Another year means another Madden NFL game, EA returns its annual kick off to the NFL Season with one of its biggest sports franchise ever. Madden is back with an improved Franchise mode, Ultimate team and gameplay changes that might make this years game worth a pick up. Welcome back Madden!
Presentation & Sound
The first noticeable improvement in this years Madden is the amazing commentary, the inclusion of stats, records, and the fact that it feels like a play by play of what i’m actually doing instead of an audio recording. If you make a mistake they point it out the commentary even tries to guess and assume your next play. I’m sure this will be a feature most will ignore, but for now i’ll appreciate it. Madden is finally starting to simulate more than just the game, it now simulates the commentary, crowd noise, coaches, stadium music and much more.
Visuals
Once again EA Tiburon has took a few strides to improve the looks of Madden 17. Simply put, Madden 17 looks great and almost every head coach is recognizable and the player models in this years game is as good as its ever been. I was also impressed with the sideline men and referees and how they’re all unique in looks. Every stadium looks and feels like what you see on TV every Sunday, Monday and Thursday night.
Gameplay
Madden 17 heavily focuses on the run game which is now improved and overpowering at the same time. It’s too easy break tackles, and some player like Adrian Peterson, La’veon Bell, and Eddie Lacy are unstoppable. More work is now required to execute plays, mini games allow you to break tackles and avoid hits with spins. Defense is also slightly improved you now have more control on what happens on the other side of the ball. However Defenders making one handed catches to complete an interception can be annoying and rage inducing because we know that chance of that actually happening is not likely. Wide receiver play carries over from Madden 16 with the aggressive catches and your standard catches, however it tries to balance itself out by blatantly making players drop and miss wide open catches. Ea also changed the kick off meter, easy to learn however i don’t think the change was necessary.
Verdict
There is only one question you need to ask yourself, is Madden 17 better than last years game? My answer is yes but not by much. Playing it will wear thin with time however, the best part of the game is its visuals, presentation and sound. Which means the most important part of the game (gameplay) isn’t the best it can be. Sure everything else about the game could potentially make up for that like its awesome Franchise Mode.
