Madden NFL 24 | Review
Reviewed by Cian Crowdy.
Note: A code was provided by the publisher for use in the review. The review was carried out on an Xbox Series X.
With the NFL Season started, it means the yearly release of Madden. But while Madden 24’s improvements on the base game have created a more fluid gameplay experience, it is still held back by a clunky interface.
On-field animation improvements to wrap tackles, offensive blocking, and blocking upfield screen passes, combined with the improved AI defenders that are better able to recognise when you run the same plays, make the overall gameplay more engaging and rewarding,
Upon loading up Madden 24 on the Xbox Series X, you have several options to go through to tailor the experience such as swapping between quality or Performance modes. From my testing, I haven’t noticed any drops in any mode during gameplay.
Players’ models look incredibly realistic in the game with the help of the SAPIEN Technology –which is the skeleton model for all the players, this improves smoother movement, and the SAPIEN Technology extends to the 7 ref crews.
Improved models from SAPIEN Technology are paired with fieldSENSE and Hit Everything 2.0 technologies to drive new tackle and passing animations. Different types of tackles are noticeable from the different player models and positions. This flows over into improved animations for better pass-throwing and pass-catching.
After scoring a touchdown, you have 4 options (like before) to pick a celebration. There seems to be a good variation of celebrations and the whole team gets involved, with the camera turning to the bench celebrating, or the QB celebrating after the throw.
The commentary is the same team from last year and will update through the season with player injuries/how a certain player played in the real world. We have already started to see this during preseason games, where certain players who were not playing in real-life preseason matches or had made big trades are being called out in the game.
The new HUD and opening presentation are slightly improved from last year. The good is that the HUD is a new version, slimmed down HUD with the field advantage still at the top of the score. For the bad the team/player intro is the same as last year, seems to be even shorter now, and no next-gen stats are shown, which was a big thing in last year’s game, that seems to have disappeared.
Madden’s core game modes are Ultimate Team, Franchise Mode, Superstar and Training Camp. and if you just want to jump into a game you can find local, online head-to-head, pro bowl and superstar ko in the quick play menu.
Ultimate Team is still largely the same as last year, open packs and build your team, although some new sets and challenges have been added for you to complete with a new layout.
Franchise mode this year has several real improvements. A host of new commissioner settings have been added including the ability to toggle off home-field advantage, adjust draft class strength, trade difficulty, and the impact of free agent motivations.
The “Face of the Franchise” mode is no more, it is now called Superstar mode, which is Madden’s version of FIFA’s The Journey / previously The Longshot. A story-driven career mode where you can customise a character and adjust your play style for the position you play.
The positions you can play are QB, WR, RB or on defence. To start you take part in the combine with a few mini-games (which aren’t seen again, not even in training camp) then you can take a Multiple-choice questionnaire to see how well your IQ in football knowledge.
After the montage of you getting drafted, you are into the main experience which has two parts. The playing games and the side activities. These mini-tasks can give you buffs for the upcoming game, or occasionally a rare event pops up with a cut scene.
This year’s “story” surrounds you getting signed to a one-year contract with a new team and having to prove you can cut it.
As with last year, the same issues are present. The offensive side of the ball is a lot of fun, but not the defensive side.
Overall:
Madden NFL 24 is a reasonably good game; It feels like much of the effort put into it was well-intentioned, the animations for tacking are a lot better and realistic, defence is a lot smarter with coverage. I would have liked to see a bit more polish with some cut scenes, the next-gen stats that were called out in last year’s game are nowhere to be found, presentation for the intros is shorter and the same from last year (the NFL team intros from Madden 25 were great, would like some sort of unlocks like in F1 23 from team history, stickers, even a short video of The Beast Quake or Henrys GG yard run for the titans from completing a challenge of highlights or something ) A few bugs did appear in Face of the Franchise but nothing that was game breaking, had to load out of the game and resume, from different camera views so unable to see the play or snap the ball, few clipping issues with players going through white walls in the scene after a match.
SCORE: 3.5 /5
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