Madden 21 Reviews

[YabaDaba]

Per this Forbes article, EA privately acknowledged to game critics that there were some kinks to be worked out on a day one patch, and requested they hold their reviews until Friday, when the patch launches.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianma...d-instability/

I was wondering why IGN was early, and still the only. They just went final with their 6.

IGN directly went against what EA appeared to be requesting from critics. Very interesting...

[TampaTom]

Quote: Originally Posted by secondsolution

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but according to...[/url] Madden NFL 21 is the ING's lowest rated XBOX/PlayStation release EVER! That's insane. And given the main reason for this is the lack of franchise mode improvements I think this sends a clear message to Madden and other sports titles that franchise modes are definitely still relevant. For those of you saying that the only metric that EA cares about is sales and $$$. That definitely has an element of truth, however remember that many developers have KPIs against things like metacritic scores. So if Sean Grady's bonus drops this year due to this score you can guarantee we will see a major improvement to franchise for Madden 22. I think this is a major win for the #FixMaddenFranchise movement, and will have a big impact for the next 2-5 years of franchise improvements.

I'm really confused this year. On one hand, I see the majority of people online and on these forums voicing strong criticism to the game. However, most mods on OS and all the big name posters are giving it exceptional reviews.

How can one group be so against it why the mods here think its the best Madden ever? $60 is a lot for me since I don't have much and will probably have to sell something else to get the money - so its a big decision for me. I have to trust someone's review lol!

I do know that watching others on YouTube play, I can't really tell the difference between the past half decade. I like the throwing while getting sacked and the reaching out, but ive only seen the reach for a TD a couple of times. Also from watching their games, it doesn't appear CPU play is any better. Drew Brees played worse than the the low 80's/mid 70's QBs. Maybe sliders? I dunno.

Was really hoping EA would have made improvements but they're not even in the patch.

Not sure what I'll do.

[pietasterp]

Quote: Originally Posted by PVarck31

This is how reviews work in gaming media. Every official gaming website who does reviews gets the game for free. I'm not saying it doesn't cause bias, but you can pick out the ones where it does. And I can assure you, our writers here review games without bias. It's just a matter of who you trust. Every game reviewed today is provided to the reviewer.

Quote: Originally Posted by Sheba2011

This would eliminate 99% of websites that do game reviews. Nearly all of them get games for free that they review and all of them have advertising from game companies. Websites don't pay for themselves. It's easy to spot the ones with bias from the respectable ones.

I have a full understanding that this is how it works, which is precisely why I made the statement I did. 99% of game reviews from websites are worthless. Their business model is the reason for that. I admit my view is a purist view, but there is overwhelming evidence that access affects opinions. There is literally no other reason for companies to provide it.

I am not impugning anyone's integrity at this (or any other site); I'm not even saying it's intentional. I like the OS community, as evidenced by the fact that I've been here forever. But the idea that favor or access has no effect whatsoever on how opinions are formed is nonsense.

[YabaDaba]

Embargo’s over.

GameInformer: 7.75/10
DualShockers: 4.5/10
GamesRadar: 3/5
Inverse: 6/10
Twinfinite: 3/5
USGamer: 3/5
GamingTrend: 8/10

[cirespieler]

Quote: Originally Posted by TampaTom

I'm really confused this year. On one hand, I see the majority of people online and on these forums voicing strong criticism to the game. However, most mods on OS and all the big name posters are giving it exceptional reviews. How can one group be so against it why the mods here think its the best Madden ever? $60 is a lot for me since I don't have much and will probably have to sell something else to get the money - so its a big decision for me. I have to trust someone's review lol! I do know that watching others on YouTube play, I can't really tell the difference between the past half decade. I like the throwing while getting sacked and the reaching out, but ive only seen the reach for a TD a couple of times. Also from watching their games, it doesn't appear CPU play is any better. Drew Brees played worse than the the low 80's/mid 70's QBs. Maybe sliders? I dunno. Was really hoping EA would have made improvements but they're not even in the patch. Not sure what I'll do.

One move is to get EA Play for $4.99 and do the 10 hours trial of the game, then either cancel and get your $ back or use the discount to buy digital which more than offsets the $4.99.


If you want some more info quick, I’ve been playing Madden for 20 years and have done most of the trial now. I’ll be waiting for patches to fix major issues before purchasing.
Gameplay does have some nice improvements and presentation some minor advancements, however the game is very choppy and laggy at times, new modes aren’t great, and CFM is untouched. As it stands the bad outweighs the little bit of good but maybe they salvage it with solid updates the next few weeks.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[cirespieler]

Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[secondsolution]

Quote: Originally Posted by TampaTom

I'm really confused this year. On one hand, I see the majority of people online and on these forums voicing strong criticism to the game. However, most mods on OS and all the big name posters are giving it exceptional reviews. How can one group be so against it why the mods here think its the best Madden ever? $60 is a lot for me since I don't have much and will probably have to sell something else to get the money - so its a big decision for me. I have to trust someone's review lol! I do know that watching others on YouTube play, I can't really tell the difference between the past half decade. I like the throwing while getting sacked and the reaching out, but ive only seen the reach for a TD a couple of times. Also from watching their games, it doesn't appear CPU play is any better. Drew Brees played worse than the the low 80's/mid 70's QBs. Maybe sliders? I dunno. Was really hoping EA would have made improvements but they're not even in the patch. Not sure what I'll do.

I think the gameplay is really good and deserves some praise. It's likely why the big name posters are giving it wraps. It falls over for modes (like franchise) and is very buggy

[ripcandlestickpark]

While I'm not yet sure how much my opinions will differ or match up with those of the IGN reviewer (my physical copy doesn't arrive for awhile), I will say that it is oddly refreshing for one of the more mainstream video game websites to be that critical of Madden. I don't think it's much of a secret that the folks who generally review sports games for sites like IGN and Gamespot aren't as fanatical as we are. They're generally not the types to play certain titles year-round or keep track of how patches affect the game. Usually, it seems that as long as a sports game looks better than the previous year's iteration and has back of the box features function as advertised, it's almost impossible to garner anything less than a 7/10.

In particular, I'm happy the reviewer mentioned presentation as an area where significant improvement is needed. While i'm happy that a surprising number of people on here seem to enjoy the new intros and whatnot, I firmly believe they're a step backwards. Generally, that's the type of thing mainstream reviewers gloss over.

Not sure what to think of that Sporting News article, though. While I don't really have anything against That Franchise Guy (apart from him taking unnecessary potshots at Apathy's Xbox roster earlier in the year), I'm not sure Moody or the SoftDrinkTV dude are the best voices to represent the Franchise/sim community.