Off the Shelf Media

Modern sports games have seemingly entered a tailspin the last decade brought on by corporate greed. A once proud and beloved series in Madden is now bloated with microtransactions, with the bulk of attention by the studio paid to their Ultimate Team mode that promotes gambling to children. The real question is: under all these exploitative business practices, is there a fun shell of a game that once was?

Gameplay: 1

Madden as a series has not drastically changed much from year to year, and sometimes is accused of just re-releasing the same game with a new title. Sure, you have the updated rosters and latest jerseys, but is there really significant changes? As someone who took a few years off before jumping back in with Madden NFL 25, there is certainly some features that I think were welcome improvements and add a ton of fun to the game. 

One is the “X-Factor” players. Its the highest level of superstar, and something you can customize in leagues to set a hard cap on so that they feel more special. High level, if this player performs some feat (2 catches over 10+ yards, 1 sack, etc.) it activates a special ability that helps them become even more dominant. It’s a tremendous feature that I think is one of the highlights of the game in its history. 

As a New York Jets fan, it reminds me of the days of Darrelle Revis when he would completely shut down one side of the field. When you see that X-Factor cornerback activated, it completely changes the strategy you have to take offensively and limits you in a way that feels realistic to how coordinators in the NFL have to react to superstar players. 

Overall, I would say that the gameplay does feel very solid and can be really fun and realistic at times. However, the reason this does not get a perfect score – the bugs. This is something that has plagued this game for decades with some bugs being in multiple iterations of the game without resolution. There’s plenty to go around, and while it might not happen every game, they can be completely immersion breaking and ruin your experience. 

For example, I had one season where a feature related to in-season fatigue destroyed my entire franchise save. The feature drives you to focus more on substitutions and prevents someone from running the ball 50 times with a running back and them being back at 100% the next week. The issue is, however, that it was completely broken. So much so, in every game, every single player (including bench players who don’t play) were at low stamina and unable to sprint. There was no way to resolve it and I lost a two-year long franchise in a matter of just a few games. 

There are dozens of gameplay bugs ranging from high-level issues with the franchise system, to individual play bugs. One of the more notorious ones is where no matter where you are, when you hike the ball it gets teleported to the 50 yard line and is up for grabs for either team. It completely ruins the game and is something that has been in multiple iterations of the series. 

Overall, the gameplay can be fun, and its something I have invested a significant amount of play time in. The franchise and online quick play modes can be great and I have enjoyed my time with them despite the issues. The biggest gameplay problem that I will cover more is the Ultimate Team, which has completely ruined not only this franchise but most sports major titles in the last decade. 

Story: 0 

Nobody comes to a sports game expecting a top tier story, but boy is this one bad. To break it down, there are a few “story” driven things to cover. The main story driven narrative is the “Be A Pro” or “Superstar” mode where you play as an NFL hopeful getting drafted and learning the ropes. There is some cringeworthy low budget cut scenes that look like they were from a release in 2005, not 2025, and overall does not add any value to the dream of becoming an NFL superstar. I would so much rather scrap all the extra loading screens and bloat and just play as one player with no extra fluff in between. 

The other story driven elements are related to Franchise Mode, and they are nothing to write home about. As players have great performances, you will occasionally see social media posts by real and fake NFL personalities in your home page talking about their big game. The problem is the AI that writes it is terrible and often time leads to confusing messages. You may have a quarterback who goes off for 500 yards, 8 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions in a game. Yet, all the media will be focused on is if they have a turnover problem. Its just not there and feels forced. 

Atmosphere: 1

To give the game its credit, they do a good job with the feel of each NFL stadium. Some of the character and personality of these venues does show up in the game. From unique chants like the New York Jets “J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS” or the Philadelphia Eagles “E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES” they do give you the feel of being in the NFL stadium. It does give you the ability in franchise mode as well to rebuild stadiums from a selection of options, as well as rename the team, move them to new exciting cities across the entire world, and change the jerseys.

The bulk of the positives around the atmosphere are around the Franchise Mode, which while it is still not the focal point of the developers, has gotten some much needed improvements the last few iterations of Madden. The attention to detail is something that they have struggled with however. In almost each new madden, there are examples of stadiums having the wrong year on billboards or re-using dated assets from previous titles that are no longer relevant. They have a great shell to envelop you in the NFL atmosphere, but sadly, miss the mark on perfection in a big way. 

Value: 0

And now we can talk about Ultimate Team. The mode that has truly killed this franchise and several others like it from FIFA/FC and NBA 2k. Years ago, these companies invented a game mode that sounded great on its surface. Create an “ultimate team” of your favorite players, from today and legends of the past decades. It sounds great and for a very short time it was, but then it became a massive cash grab. 

Technically, you can play and earn in game currencies to unlock some basic players, and its extremely time consuming and offers little to no enjoyment. One of the main ways to get players is by purchasing “packs” of cards that have chances of players. This is where the issue of gambling has reared its head, and has faced legal scrutiny over the years. Basically, there may be a 1-10% chance of a certain level of player in the pack, and it feels similar to casino games where you do have a chance to win, but the house always wins. If these were only purchasable via in game currency you can earn, I would have no problem with it. The issue is that you can spend real world money to buy this currency, and this leads to an entirely pay to win strategy. 

The tangential issue with this is you have content creators who spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars every single year on this game trying to get the best team to show off to their fans. It encourages kids who might not be old enough to know to spend their parents hard earned cash on a system rigged to steal your money. The biggest crux of the issue is that the players people are spending all this money to unlock are often deemed useless in a matter of weeks or months as they release better players. It’s a toxic cycle of spend money, buy players, new players unlocked, spend money. 

As you can expect, building this online casino is what the developers have focused on for the last decade as it is their main source of income from this videogame as opposed to straight up sales of the title. Keep in mind, this is also a title that rarely goes on sale and expects you to cough up $60 for a game that rarely changes year to year, just so you can be a part of the new season of Ultimate Team. It’s cratered a once great franchise and something I wish they would do away with, but until they do, it is a major reason this game will never be worth what they charge for it. 

Duration: 1

To close with the duration metric, I would say its right in the middle. Sure, you can invest hundreds of hours into franchises. Despite the game’s many flaws, it is something I do enjoy. Developing a great team through trades, free agency, and the draft each year is a ton of fun and something I wish they would focus more of their attention towards. You can certainly get a lot of fun out the game, but its also not something that’s for everyone. 

Total Score: 3/10

This once proud franchise has completely collapsed from what it used to be. The development of the Ultimate Team mode really destroyed what used to be a fun, lighthearted game based on the exciting National Football League. While there is still some value to it for those who can steer passed the slop, it’s certainly not something I would recommend picking up now or in the years to come as they re-release the same bloated microtransaction-riddled game year after year.