Third And Long

This year, the Madden franchise is hunting down the field for a quick strike to jumpstart itself and excite fans. In recent iterations, progress has come in fits and starts, so this year's game is taking some big swings in its Franchise and Ultimate Team modes. Unfortunately, despite having all the tools on paper, not all of the game’s attempts pay off. 

Gameplay remains a strong component of the series, delivering a satisfying feeling on the sticks in the running game and animations that often look realistic. This is bolstered by the addition of the optional catch meter from College Football. It – along with more interplay between receivers and defensive backs – creates some satisfying moments when you get the timing correct and haul in or break up a pass. CPU defenses can be nice and aggressive, but hopefully play-action passes are soon tweaked, because right now your QB gets blasted too often.

The big addition to Franchise mode is the Persona Engine, which tries to add some personality to how CPU players, and thus their teams, act. This is paired with increased options that produce a more involved back-and-forth between teams and players for contracts and free agency.

However, players’ DNA tags change as you progress through the negotiation rounds. One second the total salary amount is “critical” to them, the next it’s not; it feels like you’re getting the runaround. Each round, you have five different pitches you can deliver, but they are deployed in a similar pattern, so it can be frustrating when you want to bump up their bonus, for example, but it’s arbitrarily not an option in this particular round.

The worst thing is that the mode’s underlying logic is still confusing. CPU teams can’t manage their salary cap or draft properly, and simmed stats get wonky. The new Free Agent Frenzy fizzles out quickly as the process feels like a black box where players inexplicably sign with other teams no matter what contract you offer.

Even with more player-centric events to react to and news flashes to keep you up on what’s happening in the wider league, the mode still doesn’t capture the drama of the NFL. That the most exciting thing that happened during my multiple Franchise runthroughs was I talked a player out of retirement is a testament to how uneventful the mode often is. You can see that the mode can be fun and is taking steps in the right direction with this year's changes, but it's also clear it isn't delivering on its potential, which is a shame.

The career-focused Superstar mode does not have as many new features. You can now play as a tight end, safety, and edge rusher, but the experience is still best as a QB or running back. There’s also a battle pass, which is optional, but adds frustrating monetization and multiple in-game currencies to a completely offline mode in a full-priced title.

As your standing with your team balloons, so too does your influence; I enjoyed being able to eventually influence who my team signed in free agency. But what’s really needed is the feeling that you’re living the life of an NFL player. Even the ups and downs of playing your position isn’t fully captured because objectives don’t evolve as your career progresses. This means any sense of storytelling stops as soon as you complete that game’s objectives.

Ultimate Team arguably contains the largest change for this year’s Madden. Similar to EA FC, you can improve players by purchasing Evolutions. You can also choose your own captains to upgrade, and certain players get better when you complete their objectives. The rub is that which attributes are actually upgraded when you spend a skill point is randomized within specific buckets.

You can re-roll upgrades at the cost of the free, in-game UT Coin currency, but this will act as a Coin sink as players inevitably chase upgrades for the most desired attributes like speed. While this year’s additions undoubtedly increase your ability to customize your roster and should make the cards you choose more useful compared to the progression curve for longer, it will also further the grind and meta chase.

Adding features to a game is about more than simply making it different from last year; it should be about tweaking and improving upon previous years’ entries with the aim toward creating an unmissable experience. In Madden NFL 27, that can happen on the field itself via gameplay, but when it comes to being the coach/GM of a team or its superstar, it doesn’t fully deliver.