‘Madden 19’ Review: Another Roster Update?

Gameplay

 

Let’s just start with the issues I had in my first exhibition—a standard, six-minute quarter game on all-pro difficulty. It was the first thing I did in Madden 19, and I was the Patriots facing the Texans.

 

On the game’s opening drive, Deshaun Watson was sacked by outside linebacker Dont’a Hightower, who was the only defender near the quarterback (i.e. it was clearly Hightower’s sack). However, defensive tackle Danny Shelton was credited with the sack, and a replay was shown highlighting Shelton for “his” play, which showed him about ten yards away from Watson as he fought off a double team.

 

Shortly after, the starting lineups were shown for each team—and there were errors throughout. Kyle Van Noy was listed twice, defensive backs were lined up next to linebackers, defensive linemen were lined up next to the secondary. It was just a total mess.

 

Next, I was on offense, and a tipped interception occurred right in front of Julian Edelman on a post route. Instead of making the tackle or chasing the defender like Edelman would 100% of the time in real life, he just put his hands on his head and watched.

 

I got the ball back on a punt, and it was quickly apparent that special teams haven’t changed at all, as gunners ran mindlessly down the field and kicked the ball around near the goal line. Later when I was the punting team, I unfortunately found out that the mechanics for stopping punts from turning into a touchback haven’t changed at all either, so a big aspect of real-life football is still just little more than luck.

 

When we got the ball back and moved into the red zone, I threw a seam route to Rob Gronkowski, and the ball ended up reaching him right on the goal line in heavy traffic. It hit his hands, but ended up being dislodged and landing on his chest, which in reality, would have at least caused him to reach his hands up to secure it. In the game, though, he didn’t even make an effort as it just sat there for a moment before rolling to the ground.

 

Towards the end of the half, the clock randomly stopped at 2:01. Then, as the Texans drove downfield for a two-minute drill, they got in range for a field goal; but instead of waiting until three or so seconds are on the clock so we wouldn’t get a chance at a kickoff return, they called timeout with ten seconds to go, which was the case in last year’s game and unlike anything that happens in real life.

 

That was one half.

 

I could go on and on about the legacy issues that persist—from animation-heavy interactions to an absence of accurate ball physics to a lack of awareness for players—but we were probably getting our hopes up by expecting simulation gameplay from EA.

 

The only positive changes that I’ve noticed are more incompletions that are thrown to open space (which admittedly adds more realism to the passing game) and improved blocking in the open field by offensive linemen. Plus, the new running mechanics are surprisingly smooth once you get used to them, but I wish the ratings (like Tevin Coleman not having 98 or 99 acceleration, for example) were actually accurate to take advantage of them.

 

Graphics & Presentation

 

For this section, I’ll give start with the “Good” and give credit where it’s due, as the new stadium exteriors look really good and adds more of a “Sunday afternoon” feeling to day games in particular. Also, the broadcast team seems to have added a lot more lines this year, as I can’t really recall much being repeated so far, which definitely wasn’t the case in last year’s game.

 

Now for the “Bad” and the “Ugly”. The gear for players is slightly better than previous years, but they still have to make some substantial strides. I mean, cover athlete Antonio Brown doesn’t even wear his patented forearm band in the game, as it’s not available because somehow EA hasn’t figured out what must clearly be some groundbreaking technology. (Even though forearm bands were in ESPN NFL 2K5.)

 

Mouthpieces are also yet to make their way into the game, which is a disappointment, and long-sleeve undershirts are still lacking. It shouldn’t be hard to give DeAndre Hopkins a shirt that ends at his mid forearm, or Byron Maxwell those loose-fitting sleeves that he’s worn throughout his career. Overall, what is in the game doesn’t look awful, but what isn’t in the game takes away from what is supposedly a simulation football experience.

 

Another thing that takes away from the realism is kickoff times. Why is there no 4:05, 4:25, or 8:20 (all times PM ET)? Every week, games start at those times in real life, but they aren’t options in Madden 19. Instead, 4:30 is an option (which only happens on Thanksgiving or late-season Saturday and/or Christmas games), and 8:15 is the new time for Monday Night Football, but Sunday Night Football’s 8:20 isn’t at option. Even the first week of the season plays at 7:10 and 10:20 on MNF, but those aren’t options in Madden. Seriously, how hard could be it to add accurate times?

 

Also, it’s still extremely annoying to have a cheap, lazy presentation at the end of the game, particularly in blowouts or games that are clearly over. Once an opponent has no chance of winning, they should stop calling timeouts, and when the game clock gets below the play clock, both teams should run out on the field to shake hands or go to the locker room like in real life. Instead, we are forced to waste 30+ seconds of staring at the screen while the team either lines up in victory formation or stands around in the huddle.

 

For me, the most glaring admission in Madden 19 is dynamic weather. Snow is still just snow; there is no light snow, or heavy snow, or light snow to heavy snow, or no snow to light snow, or… I could go on. And the same is true for rain, clouds, sun, wind, etc. Weather can often play a big part in a football game, but in Madden, it does the same thing all game. We don’t even have an option to play in cold without snow, which is a joke.

 

Franchise Mode

 

Finally, custom draft classes have been added to franchise mode, and they are irrefutably the biggest and best feature in Madden 19. I have no doubt that there will be a group of die-hard Madden gamers that make full-fledged draft classes for 2019, 2020, and perhaps beyond, so those looking to build the next dynasty can do it with real-life prospects. You can even download and edit someone else’s draft class to create what you believe to be more accurate ratings for today’s college stars. [Editor’s note: we might do that for Xbox owners, so keep an eye out for it in the future]

 

Besides the custom draft classes, the biggest additions to franchise mode were player archetypes, coach scheme fits, and immersive environments. The archetypes are a new progression system where you can spend XP points on a certain style. For example, a quarterback might be a 90 Field General OVR, an 87 West Cost OVR, an 86 Strong Arm OVR, and a 75 Scrambler OVR. So, you upgrade one of the archetypes and get a boost to ratings in categories that fall under it.

 

The new progression system sort of goes hand-in-hand with the coach scheme fits, as you can either acquire players that fit your coach, train players to fit your coach, or hire a coach that fits your players. Users could easily “beat the system” by simply changing the coach’s scheme, but I’ll be avoiding that to make it as realistic as possible.

 

But while the team-building additions should actually make a difference in Madden 19 and future games by rounding out the edges, immersive environments is basically just fluff for a mode that still needs some core issues fixed. Basically, as a coach you will be in an office, and as a player you will be in a locker room, but there aren’t any interactions or anything really useful to come out of it.

Now that custom draft classes have been added to the game, the biggest things missing from franchise mode are easily offensive coordinators, defensive coordinators, and position coaches. If I want to choose the owner role and fire a head coach to replace him with “my” guy, I shouldn’t be left with the choice of Generic McFacehead and Coach Custom; we should be able to hire real-life assistant coaches from around the league to lead our team. And as a head coach, we should be given the option to start as a position coach or coordinator if we want to.

 

Also, how is there no general manager option in franchise mode? I would easily choose GM over owner or head coach, and it would be great to be able to have control of all aspects of the team similar to MyGM. If EA really wanted to create an awesome experience to rebuild trust in their direction for the game, they would be wise to add a GM option and do what the older NBA 2K games did by allowing you to fully customize your character with suits, vests, sweaters, pants, glasses, watches, ties, etc.

 

Career Mode

 

This could go under franchise mode like it does in Madden 19, but I figured I would create a “Career Mode” section to combine the player experience with Longshot. There isn’t much to say for Longshot other than I enjoyed it being shorter than last year, but similar to the start of Devin Wade’s story, it feels totally unrealistic and a complete waste of resources for a game that can’t afford to play around with so many areas lacking. In my opinion, Longshot is just a way to get new players into Ultimate Team by saying you can continue playing with Devin and Colt there, which is kind of a low move.

 

As for franchise mode’s “career” option, player creation is still awful. There’s no reason to sugarcoat it; as the ratings are preset, the “back story” choices are simply early pick, late pick, or undrafted, and you just go through the motions until you either retire or stop playing because you realize it’s a waste of time with no real depth or heart.

 

Just give us a chance to spend XP points on the ratings we decide to upgrade (ex: if I want to build speed/agility/acceleration for a quarterback and don’t care about accuracy to start my career, I should be able to mold my player that way). EA should just drop Longshot and add story elements to a career mode tailored around YOU, not some made-up washed up high school star no one cares about.

 

Madden Ultimate Team

 

“Training” is the big change in MUT for Madden 19, and it’s basically an evolution of last year’s Power-Up cards. Instead of putting cards into sets to get a Power-Up version of that card, Training allows you to keep the same card but increase the overall while adding chemistry(s) of your choice. Cards can also be broken down while getting training points back (though not the same amount you put into building the card).

 

It’s a definite improvement, but again, dynamic overalls would be the only way to make MUT as good as it can and should be. Instead of watered-down “Core Elite” and “Core Gold” cards, all players should be available—at launch—with their overalls from the actual rosters. Then, as the season progresses, their card would either go up or down based on their real-life performance.

 

EA will probably never do that because they feel there is too much money to make in constantly putting out better versions of today’s NFL stars, but I disagree if that’s their belief. You could easily make rookie cards, prime cards, holiday cards, and Team of the Week cards to churn out content that would be even better then the current promos. Also, there is a wide collection of legends that could be added to the game so that there isn’t a weak legend card now and then a 99 legend card at the end of the year. I think legends should be 95-99 and released all year long.

 

MUT will probably be the best mode to play again, especially once the Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas content kicks in, but it could be a lot better if EA made some bold—but positive—changes.

 

Recap

 

Rating: 6.4 – “Disappointing”

 

I was surprised that the additions to franchise mode work better than I anticipated, but as long as the core gameplay elements are lacking, Madden 19 doesn’t feel like much more than a big roster update with custom draft classes finally being added. Unless you’re a die-hard NFL fan, there’s no reason to buy the game.