Madden NFL 20 updates and adds some interesting attributes to its football structure. It polishes up the story mode and gives it focus while maintaining the entertainment value of the series steadily. It needed a bit more with regard to content, but what it has is still good.
This is the first Madden NFL game where I’ve felt like I belong. For many moons, through suffering and adjusting numbers inside the game, I don’t need to taint my team with my insane trade deals to make my team good/entertaining/fun. I don’t need to beef up my defense, acquire Brady to lead my offense or do anything that would not be done in normal NFL real-life scenario. No, ladies and gents, this Browns fan has finally played a game provided by EA Sports and EA Tiburon that lives up to my hopes and dreams. I’m finally playing the Browns as-is, not as I want them to be. The end result is nothing short of delicious.
Working through my obvious feelings and biases, where Tiburon and EA Sports have won my heart through the soon-to-be dominance of a team I have followed for decades, the game has done what it did best last year and added what it thought was useful without changing much behind it. Does that work? Well, it does to a point, but you’re getting a lot of Madden NFL 19’s construction with Madden NFL 20, which means that you’ve played most of it before you even fired it up. What Tiburon did add is impressive, but maybe not enough.
Let’s dig right into it.
The positive of this year’s Madden NFL game is evident as soon as you start the Franchise mode. The running, the passing, the catching, the defending — all of it is smoothed out. It feels a bit more arcade-y than usual, which for someone like me, who is not competing as a professional Madden player, makes for happy times. Simplicity in a sports game is essential for a wider audience to enjoy it. If only a certain percentage of the gamer population was getting the most out of the Madden series, then you’re missing a wider audience of potential sports gamers. The series did take a step back in the ‘hardcore’ department last year with how it worked and felt, at least out of the box, and this year it seems to even bring it back further. As much as that sounds like a knock against it, don’t take it as such. FIFA did the same when it found itself trying to run with Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer years ago. PES was always known for being a hardcore soccer/futbol game, which probably drove the FIFA devs batty. EA’s devs looked at FIFA, found that giving a better experience to a wider range of gamers to be more fruitful than keeping up with the Joneses, and it paid off. FIFA is a household name with sports gaming. Again, that plan didn’t mean that hardcore gamers were left out in the cold, rather it just meant that hardcore gamers would have to adjust the experience to meet their needs. Right out of the box, FIFA was ready to go for noobs of the series, which meant people enjoyed the game and came back to it, even those not committed to dedicating their gamer life to it.
Can you imagine? It’s a simple formula that says, “If you want to make this a complicated experience, then you can. If you don’t, then you’re ready to have fun right when you start the game.” That is how you print money. That is how Madden NFL 20 currently stands. I can take that formula and enjoy it.
That simplicity translates well to controls in the game, which helps gamers get right into it. From the get-go with Madden NFL 20, I could control my defense the way I wanted with better blitzing, more chance for success breaking the O-line, and defending the secondary without feeling like I needed Mortal Kombat-esque button skills. EA Tiburon has made that side of the ball feel like child’s play to a casual Madden gamer like myself. As stated with the FIFA example, this doesn’t mean that hardcore Madden NFL football fans won’t find what they’re looking for with the game, rather it simply means that the gaming experience is just easier for the casual gamer wanting to get excited about the football season again. I like that element of Madden NFL 20, where you can just jump in and go. It’s how all sports games used to be back in my day (he says in an old man voice) and something that somehow was lost since the mid-2000s.
The above goes for the offense side of the ball as well. The controls for the offense are simple, if not so damn fun at times. For example, my boy Baker Mayfield has an extra gear when running and throwing that Tiburon accounted for when building this year’s game. In the arm department, he does a great job of running and throwing at the same time, something he was known for last year and at his previous Oklahoma stop. The game treats this well, let’s him get out of the pocket in a hurry, and when everyone is locked down, allows Mayfield to sprint out of the pocket, in an almost cartoon cloud-behind-your-feet sort of fashion. The latter of that sentence doesn’t last long, but it’s a good indicator that the guy is ready to run. Mayfield’s accuracy in running/throwing (both) is probably helped by the fact that he has Landry and OBJ as targets, but his talent for running/gunning was in place before that duo was not he field together. Anyway, Tiburon takes into account a player’s strength and translates that well through player controls, which I enormously appreciate. It’s like they focused on players having fun, rather than asking them to push X-Triangle-R2 (not an actual button combo — but you get the picture). All of the above is done easily on the controller and doesn’t require you to think about what you’re pushing. It only requires you to have fun. I know that sounds dumb/like EA paid me, but that’s not the case. It’s just simplified controls to keep you focused on emulating actual football.
The real star in all of the above is the implementation of Superstar X-Factors and zone abilities. As you do well in each game, each star in the game is given a set of objectives. For example, Myles Garrett is given a certain amount of tackles to make during a game or over the course of games. My games had Garrett achieve said objectives against the Jets (I mean, it’s the Jets — tackling people is super-duper easy). Once Garrett achieved those objectives, he got a giant electric X underneath his character, which brought out his God-given abilities to sack a man’s soul right out of his body, and also injure poor Sam Darnold. If you accomplish certain feats, then you are given certain attributes to make your player better. It’s like having a well-earned ‘He’s on Fire!’ from NBA JAM — except less cheat-y. Some might find this element of the game incredibly unfair, but if you think about it, if someone sacks you five times, then you probably are going to get sacked more, which logically makes this feature completely fair. I’m not saying this as a bitter Browns fan that has felt short-changed every year. I’m saying this as a gamer that enjoys football and being entertained. It’s a welcomed element that motivates the player to do better in the game, time successful offensive/defensive plays better, and to be rewarded for it. Why wouldn’t you want that? Because it gives an unfair advantage? People can’t help it that you suck. Like the Browns did from 1999-2017.
Moving on, football storytelling is back with Face of the Franchise, and this time you have more of a clear path from college to pros. The game mode features the ‘choose your own adventure’ dialogue, which results in your character-shaping themselves in a particular way. While I think having a narrative in a game to push along and make a sports game deeper is nice, there are certain elements of this mode that irritate me. The biggest irritation? I hate that you can’t skip cutscenes. It’s like Tiburon doesn’t know gamers through the lack of skipping cutscenes. Even though the devs want your story to push through and be told, they should always give a player the option to move on at their whim. Yes, it takes away from the moments, but it puts the player in full control of their football destiny. If they reach a ‘choose your own adventure’ moment without knowing the context behind the choices, then that’s on the player. Never force gamers into a corner. That big complaint aside, it’s still a good story. I like that actual college teams are there (minus the players) to play on, and I think the progression system to start your pro career is simple to follow. It’s a good mode that is entertaining, but it’s not perfect.
Ah, Ultimate Team. Yeah, I could play this stupid mode all day/every day. I say ‘stupid’ with sincerity and love. It’s a bit more streamlined here, fast-paced in progression, and fun as hell when accomplishing challenges. I played this a few hours and it honestly isn’t that challenging, but I’m okay with that, especially after upping the difficulty in the regular Franchise mode. I needed a break. Also, watch out for those Seahawks.
As I have said the last few years with the Madden series, less is more with regard to content. While not a lot has changed on the surface with Madden NFL 20, outside of X factor and a more reformed Face of the Franchise, it still feels like a fun football game.
Now, time to get on a football soapbox (not a thing). One day EA Sports and Tiburon are going to get wise and sell this thing for full price ONCE, then charge $19.99 for updates throughout several football seasons. They honestly need to move to a FULL Madden NFL game every 2-3 years instead of every year. I think the series would benefit from a schedule change like this, plus it would give developers time to find new ways to keep the series fresh. EA Sports has to know that the fanbase won’t run away from that idea, in fact, they may get new fans because of that structure. I know that there are several complaints about this year’s game not having enough content to warrant the price, and I think those complaints are valid. The game is a blast, but you can tell that this wasn’t a full makeover. Okay, off my soapbox now.
Overall, Madden NFL 20 updates and adds some interesting attributes to its football structure. It polishes up the story mode and gives it focus while maintaining the entertainment value of the series steadily. It needed a bit more with regard to content, but what it has is still good.
