Madden 22 is a flawed game, but as someone that came in with low expectations, I can see there is definite progress being made for the long-time football series.
This doesn’t speak to all the menu bugs with text overlays and the like, but one big positive that immediately drew my attention—especially due to the power of the Xbox Series X (and I’m assuming the PS5)—is how fast everything goes. Maybe my recall is just off, but I don’t believe the next-gen version of Madden 21 was as fast as this year’s game, and the speed is worth pointing out for those who perhaps have not played recently.
Whether it’s simulating the preseason in franchise mode or exiting challenges in Ultimate Team, I haven’t even had the time to unlock my phone and open Twitter in the time that it takes for me to be ready to grab the controller again. That’s a good thing.
As for the aforementioned bugs, I am fortunate to have only been impacted by cosmetic issues—all of which will hopefully be fixed in the near future. I can’t speak on anything else that has gone wrong for people, but for me, it’s just minor annoyances more than anything else (for example, the ticker in franchise mode has a small gap for “2nd quarter” between the “2” and “nd” that drags down the realism of the presentation).
In general, the main takeaway for presentation is that it will never get where it needs to be until EA gets real-life broadcasts/scoreboards from FOX, CBS, NBC, and ESPN (or at least one of them). Even if we have Brandon Gaudin and Charles Davis call every game, it’d be a substantial boost in realism to have a FOX scoreboard for a 4:25 game on Sunday or ESPN’s presentation on a Monday night.
Before jumping into the gameplay and game modes, I have to say my biggest criticism is undoubtedly the soundtrack. Quite frankly, I’m not sure I would have been able to play enough for a proper review if there wasn’t an option to set the music volume to 0.
Gameplay
The “feel” of Madden 22 compared to previous games is improved largely due to the Gameday Momentum meter, which actually reminds me of NFL Street’s gamebreaker bars—but in a realistic way with impactful bonus factors that are different for the home and away team. I hope all the differences from team to team will be felt more as I play through franchise mode, and I’m optimistic about that being the case.
Deep passing and ball tracking are also improved, particularly when a wideout has a step down the sideline. And in general, passing anticipation seems to be much better than previous years, as I’ve admittedly thrown deep over the middle a couple of times and been hurt because of it; a poor decision/throw should have consequences, and they have for me so far.
I also have been impressed with play in the trenches on both sides of the ball. For the offensive line, a more realistic pocket usually gets created in Madden 22, and quarterbacks have better awareness to escape if you take an unrealistic angle with a pass rusher.
As long as I get more used to switching players on defense (I don’t know why I’ve had more trouble choosing who I want during the play this year), there is one significant point of frustration for gameplay so far: players trying to make a catch on a swing route.
This is a legacy issue that has yet to be corrected, and it almost makes you think twice before targeting a wide-open player in the flat because of concerns that he’ll run out of bounds to turn what should be an eight-yard gain into a four-yard loss. Madden 23 simply needs to have this corrected, and I’ll keep pointing it out until it is.
Franchise Mode
Is franchise mode good enough to be the reason to buy Madden 22? Not even close. However, you can see strides being made to improve based on last year’s overwhelming backlash, and they have helped to create a somewhat more realistic experience.
I hope that one day we get a Madden that allows us to play using 15-minute quarters with accurate statistics and game flow, but for now, Play the Moments again seems like the best way go through a season—or at least the regular season. So far, the statistics have all been true-to-life using the base settings with six-minute quarters. (I might tinker with the settings/time if I decide to play full games in the playoffs.)
Then after my first regular season game, I was pleasantly surprised to see the accurate statistics carried over to the entire NFL on the new side tab for league leaders. But soon, the lack of realism again set in when I saw Colin Kaepernick was signed by the Colts.
No matter how you feel about the former San Francisco quarterback, it is simply a huge drain on the experience—for those who want a simulation franchise mode—to have him get signed by an NFL team when there is zero chance that will happen in real life. The rating (81 overall) is also laughable ahead of guys like Justin Herbert.
Give him a MUT card if you want to score political points. Keep it out of franchise mode.
I was also disappointed by the lack of feel for different broadcasts. The playoffs have a better atmosphere, but there is no mention of Halloween with the Week 8 Sunday slate coming on the holiday this year, and the scoreboards look exactly the same on Thanksgiving/Christmas.
I’d have also liked for the addition of coordinators—a welcome step forward—to be real-life coaches rather than essentially robots. And where is the option to be a general manager? Again, this is something I’ll bring up every year until it’s changed.
The end goal of a full, simulation mode still has a long ways to go… but at least the ball is finally moving in the right direction.
I think I speak for almost everyone by recommended that EA drops Face of the Franchise to pour more resources into traditional franchise mode.
Ultimate Team
Whether it should or shouldn’t be is up for debate, but MUT is clearly still the priority for EA. I still haven’t fully grasped all the changes—particularly to chemistry (now strategies) and just all the menus in general (the text seems very small, and I’m not even sure how exactly I’ve earned some of the free packs via challenges and/or leveling up so far).
That said, the basics of Ultimate Team are mostly the same as previous years, so what I’d like to do is discuss some simple things that I believe would really elevate the mode (and likely wouldn’t hurt EA’s bottom line):
The primary change I would make is to the cards/ratings in general. Rather than the mechanical card art, it’d be great to see them look more similar to real-life trading cards. But more importantly, I’d like to see 99 ratings from the get-go. Having legendary quarterback Johnny Unitas be an 89 overall as one of the first Legend cards to drop, for example, is just weird to me.
Let’s use Tom Brady as a template. He’s rated a 97 overall in the regular game, so I believe that’s what his elite MUT card should be. Then throughout the year, other editions can be released—from a 99-rated card from 2007 (that might have improved deep passing statistics) to a lower-rated card from earlier in his career. People are still going to grind and/or buy various editions of players, and spreading out the ratings more—by making 99 overall exclusive to guys like TB12 or Jerry Rice (plus an MVP-level season for others)—would make it so no one is really overpowered. Again, just my preference.
From a team-building perspective, it’s still frustrating to have rigidity when it comes to position versatility. The early example for this is Team Builders. There isn’t really a combination of players that fits perfectly for my team needs and schemes based on all the pairs available. I wanted to go with Browns tight end David Njoku and linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, but JOK being listed as a LOLB for the Browns 4-3 defense makes him an awkward fit in my 3-4 scheme where I’d want him at MLB. It’s far past time for players to be organized—or at least have secondary classifications—as defensive lineman, edge defenders, off-ball linebackers, etc.
Fantasy packs have been a great addition in recent years, but I’d argue they are underutilized. I’ve been lucky so far, but for the 80+ OVR NAT WR pack, someone could easily get stuck with a player they simply do not want at all. I got Keenan Allen, but what if I was morally against Tyreek Hill and pulled him? Because it wasn’t a fantasy pack and the card is NAT, it’d be useless aside from possibly using the card in a set at some point.
The final complaint/suggestion is a bit preemptive and ties back to the first point, but I hope the Most Feared, whatever the Thanksgiving promo is called this year (I wasn’t a fan of “Autumn” branding), and Ghosts of Madden/Zero Chill are all boosted some in terms of ratings. Those are the best promos and best-looking cards in the game to me, so it’s disappointing that most guys aren’t useful for the top teams in short order. At least giving us one or two 99 overalls for each holiday promo would be nice.
Conclusion
Overall, Madden 22 makes some strides, but it feels like an unfinished product, and the major flaws bring down score. The quality of the MUT promos—particularly the first big one for Halloween, which will set the tone for what we can expect out of Thanksgiving and Christmas—is what will likely determine if I play Madden through the NFL season (it’s the only football series on the market, after all) or completely ditch the game for other options like Halo Infinite and Battlefield 2042 this fall.
Final score: 6.0/10
Get it together ea
So unrealistic