New Guide to Buying Madden (Metacritic)

[Balldude777]

So after the disappointing but inevitable news today that the NFL renewed their partnership with Madden, I wanted to share my new way of buying Madden and actually any other yearly released sports game can fall in the same formula. I've grown tired of buying sports games annually, for one they are too expensive but most importantly the improvements just aren't good enough. This isn't the case for all sports games, I think The Show has done well on a yearly basis.

First off if you've never heard of Metacritic, it is basically a movie, tv show, video game review site. I actually used it for movies at first but I only look at the user reviews because they generally are pretty accurate to whether or not the movie was worth watching. So I thought why not do the same with video games? Of course there are a lot of trolls/haters who will give their 0 ratings but there are also enough fanboys to counter that with their 10's and in the middle lies those who will give honest reviews. Anyways here is my formula, again only using USER reviews...

I will wait at least 3 weeks post release for reviews to come in, so you have to have patience but that is also enough time for a good slider set to be created.

#1.) If it's Green, you Buy it.
Metacritic's review system puts anything with a 7.5 grade in the green, this makes it most likely to be a good game.

#2.) If it's Yellow, you skip it (For now)
5.0-7.4 ratings will be in the yellow, this is pretty average but I'm not settling for average anymore. However I could purchase it in the future which will also give enough time for a nice price drop.

#3.) If it's Red, it's dead
Anything 4.9 and lower will no longer be touched, EVER. If there is enough consensus from the consumers to tell me to not waste my time/money on the game then I should probably listen to them.

#4.) Yellow games can be purchased after 4 years without an upgrade
Ok, this is the toughest part about my system for those who may have the itch to play Madden (like I do) but here's the thing, that's exactly why these games get worse year to year, we keep buying them! STOP!

If we followed these rules here is what the last 15 years would look like I'll start back to many people's favorite NFL 2k5 but also should note Madden 2005 was also in the green that year so pick whichever.

2004: NFL 2k5 (PS2) (GREEN) BUY!
2005: Madden 06 (PS2) (GREEN) BUY!
2006: Madden 07 (PS2) (GREEN) BUY!
2007: Madden 08 (PS2) (GREEN) BUY!
2008: Madden 09 (PS3) (RED) NEVER!
2009: Madden 10 (PS3) (YELLOW) SKIP!
2010: Madden 11 (PS3) (YELLOW) SKIP!
2011: Madden 12 (PS3) (YELLOW) BUY! (4th year)
2012: Madden 13 (PS3) (YELLOW) SKIP!
2013: Madden 25 (PS3) (RED) NEVER!
2014: Madden 15 (PS4) (YELLOW) SKIP!
2015: Madden 16 (PS4) (YELLOW) BUY! (4th year)
2016: Madden 17 (PS4) (RED) NEVER!
2017: Madden 18 (PS4) (RED) NEVER!
2018: Madden 19 (PS4) (RED) NEVER!
2019: Madden 20 (PS4) (RED) NEVER!

And that's it! So Madden 16 should be the last Madden I purchased because Madden 17-20 have all been RED. So I will purchase the next Madden that is YELLOW (which may never happen again) But at least I can know that EA didn't get my money that they didn't earn. Also, whenever there is an upgrade after the long wait, it will make that game seem SO much better. Not just because of the graphical improvements but also because since the game is at least thought to be decent the experience should be consistent. Also to note it just so happened that those "Yellow" Madden's in 2011/2015 were made on the 4th year, if they were "Red", I would just purchase the previous "Yellow".

This is just my new method of buying and wanted to share. I'm tired of being suckered by these companys. If there is anything to take away from this post, it's that the ratings actually do correlate with how that year's Madden is generally received by the OS community. For fun I'll leave you with what my sports game collection should look like right now.

NFL: Madden 16
MLB: MLB The Show 19
NBA: NBA 2k17
NHL: NHL 19
FIFA: PES 2020

[PhillyPhanatic14]

Madden 25 (xbox 360 - not xbox one), 15, 19, and 20 have all been very good games.


I'm not trusting other people on Metacritic to make my decision for me. We ALL have free 10 hour access to Madden every year through EA/Origin Access. If people choose to not use that free time, they shouldn't be posting their opinions about the game.

[sinthros]

Quote: Originally Posted by PhillyPhanatic14

Madden 25 (xbox 360 - not xbox one), 15, 19, and 20 have all been very good games.

Hard disagree on 15, 19, and 20. Madden 25 was pretty fun though.
Madden 20 is a mess without mods.

[Balldude777]

Quote: Originally Posted by PhillyPhanatic14

Madden 25 (xbox 360 - not xbox one), 15, 19, and 20 have all been very good games. I'm not trusting other people on Metacritic to make my decision for me. We ALL have free 10 hour access to Madden every year through EA/Origin Access. If people choose to not use that free time, they shouldn't be posting their opinions about the game.

That's understood, but I seem to find WAY more people disagreeing with you about Madden 20. You can put a Punter at QB and be the best player in the world. My focus is to save money for games that truly deserve it. With this model I would have saved $600 from Madden alone.

Also I know it's all counterintuitive because it relies on others to actually buy and/or try the game themselves but again just was a thought I came up with and wanted to share.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

To each their own. I'm very skeptical of Madden each year and pretty critical in general, but Metacritic is horrible IMO.

At least with Madden and 2K for example, it's pretty much just turned into people that don't even buy the game submitting low user reviews as a form of protest against microtransactions and or the exclusivity contract.

This year's Madden would be a very significant step up from Madden 16 for example, but people have gotten fed up that there's no other football game out there so Madden 20's rating is horrendous.

Same more or less goes for 2K; pretty much every user review is a 1.0 complaining about microtransactions, but you don't need microtransactions to enjoy the game and the gameplay is as good as ever; still not remotely close to perfect or anything, but the gameplay improves with each passing year IMO.

[jfsolo]

User Metacritic is elite tier Fake News.

[Balldude777]

Quote: Originally Posted by Yeah...THAT Guy

To each their own. I'm very skeptical of Madden each year and pretty critical in general, but Metacritic is horrible IMO. At least with Madden and 2K for example, it's pretty much just turned into people that don't even buy the game submitting low user reviews as a form of protest against microtransactions and or the exclusivity contract. This year's Madden would be a very significant step up from Madden 16 for example, but people have gotten fed up that there's no other football game out there so Madden 20's rating is horrendous. Same more or less goes for 2K; pretty much every user review is a 1.0 complaining about microtransactions, but you don't need microtransactions to enjoy the game and the gameplay is as good as ever; still not remotely close to perfect or anything, but the gameplay improves with each passing year IMO.

Yeh that is definitely true to each their own and it is hard to rely on the public. However, my thinking is that if the game really is good enough there will be enough good reviews to counter that. Just go and look at the user reviews for the previous MLB The Show games. They've been in the "Green" for just about every year.

It's not to say Madden deserves the 1.7 rating but I'm just looking at it as a scale of 1-3 (It's Not Worth It, It's Ok, It's Good enough to Buy) instead of the 1-10.

[Sparkles]

Idk I’m playing 20 a lot more than I thought I would for some reason. Developing players is fun for me and the gameplay with sliders isn’t terrible. 19 was a disaster. Easily my least fav this gen