It’s been nearly 20 years since I’d played a Madden game. Turns out, muscle memory is a hell of a thing.
With Shaun Alexander on the cover, Madden 07 was the most recent edition in my library, having owned Madden or NFL 2K or NFL GameDay probably every year since the debut of the original PlayStation.
I firmly believe that sports video games peaked – then plateaued – sometime in the late 2000s, with each year feeling less and less like a “new game” and more just a reskinning. Anecdotally, a ton of my elder millennial peers (and former opponents) have stopped buying new iterations annually though to be fair, less gaming certainly comes with the territory for late-30-somethings.
Picking up the sticks again and the core mechanics of reading a defense,
timing a route, and picking up yards on third down register quickly. Fluid motion-captured animations and physics-based collisions dictate every playPlayer momentum, foot-planting, and gang-tackling look largely realistic rather than scripted.
It takes about a quarter to adjust to contemporary control schemes and defensive AI. While muscle memory bridges some of the gap, the hyper-realistic movement system demands new pacing. The controls are responsive and the physics engine works predictably, anchoring a standard modern sports game execution.
Here’s a look at the the biggest takeaways on the new Madden game, from someone who hasn’t played in ages:
Soundtrack: 10/10
Some serious millennial dog-whistling here featuring a slew of songs that were listened to on an iPod mini.
Good Charlotte’s "The Anthem” is on the playlist, a subtle head-nod to the track being the background noise on not-flat-screened TVs on the Madden 03 soundtrack. It’s truly a triumph for aughts pop punk fans with Paramore’s “Misery Business” and Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy” also featured.
Some beloved hip-hop songs on the soundtrack as well, raising awareness of Nate Dogg (“Regulate”) and Trick Daddy ("Let’s Go”) among the next generation of gamers.
Ultimate Team
Having become obsessive over Ultimate Team in EA’s soccer titles and NBA 2K’s MyTeam in recent years, I was curious to see how the mode worked in an "American football" game.
Its certainly not very sexy to hand-pick the interior of your offensive line for example, but the opportunity to customize team according to your specifications - without having to do a fantasy draft in a franchise mode - is pretty cool.
The early-game inclusion of classic players is certainly welcome for old-heads - even if I haven’t been lucky enough to stumble into the most highest-valued cards myself. Dreaming of finally getting a high-rated Randy Moss or Reggie Bush is probably going to motivate me to play this mode throughout the season!
Knowing from experience, the opening-month experience in Ultimate Team dramatically changes over the course of each game’s lifespan. The “power curve” refers to the rate at which player cards and teams get stronger through upgrades and promos, and EA has faced criticism through the years that curve moving too quickly on its soccer games, introducing overpowered items too quickly rather than spreading out to make improvements more gradual. That said, the game-maker has said it’s taking the FUT community’s concerns curve seriously.
At first glance (and some weeks of play through), this year’s Madden does a pretty good job avoiding obvious metas with the the early-season promos including only one player (Christian Watson) with higher than 89 speed.
Franchise mode
Stepping back into Madden 27’s franchise mode after a twenty-year hiatus was mildly overwhelming at first. What used to be a fairly straightforward routine of depth charts and advancing weeks has evolved into an intimidating simulator.
You are immediately bombarded with complex salary caps, player morale tracking through the new “Persona Engine,” scouting departments, and social media feeds. Yet, beneath the lies an impressively deep experience.
Once you push past the initial UI shock and figure out you can (and must) delegate a few tasks, it's the Madden mode as it ever was. Simulating through a few seasons, you'll find the rating progressions are realistic and it’s easy to find a happy medium as a manager.
Verdict
Having been away from the game for a long time, it was refreshing to hop right back into action. That’s a good thing for someone like me who hasn’t played the game in ages, but you can certainly empathize with the regular customers who may want to see more than incremental change.
With the excitement around the NFL season’s kickoff, Madden is definitely worth grabbing, especially if you haven’t played the game in a while. It's welcoming, the gameplay play is incredibly smooth and there isn't a huge learning curve to get into higher difficulty settings.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: I hadn't played Madden in 20 years. Here's how I like the newest game. | Opinion
