Madden NFL 22 review: a safe but solid return to franchise form
It’s all a little silly, and may make gridiron puritans bristle, but I found it all good fun. My issue lies in how it moves the needle, it’s all fairly rudimentary: great 3rd down defensive blocks or scoring drives will gain you momentum. But you feel like, if you are going to go down the momentum route, the nature of some of the plays should have a more noticeable swing. After falling behind, a downfield bomb to snatch the lead should theoretically have more effect than nudging it back a little way. Still, I enjoyed the peaks and troughs of the game that the meter can nudge you towards. I must admit, as a ‘soccer’ loving Englishman I might be more puritanical about such systems in FIFA, say, but so as we’re clear where I stand: I quite like a bit of video game in my Madden.
Which probably leads to a more sympathetic attitude towards Madden NFL 22 as a whole. For all the neat additions on field and Franchise, its other areas are the ones to face a little bit of neglect. The card-collecting Madden Ultimate Team has barely been touched this time around (though has been the series main beneficiary in recent years, so maybe it’s about time). The solo player Face of the Franchise is particularly cursory in its cutscene driven introduction as a hotshot college player preparing for Draft day. After which it settles into a solid career mode, and one in which you can, for the first time, choose to play on defense. But don’t go expecting some great narrative journey along the way, unless you count adverts for Nike shoes as the height of storytelling.
Goofy street football mode The Yard, meanwhile, has added a neat campaign mode to more appeal to solo players. The Yard was the headline addition to last year’s game but felt lightweight as a singleplayer pursuit. The touch of more substance makes for a nice distraction if fast-paced, small-scale games in ridiculous costumes are more your thing.
But Franchise and the on-field improvements are where Madden NFL 22 makes the real gains. The issue with such feature-heavy annual sports games is that it can be tricky to appease every player, every year. My suspicion is that those looking for a more simulation-focussed football game might be left a little cold by some of the changes. But, for me, it has been the most fun I’ve had with a Madden game in several years. And the one I have been most invested in as a primer for the NFL season kicking off in a few weeks.