Madden NFL 23

Madden 23 is still Madden, but little more. If you’ve been wanting an NFL game that offers something wholly new, or one that can match the NBA 2K series for production values, then this isn’t the place to find it. However, there’s some key incremental improvements happening here which make Madden 23 a tighter, more engaging experience for fans, and one which will happily see you through this year’s NFL season.

Madden NFL 23 is as usual greedy in number of game modes, faithful to the level of modeling and the show offered, but is still slowed down on certain points. The American football simulation is still not translated, decided this year to offer a career mode without a scenario, and is unfortunately not spared from certain visual bugs. EA Tiburon will still be able to rely on the small changes made to its gameplay with Fieldsense technology for the next games, full of potential.

On the field has seen a marked improvement over last year. The overall presentation is great, but the microtransaction heavy focus still detracts from things for those interested in the FUT mode. Being tied to the online servers for so much of the game’s functionality is worrisome when the servers have been in such rough shape during this launch period. Also, the game is $70 on series consoles which is a big ask for a yearly title. Overall it’s a step in the right direction that I hope carries the franchise back to its once great heights.

This year's Madden is a lot like the past decade of Madden in that it suffers a number of self-inflicted wounds and returns features that were unpopular in years prior. However, it's crucial to reiterate, on the field, Madden genuinely feels great for the first time in a long time. The changes to Franchise are helpful but not revolutionary, the MUT Field Pass system is promising but janky at launch, and other modes are largely forgettable. This would all present quite a lackluster view of the game if not for the impressive on-field leap it performs. The improvements on gameday make Madden 23 a flawed game, but clearly an improvement in the series' most important way: the actual playing of football.

Madden NFL 23 is the best entry in the franchise in the past 10 years, but with such a low bar to clear and EA effectively having no competition, it can feel too similar to prior games to warrant the hefty $69.99 price tag.

Madden fans will tell you that it hasn’t been a great decade for EA’s football sim. Like the NFL itself, the profits have continued to grow, but the product has suffered. Madden NFL 23, though, provides a glimpse of a light at the end of the tunnel with a handful of smart enhancements to animations, AI, and passing mechanics that make subtle but meaningful improvements to the moment-to-moment football on the field. To be clear, Madden still has a long way to go to catch up with other sports sims, the majority of which are more refined, less buggy, and have a clearer identity. After playing Madden NFL 23, though, I finally have a little optimism that it’s on the right path — maybe not an emphatic “Boom!”, but clear forward progress for a series that so desperately needs it.

Madden NFL 23 certainly isn’t lacking content and is arguably more realistic than ever. Yet, after nearly a decade of treading the same still waters, it’s never been more evident that a new approach is needed. As much as I appreciate the gameplay improvements and still enjoy the annual Madden experience, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to recommend investing money into it year after year.

Stripping away the flash with a bigger focus on the core basics, Madden NFL 23 feels like a breath of fresh air. It’s still a series lacking an identity right now, but this year’s entry is the course correction the series has desperately needed.