Another year, another Madden NFL release.
As football gets back into the swing of things, replacing golf and the second half of the Cincinnati Reds’ season, EA has released Madden NFL 27. While there have been improvements and customization added to some of the modes that were getting a bit stale- looking at you, Franchise mode- EA seems to have improved all aspects of its game while leaning on heavy tweaks to lead the gameplay. And those tweaks are darn good.
Anyhoo, let’s get right into things.
Ultimate Team
Ultimate Team is why this franchise keeps hanging on, as it gives players full agency in building a team they believe is the best of the best. And, of course, they get to put that to the test against other players, which only stokes the gamer ego. Now, that might seem like harsh or sarcastic criticism of what is arguably the most popular mode in the game, but it’s not. It is what it is, and outside of balancing player numbers with results on the field, Ultimate Team hasn’t changed dramatically. And why would it? It’s the cash cow of this franchise, and tweaking data while keeping the same gameplay structure really is all EA needs to do to continue its success with this mode. From a business perspective, Ultimate Team is fine the way it is, although there might always be players who will grumble about stats not matching the field of play from time to time. They gripe about that every year, so nothing changes from that end of the game. If players want a fair and balanced Ultimate Team, they will get it. It won’t be perfect, but it will be improved.
Franchise Mode
Franchise mode is a different beast this year. While there’s been less emphasis on coaching/managing one’s team and more on field play, EA has done a fantastic job adjusting how that field play works. This year’s game brings a more refined wide receiver role, which means battling the defender and coming down with the ball can happen more naturally and be dictated more by the player. For example, my Browns QB, Shedeur Sanders, while not accurate, can throw a ball to Jerry Jeudy or Boston from the wide receiver group. Even though it may not be accurate or might be off, there is more of a chance for the WRs to catch that ball than there has been in the past. These are small tweaks, but good ones that give players a bit more agency than usual. Typically, once the ball is thrown, it’s a hit-or-miss type of catch depending on defensive player distance and stats. This isn’t the case this year, as there is always a chance for success. It’s the little things that can make a game so much better.
Relatedly, the running game is far more improved than last year, as finding a hole or breaking away from a defender feels doable and far less automated. I can’t tell you how many times I would try to break away last year or find a wide-open hole in the defense, only for either to collapse out of nowhere as a magical defensive player could randomly grab me. Running is opportunistic this year, driven by good player decisions and obvious flaws in the defensive line. It works well and feels good across the board, even outside of franchise mode. Good tweaks all over the offensive game.
The same kind of tweaking went into better defensive movement, which feels more natural and less automated than in past iterations. It feels good to knock through an offensive line and chase down a QB for a sack. Tackling has also improved on the defensive side of the ball, as has just breaking from a scrum to take down another player, which can be easily done with the flick of a thumb. Again, it all feels natural and, more importantly, completely player-controlled. When your brain tries to do action A and can do action A, the gameplay always feels more player-controlled, which is what you want with a sports title.
With all this improvement, has anything fallen behind? It’s going to sound weird, but the kicking game is a disaster. It’s unforgiving, with little to no room for error. It doesn’t help that the kicking game has changed again this year, using an arrow pointer and an unreasonable power meter. The latter is the worst part of the kicking game, as a player can get their arrow pointing in the right direction but only be allowed to hold down the power button for what feels like less than a second, or it spells a disastrous kick. This part of the offense is definitely overcooked and not correct. It’s irritating to miss multiple kicks because one literally holds the power button down for half a second too long.
Also, players will know their kicks are blocked well before it happens. The game will unusually and automatically slow down the kick, which means a block is about to occur. Can you control it? Nope. It’s random. That’s just bad because if you manage to hit the ball in the right direction with the right power, then it should be a no-brainer that it goes in. There should be zero chance of a block unless the defense does something magical, because either the pointer or the power was not correct. Anyway, long story short, the kicking game needs some major improvements.
Moving on, let’s discuss the Superstar mode.
Superstar Mode
The Superstar mode in Madden NFL 27 might be the most data-driven mode of all the gameplay modes. Setting up a character and improving them down to their fundamentals and buffs makes for a fun narrative adventure, and creates good motivation to keep improving. For the most part, I had a good time seeing my Browns’ QB rise from nothing into semi-nothing (awful team). It was fun to improve their game in certain areas and have that translate nearly perfectly on the field. It felt like I was growing the superstar into something special, even though he was on a shit team. Of course, this mode has some issues.
While Superstar mode comes packed with the same on-field tweaks as Franchise and UT, it has some glaring faults. The biggest is that it starts at the combine and doesn’t go back to pre-Pro career rest stops. No college, no high school, no prior playing. It simply starts the player at the combine. You would think that EA’s connection with College Football would have been used to bridge the two games, or at least bring in some aspect for the pre-Pro career. While I don’t mind starting at the combine, I feel like it misses some storytelling for the Superstar rising from the depths of the high school ranks. It’s a narrative portion of the game, so it should have some sort of link to the past. Hell, if EA were smart, they would directly link Superstar from College Football to Superstar in Madden NFL 27. That is such an obvious money-maker. Both games would sell, and Madden would seem like a yearly sequel.
Anyway, the other issue I had with this mode is more technical. When my guy, John Madden, was on the field playing as my QB, there were times when I would agree to a scheme and then not see an assigned button on the controller for the player it was connected to. This issue isn’t related to buttons disappearing when the play is called; it’s because the camera is too low to the ground. This was irritating. Not even mildly irritating, but straight up fully irritating. It meant I had to guess the button or wait until the play was snapped, then wait for the button to possibly appear. Literally, hitting the R2 button didn’t reveal this before the snap. Why? No idea. This is my technical complaint about this mode, and it severely needs addressing.
Beyond the modes in the game, the visuals have improved dramatically. The on-field animations and the cutscenes are gorgeous. There aren’t many dead eyes or unnatural movements. The models have been redone; the animation looks fantastic, even though the celebrations in the end zones are limited (I had an offensive line guy do a flip – how cool, and slightly unrealistic). The visuals are a huge plus for the game, and the improved music licensing helps keep the jams going. On the presentation side, this release has been solid.
Before we wrap, let me get in one last gripe…online connectivity issues. No, I am not talking about online head-to-head or going against another player of any kind. I mean requiring a connection for modes like Superstar to work. That shouldn’t be a thing. There’s nothing quite like being in the midst of training, doing well in an event, and having the connection to EA’s servers lost, which means the game automatically quits in the midst of event success. What is up with that? Why can’t that be local? Why does it depend on a connection to EA’s server? That only happened four times in a row before I stopped for an hour, but that connection makes no sense. That should be a local file, not a file on EA’s servers that constantly needs checking to function. Shouldn’t. Be. A. Thing.
Anyway, let’s wrap up this review.
Conclusion
This year’s Madden NFL release is solid for the most part. I think it’s an improvement from last year’s game. Madden NFL 27 has on-field tweaks that improve gameplay, mostly solid modes, and better stability. A questionably unsteady kicking game and a required EA online connection with Superstar mode keep this from being great.
