Electronic Arts Madden Nfl 20 - Playstation 4

Until the Sun starts rising from the west, another year brings along another lackluster addition to the Madden franchise. After 24 hours with the game after preordering like the EA sheep I am, I am again underwhelmed with the changes made to the game from last years iteration.PROS:New Face of the franchise mode: Replaces the dreadful Longshot story mode from last year. The mode lets you pick several college teams and has much more replay-ability than the two seasons of Longshot ever did. After making your way through college you play a year in the pros and can unlock various different endings based on how you play. Afterwards, it is essentially a single player franchise mode with few dialog options such as coach interactions and post game interviews. Though still not as replayable as I would have liked, definitely an improvement over last year.X-Factor traits: Essentially special abilities star players have on certain teams to distinguish from your average NFL Joe. Though I thought these would be a gimmick at first, they actually make playing certain teams and players feel different than unique. Though some x factors are certainly more overpowered than others, it is a welcome addition to the franchise.Gameplay: Though this should be expected, game play feels much more fluid than last year especially in the run. Clipping doesn't happen as often though still a problem, and linebackers can't jump 5 feet up in the air to pick off your ball. Trending in the right direction with the gameplay though I have still experienced frame rate dips and animation glitchesCONS:Franchise Mode:Franchise mode got no meaningful improvement from last year as there are still many features that players have been asking for for years that are not available. Basically a copy and paste from Madden 19.MUT: Your favorite microtransaction riddled pay to win mode is back and earning in game currency to buy packs feels harder than ever this year. Despite this, it is the mode with the most added features such as a new challenges mode where you can switch up the difficulty to earn higher rewards. However, the reason I put this in the cons section is because the only reason EA puts any time and effort into improving this mode is because it is their money maker. Why put more resources into franchise mode when they can't put microtransactions into it? MUT as a mode dumbs down the rest of their game because they simply refuse to spend the resources on anything else which honestly has been a frustrating trend over the years.Though I get excited by the demos and gameplay trailers with all the flashy new features every year, every year I come away disappointed. I've come to accept that I buy this game for the roster updates and this review is might just be a rant about me own stupidity. Anyways, Madden stays Madden and its up to you whether that justifies another 60 dollars or not.

I hate the dark cloud that EA casts on the video game community with their monopoly via Madden. No other football game to even choose from. Franchise mode is another rerun from the prior year's game. Very few changes at all. Gameplay is not very smooth. Graphics are so-so. The overall football experience is vanilla - so, typical Madden.I'll play it, because I like the franchise simulation CONCEPT, and there is not another football video game to even shop for, but it doesn't seem like I'm playing a different game than the last 3-4 Maddens. DULL.

If you've played recent Maddens over the years, you know what you're getting into. All of the old modes are basically the same (Franchise, Ultimate team, etc). The gameplay is the same.The big difference this year is the QB1 mode. Which kind of stinks. You play as a college team (well, your forced to pick from 10 schools you may or may not even like), and then you get drafted, and it's got a cheesy story, kind of like the Longshot story modes, only with less character. Basically, you've never played a college game in your whole time there, and then you get pushed into the starting position right before your senior year championship game... wait, what? Why didn't they just make you the star player from the college? Why the hell would an NFL draft you in the first round if you only played in 2 college games? Whatever.The other new feature is the "special abilities" for the best superstar players. I guess it's fine. It doesn't seem like much of a difference in gameplay when I play them though.I've played through two seasons of franchise, and the superstar players will send you "intimidation texts" before you play them. These texts are often *word for word* the exact same for every player, whether you're getting texted from Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Andrew Luck, etc. They couldn't even come up with like 20 generic different texts to cycle through. There's like 3, at most. EA Sports is so lazy about the little things.Anyway, I like playing this game because I enjoy the zen-like calmness of mindlessly grinding through games while I'm listening to podcasts or whatever. Like knitting, or doing puzzles. Madden 20 is basically the same game as it was when it was Madden 16. I only buy it every year because I use gift cards and I have an empty, soulless existence.