For so many decades, Electronic Arts (EA) has been releasing their Madden NFL series annually. As the only licensed NFL game on the market at the moment, EA does not seem to have any competition at all to provide football fans with the best footballing experience possible.
The latest title of the franchise, Madden 20, has met with lackluster and angry reviews from the fans, claiming that the gameplay is broken, scripted, glitchy, and does not feel authentic at all. So, what exactly has gone wrong with the Madden series? Take a note, EA, because these are ten things that went wrong on the series and how to fix it.
10 The Broken Ultimate Team Mode
Hailed as the game’s most addicting feature, Madden Ultimate Team (MUT) has generated EA a lot of money: an estimated $1.49 billion through the Ultimate Team platform, from both FIFA and Madden games, alone, as SPORTSbible reported.
Even with that much of money, EA still does a little-to-none improvement to the Ultimate Team mode. For example, during its match-making process, newbie players will always be matched with a much-experienced player with a star-studded team, making it almost impossible to score, let alone win the game. This leads us to the next point.
9 The Pay-to-Win Issue
So, what’s the best solution for these frustrated rookies, who do not have more than two or three hours in a day to invest in Madden?
Packs, bought by real-life currency. EA knows well the psychology of its players. The more frustrated they become, the more likely they’ll obtain a pack. To put things into perspective, each pack’s cost ranges from 100 points (A Gold Player pack) to +5.000 points (11x Clutch Bundle). The odds of actually getting a decent player is almost slim to none if you’re not a heavy spender, and it will provoke you to spend more and more.
8 Useless Celebrity Cameos
It’s not exaggerating to say EA’s Madden 20 is the most star-studded title of the franchise. With these celebrity additions from Migos to Joey Bada$$ to DJ Khaled, EA seems to appeal to new customers because, hey, who doesn’t want to play as their favorite rapper?
With such a blockbuster revenue from selling, who knows which celebrity EA might feature next? It’s pure useless and a big marketing stunt to hide the fact that the game’s core is broken.
7 The Neglected Franchise Mode
Remember when the Franchise mode is the most exciting mode of the game? For years and years, EA has never touched the Franchise mode, let alone giving it an update. No contract restructuring, agents fee, compensation picks, and presentation are miles behind 2k’s rivaling game. The cutscenes and choices feel soul-less as if it does not impact anything on the game.
Guess why? Because the Franchise mode does not give EA any money, and EA has not many any improvement regarding the mode for more than a decade. What happens to ‘It’s in the Game,’ EA?
6 Unrealistic Overall Rating
Over the years, EA’s Madden has seen some questionable overall rating that does not even reflect the player’s ability on the pitch. It seems like the makers do not watch football at all. For example, Tyler Eifert barely started in the 2017 season due to his injury, yet he’s rated 88 in the game.
The game is supposed to be a realistic deep-look into the footballing world, not to be an arcadey-type game that almost every player is a META.
5 Lack of Customization
Still from the neglected Franchise mode, the game has a very little element of face customization. The QB1 mode feels dead, and it’s barely an hour’s worth of gameplay. Back in the days, specifically, when Michale Vick was on the cover, everything was customizable: the arena, teams, kits, schedules, and even stats.
It’s just merely disappointing after all the money EA made from Ultimate Team, at least they could have done something about customization.
4 Poorly Designed Defending AI
Sluggish and horrendous. These two words are what reflect the defending AI of the recent installment of Madden. Yes, the way we play dictates the game, but we don’t agree that it’s our fault when our defensive line, which basically is controlled by EA’s AI, feels out of touch most of the time.
It feels inauthentic, and it’s painful to watch. Also, how is it possible for a 75-pace defender to overrun a 95-paced attacker?
3 Sluggish & Glitchy Gameplay
Sure, every game has its glitch, but it is a big problem when the same error occurs in every single annual edition. Many little details are wholly left out, and playing against the CPU is like challenging a godlike team that will likely win even if they’re a 60-rated squad against your 85 to the 90-rated team.
2 Toxic Scripting Issues
The icing on the cake of that is its toxic, scripted gameplay, which is the same issue that most FIFA players are facing, especially in the Ultimate Team mode. If EA does not want you to win, you will not win, no matter how impressive you run or how many attempts to tearing down your opponent’s defensive line.
At the end of the day, EA tends to favor those who spend a significant load amount of money on packs, which leads us to EA’s dirty game of microtransaction.
1 Final Conclusion
It’s a hard pill to swallow, but EA does not care about football fans or even sports fans in general. They tend to bring something useless but new on the table, like Volta mode on FIFA or QB1 on Madden, to cover up the underlying problem that lies in their games’ core. They don’t even have any fierce competition, letting them benefit from the players every year.
The only solution for the broken Madden franchise is when EA actually does listen to the community. Until then, they will gradually make an even worse Madden game each and every year.
