Thanks Coach, indeed!

So, I have a confession to make, and that is that I haven’t played a Madden football game for real since the 360 era, I’ve played some matches of Madden 22 with my son but only as research for this review. I can’t even recall the last one that I gave up on, but you must understand that I bought a Dreamcast before I had a PS2 and the 2K series became the de facto standard for sim sports games to me. So I was still of the belief that NFL 2K5 was the gold standard. Boy, howdy (wow, I really just typed “boy howdy”) has Madden 23 changed my mind.

First off, the amount of detail and love that has gone into developing Madden 23 is immediately noticeable as players are met with a video mashup of John Madden Football games from the beginning as well as pictures of the man himself through the years. For those that don’t know, John Madden passed away in Dec of 2021 and while I haven’t been into football like I was in my youth; it still hit me in the feels. John Madden was a legend in the football world, and its fitting that the developers decided to put him at the forefront of Madden 23.

MSRP: $59.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $59.99

The first thing players do after the tribute is play an All-Madden game with some players from the now and yesteryear who are among John’s favorite players. Not only that but the coaches of each legendary team are none other than John Madden himself, lovingly recreated from two different eras of his career. The on the field play of Madden 23 is its best iteration yet thanks in large part to what they are calling Fieldsense. With this system in play running the ball feels more realistic as you slip between defenders, but its not without its issues. Defenders will tend to slide off people running the ball as if they were greased up with baby oil.

The other new system for this year is the Skill-Based Passing and I for one, am a huge fan. Foryears the standard has been to pick a receiver and either tap or hold the button in order to toss a lob or a bullet pass. But with the Skill-Based Passing enabled this allows players much more freedom over not only how hard to throw the ball but it gives players a targeting reticle to precisely drop the ball where they need. While I am sure some legacy players will have a hard time breaking away from the old system; I want to admonish them to at least give the SBP a try.

It’s pretty clear what the focus was for this years Madden and beyond honoring the man himself the passing system is what the team focused on. Defense didn’t feel like it got much love from what I played in Madden 22, which is a shame because as a former LB I know how important defense can be to winning a game. It is nice to see that somethings never change with EA and the Madden series; they have always been good at taking two steps forward and one step back with each release. Game modes like The Yard should really just be turned into NFL Street, I have no clue because EA has not gone back to those ‘Street’ games especially with NBA.

Other modes like the ‘Face of the Franchise’ took me by surprise by how much I enjoyed it. It sees fans create a player who is a fifth-year player with a lot of potential but no real direction. Players will be able to choose a team, and a position and begin to develop their player and try and turn them into a legend. I liked that it seemed less cinematic than some of the story modes in sports games as of late, but not only that I am invested in my player and truly want to see him succeed. I may not spend hours on this game, but it is a great time seeing my created player grow and get better.

While this year’s Madden will always feel somewhat bittersweet due to John’s passing, I think that it was beyond perfect that the best version of Madden football would be the one that was made to honor the legacy of its namesake. From the factoids that I learned about Coach, to the superb presentation and soundtrack throughout the entire game, to the fantastic on field play; this years Madden as far as I am concerned has finally broken free of the 2K series and has gone all the way!

Review copy of game provided by publisher.