Madden NFL 22 (2021)

As usual, Madden is best enjoyed with friends on Sunday mornings before watching games on TV, but most of what’s available beyond Exhibition mode feels like a downgrade from the same product released 10 years ago.

Let’s be realistic. For an annual sports franchise, it’s not necessarily practical to expect huge evolution year on year. It’s also fair to say that at a minimum, players should expect EA to deliver incremental quality of life improvements and make an effort to hone their overall experience of the game for the better. Whilst there is only so far the needle can be pushed year on year, the launch of a new Madden on next-gen systems presented EA with an opportunity to really raise the bar. That’s why it’s particularly disappointing that Madden 22 only offers stagnant content and, sadly, creative disinterest.

‎Madden 22‎‎ bets on intelligent changes that perhaps fall a little short, but if they continue in the future they can be excellent. A title that I can not recommend for those who start in the franchise or in the sport for the number of elements it has and the little explanation of them during the game, but it is a title that I suggest to those who have already enjoyed Madden before, even in the version of the last generation being that here you will find interesting news and a new list of activities to invest many hours of life.‎

Madden receives a kicking each year regardless of what changes EA and Tiburon make. But it seems the developer listened a bit to the voices of dissent as what I am feeling here is a much crisper and user-friendly game than the buggy mess of last year. I will be playing this one throughout the season and very much looking forward to seeing how that pans out. Sadly, I cannot say the same for the Jets. But there is always next year.

Madden NFL 22 definitely tries to get things right, but the lack of competition turns it into its own worst enemy. The rush to release a new game every year during a period in which game development takes more time than ever results in an incomplete and bug-filled launch. EA Vancouver skipped a next-gen version of NHL 20 to try to knock things out of the park with NHL 21 — maybe EA Tiburon should have done the same with Madden. If they do not learn from their mistakes, they might stumble into the same fate they have with their own NBA Live series.