always bet on different possibilities and options as the teams go at it. I also feel like the other team adjusts pretty quickly on the A.I. Humans can only control one player at a time so the rest are up to the CPU and they actually do a good job of covering all the exits and making sure that this isn’t easy for you. Often times I could cheese any team with a bunch of slants up the middle and that wasn’t working very well this time. So what I gotta say to the Madden devs is…well played.
There are a bunch of modes outside of the classic games of course. You can do the franchise where you create a player and just play as him throughout the league. You can live a whole life in the game and then retire after a number of seasons. You can also do online franchises and play against a bunch of real people on your way to the Super Bowl. Finally there are practice modes, minigames, etc. There is a lot of content here which is impressive and I’d argue that it’s another way to show that EA isn’t completely lazy. They are a bit lazy, I’ll admit that but it could be worse.
As always I do prefer being on offense to defense though. It may be a skill issue but I seriously can’t stop anyone. I basically just have to hope for an interception or some other form of RNG to get my opponents. I know how to jump and make the play if it goes towards me but I’m never able to apply pressure or anything like that. The other team is essentially just having their way with me the whole time and one day I have to figure out how to make a proper counter attack. Until I can pull that off, I’ll always be on the back foot for half of the game which is not good.
On offense though, I just feel like I have limitless chances. What I really appreciate compared to other sport titles is that there is a minimal amount of RNG on the offensive side of the ball. If you throw a bad pass, that’s on you. When running you often have to decide which hole to go through. Now there are times where coverage will break down or you get stopped behind the line. Those moments can come down to RNG but it’s a lot rarer. For the most part you’re in complete control and that’s what I like about this game. You just have to continuously work on finding the best plays for each setup and knowing how to audible as needed. Keeping an eye on the opponent is absolutely crucial because any play can be stopped, but any defense can be broken through. It’s a continuous game of cat and mouse.
Overall, How much you enjoy this game will depend on how much you have enjoyed Madden for the last 20 years. It really hasn’t changed much at all and you can think of that as an insult or just a complement to how strong the core gameplay is. There is no need to change the system because it just works. The games sell amazing every year and while sales are obviously not a full way to gauge quality, a lot of people are really satisfied with it. I’m one of them, I just think these games are absolutely elite all the way.
Overall 9/10
Madden 26 Review
Madden is one of those games that I had been waiting for many years to go back to Nintendo. Back on the Gamecube these games were always so exciting and I got to play them many times. Unfortunately Nintendo and EA had a falling out and these vanished for many years. Well, now for the first time in over 10 years, Madden is back on Nintendo and it’s better than ever. It’s a real blast playing through the game and there’s a ton of content here for you to enjoy. Whether this is your first Madden or you are a veteran, you are bound to have a lot of fun.
I decided to jump right into the online head to head mode because that’s the main incentive of why I got it on the Switch 2 in the first place. I always wanted to be able to fight other people online and not have to worry about a free PS+ weekend. Well, I started off pretty strong and got off to a 8-2 record. Not too shabby considering how long it’s been. I only got to actually finish maybe 2 games tops though as opponents tend to quit midway when they are losing. I get it in that if you know you’re gonna lose, then you may as well hop out but it’s all about your own dignity. You need to see this through to the end as quitting midway is an extremely weak move.
You need to show that you are made of sterner stuff! It’s a bit hard to describe the gameplay but just think of it like actually playing football. You get a fairly good birds eye view of the game and you have your team decide to run or pass. You always play as the player with the ball when you’re on offense and when you’re on defense then you can play as whoever you want. For me it can be a little tough playing defense since I haven’t done that much in years.
When I’m playing offline, I generally pick to go offense only since that side is a lot more fun as it is. When against a real opponent, you are doing everything though. I mainly stuck to the d-line and focused on trying to get a lot of sacks. That’s where I’m the most comfortable at least. On offense, I’ve found that it works really well to run the ball a lot compared to the old days when you would only pass. The way the A.I. has improved means that passing the ball is always going to be a risk unless your guy is wide open.
It’s also why I would say this is a game of reaction times because you have to choose who to throw it to very quickly or you will be absolutely squashed by the incoming defenders. Always have some kind of a gameplan at the ready in order to deal with this. Of course the same is true for running as you want to find a hole and go through that way or you will be stuffed at the line.
Kicking has become a little more difficult in recent years as they’ve tried to make it more realistic. Instead of one meter like the old days you now have to worry about two meters. They have different speeds depending on the difficulty as well as the distance of the kick or punt. It also makes this a game of reaction times and for now I miss more kicks than I make so I really need to work on this. It’ll be fun to improve on it though.
Meanwhile there are plenty of other modes here like offline franchise and minigames. I used to like the minigames a lot on Madden 2004 so it’s fun to see them here as well. To an extent I don’t think the minigames are quite as solid when the game is this realistic but they are still pretty good to go through. I tried out about half of them but then I was ready to go back into the full games. Right now I am at Rank Silver so maybe I can shoot my way to gold with enough wins at some point.
Naturally the graphics are really solid. Yeah they may be better on the PS5 but they are definitely good enough for me. Additionally the soundtrack is solid with a pretty large assortment of tunes in there. Most of the time you’re going to be way too focused to notice much of anything though. When you’re inside of a game, it’s just you and the other team. It’s a big reason why Madden never gets boring even though it comes out every year. The core gameplay is just too good to pass up and you are always guaranteed a dynamic experience.
With online that means every game will always be different. The game has unlimited replay value and now they even have level ups and season tracks to earn rewards. I’m confident that this game will stay fully supported at least until we get Madden 27 so you don’t have to worry about them giving up midway. No, this is definitely a game that is worth every dollar for as long as you’ve got it. I aim to keep on playing this one at least a bit each week to keep my skills fresh and if you don’t have the game yet then you should definitely check it out. It’s a real game changer.
Overall, Madden 26 is a super fun game. Football is the best sport in the world so it’s only fitting that the games match that kind of energy. At this point it’s so lifelike that someone taking a glance might even think you are watching highlights. The attention to detail is scary but most importantly, the sport just lends itself well to being a video game. We’ll see if Madden 27 is able to match up to this one but I can tell you that it will definitely be a real uphill battle.
Overall 9/10
Madden 24 Review
Madden is one of those series that is always a blast to play. It definitely has not changed much over the years but the core gameplay is so good that you can just jump in and have a blast anyway. To date it’s still one of my favorite video game series for pure enjoyment and this one is no different. If it were to ever come out for the Switch where I could make use of the online features all the time….watch out!
There’s a free demo going around for this weekend so I took the chance to download the full game and give it a spin. Right off the bat you can see how crispy the graphics are. Everything looks fully modern and with a whole lot of time and energy put into it. Considering how massive the download was, that makes sense. A whole lot of time is put into the technicals of the game like the graphics and sound even if fans would probably prefer they put some of that time into new modes and improvements. I don’t blame them and imagine this becomes more and more evident as you get into the competitive scene but as a casual player I’m having a great deal of fun either way.
I went right into the online head to head mode first since this bypasses the need for PSN during the demo. It was a great way to start because I smoked my first opponent 31-1 (I ended up trying to get too fancy during a two point conversion attempt and got wrecked so he got a point there) and the guy quickly disconnected. It wouldn’t always play out like that though as I lost in my next match by a lot. I won the third though so at least I had a winning record.
Part of the fun in online is fighting such a wide variety of opponents. It also does underscore some flaws of the Madden system. The main element that the series still hasn’t figured out is the passing game. It was great up through Madden 13 but after that it really went down the tubes. The reason being that defensive players are a little too powerful right now. They jump out of nowhere swiping balls left and right. If you throw the ball in the air the cornerback will always be the one to make the grab which really doesn’t make sense. You’d at least expect the receiver to give you 50/50 odds so you are incentivized to run the ball instead.
Even the strongest of opponents will have a hard time stopping you from running because of how strong your O-line is. At least while playing as the Cowboys that was the cast. I was pretty much guaranteed to get 3-4 yards per play and sometimes I would break out into a large run. So that works if you’re willing to play the hard ground game but I just prefer throwing the ball so it’s always tempting to start slinging it even if that gets me into trouble. If I’m in a bit of a trolling mood then I’ll slowly run the ball and burn as much time off the clock as possible. It can be a bit obnoxious to the opponent though so you shouldn’t do this too often.
There are a lot of different modes as expected here. You can play in practice mode, live games, franchise, online, offline, drills, etc. There is no shortage of modes so you will definitely find something to have fun with. After all at its core this is all about Football so as long as you like playing the sport then you should be good. There are also a lot of customizations you can do to make the game even more fun. For example, I much prefer playing offense to defense. So online of course you have to play the full game but when playing vs the computers I select offense only. It makes the games quicker but also skips the plays that I don’t have as much fun with. I do wish there was a way to keep in the kick returns though because I really do enjoy those but I suppose you can’t have it all.
There is also so much depth to the game that I do think it would be hard to pick up if I hadn’t been playing the Madden games for so long. I’m used to it so I probably take for granted just how many different controls there are. You could spend hours and hours going over all of the plays and different variations. So my advice would just be to focus on the basics. You’ll get to all of the advanced stuff in time but as long as your fundamentals are good then you should be in business. Just avoid getting hit too hard so sometimes I’d advise just diving to the ground before the opponent hits you. You may lose a yard or two but it’s better than a fumble right? There is a button to secure the ball but I couldn’t figure out what it is in this version. If you do that then the diving won’t be necessary.
Unfortunately getting the trophies in this game can be really difficult so don’t expect the Platinum to be a walk in the park. Some of the trophies aren’t even so hard as they are time consuming like the career ones. To get even close to those you will need to play multiple seasons and let me tell you that can really take a whole lot of time. I’m working on a trophy in one of the older Madden games and I’ve already had to play through two seasons worth and have more work to do. Don’t get this one for the trophies, you should only buy it if you really enjoy the game.
Overall, Madden 24 is definitely an elite game. This is one I would give a 9 star ranking too with ease because it just does so many things right. I do acknowledge that the game has basically stagnated at this point with nothing new going on but when your game is already this good it’s not like you need to change. They can keep the game the same forever with new numbering and I admit that I’ll still be there buying it every time. They’ve got me as a lifelong customer at this point and I’m always ready to mix it up with different opponents online. Football is just too good to stop.
Overall 9/10
Madden 23 Stats and Records
Stats time!
PS4 Trophies 0/23
Madden 23 Review
Madden is back!! Yesssss. Now I’m caught up and of course this has always been a thrilling series from cover to cover. In many ways it is completely unchanged from Madden 22 so you can really just jump right back into the mix without learning any new combos or things like that. As always to test the game out I played a full season. Only difference from usual is that I decided to play the season as a custom made QB in face of the franchise instead of doing a normal season. I have some issues with the mode but at the end of the day it is an elite game as you would expect.
First off the graphics are top tier as you’d expect. A whole lot of work goes into the visuals and it was certainly worth it. Everything just looks very modern and the presentation is really nice while playing. You get highlights, stats, and announcers talking the whole time. It feels like a very genuine Football product. Then the soundtrack may never be my favorite for the menus but the sound effects while in the game are on point. Those are the ones that you want to watch out for after all to make sure it feels real and it does.
There are a ton of modes to play here. If you have PS+ then you can jump online for some games which is absolutely what I would do if I had it but otherwise playing offline will still get you unlimited enjoyment. The fun never has to stop while you’re here and you can quote me on that. Switch things up by changing your position or playing a different mode. You can even mess with the camera angles now to change things up.
The gameplay is fantastic as always and the games go fast so lets talk about the small things that I didn’t like. One is what I’d consider to be a major oversight. In the face of the franchise mode there is no way to see the league standings. You can look at each individual schedule one by one and calculate this or pick apart the records but the fact that there is no league standings to view is really crazy. It’s the kind of oversight you just can’t believe you’re seeing because it feels so obvious. I cycled through the menus so many times before finally googling it and saw people came up with the same issue all over the place. That’s just crazy, I’m still pretty shocked about it.
Then the other one is that the camera tends to break down randomly during the franchise mode. I’ve noticed this usually happens on the first play of your possession if the glitch triggers. Basically the camera goes in front of you so you can see your backfield but nothing in front. This makes passing the ball impossible because you literally cannot see where you’re throwing. I would always audible to a run and calling a time-out works but it’s a very odd glitch. I didn’t really know what to make of it.
The Madden series definitely still has a bunch of kinks to fix. It seems like most glitches just stick around year to year because they don’t want to fix the source code. It’s something fans have complained about for a long time now and you absolutely get it. That said, fortunately these bugs are not ones that you are likely to run into on your daily adventures. While playing through the game I didn’t encounter anything crazy outside of the camera after all.
In terms of gameplay the only thing I would like to see if the receivers get more aggressive. It’s very impractical to throw any deep ball unless your receiver is massively wide open because otherwise the cornerback starts sprinting and just jumps for the ball while the receiver waits for it the whole time. It’s not a great look for the offense and it means you will usually be throwing small slants and screens. It works but it doesn’t feel like the most realistic way to play the game. You don’t want to be gunning it every down but it’s something that really separates the older Maddens from the newer ones. It’s why I loved Madden 2004 so much and still consider it to be the best.
As always scrambling is a blast though. I absolutely recommend playing a team with a fast QB because nothing beats just getting out there and running a lot. It’s why with my self made QB I prioritized speed over power and accuracy. I wanted to be able to get a 1st down with my legs when I had to. Unfortunately I didn’t make the playoffs as I finished my year 9-8 and lost out due to a tiebreaker but I got it close. There was just one losing streak early on that hurt me a lot as I was getting used to the 3D camera. Once I went back to the standard view then I started getting the good wins again. All Pro is a very fair difficulty to use where you have a challenge but it’s not too crazy.
Overall, There’s not a ton more to say beyond that as this is still the Madden that you know and love. It hasn’t changed much but that’s part of what keeps the appeal going for so long. I do hope they sit down one day and really try to optimize this as the best game it can be but in the meantime I’ll still be around and ready to buy the game whenever the new title comes out. There is no better game to simulate the Football experience after all. It may have some issues but it’s still supremely entertaining to watch and I do feel like there is a good budget here for the technical elements. I’d highly recommend checking it out.
Overall 9/10
Madden 21 Review
It’s been quite a while but I finally got the next Madden game! I’m still behind as there’s one more I need to get but it felt good upgrading. I’ve been playing a lot of Madden 20 so this way I was really able to see what had changed. On the whole I would say Madden 20’s a little better but it’s close and I still had a blast with 21. I ended up playing through an entire season and won the Super Bowl so I can really say that I got to experience the game all the way through. I won’t be forgetting Madden 21 anytime soon, that’s for sure!
There is a bit of a story mode with how you go from college to the pros but the cutscenes are still completely unskippable so it didn’t really seem worth it to go through this mode. I went through the normal Franchise mode instead and played a season that way. I then went into the only offense version since I don’t care for defense quite as much and it worked out pretty well I would say. I didn’t win every game and the system did well in making some teams tougher than others based on their record. So this really became apparent by the end of the season.
I found myself running the ball a lot because throwing always feels risky in the newer Madden games. The throwing mechanics definitely did seem to be a bit different now as you could actually miss some automatic type throws if you held your control stick too much in any direction. I get that it makes the game a little more realistic but I was not a fan of this. Just let me throw the ball and I’m set. I know you have to have a balance here but Madden 2004 and Madden 2013 should be the templates for that. They were absolutely perfect with throwing the ball. I would feel comfortable just airing the ball out.
That’s something that the newer Maddens haven’t encouraged in a very long time. Throwing slants is good but a deep shot up the middle? It’ll get picked off or blown incomplete pretty much every time. There’s almost no reason to even try attempting the pass which is a little disappointing. I love throwing the ball but it’s just smarter to run it in this game. I must have ran for over 60% of my plays in every game and it turned out well. I had Zeke run for over 200 yards on 4 different occasions and I’d usually run for close to 100 with Dak.
Running is fun too of course but not quite as epic as throwing the ball. To me that’s where the heart of Madden is as it’s all about making the right read at the right time. Most times there will be someone open but whether you notice that in time or after you throw the ball is really the deciding factor here. Still, I don’t throw much because the defenders can all jump 6 feet in any direction and just snag the ball out of anywhere. It’s crazy just how good they are and they have lightning fast reaction times.
Fortunately running the ball is still a blast so there’s that. The gameplay is just absolutely top notch so even if Madden were to keep on throwing out the same game every year, I would still have a blast with it. I just wish online play wasn’t an added cost or I would be having a lot of battles online. As it stands I don’t really get a chance to do that but if Madden 23 ends up coming out for the Switch that would be excellent and fix everything.
Outside of the normal games there are a bunch of other modes of course. We have an NFL street kind of experience as a new mode which is interesting. I don’t feel like you get a whole lot out of it compared to the normal games though so I wouldn’t say that it’s really a winner. More options is never a bad thing though and it doesn’t take away from playing the normal games. You’ve also got the story and all the online content so you won’t run out of things to do.
I will say that you might want to turn off injuries while playing through Franchise mode though. I decided to keep all settings as default but there were so many injuries during the games that it was crazy. I must have lost close to 10 people for the season which seemed excessive. Then there were a ton of injuries during the game that would hold them out til next week. It did make the playoffs a little more difficult but fortunately I got Zeke back for the championship and I never lost Dak. If I lost Dak then things might have really been curtains for me.
One feeling that the game really captures 100% is how some teams will stuff the run. There was one game where by halftime I had 12 rushes for 18 yards which is just sad. I eventually had to give up on the run and I ended up losing that game but for the most part I won all my games thanks to a very healthy blend of running and passing the ball. You need that kind of balance if you want to capture a win. Of course if you practice hard enough then you can probably win any which way. Fortunately there aren’t many fumbles going on either. That can feel cheesy since it’s an error that you couldn’t control so it should always be a rare event.
Naturally the game still puts a lot of effort into the graphics and how realistic the presentation is. I like how much detail is on the screen whether it’s your player’s stats or the team as a whole. You see a live sports ticket on the bottom of the screen as well and of course it’s fun to hear the commentators. Naturally they can improve and it’s no secret that EA has been very lazy with the series but it shows how good the fundamentals are. They could just keep copy and pasting the game over and over again and it would still end up being amazing. I would like to see what EA can do if they really try though. To date the best games are 2004 and 2013 so I’d like to see if they can ever be surpassed.
Overall, Madden 21 is definitely a blast. The series is as good as ever and you’re bound to have a lot of fun here. The content is almost literally unlimited and you can always try different plays and teams to freshen things up. Hopefully one day they can remove the unskippable cutscenes and also make the franchise mode a little more extensive. Do that and the series will just keep on getting better and better. I know Madden has the potential for even more greatness!
Overall 9/10
Madden 20 Review
It’s definitely been a long while since I played a Madden game. It’s always somber waiting for the next one because even if there aren’t any big changes, the series just has fantastic gameplay. To date it has to be one of the all time greatest series out there. This one’s certainly no different even if I wouldn’t say that it is quite able to compete with some of the older ones. Mainly I feel like scrambling has been nerfed and the deep ball is still nonexistent. Still, if you’re looking for a quality Football game you can’t really top this one.
Right off the bat you can jump into a ton of different modes like franchise, story mode, play now, online modes, or the skill trainer. Of course for me the first stop is just the quick matches to get a feel for the game. I always make sure to do one game on each difficulty level before I review the game so see how I stack up.
I was able to defeat most of the difficulties but I did get stomped in All Madden. I kept it rather close in the first half at 17-6 but as I got more and more desperate the A.I. would take advantage of that and ultimately go on to score a total of 40+ points. All Madden is as tough as it ever was but this time it did feel pretty legit. Usually I walk away shaking my head but in this instance I thought it was fine. I just got out played there.
The gameplay is pretty much the same as always. The goal in Football is to carry the ball across the goal line. At that point you will have claimed victory and will be in the home stretch. If you allow your opponent to do this, then you have to do it again as well. Whoever scores the most points at the end of the game is the winner and then that would be a wrap. It’s easy to understand if you’re familiar with the sport but otherwise Madden would not be the best place to start learning. I would recommend watching a real game first to see this in action.
Granted, you won’t be calling plays as if you were a real team but it’s still helpful for learning the fundamentals. As mentioned the game is a blast but there are a few aspects that are weaker than in most of the other titles. One of those is the QB scrambling which is when you decide to make a break for it instead of throwing the ball.
I can see how this could be a little overpowered in some of the games but I just love doing it. Often times I will make a break for it instead of throwing the ball because I don’t really have anyone open. Now you have to be a lot more careful because it takes a lot longer to actually start running and that’s an issue for when you just want to take off. I’m thinking it’s the game’s way of telling you that you should be throwing.
The QB throwing accuracy has also been given some more in depth features such as your ball not being thrown where you want it to be if you’re under pressure. You’ll suddenly throw in odd directions and while this is an interesting way to factor pressure in, I don’t think it’s needed. It should all go to your individual skill and where you throw the ball. That’s definitely a lot more straight forward.
I also just miss being able to toss the deep ball around. Find a receiver in a 1 on 1 matchup and just throw the ball over. Nowadays if you try that it will be incomplete 6/10 times and intercepted the other 3/10. Actually completing one of these balls is never worth the risk and that’s a shame because they’re the most fun to complete. Instead it’s often best to go for most short length passes and chip your way to the goal.
Running the ball is as solid as ever though. I don’t typically run a lot but it does make me feel like I’m using some real plays so I’ll do it here and there. You always get that feeling of being so close but so far away when running the ball because every time you get tackled you’ll think about where you should have run instead. It’s definitely a blast making your picks.
A lot of the modes also have the ability to skip all defensive drives which is pretty cool. Defense isn’t bad but I definitely do prefer being on the offense so that’s definitely more my speed. You have control of the ball and what you do with it at that point which is what makes the game fun. There is a lot amount of RNG in most of these plays.
As for the other modes, well there is a classic Story Mode once again but as always the cutscenes are completely unskippable. This has been the case for 3-4 years now and that’s unacceptable. Surely the devs have heard of the complaints before now so there’s no excuse for not being able to skip these. Especially since the story mode just isn’t all that engaging. You’ll really only be playing through the mode for the trophies.
Outside of the story mode the graphics are very solid though. It’s always great just loading up the game and seeing how nice the uniforms and backgrounds are. This is where 99% of the effort goes into so it makes sense that this part would look good. The soundtrack is very forgettable as while you’re in the games you won’t be hearing it anyway. You’ll just have the classic Football sounds at that point which is really what you want to have to focus on anyway.
Beyond that there is naturally a whole lot of replay value here. You can play games endlessly with a variety of different things to do. If you have the PSN subscription you can also take advantage of the head to head battles which is probably the most enjoyable mode. There’s nothing quite like battling others online. It’s why I would snap up a Switch version if that ever came out, but alas it doesn’t look like EA and Nintendo are ever going to mend the fence here.
Overall, Madden 20 is definitely a blast. While there are some specific changes that make it weaker than some of the other installments, ultimately it’s the core gameplay that you know and love. The series gets a lot of shots fired at it for not changing things up between years and keeping in every glitch which is valid. Still, you’re unlikely to see much of that while playing normally and it’s just too fun to put down. So ultimately the positives vastly outweigh the negatives.
Overall 8/10
Madden 19 Review
It’s time to look at one of the newest installments in Madden. It’s definitely been a fun series throughout the years and I’m proud to say that I own almost all of the installments in it. Madden 19 continues the series strong run into the modern era and it’s the kind of game that you could play for a very long time. It’s one of the only sport games where I end up playing through a full season before the review so I could really take in the smooth gameplay. There’s really not much to say against this game although there is a feature or two that take away from it being the perfect Madden title. (2004 will always be the best one)
First things first I jumped into Franchise mode. It’s really quite sad how this mode has gotten the shaft in favor of other titles over the years. You rarely hear people getting hyped about this one anymore, but to me it’ll always be the best mode. You just pick your team and play for as many years as you want. There is now the option to play the Franchise online which sounds interesting. I assume that means all 32 teams will be controller by someone online, but does that mean the matches have to be scheduled? I know there are also a lot of rage quitters so I wonder how the game handles that. Either way I don’t have PS+ so I had to play the franchise offline but that made it extra nostalgic.
As expected there are a few new bells and whistles here. For starters every player has XP as if this was an RPG and you’ve got missions for every game. Clearing them gives you more XP and you can use that to level up specific techniques or even the coach. I’m not sure if I’m 100% happy to have these extra things because I prefer to just play the game with my own playbook, but it doesn’t really harm things offline. Online it could mean that you end up being completely outclassed though if all of their players are maxed out. So I dove into the games and managed a 10-6 record. I managed to get a first round bye which was nice, but then I lost to the Eagles in the Divisional round 37-27. Considering I was playing as the Cowboys it was a pretty rough way to go. My backup quarterback fumbled twice and I also threw a pick. In the end we just couldn’t get past that. (And the random holding calls from my offensive line)
In a lot of ways the games have gotten even more realistic than they used to. A holding penalty suddenly showing up to wipe away my first down happened about as much as you see on TV for the team. Then there are also the constant injuries that would happen every game. Pretty much every important player on my team had to leave at least once during the game and several were out for weeks. I had to sign 3 more quarterbacks during the season to keep my team afloat until Dak arrived again in the final game of the regular season….only to get knocked out during the Eagles game. I’m really tempted to turn off injuries for the league next time I do a season.
Granted, I got a lot of mileage out of Dak. I ran for over 1300 yards as him and while my passing yards were only around 2800 or so, it worked out pretty well. My favorite play in the game is quick slants as there are a lot of options on the field and typically if they’re all covered well then you can run for it. Usually I would run for about 15-20 yards a piece. Of course I do recommend diving each time you run at the end because a direct hit would probably lead to a fumble. Running the ball normally was okay, but Zeke felt extremely slow so I usually wouldn’t get a lot of yards. I did go to Exhibition after the season to play as the Ravens real quick and their running back was so much faster. It just feels nice to blow past everyone.
On the defensive side it felt about the same as usual. You go after the quarterback or stay with the cornerbacks. It can be really tough to make any stops though and half the time it feels like you don’t have any real power here. I played defense for a little while and eventually turned it off. One of the best features here is the ability to skip one side of the ball. I would set it to Offense only so I would only take over at that point and the defensive side would be simulated. It was a pretty good balance if you ask me. Special teams is pretty good as well though and they tend to keep that one in. Field goal kicking has been greatly improved as it’s back to a “click x button twice” style as opposed to flicking the stick. It just feels a lot more natural now. Punting is also pretty good so these parts of the game are as good as can be.
The graphics and presentation are top notch as you’d expect. Madden has always been amazingly consistent in these areas and it shows how much effort the company puts into the game. Madden is a flagship title after all so you would expect it to always be this good. The players throw their clipboards away after a game and they’ve even got most of the celebration dances in. You can now choose how you celebrate after a play as well and the commentators really have a lot of good dialogue options so they typically know what they are talking about. It’s really rare for them to say something unrelated during the game.
Now lets talk about the only parts of the game that don’t work so well. First up, I like the concept of their Longshot mode which is where you get to start the game from college or high school and make your way to the championships. The problem is that the game has long cutscenes that cannot be skipped which is not something you want to see nowadays. I don’t think it was ever a good thing, but I understand that there may have been technical limitations at some points. Otherwise there is no excuse not to be able to skip cutscenes. That just hampers the mode quite a bit.
Meanwhile you’ve got the soundtrack which isn’t so good. EA’s always gone for very loud music which I guess ties into Football, but it can be a little obnoxious while you’re on the menus waiting for the next game. You’ll probably want to turn it off as soon as possible. Fortunately it is easy to do that. The final thing I have to mention here is that it’s still really tough to ever throw deep balls. One thing I liked about the older Maddens was that you could take shots down the field. Nowadays if you do that you’re going to get picked off. There are good receiver catching mechanics that have been added like the RAC option, but they don’t solve this issue. Typically the way to advance are short passes that go for 10-15 yards and that’s it. There are no long balls and that’s a shame.
Overall, Madden 19 is definitely a fantastic game. There is an endless amount of replay value to be found here as the game has tons and tons of different modes. It’ll take some time to master all of the mechanics since there are a lot of them and in general Madden has never been an easy game. You need to have great reaction times and to be able to scan the field right away since everyone’s positions will be constantly moving. Still, if you are able to do that you will find yourself dashing through the competition. Maybe you can even go for the Platinum while there are still enough people playing the game. Regardless Madden continues to be the greatest video game series out there right after Super Smash. I’ll definitely go after Madden 20 once the price has dropped to the 5-10 dollar level like this one did.
Overall 9/10
Madden 19 Stats and Records
Stats time!
PS4 Trophies 1/39
Season record 10-6
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