Madden 26 Real Disscussion

The first Madden I played was Madden 98 or 99. 
I have been playing Madden games for a very long time. Over the past few years Madden is not as enjoyable as its use to be in my younger days. 

WHY? I feel like EA developers don’t care or put in any effort to game modes like Franchise mode, and focus more on a pay to win mode like Madden Ultimate team. At first I thought the mode was cool until every game I played in with my 79-81 overall team I was playing against a 90 plus rated team, and to me that was unfair. So in order to get a better squad you had to spend hours grinding or pay for packs. I chose to do neither. But that’s where all the effort is at when it comes to this video game and most sports games in general. 

Franchise mode is the only mode I really care about and it’s not the same as it was in the early 2000’s. The one thing that I hate is they took out Owners mode. Why would they do that? Why ?????? It makes no sense to do that. Before I go on about franchise mode, the gameplay needs a major overhaul. This animation based game needs to be over and done with.  I say this because there is no control over your player. No. When you try to go for an interception.. you get this weird animation to where you knocking the pass down or some other weird bs. When you run the ball with your RB or ball carrier .. when you steer/move the defense reaction to it asap. On break away runs it’s more Noticeable to be. I zig and zag and the defense or person who is chasing me is doing the same thing I’m doing. It’s weird. When I throw a short pass, to an open receiver and he catches it and falls to the ground, what is he falling down for when no one is near him. Get rid of the engine it is terrible. Feels like the games be scripted . 

Ok back to franchise mode. I feel like more can be done to franchise mode but EA Sports does not want to put in the time and effort to improve the mode. 

1. The scouting has been the same for 4-5 years now and that needs an upgrade. Big one. Copy and paste ahh game. It’s sickening to keep seeing that. For one, in scouting it should be, I scout a player, who does it compare to… is he the Next Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Saquan Barkley, or NFL LEGENDS like Randy Moss, Tom Brady, Ray Lewis, etc. What’s his ceiling, is he a HOF type player or is he bench player or role player. Does the player compare to a Devin White, who’s career starts off good then falls off a cliff…player college stats. That use to be in the older Madden games but haven’t been in it since the PS2/Regular XBOX days. Player college awards, all-American should be displayed but like I said there’s no effort. 
   
   
2. Storylines. Madden 26, feels dead with the lack of storylines. When I say storylines, training camp battles, player contract issues, coaches on the hot seat, unhappy fan base, player morale, hold outs from training camp, players approaching certain mile stones, rookie of the year battles, mvp battles, players facing former team,  when you win a superbowl, the quest for going back to back, the creating of a dynasty, when you drafting a top prospect, if he’s not doing well in 2-3 years is he a BUST? wasted draft pick. Players nearing retirement, etc. Those are real storylines that’s needed in the game. WHAT would be the point in playing the mode without any story lines. So if anybody from EA sees this please make this something to improve on. 
   
   
3. PRESENTATION for this year is decent. Like the pre games, intros, and presentation packages. But with that said there’s commentary is absolute trash. That KATE SCOTT OMG.. the most annoying announcer in the history of sports games. Commentary needs a major update and needs to discuss teams current record, players approaching milestones, MVP races, rookie of the year battles, whether your team should make a change at head coach, whether fans are unhappy, franchise success, etc. The commentary lacks excitement especially for long plays, TD’s etc. Keep the intros never remove that again, keep the different broadcast packages, and keep the outside views of NFL stadiums. 
   
   
4. SCOREBOARD in NFL stadiums. One this I wish to see, how like in MLB THE SHOW 25, and NBA 2k GAMES is the actual score and stats show on the titiantron instead of just seeing the logo. I been in plenty of NFL stadiums where that’s shown but it’s not shown on current MADDEN titles. But it did in past MADDENS. I’ll show pics below in a minute. 
   
   
5. Creation of players.. OMG why do we have the same generic faces for prospects for the past few years and its faces of someone’s granddaddy. Let’s be real. Most players coming out of college are 20-23 maybe 24 years of age. But these faces they have for your prospect are horrendous and that needs a major update. That reason alone is one reason why I don’t want to play the game. People be like well what you complaining about it’s not like you’re going to see their faces etc. They are missing the point. It’s been the same for years and it’s faces of 40 plus year old men. They need to allow more customization for one, then two remove the faces and add new one. Some of the faces on college football 26 are nice until you get to scouting on dynasty mode then you see players with full beards, brown hair and brown beard or yellow hair and yellow beard, and those incoming freshman look like 30 plus year old men. It shows the lack of detail and effort that EA put in these games. It’s terrible. In CFB 26 I avoid recruiting players with the brown hair brown beard, or yellow hair, yellow beard, heck some of the players be having grey hair. It’s terrible. So I would like to see updates faces or they can use the AI generated faces they use for the college players on CFB 26. I’ll show pics below. 
   
   
6. Overall team stats, achievements in franchise mode. Trophy case or something. So as a franchise overall wins and losses should be shown, overall win/loss vs division rivals, but overall every team as a whole. Again what’s the point of you can’t track your success. I would love to keep track of the number of times I’ve beaten the brakes off the Dallas Cowboys in my franchise mode but I can’t. Why because EA doesn’t care about anything like that. Yes the history tab keeps track of Super Bowl winners but overall I feel like as a franchise you should keep track of your overall success especially against your rivals and other NFL teams to see when you measure up at. In NBA 2K it shows overall record against rivals and other NBA TEAMS in franchise mode. Why can’t EA give us something like that ? Again I’ll show pics below. 
   
   
7. Jersey retirements, tracking of players making the Hall of fame. Again as a franchise jersey retirements, and tracking the number of players making the HALL of FAME for my team should be tracked . Power Rankings, I would love to see that added and the only sports game that has that is NBA 2k. It was in NFL 2k5. Would love to see that, to see where my team is each week in my franchise each year. But for some reason it’s not added .. locker rooms.. show players in the locker room interacting with coaches, trainers, other personnel on the roster. So locker room cutscenes like on NBA 2k25
   
   
8. The weekly recap show in Madden 26 is well, terrible. 3 highlights, and the commentary is very delayed. No talking about what’s going on around the league, playoff battles, trades, injury reports, nfl draft updates, nothing. I was very disappointed and it was one thing EA kept highlighting but the effort was bare minimum. EA if they are planning on keeping the NFL license needs to do better. 
   
   
9. The only way to go is up but yet EA takes a few steps forward and then 10 steps backwards. I really wish the NFL would allow other companies to make football games because EA just doesn’t care what the fans really want in the game. 
   
   
10. I just want a better football game and the ability to enjoy the mode I love and that’s franchise mode. I hope the rest of y’all feel the same way. Franchise mode once again is a big disappointment.