As we head into the new NFL season, what better way to prepare for it than some American Football action? How about playing the newly arrived Madden NFL 24? Because that’s what I’m talking about. One of the leading sports gaming franchises returns with virtual football action and lots of it. And it's now time for us to select our favorite teams, take them into the gridiron, and bring it on.

Like any other successor, Madden 24 comes with expectations, and those would be changes. I was impressed with Madden NFL 23, as it was a considerable improvement to the previous games and had restored faith in the franchise—especially the gameplay and the mechanics. The fieldSENSE system was without a doubt a game changer and brought you the truest to life on-field football experience.

To add to that, the likes of noticeable additions to franchise mode and many fixes and improvements to the Madden Ultimate team helped in getting Madden 23 a positive review from us. But one would wonder if they managed to take it up some notches by making Madden NFL 24 even better. What fundamental changes, especially for a current-gen console, were made in order for the latest installment to be superior or maybe even inferior? Well, that’s what we’re here to discuss.

But before we continue, you should be aware that current-gen console owners are in for a real treat because the core gameplay improvements were made especially for their platforms, and this is more of an indication that Madden NFL games are coming much closer to waving goodbye to development for the previous-gen platforms. If you’re a current-gen owner, and for this review, a PlayStation 5 owner, pay attention because most of these changes are for you.

Now, it’s best to start off with the foundational football improvements. Madden NFL 24’s AI is the sharpest it’s ever been, which means playing against the CPU is the closest to playing against a human being. Ball-carrying AI, blocking AI and pathfinding, open field targeting, and more are some of the features responsible for delivering the most authentic matches and competitions. This also means you’ll have to properly strategize your plays for the best outcomes. This is why you’re less likely to get away with just randomly selecting a play and hoping for the best.

Furthermore, the game's AI now has adaptive capabilities. To elaborate, Madden NFL 24’s AI now studies your game plans more accurately. Let’s say you go with the same running play consecutively; you’ve made it easier for the AI to immobilize it because they've anticipated that you're more likely to choose the same play again.

This is why you need to be as unpredictable as possible. Keep in mind that this very promising feature is only for the run defense for now. And because of the feature's great execution, there’s no doubt it will expand toward the rest of the defensive lineup and perhaps the entire roster in the future.

Another reason to love the AI is the new Quarterback AI feature. Now, your opponent’s AI plays, thinks, and behaves exactly like the real-life quarterbacks. Certain quarterbacks have different styles of play, and the developer has done a tremendous job in working on the AI to accurately depict them. Like for example, this year's cover star Josh Allen, who is relatively known for forcing some passes in pretty much every game.

Madden NFL 24 welcomes us to the SAPIEN Technology, which becomes the latest addition to the franchise, providing ultra-realistic looking player models, human-like behaviors and movements. No, seriously, this technology has a brand-new performance skeleton that was remodeled from scratch. And because of that, the new skeletal rebuild forms the most fluid and smoothest animations in the franchise’s history. Running, catching, celebrations, bodily motions and much more. Heck, even the way the players walk is incredibly realistic.

That’s not all; this technology is applicable not only to the players but also to the officials, coaches, fans and more. They’ve all gotten a piece of the realism pie. You'll notice far more accurately shaped body types of the players - virtually identical resemblances of their real-life counterparts, including the refinements of the heavier-shaped players.

You were probably wowed by fieldSENSE when it arrived at last year’s title. Well, be prepared for the newest version of this impeccable system, as it introduces gameplay enhancements and provides much greater control of your matches and the most realistic NFL gaming experience you’ve ever had.

You heard about Hit Everything 2.0, right? If not, then let me keep you up to speed. This system is responsible for you gaining much more control of your defense. From tackling control to blocking to the new wrap tackles, Hit Everything 2.0 surely takes your defence to the next level, mainly due to the 1000+ new, improved and enhanced animations implemented.

Furthermore, there are many new animations for catching, blocking, throwing, fumbling, recoveries and much more. And a lot of the aforementioned animations are applied to some of the sport's biggest stars. Also, Madden NFL 24 has included a ton of animations that mimic some of your favorite real-life players.

As well as the newest version of the mid-air catch tackle system that gives the defense the increased freedom to hit you when the ball is coming toward you. And whether the distance between the quarterback and the receiver is short or long, there will be, without a doubt, much more ball knockouts than before.

And the updated wrap tackles system that consists of more wrapping animations for different players. For example, when tackling, the larger defensive players will steer the smaller carriers backward and force them to fall down. And when the vice versa is happening, shorter defensive players will typically aim for the legs of larger ball carriers. This surely brings more realism.

If all of this impresses you, then you’ll be ecstatic with the Skill-based passing 2.0 system. This upgrade includes more passing animations, and if you're a huge fan of Patrick Mahomes, you'll especially enjoy his notable diving pass. However, this functionality only happens in rare occurrences, so you shouldn’t expect to perform these a lot. There are also additional no-look passes, jump passes, and improved pass accuracy percentages to resemble real-life NFL accuracy rates.

Sadly, there will be times when you'll make poor passes. But fortunately, in Madden NFL 24, if the passes are slightly inaccurate, they’re still somewhat catchable with the newly amended placing of these passes. The passing system benefits not only the human-controlled players but also the AI-controlled players. Therefore, the AI is now able to execute passes more authentically.

Furthermore, Skill-based passing 2.0 has rebuilt their catching system, featuring several hundreds of catching animations to greatly lessen the occurrence of missed catches – which has been a pretty big problem in the franchise and thank goodness they’ve finally addressed this.

Plus, with the system, players now maintain their momentum and speed after getting the ball, making it more difficult for defenders to take you down, as well as making it easier for you to travel more yards and, if you’re lucky, score more touchdowns than before. And dive catching has returned and is in the best condition ever. If you were to perform a free foam pass, and the ball is a little out of the receiver’s range, the dive catching will make the seemingly unobtainable catch more possible.

Now, with all this gameplay talk, what about the content? Well, there’s obviously the quick play mode for you to play casually against the CPU or with friends, online head-to-head, and solo or couch co-op pro bowl matches. As well as the superstar KO feature when you’re to draft a team of stars and make sure you’re the last man standing.

The Franchise mode for you to control and upgrade your team and guide them to become victorious in the Super Bowl. And, of course, Franchise mode isn't lacking any improvements or additions either, with the likes of brand-new mini-games for you to enjoy. Also, the improved trade system, where you can now offer up to six players or draft picks. And this may not mean so much to some of you, but they’ve now added a total of 15 brand new cities you could relocate with the Franchise relocation feature.

The Training camp is for those of you, especially newcomers, who would wish to practice with a desired team and improve your skills with drills. Plus, the inclusion of new mini-games to not only practice but also have some fun whilst doing them and claiming high scores.

Then, of course, there’s the Ultimate team for you to create your perfect team containing current elite ballers and the game’s biggest icons - showcase it and play against the world. As well as complete challenges, solo battles, MUT draft, and much more. Not to mention, the creation center for you to edit rosters, create players and edit uniforms and so on. As well as the much-improved EA soundtrack playlist. This part is a pretty subjective and minor detail, but it’s still praiseworthy, nonetheless.

Finally, the Superstar mode has made its return to the franchise. This feature involves creating a custom player, and you'll have to assign a position to your player to proceed. There are five positions available for you - and you're required to pick one – you can choose your player to be a quarterback, halfback, wide receiver, linebacker, or cornerback. Followed by creating his bio and giving him your ideal look.

The Superstar mode allows you to do three things. You can play ‘the league’, which is the story-based career mode where your job is to prove yourself to scouts and NFL coaches, make a name for yourself and turn your custom player into a future Hall of Famer. Or you may feel like your superstar is ready for the online-based ‘showdown’ mode for you to challenge other custom superstars worldwide and partake in 3v3 battles. Moreover, earn XP, play solo and squad practice games, live events, and more.

Then we have the ‘my superstar’ feature for you to check up on your missions, as well as customize your player’s appearance, upgrade his skills, and even go through the ‘featured deals’ where you can give your superstar the swagger he deserves. My personal advice to you would be to regularly check up on the deals to avoid missing out. And in case you were wondering - yes, Superstar mode also includes mini-games like NFL quizzes, the 40-yard dash, and my personal favorite, the bench press to test how many reps you can achieve in a set.

The bench press mechanic is simple yet effective, as it affects your player’s physical strength. You have a thick vertical bar that contains four zones: Release target, lift target, and two stamina penalties at opposite sides of the bar. The top side of the stamina penalty zone gradually increases during the workout. You’re starting from the lift target bar, which is colored green, and you’ll have to point both analog sticks upwards to lift the marker, as well as the weight, obviously.

As you’re doing this, you must make sure the marker lands on the release target, which is another green zone, and after releasing the analog sticks, you have to tap both R1 and L1 repeatedly to temporarily decrease the top stamina penalty zone to be able to get more reps in until the top stamina penalty zone completely fills the release target zone. When the marker lands on the lift target zone, again, you have to point the analog sticks upwards and repeat the same steps.

If you keep the marker on either of the red stamina penalty zones long enough, the top zone will cover the release zone much quicker, and your custom player will stop the workout sooner. Also, once the top stamina penalty zone completely covers the release target, that’s when your set is done, and your bench press stats are displayed. You can retry this mini-game as much as you please, but your previous results will be lost after doing so.

One more thing to point out before we conclude, Madden NFL 24 finally introduces the support of the cross-play feature to the franchise. Therefore, if you have friends on different platforms who also have Madden NFL 24 - hit them up for some head-to-head games and go crazy. However, this feature is only available on the current-gen platforms, as well as PC.

This goes without saying, but the many improvements, enhancements, and additions for Madden NFL 24 are exactly what the doctor ordered. It’s like the developers have finally listened to the fans and granted most of their wishes, and this installment will undoubtedly leave them satisfied and occupied until the next installment - including the new NFL season. On top of that, you’re guaranteed jaw-dropping and the most authentic NFL footballing experience you’ve ever come across. And if you’re a current-gen owner, you’ll truly reap the game’s benefits.
 

Junior Onunkwo (@PoweredByKratos)
Editor, NoobFeed