Madden NFL 26 - Review

As Maxi-Geeks resident expert on American Sports, there is a task I look forward to every year, and that is reviewing the latest edition of Madden Football. This year is no different with EA Sports promising multiple new features and additions such as a deeper and more realistic franchise and superstar mode, Quarterback DNA, physics-based interactions and enhanced broadcast presentation. Madden 25 was a big step in the right direction for the often-criticised franchise, will Madden 26 continue to take great strides towards the end zone or will it get sacked in the backfield?

One of the biggest overhauls this year is superstar mode, in the past this mode has faced criticism over its lack of depth and overall lack of realism, I am thankful to say a lot of those criticisms have been addressed and most of them have been rectified in Madden 26. For those that play College Football 26 once again you have the ability to import your player over from that game to Madden 26, unfortunately though there really is no reason to as the only thing that imports into Madden is your appearance and college they attended prior to entering the draft, none of  your stats or abilities carry over with you, which is a shame and something I had hoped they would improve in this year’s game. Thankfully this is where the bad news ends and the good news starts as the rest of superstar mode has been given a massive facelift.

In past years when having your superstar drafted into the NFL you would become on instant starter on the team which honestly made no sense especially when most times this means superstar quarterbacks such as Josh Allen or Joe Burrow would be relegated to the bench as QB  2 behind you, thankfully this year this is no longer the case, even though sometimes teams will still draft you even if they already have a franchise quarterback which doesn’t really make any sense at all. This year superstar mode is divided into chapters that contain realistic situations which most freshly drafted NFL players will face in their careers, your first order of business is to play well on the field and gain enough of your coaches trust so that you become the starting player at your chosen position on the team.

As you play games and progress through the chapters you will also be exposed to certain scenarios that happen in the NFL, such as the star player at your position being out with an injury so you have an opportunity to step in and prove your worth to the team, decisions off the field are also important as those on the field and you will also encounter various situations that find you talking to your agent, coaches and teammates that allow you the opportunity to gain influence depending on the way you handle certain situations. One of the best things that has been introduced into superstar mode is the ‘sphere of influence’, your sphere of influence is basically a graphical representation of all the people you currently know such as your agent, coaches, sponsors and other players and the current level of influence you hold over them, you can gain or even lose influence with people within your sphere by completing objectives or by the way you respond in certain conversations.

This makes you have to think twice about how you react in a lot of situations just like a real NFL player would and as you progress through the chapters in superstar mode you will find that the new sphere of influence mechanic adds a lot of depth to the game mode. Superstar mode this year has some fantastic additions but it unfortunately also has some head scratching omissions that make it really hard and in some situations impossible to tell what is going on around the league as a whole, for example the ability to see players stats other than your own has been removed from the mode, which makes it feel like you are the star of your own movie devoid of a supporting cast. 

Following on from the new dynamic story lines added last year franchise mode has also seen some major additions this year including a much greater amount of coach customisation options, both in the way they look and the abilities they possess, gone are the old coaching skill trees in favour of a new system where you can purchase skills and play sheets through experience you gain, you can then build up an arsenal of different skills and pick when to use them in your weekly game plan to expose weaknesses in the team you are playing in any particular week, for instance if you are facing a pass heavy team you may want to use a skill that gives your secondary a boost for that particular game or if you are facing a team that is weak against the run you might want to add skills that give your running back an advantage to breaking tackles or your offensive line an advantage on opening up holes for the back to run through, these skills will also be upgraded dynamically as your complete certain milestones during gameplay making your strategic choices as a coach matter much more than they have in previous versions.

The dynamic wear and tear system from College Football has also now been added to franchise and adds even more depth to the mode as you now have to carefully watch your players in game and sub them out for a rest once enough wear and tear accumulates or your risk them going down with an injury, in between games this also has an effect on players as you now have to carefully manage how players are going  to train each week, if one of your players has a slight injury it might pay to rest them for the week or have them practice in half pads rather than full so they can regain wear and tear and avoid further injuries during training. The wear and tear system is a great addition and one I am used to being a fan of EA Sports College Football series, I can’t help but think it might have been beneficial to include a short tutorial on this new mechanic in Madden as a lot of players appear to be confused and frustrated by how it works from a lot of feedback I have read online, it’s a great addition to the game mode and it is a shame that players aren’t getting to enjoy it simply because they don’t fully understand it. Menus in franchise mode are snappy and load faster than ever this year, which is great, but there are some concerning issues such as the NFL draft where the UI sometimes make it impossible to see the draft board and also the fact that loading into the menu to upgrade a player sometimes takes up to five seconds due to the game auto saving each time this occurs, this can become highly frustrating at the start of the season when you need to upgrade a lot of players at one time.

Ultimate Team mode is of course back again this year so get ready to open your wallet to purchase virtual card packs if this is your favourite part of the franchise, personally it is not my thing, so I rarely spend more than a few hours in the mode each  year. For those that do love the mode though there have been major changes added such as improved challenges for solo players through the new Solo Champions mode that introduces a 12 game gauntlet each week which offers rewards through escalating challenges, a league mode that allows players to compete in a full NFL season with playoffs included, it also offers several improvements to pack and card management through an improved UI that will help you though giving suggestions as to which players you should include in your team to have the best chance at beating your opposition.

The games on field presentation has also been shown a lot of love this year starting with all new score overlays that change depending  on whether the game is a Sunday, Monday night or Thursday night game and all new stadium entrances for a majority of teams, these are absolutely fabulous and really help set the atmosphere for certain games, though I can’t help but think that the majority of players will skip through these after they have seen them a few times. Mascots are also back, and you can see these at the start of games and during certain celebrations in the game and stadiums also now feature authentic team displays on scoreboards around the stadium as well as team specific chants that boom and resonate around the stadium. The presentation in Madden 26 is much more authentic and atmospheric than last year’s game and it certainly adds to the feeling of participating in a real NFL game.

The soundtrack this year is also an absolute banger, it was hard not to get sick and tired of the soundtrack comprising of generic mumble rappers that I have never heard of before, this year we get some amazing anthems such as Sabotage by The Beastie Boys, Insane In The Brain by Cypress Hill and Rollin’ by Limp Bizkit, but this is really just the tip of the iceberg, I really cannot gush about the soundtrack enough. The halftime show has also been given an injection of life and now features Scott Hanson of NFL RedZone fame who takes you through three games going on throughout the league, complete with highlight plays, he now also hosts a weekly recap show in franchise mode that covers games from around the league, this is a great step forward for the game as a whole but unfortunately the commentary lags behind what is being shown on the screen at times and ends up a confusing mess.

The on-field gameplay is of course the most important part of Madden and I am happy to say that the game feels better than ever this year for the most part. The new QB DNA system really does make quarterbacks play the same way they do in real NFL games and the new throwing motions look absolutely fantastic, running the ball feels better than ever rather than the frustrating mess it could be at times in previous versions and when you bust off a big gain through an open hole in the line it feels really impactful. I usually play a defensive line player when taking the field as the defence and previously it was a struggle to feel as if you had an impact on the game, all of that has changed this year and using skill moves to bust through the line and take out the QB is more satisfying than ever. Some issues from previous games do still rear their ugly head though and unfortunately one of them is the ‘robo QB’ issue that has been complained about for years, unfortunately opposing QB’s still tend to rack up an unrealistic amount of completions and completion percentage each game, and even though the super human flying and leaping linebackers have been toned down a bit they still tend to intercept passes when their back is facing the ball, I also encountered some very strange bucks where lineman would sometimes line up facing the sidelines for some reason, the gameplay is still far from perfect but I can confidently say it feels better than last years version, especially with the addition wear and tear and the strategic decisions that come with managing the players you have on the field.

I am in two minds as to whether recommend Madden 26 this year, especially if you own the previous version. A lot of new features have been put into the game that really add to its depth and longevity but at the same time there are a large amount of bugs that unfortunately detract from some of the improvements that have been made, some of the bugs are so puzzling that it makes me feel like this year’s version wasn’t tested properly before it was rolled out, it feels like a case of one giant step forward but many tiny steps backwards, more concerning is the fact that it is more than a week after release and there has not been one single patch that addresses any of the issues with the game. Madden 26 is a solid football game with a lot on offer and EA really came close to nailing it this year, but it might be better to see if some of the major bugs get fixed before purchasing.

The Score

7.5

Review code provided by Electronic Arts

The Pros

New presentation, stadium entrances, crowd sounds and half time and weekly shows are great additions

Wear and tear and new skill system are a nice new addition to franchise, though they may be frustrating to players who don’t do some research on how to use them

Superstar mode provides a totally new and expanded experience

For the most part the game feels a lot better on the field

The Cons

Head scratching omissions from superstar mode such as not allowing you to see exactly what is going on around the league and not being able to see stats from other players on your team or other teams

Some major bugs on the field such as O-line and D-line players lining up the wrong way, linebackers becoming superhuman robots that intercept any ball that comes within 10 metres of them and QBs that are way too accurate

Lack of any patches to address some of the major issues