Madden NFL 22: 5 Things It Gets Right (& 5 It Needs To Improve)

With two decades of games under their belt, the Madden franchise is definitely here to stay. With a massively popular Ultimate Team mode, there are plenty of reasons to keep coming back to the franchise year after year, besides the roster updates that accompany each game.

Still, many gamers are of the opinion that the franchise has gone backward steadily for the last few years, with major issues going overlooked and seemingly few changes being made to the game each year. Overall, Madden 22 is a mixed bag that has some improvements but still has some aspects that will frustrate players.

10 Gets Right: Homefield Advantage Mechanics

The new home field advantage mechanic added to the game is a solid aspect that keeps games interesting. Although it has its biggest impact in Franchise mode, it also does play a small role in Ultimate Team and other game modes.

The mechanic essentially gives a slight edge to the home team with several visual changes to the game that make it harder to see what routes are being run by your receivers while on offense amongst other things. Madden’s in-game atmosphere has been lacking for some time and this is a step in the right direction.

9 Needs To Improve: The Graphics

The in-game graphics and animations in Madden seemed to have been hardly updated at all in recent years. The sidelines in particular are a major eye-sore for many players and frequent glitches will see players reaching through others to get the ball.

That’s not to mention the referees are nowhere to be seen unless there is a flag to be thrown. Overall the gameplay itself is slightly improved but graphics still look noticeably worse than other games like NBA 2K and MLB The Show.

8 Gets Right: Optimized for Next-Gen

The graphics still need some work on Madden 22 but the next-gen version of the game is noticeably better in that department. Players look more like their real-life counterparts, movement is much more fluid and the graphics, in general, are far more crisp and dynamic than those on Ps4 and Xbox One.

This is most obvious on players that have longer hair like Cam Newton & Trevor Lawrence, as their hair looks far more realistic and less cartoonish.

7 Needs To Improve: New Features

One of the most consistent complaints each year in Madden is just how little the game changes from year to year. This is true once again in Madden 22 as players will struggle to find any differences outside of a handful of new features in Career Mode, some of which are recycled from older Madden games anyways.

The animations on the sideline and after winning big games are also still the same as previous installments when playing on Ps4 and Xbox One. With no real competition when it comes to football games, it seems the Madden franchise is content to coast on its previous success.

6 Gets Right: Franchise Mode New Features

EA tends to spend most of their time developing the popular Ultimate Team game mode on all the Madden games, and as a result, other game modes don’t often change much from year to year.

However, this year’s version of the game sees multiple improvements and new features added to franchise mode. Most notably would be the introduction of the coaching staff, which players can now hire themselves to support the team. The overall experience is improved as well with things like news stories taking center stage for a more immersive experience, allowing players to fulfill their NFL fantasies.

5 Needs To Improve: Gameplay Mechanics

At the end of the day, the gameplay mechanics are the most important part of the game. Even with tons of new features or none at all, most players are only going to truly care about how the actual gameplay is and Madden 22‘s is arguably as bad as ever.

The game is immensely frustrating at times and feels like the gamer has little control over players as ridiculous events and annoying glitches seemingly plague every single snap. Although the game looks nice in some regards, none of the gameplay feels realistic or even sensical.

4 Gets Right: The Use Of Playbooks

The Madden games have done a good job over the years of including relevant playbooks and plays based on what’s going on in the NFL. Madden 22 is no different with tons of formations and plays to choose from with several new additions being included this year.

The game added 13 new offensive formations alone this year such as the Gun Empty Quads and Pistol Open Flex Close to help shake things up a little bit.

3 Needs To Improve: Face of the Franchise

Madden has been pushing their story-based mode for several iterations of the game in recent years but once again the game mode missed the mark. The graphics during the cinematic scenes look incredibly dated and the entire mode feels like an in-depth gameplay tutorial with a storyline thrown in.

It’s all a cool concept that is in need of a more direct goal as well as decisions that feel more consequential. Although the franchise does get credit for continuing to add completely new game modes after so many years.

2 Gets Right: The Presentation

The presentation during pre-season warm-ups and various games in franchise mode is much improved over previous installments. The experience is far more immersive and helps to raise the stakes especially before post-season games in franchise mode.

The team walkouts and intros really do feel much more like an actual NFL broadcast. However, these improvements are only available on next-gen versions of the game.

1 Needs To Improve: Ultimate Team

Ultimate Team has seemingly been the premier game mode across all the sports games that EA makes. However, for several years the game mode has been nothing more than an online seasons mode that encourages players to spend real money in order to buy packs to get the best players to improve their teams.

Many players despise the game mode for its “pay to win,” game model. Despite the popularity of the mode, it still remains mostly the same with different themes on the various packs the only real change each year.

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