Madden 24 Review: Defending Yourself With a Broken Shield

gamepur.com:

I would not have a job in games media if it weren’t for Madden. From 1998 until 2009, my dad purchased every Madden and even every NCAA football once it came along. It wasn’t even a question; it was a reality. As sure as I was going to school the next day, we were getting any Madden that was released.

When games make the jump from $50 to $60, suddenly you have to make decisions about which games you are buying, and so my dad, knowing that I was a much bigger Ohio State fan than I was of my hometown Cincinnati Bengals at the time, chose to focus solely on NCAA. Once that series was shelved in 2013, the drive to pick up new games was gone for both of us. I wouldn’t buy Madden again until Madden 17.

I tell that story to say that from Madden 17 to Madden 23, it’s very possible that I’ve sunk over 2000 hours into this franchise. Madden Ultimate Team has a specific hold on me that’s difficult to explain but comes partly from the general comfort I feel in just playing a game of Madden. I have this unconditional love for the series, which was the reason my family got new consoles.

This is why it’s all the more depressing to report that Madden is stuck in the prison of the current model of sports games. These games are MMOs. Yes, there are new disks with new code and new features every year, but more and more, the changes that Madden 24 makes are no different than the slight mechanical changes from a Fortnite season.

Block in the back

Madden 24’s biggest attempt to show that it is improving is to put a huge emphasis on run blocking. In the past, it was always frustrating, especially as a newer player, to do the running game tutorial only to never have the natural running lanes open up in the game. Over the last few years, your