Before I start this review, I have to mention something that has been grinding my gears about the Madden games for the last few years.
I am possibly the only person annoyed but this, but I must get it off my chest.
In older versions of Madden, there use to be a coin toss to start the game. You would choose heads or tails. If you won the toss, you could choose to kick or receive, and if you lost the toss, the computer AI made a choice for your opponent.
In the last five Madden games, there hasn’t been a coin toss, but instead, you choose your preference to either kick or receive, with a second preference if you lost the imaginary coin toss to kick with or against the wind to start the game.
Here is the problem, though.
WHATEVER PREFERENCE YOU PICK FIRST KICK OR RECEIVE IT, YOU NEVER LOSE A COIN TOSS.
You may be asking yourself, “Rob, why do you care because you are getting the choice you want every time?”.
This is true, but in the only simulation NFL game available, I expect some level of realism in the game, and it just isn’t real to win potentially 20 coin tosses in a row, it sort of shows you how lazy EA has become over the years.
Now that I got that off my chest, on to the review.
I will say up front that I only play games for enjoyment. I am not super emotionally invested in a video games. My thoughts are similar to how I do my movie reviews. If I am entertained, I will recommend it. If I am not, I will explain to you why and let you make a choice.
With that being said, I have had every Madden game since 1990. That is going on 31 years now, so I think I have enough knowledge to speak on the game, and I kept an open mind when I started my 10-hour free trial.
The main issue people have had with Madden in their franchise mode.
Older versions of Madden had many cool franchise features, but as one YouTuber documented, EA has gutted like 90+ old Franchise features. It got to the point the gaming community was fed up after Madden 21 looked the same as Madden 18. EA said they listened and would be debuting a brand new Franchise mode in Madden 22.
Well…….
They didn’t lie per se; it is new. It looks different, and there are a few different features like being able to fire and hire assistant coaches, more game-specific planning/practices, and new cut screens that deal with players’ unhappiness and the media. Still, it is sort of like an IG Model.
There are many filters, but beneath it all, it is just the same Franchise mode.
Let me give you an example of what I mean.
I played with the Bears and picked up Golden Tate off the free agent wire to boost my WR core. After a game, he comes to me and says he wants to be more involved (most of my passes are going to Robinson and Graham). The game gives me a choice to either send him on his way or promise him I will get him a 100 yards receiving in the next game.
Being the nice coach that I am, I promise him the 100 yards.
In the next game, he has ZERO CATCHES for ZERO YARDS.
He is upset after the game, but there is no consequence. In fact, even though I lied to him, he got zero catches, and he is pissed off at me; the game actually upgraded him for the next contest.
None of this stuff means anything, or I should say it doesn’t feel like it means anything while you are playing the game.
Tom Brady was killing me on short passes in the 1st half of the game. I switch my gameplay strategy to STOP SHORT PASSES. I use all the plays they suggest, and Brady torches me just the same. There is no rhyme or reason to certain things. After Khali Mack had a two-sack game, he came to me saying his heart isn’t into the game anymore and wants to retire. He says he will retire unless we start winning some games.
I was 4-0 at the time.
The much-promoted momentum and home-field advantage tab is another thing that feels like it doesn’t truly matter. There were times I didn’t even notice if I was home or away. Playing on the road didn’t seem that hard. Also, some of the home-field advantage mods aren’t really bothersome.
One they claim is difficult is where if the momentum is against you, the play art will show up different from the play you call.
That might confuse you the first time it happens, but by the second time, it really means nothing because the play doesn’t change. If I call a dive, and the play art shows all go routes, it will still be a dive; nothing changes. If I call a slant route and the play art should be a running play when I hike, it will still be a slant route. While I don’t have the best memory, I can remember more or less the play I called before I get to the line of scrimmage since most players, especially on pass plays, memorize the first couple of reads.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if you have a running QB, you are at a big advantage because the running lane holes are tremendous on almost every pass play.
This brings us to the gameplay itself.
The Next Gen stats are useless and barely work half the time, so ignore them.
The same passing and running plays that worked in Madden 13-21 work in Madden 22. The same defenses that are most effective in Madden 13-21 are still effective in Madden 22. They have more tabs on how you can essentially call the same plays, but they are just that the same plays.
If you want to run a crossing route with your main WR, you can do it from gameplay plays, individual plays, formation plays, and route-specific plays, but it will show you the same play; it is just how you want to get to it.
After far as the other features, they are more or less the same.
They have a new Face of the Franchise story, but it isn’t any better than the ones you have had for the last three years. The Yard is the same, and Ultimate Team wants you to spend money.
Madden 22 is the game you play if you want to kill some time and chill out and have fun, maybe with your buddies or just yourself.
It is a perfectly acceptable video game if you don’t expect much from it. I would suggest playing with it a few times, then tweaking the sliders to where the games are competitive based on your skill set, that way, it will be the most enjoyable for you. No one wants to play again where they can’t score, but also don’t want to play one where they can easily score 50 every game, so try to find what works for you.
The player graphics are nice, the stadiums look amazing, and the fans, well, they still need to work on that.
It is amazing that even after all these years, they still can’t implement halftime highlights like the ESPN 2k5. That was 16 years ago, and there is no way on a nextgen system you can’t do halftime highlights.
EA added a lot of stuff, but none of it really seems to change the fact you are more or less playing the same game as last year, so if you are cool with that, go ahead and buy, but don’t expect to be wowed by the Madden 22.
2.5 out of 5 BSO stars
