Madden NFL 24 review
EA Tiburon’s Madden NFL 24 builds upon last year’s reworked foundations to deliver a football simulation that successfully advances the series’ commitment to realism. While the series is in dire need of advancement, the additional features in this installment are poorly implemented, and the interface is showing its age.
The action on the pitch is more authentic than ever. Ball carriers now push against heaps to gain yards, aggressive players fight for the ball in the air, and a wide range of tackles have been implemented. I was particularly pleased by the instances when the defense would aggressively grab runners and force them to the ground.
Rebuilt player models more accurately reflect the wide range of physical attributes displayed by actual players. One common complaint from last year’s entry has been addressed by improvements to the blocking logic (especially on tosses and rollouts), but runners still bounce off of defenders too much, and the offensive balance is a little too far towards run-first teams.
The most significant modifications concern the franchise mode’s player management features. It’s great that trades can involve more than three players from each team, and it’s even better that teams can include draft picks from more than a year from now. Contract restructuring to increase available cap space is a real and practical resource for building rosters.
The new minigames are less well received and have been poorly implemented. Players participate in a variety of workouts throughout the offseason and throughout regular training to gain experience and level up. Many of the activities are entertaining, but others, such as the DB wars, are excruciating. You can avoid them, but then you won’t earn as much experience. The offensive linemen have no corresponding drill. There is little benefit to focusing on developing a rookie offensive lineman, for example.
There has been a little reorganization of the various gameplay types. Face of the Franchise has been replaced by Superstar mode, which focuses solely on the gameplay without any semblance of a plot. The Yard has been renamed Superstar KO, and it’s a pleasant diversion that gets old fast due to its neon-infused take on three-on-three football.
One of Madden’s biggest problems is shown by the fact that Madden Ultimate Team hasn’t altered much in years. When a game ends in MUT and you have to open a pack to get a new player, you have to wait through several pages of load times. Given that the vast majority of gameplay in Madden takes place in menus, regardless of mode, the game’s lackluster responsiveness is a major issue.
Cross-play and cross-progression are introduced for the first time in Madden 24, and they work really smoothly. Players on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC can turn it on with the flip of a switch. Although crossplay can’t be used in Franchise mode, online head-to-head play performed smoothly, and more people playing should mean quicker matchmaking. I was able to swiftly locate a friend on Xbox through my PS5 by searching for their EA username.
Madden 24’s advancements to the series’ core gameplay have paid off again and again with some of the most realistic football in the franchise’s history. However, the horribly sluggish menus and the emphasis on repetitive minigames cancel out any improvement and actually take the series backwards, like an untimely punishment.
