Madden NFL 26 Review (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, & PC)

Every new iteration of an annual franchise promises to be better than the last. Whether that’s overhauling outdated features or adding quality of life updates, a new entry has to justify the $70 price tag often attached to it. With Madden NFL 26, you’ll need $100 to access the Deluxe Edition seven days early. And for diehard fans, it’d be a no-brainer to pay up. Especially when Madden NFL is the only NFL simulation franchise in the gaming market. 

Since the return of EA College Football, though, Madden NFL has received a worthy competitor. It may not be an NFL counterpart, but it sure does give Madden NFL a run for its money with its smooth and fast-paced on-field action, and innovative features like Wear and Tear. It’s been such a praised competitor in fact that Madden NFL 26 has adopted some of EA College Football 26’s enhanced gameplay. 

Still, the question remains: Are the changes enough to justify a new purchase? Or would you be better off sticking to Madden NFL 25 or other previous entries? Let’s dig deep into all that’s on offer in our Madden NFL 26 review below.

What’s New?

Madden NFL 26 is coming in hot with your usual array of fantastic game modes. You have the return of fan-favorite Franchise mode, alongside Superstar and Ultimate Team. While Franchise focuses on the managerial aspect of national football leagues, Superstar nurtures individual player careers, and Ultimate Team champions custom teams to victory. Franchise mode has long been on the sidelines of invention and innovation. With Madden NFL 26, though, you’ll enjoy notable changes enhancing depth and strategy.

Franchise has, by far, the most significant overhaul, with more dynamic playsheets and a deeper coach DNA system. Every week gives you the freedom to add new players to your playbooks, thus progressively fine-tuning your tactical strategies. Rather than coach skill trees, you have different archetypes, unique in traits and tendencies, which, in turn, helps streamline your play style more to your chosen archetype, and make consequential and impactful decisions.

Rolling in the Deep

Meanwhile, NFL fans will quite enjoy the immersive TV-style celebrations and mascot shows. You have four new broadcasts, including one standard, and three prime-time cuts for Thursday, Sunday, and Monday night games. Each broadcast is unique to teams, be it the theme music, commentary, or even custom scoreboards. It truly brings home the feeling of playing through real-life football, only virtually mirroring televised games. And with the impeccable detail of stadiums and fantastic lighting that changes depending on the location, it brings the deep and immersive experience all full circle. 

Further adding depth and strategy to your playthrough is the Wear and Tear system. That way, you’re conscious of how hard you’re working your players. You’ll notice the performance drop in players exerting themselves too much during training and on-field matches. And thus, pushes you to consider your rest schedules and squad rotations carefully. Overall, Franchise mode is the backbone of Madden NFL‘s existence. And it’s nice to see the series finally give it the facelift it deserves. 

Icon Livin’

Superstar mode may provide considerable fun to players as well. Nothing beats the grind up from college rookie to NFL superstar. This time, there are notable changes to the game mode, although they still fall short of the high standard set by NBA 2K‘s The City. You won’t roam around an open world here, running into random but engaging things to do. Still, you enjoy decent, structured storytelling, with clear goals, and hitting career milestones you can be proud of. 

The most significant change, though, is the Sphere of Influence. It tracks how you relate with not just other players but also agents, coaches, media, and even fans. Depending on which relationships you want to cultivate, you might earn rewards from them. 

Say, earning influence points with your agent may incentivize them to trade you to the team of your choosing. Your coach may come through with more playing time, access to pre-play commands, or playbook control. Some relations, though, don’t carry much influence. Your tattoo artist may grant you exclusive body art, which only impacts your appearance and style. Still, it’s a fleshy system you can bite into, and keep you coming back for more, at least during the downtimes from Franchise mode. 

RPG, That You?

In the Sphere of Influence and Coach DNA, you quite enjoy a system akin to role-playing games. One that takes into account your character creation, selecting your archetype, stats, and attributes. And it goes further to tailoring your abilities and upgrades befitting of your skills and play style. Managing relationships in the Sphere of Influence has also been a staple in RPGs. That careful consideration between dialogue choices and follow-ups. It’s overall neatly executed, adding an extra layer of depth and intrigue, making you want to push further. 

Making the Dream Work

Anyway, on to the Madden Ultimate Team mode, or MUT, possibly the weakest link here. Mostly because of the pay-to-win system in online multiplayer, which might deter newcomers from taking part. The solution, though, can be the solo challenges, unlocking new player cards, in-game currency, and exclusive rewards. I see no shortcut to climbing the stupidly competitive ladder of online MUT save for an honest grind or, well, easing on your wallet hold. Still, you can’t help noticing that MUT has received the least amount of change, and pretty much everything has been left as is. 

Touchdown

What actually matters is how the actual matches play out. And happy to say, on-field action is a blast. It’s enhanced mainly by the fantastic and authentic presentation. But also the smoother flow, and noticeably faster movement of players, more akin to EA College Football 26. Though not quite on the same arcade level, movement is definitely faster, much to the pleasure of fans’ demand for it. 

As always, anyone clueless about American football can kick things off with the Skills Trainer. And now, it’ll be over 100 new tutorials covering just about every trick in the book that both newcomers and veterans might need to win games. And onward into the actual match, movement is fluid, maneuvering pockets feels excellent, and the quarterback’s unique tendencies seal the deal. 

You’ll notice new animations for every throw, which, in addition to looking stunning, enhances the responsiveness of matches. Jerseys twist in real ways, and awkward tackles are no more. The AI is challenging to beat, behaving in expected ways, unique player traits show on the field, whether it’s movement or responses to tackles and passes, and even opponents have realistic tendencies. It’s all inching closer and closer to actual simulation, mimicking real-life matches pixel for pixel, movement for animation, and everything in between.  

And let’s not forget the weather effects that will doubtlessly blow your mind. From heavy snow to deep fog and dense rain, Madden NFL 26 has really pushed the envelope of realism. Even goes as far as to have the weather visibly and mechanically affect players’ movement, stamina, and ball control. Expect some fight back when playing in good weather versus a snowball, slipping through what looks like a real-life blizzard.

Verdict

Madden NFL 26 aims to provide a more realistic experience than ever before. Even when playing through bad weather, the game wants you to feel as clumsy as you might feel playing through actual snow. You move more slowly, make mistakes you otherwise would never make in normal weather, and other surprises are hidden in store for you. It enhances the immersiveness of every match, feeling as close to real life as possible. And considering the impeccable attention to detail, with fantastic lighting that changes depending on the time of day, you immensely enjoy a truly realistic take on the American football experience. 

And the individual game modes all support the realism and authenticity of the visual design. You have animations that are smooth, natural, and unique to the diverse traits of real-life quarterbacks. Movement feels fluid, bestowing on you more control over players moving faster than in previous entries. There are lots of ways to exercise skilled gameplay, whether it’s your unmatched pocket maneuverability or dominant force in online matches. You have an added layer of depth when choosing your coaches and tailoring their abilities as you progress. 

Similarly, Superstar narrows down the experience into a more engaging story-driven journey of growth and challenge. Every decision matters when interacting with your teammates, coaches, agents, media, and even tattoo artists. They all enrich your climb up from rookie to NFL superstar, rewarding you with surprisingly unique rewards that give you an extra edge. 

Madden NFL 26 has added significant changes to Franchise mode and quality of life updates to Superstar mode. MUT, on the other hand, remains largely the same. In playing through all of the modes, though, there’s no denying Madden NFL 26 is a superior experience to its predecessor, likely the best Madden NFL entry yet.