Noel Washington

Superstar mode is flawed at best. The NFL combine is there, to effect only your draft stock, as base attributes are locked behind archetypes that are based on your height and weight. Since you can only control your own player, you’re stuck with AI who plays like a high school JV team. Wide open drops plague the game mode. Everyone from DBs to LBs to even D-Line dropping back in coverage have eyes in the backs of their heads, reacting to passes they have no business contesting. So, if you’re planning to make a QB, prepare yourself for a long, frustrating grind. Superstar Showdown has a solo mode, where you it’s your character plus two NFL players, which you control, yourself, and a squad mode where you team up with two other players—first to 21 wins. I prefer solo mode: unless you team up with your own friends, or by luck, find good teammates via matchmaking, you’re stuck with teammates who just do whatever, and I literally mean *WHATEVER* they want as WRs. Also keep in mind that your player CANNOT be tall if you want to be fast enough to keep up with players online (welcome back to the swerve cheese from the NCAA days). Franchise mode is pretty much EXACTLY the same as it was in Madden 23, with minor changes: you can relocate week one, there are more cities to relocate your team to, and you can restructure contracts in-season. That’s about it. Don’t even get me started about MUT. It’s a cash grab and it will always be. There’s nothing new about it, other than more player cards. RAC animations are actually quite good this year and there are some new tackle animations. That about sums it up for the positives. All in all, I would give Madden 1/5 stars. It’s not a bad game, by any means, if you like arcade-feeling video games. If you’re like me, and really want to have a game that really looks and feels like NFL football, Madden 24 is not the game for you.