Reviewing yearly releases can be a tricky business. More often than not you will find small, incremental updates at invokes the inevitable discussion about whether or not they should just become games as a service and provide roster updates rather than slapping the forthcoming year on the box and charging another £50. Thankfully with Madden I tend to dip in and out of the series having played Madden 17, but not last years iteration. This allows me to see bigger upgrades from game to game.
Having not played for the best part of two years I headed over to the Skill Trainer section to brush up on said skills and see what was new to the series. I was shocked to learn that the game felt like a substantial upgrade. The Frostbite engine is now in it’s second year and with the addition of Real Player Motion for Madden 19 you have more control over the players and passing than ever.
Now that the training was taken care of I played a few games against the AI to put myself to the test and finished up for the night ready to take the show on the road the following night. A friend of mine Mark is a bit of a Madden pro and he had agreed to put me through my paces in preparation for this review. That initially meant hammering me emphatically three times in a row while I rocked back and fourth in the corner begging him to stop.
Following this absolute battering we moved on to cycle through some of the other modes. Ultimate Team has received some meaningful updates. Contracts are gone, so now when you obtain a player he is yours to keep. Players can also now be upgraded using training or a specific item found within packs. There is also now the option to play against other players teams offline controlled by the AI with your choice of difficulty. This gives much more variety to an already stacked mode and should please long term fans.
Franchise mode while very similar to last year has added the creation of draft classes. These classes can be saved and shared with the community and likewise you can download other users creations. Offensive and defensive schemes have also been added and while not a game changer it is a nice touch.
Longshot also returns this year with Homecoming. Having not played last years initially entry I feel I lost out a bit on the emotional connection to the characters. By all accounts last years story mode was a home run (Oops, wrong sport). I don’t want to say too much about the story as you should experience it for yourself but I will say that it was a solid entry, it just didn’t feel special like so many had told me the first one was. There is very little in the way of choice and even the gameplay sections felt strangely unimportant and only necessary to move you on to the next long cutscene. Performances were solid though and it did made me want to go back and play the first part. Overall it is an enjoyable 3-4 hours but not blow away.
Back to the gameplay. Real Player Motion really does give you a lot more freedom on the field, especially when running with the ball. Jukes and spins feel better than ever and while there is a learning curve to this new way of playing, it is rewarding and worth the investment time to nail it. Defensive gameplay also feels like a step up with defensive lineman bouncing off tackles as they close down the ball.
Passing plays can feel even more rewarding as well with the ability to catch the ball in different ways. For example if you hold square upon receiving the pass you will take the ball in your stride and transition to gaining some yards a lot quicker. This does however leave you open to bigger hits. On the other hand you can hold X for a possession catch where instead of trying to burst away the receiver will brace for impact. I can’t confirm if this is new for Madden 19 having not played last years game, but I found this to be a really cool addition that added an extra layer of depth and tactics to each play.
Being able to hold R2 to initiate Coach Cam and see a visual representation of how each play was going to go right before it happened was also a massive help to someone like myself who isn’t as well versed in the inner workings of each play. Things like this make the game so much more accessible for new players while veteran fans can choose to ignore it if they wish.
As always with the EA Sports titles the soundtrack is great. It features the likes of Cardi B, A$AP Rocky, Anderson .Paak, Post Malone, T.I and Nicki Minaj amongst others. Given the amount of time you usually spend in the menus in these games the soundtrack is a key factor and the varied list will keep you entertained in the background for a long time.
In closing Madden 19 is an excellent game. It is as true and accurate a recreation of the sport as we have had to date which is all you can ask. EA may be the only game in town when it comes to NFL, but it’s good to see them still striving to make the game better every year. In the first paragraph I brought up the argument of games as a service vs. annual releases. For me, the moment we go to the games as a service model for these yearly sports games the incentive to refine the gameplay goes out the window.
People can debate whether the gameplay upgrades on any given year are substantial enough to merit the price of a new game, but while yearly releases are a thing the developers will always be trying their utmost to innovate and improve on what came before. Madden 19 and it’s gameplay is a credit to the team at EA.
VdZe
Reviewed on PS4. Also available on Xbox One and for the first time in 11 years, PC. Review code provided by the publisher.
