Madden 24 Review: Excels on the Field but Stumbles Elsewhere

[Steve_OS]

The running joke within the Madden community for years now has been how often reviewers will...

Written By: Kevin Scott

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[canes21]

Re: Madden 24 Review: Excels on the Field but Stumbles Elsewhere

Agree with most of the review. Franchise continues to suffer because the world does not feel alive in the slightest. The same can be said for the experience when playing the games themselves. The gameplay on the field is in the best spot it has even been in the series even with the numerous legacy issues that still plague the game like the lack of penalties. However, the presentation is still done too poorly which detracts from the entire experience.

I welcome the emotion between plays. I welcome the new camera angles when the offense is approaching the line of scrimmage. I welcome the referees on the field. Those are all small steps in the right direction. We need leaps in the presentation at this point, though. The commentary is too bland and repetitive. There are too many pointless stories being told and not enough actual discussion about the current game and franchise itself. Where are the stat wipes?

I don't really understand why EA has chosen this approach, but ever since Ian Cummings left EA it's as if the company has a huge grudge against actual TV broadcasts of NFL games and refuses to just copy what they do when that's literally all the playerbase wishes. Stop trying to reinvent the presentation packages. When EA puts their own spin on any presentation aspect, it flops. Whenever they copy a real life broadcast like the new broadcast angles for the walkups to the LOS, it is very welcomed.

I also have to say the new sliders, the new toggles and options, are all very welcome and I hope this is a sign that EA is really going all in on the customization side moving forward.

To me, the gameplay is in such a good place that I only wish for Madden 25 that EA simply prioritizes fixing the legacy issues, making franchise mode feel more alive than ever before, watching real NFL broadcasts and going all in on copying them, expanding on coaching staffs and making them matter more, and giving the users even more sliders, options, and toggles. Do that, deliver a polished game, and I'll be shouting Madden is back from the rooftops.

[wreckem27]

Re: Madden 24 Review: Excels on the Field but Stumbles Elsewhere

I'm playing on PC. The number one thing that bothers me is the menu's are so SLOW.

Like NCAA 14 is snappy. I can get in and out real quick looking at rosters, rankings, etc.

Madden? I want to talk to a player about how they played or mentoring or whatever, gotta load up a scene in the background. So unnecessary. Adds nothing for me. I accidentally click the option to do stadium upgrades? ugh a 3-4 seconds every time in and out. Awful stuff.

[TarHeelPhenom]

Re: Madden 24 Review: Excels on the Field but Stumbles Elsewhere

Agree with most of the review. Franchise continues to suffer because the world does not feel alive in the slightest. The same can be said for the experience when playing the games themselves. The gameplay on the field is in the best spot it has even been in the series even with the numerous legacy issues that still plague the game like the lack of penalties. However, the presentation is still done too poorly which detracts from the entire experience.

I welcome the emotion between plays. I welcome the new camera angles when the offense is approaching the line of scrimmage. I welcome the referees on the field. Those are all small steps in the right direction. We need leaps in the presentation at this point, though. The commentary is too bland and repetitive. There are too many pointless stories being told and not enough actual discussion about the current game and franchise itself. Where are the stat wipes?

I don't really understand why EA has chosen this approach, but ever since Ian Cummings left EA it's as if the company has a huge grudge against actual TV broadcasts of NFL games and refuses to just copy what they do when that's literally all the playerbase wishes. Stop trying to reinvent the presentation packages. When EA puts their own spin on any presentation aspect, it flops. Whenever they copy a real life broadcast like the new broadcast angles for the walkups to the LOS, it is very welcomed.

I also have to say the new sliders, the new toggles and options, are all very welcome and I hope this is a sign that EA is really going all in on the customization side moving forward.

To me, the gameplay is in such a good place that I only wish for Madden 25 that EA simply prioritizes fixing the legacy issues, making franchise mode feel more alive than ever before, watching real NFL broadcasts and going all in on copying them, expanding on coaching staffs and making them matter more, and giving the users even more sliders, options, and toggles. Do that, deliver a polished game, and I'll be shouting Madden is back from the rooftops.

Will be interesting to see what presentation is like in the college game next summer. Hopefully it's a step above what we have now in Madden and nothing close to what it was in NCAA 14.

[Btj98]

Re: Madden 24 Review: Excels on the Field but Stumbles Elsewhere

Agree with most of the review. Franchise continues to suffer because the world does not feel alive in the slightest. The same can be said for the experience when playing the games themselves. The gameplay on the field is in the best spot it has even been in the series even with the numerous legacy issues that still plague the game like the lack of penalties. However, the presentation is still done too poorly which detracts from the entire experience.

I welcome the emotion between plays. I welcome the new camera angles when the offense is approaching the line of scrimmage. I welcome the referees on the field. Those are all small steps in the right direction. We need leaps in the presentation at this point, though. The commentary is too bland and repetitive. There are too many pointless stories being told and not enough actual discussion about the current game and franchise itself. Where are the stat wipes?

I don't really understand why EA has chosen this approach, but ever since Ian Cummings left EA it's as if the company has a huge grudge against actual TV broadcasts of NFL games and refuses to just copy what they do when that's literally all the playerbase wishes. Stop trying to reinvent the presentation packages. When EA puts their own spin on any presentation aspect, it flops. Whenever they copy a real life broadcast like the new broadcast angles for the walkups to the LOS, it is very welcomed.

I also have to say the new sliders, the new toggles and options, are all very welcome and I hope this is a sign that EA is really going all in on the customization side moving forward.

To me, the gameplay is in such a good place that I only wish for Madden 25 that EA simply prioritizes fixing the legacy issues, making franchise mode feel more alive than ever before, watching real NFL broadcasts and going all in on copying them, expanding on coaching staffs and making them matter more, and giving the users even more sliders, options, and toggles. Do that, deliver a polished game, and I'll be shouting Madden is back from the rooftops.

I 100% agree with you with that the world inside franchise does not feel alive. This is by far the number 1 thing on my wishlist for Madden next year is for them to fully overhaul the news system and presentation aspects of the game. For the news system I'm thinking of something like having a Big central hub to see big news stories currently going on around the league and then being able to go to each team’s twitter account to see news for that specific team like if they sign a player or fire a coach. As of now we can only see up to 16 tweets at a time and its only certain TV personalities tweets ,NFL official accounts tweets and the occasional ESPN tweet. We need WAY WAY more tweets and way more in depth tweets as well because the ones they have are extremely basic. We also need things like power rankings and draft grades to be able see how teams are performing besides just your team. For presentation its very simple. First have the actual scoreboard broadcast package be different for AFC home games and NFC home games and have different ones as well for primetime games and it could be as little as just changing the colors of each package. Second bring in a new commentary team BUT (and this is very important) KEEP Gaudin and Davis. No matter what madden or any sports game does commentary will always get repetitive so the easiest way to combat that is to have multiple teams so that we at least hear different voices while playing. Its really not that difficult but it just seems that EA is neglecting this aspect of the game so much that it literally sucks the life out of the mode. It may seem not that important but it will go such a LONG way for the series.

[canes21]

Re: Madden 24 Review: Excels on the Field but Stumbles Elsewhere

Will be interesting to see what presentation is like in the college game next summer. Hopefully it's a step above what we have now in Madden and nothing close to what it was in NCAA 14.

I have been crossing my fingers that EA has capitalized on the college football situation and has taken that time to develop some features over multiple years that will benefit both Madden and EA CFB. If there was ever a time for them to have an excuse to have people working over multiple cycles on some features this was it. Hopefully, if EA has been going all in on the traditions and atmosphere of the college game that will pay dividends with Madden next year as well.

[Cjhurla]

Re: Madden 24 Review: Excels on the Field but Stumbles Elsewhere

I have been a huge Madden player since it first came out. So I am a bit old (52). However after the first year of madden on PS5 I was so disappointed how unrealistic it had become. I stopped playing and was actually thinking about getting back into it. But…while this reviewer says gameplay has gotten better, numerous others have said it has not. NBA 2k and MLB the show are my go to’s and are in a different league than madden and it’s not close. So is there any objective minded person that can say gameplay is better in Madden since 2-3 years ago as it seems like the same old issues? Otherwise I am hopi g the new college game is a refreshing, realistic way to get back into football games.

[myrtlebrown98]

Re: Madden 24 Review: Excels on the Field but Stumbles Elsewhere

Is the guy that wrote this actually Ryan moody? Because this article literally reads like a ryan moody video in text form.




Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[Hooe]

Re: Madden 24 Review: Excels on the Field but Stumbles Elsewhere

Is the guy that wrote this actually Ryan moody? Because this article literally reads like a ryan moody video in text form.

Can confirm the review author is not who you speak of.

I know this because the review author actually said positive things about this year's game. I think it's perfectly reasonable to say that Madden 24 has some long-standing major problems off the field which are really standing out now that on-field play is pretty reasonably in a good spot (a few personal grievances of mine such as the absence of strategic updates on defense notwithstanding).

[Hooe]

Re: Madden 24 Review: Excels on the Field but Stumbles Elsewhere

Honestly? My biggest problem with this year's game right now is the lag within non-football gameplay menus, such as those in Franchise and Ultimate Team. It's atrocious. No other word for it. There's absolutely no reason that UI of all things should chug as much as it does on hardware as powerful as the PlayStation 5 and XBOX Series X.

If EA Sports were to fix literally nothing else post-launch in Madden 24 except to make the Franchise menus actually respond in a timely fashion when I press an input button to select an item so that the game isn't wasting so much of my time just spinning its wheels (or wasting my time by just dropping inputs entirely), I'd honestly be thrilled.

[Playmakers]

Re: Madden 24 Review: Excels on the Field but Stumbles Elsewhere

The gameplay is solid on the field at times.

But honestly madden is becoming a stale franchise because it has no atmosphere or presentation on the field. The announcing is so sub par compared to other sports titles today.

As a few others mentioned in this thread I hope ncaa is much better.

I just don't get as excited for madden anymore like I used to back in the days.

[haloofduty]

Re: Madden 24 Review: Excels on the Field but Stumbles Elsewhere

I'm playing on PC. The number one thing that bothers me is the menu's are so SLOW.

Like NCAA 14 is snappy. I can get in and out real quick looking at rosters, rankings, etc.

Madden? I want to talk to a player about how they played or mentoring or whatever, gotta load up a scene in the background. So unnecessary. Adds nothing for me. I accidentally click the option to do stadium upgrades? ugh a 3-4 seconds every time in and out. Awful stuff.

I'm on series x and the menus has me not wanting to play franchise. I like editing, looking at stats and box scores. It's agonizing. The worst menus I have experienced in any game. I tried xbox one menus and they're a little faster. How?

[Jagsfan24]

Re: Madden 24 Review: Excels on the Field but Stumbles Elsewhere

I have to agree with this. Like others have mentioned the lag in the menus is annoying, sometimes I double click because I don’t know if my first click went through and then I end up clicking something else.

The main thing for me is presentation, the announcers are getting old now. I guess they are cheap for EA to bring back every year but it’s getting stale, I usually mute them every year. The lack of stadium sounds and crowd noise is pathetic also, I will say it every year but madden 12 had amazing presentation when it came to stadium sound (it sounded like you were in the stadium)

I was annoyed with him at first but, bring back Gus Johnson as an announcer in this game

[ChaseB]

Re: Madden 24 Review: Excels on the Field but Stumbles Elsewhere

The gameplay is solid on the field at times.

But honestly madden is becoming a stale franchise because it has no atmosphere or presentation on the field. The announcing is so sub par compared to other sports titles today.

As a few others mentioned in this thread I hope ncaa is much better.

I just don't get as excited for madden anymore like I used to back in the days.

Is it? Or is basically every sports game bad in the commentary department, with the exception of NBA 2K -- and even that can be grating the last couple years because of how much is just focused on current-day banter.

I have to agree with this. Like others have mentioned the lag in the menus is annoying, sometimes I double click because I don’t know if my first click went through and then I end up clicking something else.

The main thing for me is presentation, the announcers are getting old now. I guess they are cheap for EA to bring back every year but it’s getting stale, I usually mute them every year. The lack of stadium sounds and crowd noise is pathetic also, I will say it every year but madden 12 had amazing presentation when it came to stadium sound (it sounded like you were in the stadium)

I was annoyed with him at first but, bring back Gus Johnson as an announcer in this game

And then this is the other part of the cycle in terms of what people say with every sports game then retroactively wanting the old commentator back -- who was replaced in the first place for being bad and hated haha.

Ultimately, I think people just want as many voices as possible in the game (and fair enough) because even when we get cooler commentary stuff, people don't really end up giving it credit, which I get because you hear it every game so it's almost impossible to not get tired of it.

But no, bringing back Gus is not the answer -- unless we're saying let's just bring alllllll the commentators back.

[GAMEBREAKER85]

Re: Madden 24 Review: Excels on the Field but Stumbles Elsewhere

The gameplay is solid on the field at times.

But honestly madden is becoming a stale franchise because it has no atmosphere or presentation on the field. The announcing is so sub par compared to other sports titles today.

As a few others mentioned in this thread I hope ncaa is much better.

I just don't get as excited for madden anymore like I used to back in the days.

My first Madden purchased since Madden 15 - I can not believe how bad the presentation is. No cutscenes, no unique pre-game entrances, you score and it zooms in on a lifeless video screen - absolutely crazy how stale.