Sports fans rejoice! Madden NFL 26 is back, and it faces some stiff competition downfield. College Football 26 proved to be a fantastic pigskin simulator, improving on an already solid rookie outing. The Madden series has clearly learned from EA’s prodigal punting son, and this year’s entry promises a lot of changes behind the face mask. But are they enough? Is it really worth buying another year of Madden at full price in today’s gaming market? Let’s kick off.
Starting Line Up
Right off the bat, players are given a taste of Ultimate Team. Playing Early Access, I was greeted with a surprisingly short intro to the game. Instead of giving me a ton of reading material like last year’s entry, Madden gets players right into the game. The endless menus that showcase what’s changed this year are gone. Madden takes a show-and-tell approach. Opening packs is still very slow, however, and load times still have the signature junk. But overall, everything feels a bit more simplified here. For newer players, or someone like me who hasn’t picked up a Madden title in a few months, the tutorials on how to get the best of this mode are welcome.
For the first time in a while, I actually felt the early access and ultimate edition content was really worth buying. After opening packs and sorting my lineup, I felt like I ended up with a pretty decent starting team. I spent my points and didn’t feel upset with the results. Playing the actual games and finishing the initial challenges also gave me a great feel of the game, and the changes, especially in the quarterback gameplay, are excellent.
Forming the Franchise
There’s always a lot to do with the players in the NFL. This offseason, there have been quite a lot of shake-ups and trades, but there’s also been coaching shuffles. In fact, coaching has become an upfront priority in Madden 26. There is greater attention given to playbooks and Coaching IQ when selecting plays. Madden 26 quotes a 10-season span that its AI relies on, and honestly, it shows.
Create a Coach has seen quite an overhaul here, too, and if players want to get really deep into it, ‘Coaching Simulator 26’ is here. Playbooks a plenty, the ability to mirror how you want to coach with a current great like Dan Campbell, or customizing your own is available here. There’s also the ability, though, to still just simply pick a coach from your favourite NFL team and play a standard franchise mode with a mindset in play. As someone who actually doesn’t like spending time creating things, this was appreciated.
It’s In The Game
In Franchise Mode and Superstar Mode, players are given question-and-answer segments between plays. There are also constant tutorials that are short and to the point. These never felt annoying, whereas in past years whenever Madden would try to tell me how to play, I found myself trying to skip through. Overall, the details all seem very clear. Except for when they don’t! For instance, in Superstar mode, during the combine, my created player was missing kneecaps. It’s a small graphic bug, but little things like this still exist in Madden games, and overall, more polish is expected on yearly titles.
Superstar mode overall is engaging. Playing as my created WR, the customization is well executed. Sorting out where each individual stat goes really was noticeable during gameplay. Calling for a long pass didn’t go so well, but once I upgraded my passing in traffic stat, I caught a nearly impossible catch in the next game.
I say nearly impossible because while Madden 26 isn’t perfect, this is the best entry yet in regard to game-breaking bugs. After playing many games, I can confidently say everything that went wrong in the game was due to my play level, not bugs. While visually, Madden still leaves a bit to be desired, the gameplay is outstanding. This is NFL Football. It’s tactical due to the new Coach and Player IQ features, and it’s professional-level fast and glitzy in between. If only the presentation were delivered like the triple-A gameplay does.
Passable Presentation
The presentation overall in Madden 26 is a clear, strong effort. Everything feels more real, from dynamic, on field weather, time, mascots, and the house getting loud before the snap. While the details are here, though the bugs get in the way. While there are shining moments like pick 6 team celebrations, and more zany touchdown celebrations, the transition animations between plays got tired after a few hours of playing. I saw the exact same bench animations four times in a row. When Madden 26 simulates well, it shines. But the moment repetition starts, it loses its wear, fast.
Menus are simplistic this time around, almost too simplistic. It’s come a long way from past years when the tiles and endless navigations made me want to tear what little hair I have left out. The soundtrack saves it, though, as the booming, hard-hitting feeling that watching an NFL game gives fans is here, musically.
Wear and Tear Until It Is Done
Another significant new feature is College Football’s Wear and Tear mechanic, making its debut in the Madden series. This breaks your player down in real time and overall enhances the gameplay experience. This got annoying in College Football, but for the right reasons. One of the things missing from sports titles is real-life integration. Players get hurt, and it no longer feels random. Now, it’s very clear when players are tuckered out and needing a substitution or rest. To players wanting the arcade experience, it’s pretty much gone now. This is only a detriment due to Madden 26 not featuring a mode like The Yard anymore.
Wear and Tear is difficult to turn off. At the time of this review, when players attempt to turn off Wear and Tear, Progressive Fatigue turns on automatically. It’s clear that EA wants this to be a true simulation series, especially with this year’s entry.
Over It All
At the end of the Field Goal attempt, Madden 26 clears the posts. Mostly. Presentation and Gameplay have had enough overall to make it feel different enough from its predecessor to justify another yearly purchase. If you are an NFL Football fan, this is a great entry to get you into the game this season. While at times, it feels like a copy and paste effort, the majority of the experience is new and exciting. One thing that will be tough to get used to, though, is just how real Madden 26 feels.
While there aren’t as many glitch moments during gameplay, it does get frustrating when you’re on a drive, needing that down, and want to force a player a bit further, only to have them wear and tear away. But I guess that’s football, isn’t it? Maybe I require more coaching IQ myself. The problem is, there’s so little arcade ball left in Madden. Perhaps NFL Blitz needs to be the next major returning football franchise.
Madden 26
Summary
Madden 26 is one of the most realistic Football simulation titles EA has released in many years. It lacks the arcade feeling past titles were criticized for by adding more dynamic presentation elements, Wear and Tear, and overhauls on Coach mechanics across the bar. Bugs aside, where it suffers is repetitive animations, and due to the very realistic feel, it lacks the same amount of fun Madden titles are known for this year.
Value wise, this yearly series is still in the update category and not a completely new game. That being said, if this was called ‘NFL Coaching Simulator 26’ that might be a touchdown. Fans wanting the most realistic experience including player injury and fatigue will be pleased. The rest of us can hold out until next years’ inevitable entry gives us a ‘new’ arcade mode again.
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