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Madden 26 has arrived, and in this review, we want to see if all the new gameplay improvements like “Coach” or “QB DNA” really elevate this series to the next level. Overall, this year’s Madden title adds a new Coach and QB DNA system, more impactful weather, and other gameplay improvements. However, do they justify the game’s price tag? Without further ado, let’s see if Madden 26 is really worth your time and money.
Madden 26 is the newest entry in EA Sports’ annual NFL video game series. Overall, it features real NFL teams, players, stadiums, personnel, etc. The series originally began in 1988, named after legendary Head Coach John Madden. Thanks to an exclusive licensing agreement between the NFL and EA Sports, the latter is the only company that can make these kinds of games.
Madden 26 was developed by EA Tiburon and released for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via Steam, Epic Games, EA App, and Luna.
Gameplay – Madden 26 Review
If you’ve read any of my previous Madden reviews, you’ll know right off the bat that I despise Frostbite Engine in sports video games. It makes the player movement feel awkward, and it looks like they’re running with a stick up their rear.
However, just because it runs on Frostbite doesn’t make it bad. After all, I do enjoy the EA College Football games because players feel faster. And to be fair, player movement does feel faster now. But there are other issues in which player movement feels plain wrong.
On the offensive side of the ball, receivers still drop catches way too often. Even if slightly contested, someone as good as Tee Higgins or Devonta Smith may drop an easy pass. The slightest amount of contact seemingly always causes a drop.
When you do finally catch a ball, the abilities at your disposal only seem to work when certain animations are triggered. Spins feel slow and only work when a defender is at a certain angle. It all feels awkward, just for the sake of seeing a “cool” animation.
Keep that in mind as we move forward with this review. Since I began replaying the series with Madden 24, I’ve noticed that everything feels “animation-based”. While it tries to look more accurate to the real NFL experience, the problem is that these animations seemingly dictate gameplay. The spin example I mentioned above is just one of many.
This also applies to the defensive side of the ball. Tackling still feels awkward, and every action requires an animation. Pressing Square (PS)/X (Xbox) essentially takes your defender out of the play. And since Hit Sticks are designed to be harder to land, you’re relegated to using Wrap tackles most of the time.
But even standard tackles feel weird, making it hard to take down receivers at times. Speaking of coverage, I tend to notice that DBs lock up sometimes and can’t change...
