Madden NFL 26 Review: Not In My Inner Circle

I don’t usually pay much attention to PlayStation Trophies. I can’t tell you the last game I platinumed. Usually, I see them pop up in the upper right-hand corner of my screen and never think about them again. It’s not a new thing either. I’ve never cared about Trophies or my Achievement Score or whatever Steam calls them. So it’s weird that a Madden NFL 26 trophy is the thing that sticks with me after a few dozen hours with the football sim.

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Earning the trophy wasn’t anything notable, but then I saw the text on my screen. “Paper or plastic: With your defense record for sacks on the opposing quarterback.” And don’t worry about my editor’s eyes, that’s not a typo on our part. One of the easiest trophies to get in Madden NFL 26 fails to show a mastery of English.

Death By a Thousand Cuts

Now look, I’m not going to fault EA Sports. I have no idea who handles Trophies or how they even work. What I do know is that this seemingly lackadaisical approach to quality control extends throughout all of Madden NFL 26. The developers have a few great ideas that I’m excited to see evolve, but at launch, Madden 26 has most of the same legacy bugs you’re used to and several new ones to keep things spicy.

You’ll see linemen who forget how blocking works the second you get out of the pocket, skill position players who decide they’d rather do a 40-yard sprint down the field than hold a block, and so many more gameplay bugs that completely take you out of the experience. My favorite that I’ve seen so far is a weird one where every defender switches from normal running to a fast-paced tiptoe that makes them look like they belong in the music video for The Lonely Island’s “The Creep.”

Fortunately, this isn’t my first rodeo with modern Madden, so I was laughing more than throwing my controller, but if you aren’t as weary as I am, some of these bugs might break you. That said, I do like what EA Sports is doing with making weather impact gameplay. Madden is a football sim, so I’ll always appreciate it when the developer ups the realism. I just wish they could figure out how to make blocking and player switching.

I’m not saying Madden NFL 26 is a bad version of football. It’s faster paced this year, thanks to the developer bringing some College Football 26‘s speed over. I love some of the new playcalling wrinkles, especially the “cheat” motions in the Vikings’ playbook. Having access to stunts, twists, and custom zones makes defensive playcalling even more versatile. It’s like putting 20-inch rims on your beat-up 1978 Chevy Impala. You might distract passersby for a second, but they’re going to notice that ugly paint job sooner or later.

Everything Feels Half-Baked

Madden NFL 26 has so many cool ideas that I want to see expanded. I genuinely like the changes to Superstar Mode, giving you new characters to meet and build a relationship with to earn new unlockables. However, in its current state, it feels so lifeless and like a paint-by-numbers approach to creating a dynamic story.

I’m also a big fan of the modifiers EA introduced in Franchise and Superstar. This lets them give players and teams specific boosts to increase or decrease the challenge each week. I wish they could take a step further and add some wackier scenarios, but it’s a good step in making Franchise and Superstar feel different week to week. The problem is that I never found the changes too impactful. Maybe it becomes more of a challenge on higher difficulties (I generally play on All-Pro), but I’d like to see the developers take even bigger swings.

The standout feature for me, at least in theory, is the Weekly Recap in Franchise Mode. This short video segment shows you recaps of three games that happened during the week, complete with in-game highlights from CPU teams. It’s one of the best additions to the mode, but NFL 2K5 had something similar 20 years ago. Look, I appreciate that Madden’s finally added it. I just wish they’d been able to go further, giving us a weekly Top Ten or more insight into an upcoming matchup. Something to make it feel like Madden was more of a step-up on a game from 2004.

And like gameplay, most of the modes are infected with weird bugs or curiously designed features. For example, Madden 26 has added the Wear and Tear system from EA Sports College Football. That could’ve given Franchise players another layer of gameplay, forcing you to choose between practice and rest, or even sitting a player for a week to not risk injury heading into a big matchup.