The meat of any single player sports game is its Franchise mode, and it’s an area where Madden NFL has long been lagging behind its competition. To its credit, though, EA Sports committed to improving the experience a few years back, and has been iterating on its offering ever seen. Madden NFL 22 saw some pretty nice improvements with the addition of scouting, weekly goals, and coordinators – and Madden NFL 23 looks to be taking things even further.
There’s so much packed into this eight minute reveal trailer that we’ve had to watch it twice, which perhaps gives you a general idea of how much the publisher’s packing in this year. But to summarise, arguably the biggest alteration comes with Free Agency. This year there’s the addition of Motivation logic, which means that players will no longer be wooed solely by money. Just like in real-life, they may choose to play with you because of your team’s location, prestige, or quarterback.
Furthermore, some players will come with additional tags which can help boost the development of your team. For example, if you have a young starting lineup of defensive backs, then recruiting a veteran to help mentor them will increase the rate at which they develop. All of this adds depth to the team-building aspect, which is what fans have been yearning for. The overall logic of the trade and draft system has been altered in order to account for these additions as well.
There are other improvements, like the way you’ll be able to discover generational talents during the draft, demanding more thoughtful decisions during recruitment. And the whole interface has been overhauled to give it more flavour and streamline some of the deeper menu aspects. So, it all sounds pretty great, then – obviously there is always more EA Sports can do here, but the improvements look neat and we’re looking forward to transforming the New York Giants into Super Bowl contenders at last.
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[source ea.com]
Comments 19
Even in Madden, the Giants being Super Bowl contenders is a pipe dream 😂
@nessisonett 😭
I'll believe it when I see it. They say this every year but they don't care about my favorite mode. It's all about MUT which I never play.
It will be the same game per usual with minor tweaks
@Splat I think that's unfair. It may not be up to the standard you want it to be, but they definitely did a lot of work last year and have clearly expanded on that again.
Proof will always be in the pudding, but this mode is vastly superior to what it was a few years ago now.
These changes look great for Free Agency and drafting.
Still though the number one thing I see wrong is the Defense AI, they have been lazy dialing up freakish interceptions for difficulty instead of the entire defensive package being better.
Pittsburgh Steelers represent.here we go.word up son
I know for a fact Angry Joe will show all the 'improvements' were in previous games but removed. I dont play these game but always laugh at those vids. EA annual games are always low effeort improvements under the guise of being massive ones just to get everyone to play Ultimate Team.
It’s the same game every year with minimal improvements. Believing this year will be anything different is like believing in Santa Claus
@Danloaded I love his rants on Madden lol
Don't support Madden in any way please! EA doesn't deserve it!
Come now, it'll be the same sh*te with marginal improvements as we've seen for ages. It'll STILL get beaten by NFL 2K5 in terms of depth. Just hoping the Trophies won't be glitched this time.
@get2sammyb I disagree. Let’s go over the major additions listed in the article.
Coordinators and weekly goals - these fall into the same category in that they were only mechanically viable for a couple seasons. By the 3rd season your coordinators were maxed out so there was never a reason to fire them, in fact the mechanic highly discourages changing coordinators. Thus the weekly goals were useless since they give you XP to improve your coaches.
Scouting - super glitchy, poorly implemented, and it was never fully explained. Many times I selected 3 focus players and only got a bonus on one. It was almost impossible to get through a season and have 100% scouting for 2 players at 2 different positions. The scout hiring mechanic was totally broken, many times there were zero scouts available for the position I wanted and the bonuses the 2 lower tiers gave you were nominal at best. If you accidentally missed a week where you were supposed to do something scouting related too bad, that part of the feature was gone.
Did they make some additions? Absolutely, but they were hacked on and poorly executed, 2 main descriptors of a lack of caring. Not to mention we had to wait 2 months after launch and restart our franchises just to get the half baked scouting. I’m incredibly cynical at this point, but franchise mode hasn’t had any major improvements in years. I would argue it’s worse since they simplified the player XP system several years ago. The X factors have been a good feature, but those are just a byproduct of MUT, they were never tailored to franchise.
I will have to get this year's edition as it may Aaron Rodgers last. I wonder if the wooing dynamic having great QBs plays into how the long there contracts are as well.
A few random Free Agency improvements will not fix this series. This franchise (& FIFA) is a scam, and I will never give EA another dime for a sports game.
At least the giants have won superbowls. I'm a cardinals fan
Last years Madden had game breaking bugs in Franchise mode when upgrading players. In 2021. I wouldn't expect anything earth shattering this year.
Sammy is just a sports slut lol always falls for it
@Danloaded I like Angry Joe, but his assessments aren't always fair. Plus, he's tilting at windmills. Even if Madden had a viable contender, it would only accelerate the implementation of certain features. The fact is that AAA sports titles need more than a 12 month development cycle so they will always have to pick and choose.
Hopefully, the PS5 version will finally get 120fps support like the xbox series x version has.
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