With six weeks still to go before Week 1, I sat through a pregame animation and felt something this franchise hasn’t stirred in me for years. The faces on the players. The roar of the crowd. Coaches drifting around on the sideline. Every bit of it connected.
A handful of hours with this year’s Madden isn’t enough for a verdict. Still, certain improvements register right away, while others will need more time before I can say where I land. Here’s what I’m sure of already: Madden 27 has left a stronger first impression than last year’s entry did, and that leaves me thinking EA Sports might be onto something.
The catch button is doing something new
You notice the overhauled passing game before anything else, and the reason is a fresh Timing-Based Catch mechanic. Fire a pass at a receiver, keep the catch button held, and a meter pops up above his head. Let go while it sits in the green and your receiver boxes out the defender, which more often than not ends in a completion. Hang on too long, or release ahead of the window, and expect a drop — or a tipped ball landing in a defender’s arms.
The design is clever, and it clicks because both quarterback and receiver are treated as partners on every dropback. Aiming throws and dialing their velocity was already in my hands. What’s new is that I can give my receiver a chance at a big gain through direct, legible inputs, so the catch reads as something I engineered. Watching the meter turn green and seeing the ball stick is a genuine thrill.
It also takes a while to stop embarrassing yourself
Precision matters here. Bullet passes are difficult to finish this way, since the ball gets there in a hurry and the window for holding the button narrows to match.
Then there are modes such as Quick Play, where I’m handling the quarterback’s throw and then the receiver’s catch, and the sequence begins to resemble stringing together fighting game combos. So many presses. So many directions.
Skills Trainer keeps that from turning into a real problem. Every one of Madden 27’s changes is collected into one tutorial mode that I can drill over and over until it sinks in, and that’s where I’d head to iron out throw and catch timing. It’s also where the new tackling system lives, with its added Conservative and Dive tackles, alongside the new pass rush moves designed to defeat the offensive line and pressure the quarterback.
Your linebacker wants to talk about his contract
The headline addition is the Persona Engine, a reimagining of Franchise mode in which every player on the roster carries his own motivations, goals and desires. Compensate your stars properly and they stay content. Ignore them and terms like “trade” and “holdout” start creeping into the discussion.
My franchise hasn’t run long enough for the engine to fully show its hand, though I can already see the shape of it. Zack Baun, a starting linebacker for my beloved Philadelphia Eagles, has begun raising the subject of a new deal. That negotiation isn’t something I’m eager for.
MUT is still MUT
Madden Ultimate Team has returned, which was never in doubt given its standing as one of Madden’s most popular modes. My Philadelphia Cream Cheeses are shaping up well, with up-and-comers like Cooper DeJean, locker room voices like Calais Campbell and legends like Kam Chancellor sitting near the top of my depth chart.
The whole thing still reduces to a single loop, however. Rip packs, finish a challenge, bank more packs, rip packs, finish challenges, bank packs, over and over. Taking the squad online against fellow MUTers is an option, but pull away the roster I’ve assembled and what’s left is core Madden 27 gameplay. “Don’t fix what isn’t broken” is the operating principle, and no shortage of players adore this mode. Following this many years of the same routine, it doesn’t do much for me. More time with it may yet change that.
Where I’m at heading into the full review
I’ve sampled a bit of everything by now, and the on-field action is the strength it typically is. Cracking the new passing game is no small task, but once I did, I felt commanding under center. In Franchise, the Persona Engine is already announcing itself.
So far so good, Madden. The full review arrives early next week, and by then I’ll know whether Zack Baun is still an Eagle.