The new Madden is available to everyone after last Friday, and I made sure to get my hands on it right away. I really had the bug this year, because it’s been a very long time since I bought a Madden game. In fact, it’s been so long that the last time I bought the game, Brett Favre was still playing for Green Bay. Yeah, quite a while. I used to play it all the time with my roommates, but I just sorta fell off of it.
But now I’m back, and I love everything about this game so far.
I decided to jump into career mode, where you create a player, and take them through their career as an NFL player. I created myself into the game as a QB, and was drafted to Green Bay. That wasn’t luck, they actually give you the option to “force” a team to draft you, so you can play for the team you love most. However, you can always leave it up to chance and see where you end up.
From this point, I jumped into my first game, a preseason game against the Patriots. Since it was preseason, I only played the first quarter. But I was able to throw together a solid drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Christian Watson.
We ended up winning that game, and I moved on through the rest of the preseason. Once I got into the regular season, I kept winning through what is now the Packers actually schedule for this season. I was saddled with my first loss against the Raiders, then hit with another loss against the Broncos.
The career mode is immersive. You decide each week how you want to practice, spend your free time, and even the brands you want to endorse. I imagine there is so much more, especially in the offseason. But I’ll find out when I get there.
This has been a blast for me. Madden has certainly changed a lot since the mid 2000’s when I last played. I’m eager to check out all of the other modes, like Franchise Mode. But perhaps that can be a story for another day.
COVER PHOTO CREDIT: Business Wire
