Madden Needs A Few Upgrades

​The Madden 25 Reveal Trailer came out today, giving fans of the franchise a first look at gameplay and some new features that have been added to the game. With the release of College Football 25 coming out a month before Madden, it is suspected that Madden sales will decrease significantly from previous years. I won't go through what I thought of the new Madden trailer or try to break down all the features they'll add this year. You can check out some good YouTubers for that, but I want to spend some time on what EA can do to make Madden a better game overall. 

I'm a Franchise or Dynasty mode nut, so most of what I'm talking about here refers to these game modes. The old college football games are so popular because of how immersed a player can get into the game. It's not competing against a CPU that keeps the players coming back. There's a reason Play Now modes are typically used when you have a buddy over and you need to prove a point. Although the gameplay is fun (though many will disagree with me), what happens off the "field" keeps players returning for more. 

NBA 2K does a great job of creating an experience for players in their MyNBA and MyCareer game modes. Sometimes, when I want to emulate being a General Manager for an NBA team, I'll start a MyNBA career simulating all the games while I just sign, train, and develop players. I like how the salary cap, free agency, and trades are relatively easy to figure out. 

In Madden Franchise mode, I almost always unintentionally exceed the salary cap within three seasons. I like how in 2K when you sign players, you can see how much salary cap you will have over the next few seasons if you sign them. In Madden, you get a look at how it affects the salary cap for that current season, but like I said, within a few years, because a player's salary increases every year, you've exceeded the cap, and you can't sign anyone. 

Developing players is another issue I have for Madden. It's very one-dimensional. The more play time a player has, the more XP they receive, which allows you to upgrade them. The guys with little to no playtime receive little XP each week, making it difficult to upgrade them. Some rookies progress more than others, and there needs to be some system where that is the case in the game, even if they ride the bench for a whole season. Rookies and young guys will develop much faster than those who have been in the league for 6-8 years. The progression and regression in the game need to be fixed, leading me to my next point. 

 If I'm playing as the Chicago Bears in Madden '24, I can be in the 20th season with Justin Fields, and he will still be a 99 overall. As long as I don't exceed the salary cap (again, rarely happens), I could have a team of 99 overall players before it's all said and done. It's fun to have a dominating team, but it is so unrealistic. 

One feature everyone can agree on that needs to be added to Madden's Franchise Mode is a coaching carousel. I hate how I automatically get contract extensions, and I have to quit being the coach to land another job somewhere else, HOPEFULLY. Also, let me be the OC or DC, like in the College Football games, and work my way up. 

Madden also does not allow for much customization. In 2K and College Football, you can edit the conferences and divisions. In 2K, you can change all kinds of rules for the league that allow the player to customize the shit out of their experience. In Madden, you get what you get. You don't like the current playoff format? To bad. You don't like the salary cap? To bad. You don't like how divisions are separated? To bad. 

I firmly believe that you can have terrible gameplay, but if you allow the player to customize their experience, they'll have the time of their life. I hate playing NBA 2K, but I love simulating the games and pretending like I'm a General Manager. I haven't played more than three full games on 2K in five years, but because of the customization in the game, I enjoy the simulation experience. 

Superstar Mode is another area in which Madden needs to make significant improvements. I do like how you run through the combine and are drafted to a team that needs your services, although in my current run-through, I was drafted to the Packers when they have a perfectly good quarterback in Jordan Love. When you get into the season, you practice, click a few buttons to increase your credits or attributes, play the game, and move on to the following week. After about two or three seasons, things get to be a little repetitive and my interest just fizzles out. 

A few features I would add Superstar Mode are things like team chemistry, coaches trust, requesting a trade, influence during the draft and free agency, things of that sort. Superstar mode is so linear. There comes a point where you get to be like 90 overall, you dominate every game, with a million Super Bowls, and carry on. 

I'm all for ways to tweak the gameplay to improve it, which is what Madden tried to drill in our heads that they did with this last trailer drop. I was fine with Madden '24, except for running plays. There were like three that you could actually get positive yardage on. But I'll continue to beat this dead horse, Madden needs more customization options and more depth to their game modes. They'll find out soon enough what does and does not work in College Football 25 and they should learn and develop based on what the players do and don't like for Madden. 

Will I buy the new Madden? Probably not. Not unless EA has made significant improvements to the game. We're less than a month away from College Football 25, which is everyone's focus right now. We will see if Madden is as interesting as College Football 25.