Madden NFL 23 takes a few good steps forward, but seems to forget other aspects that will hopefully be addressed in the future. FieldSENSE is a good change that goes along with the other recent additions in the series. The Freeform Passing is a huge and fun change and the new hit animation engine is nice, but it can leave the occasional strange animation and outcome. The defensive coverage needs to be addressed as there seems to be glaring issues. The visuals continue to improve to bring a more realistic approach and the change to the presentation is a nice touch. Franchise Mode players should enjoy the changes to scouting and the offseason even though the in-season portion remains largely unchanged. The mode still needs a better attachment to the storyline of the season. While the changes are good, there’s still a good bit left in the dust. Ultimate Team returns with new ways to earn rewards with Field Pass. Couple that with an unchanged Yard, a largely unchanged Face of the Franchise, online play and the Franchise Mode, and there aren’t a lot of options for play here. The changes will appease Madden fans looking for gameplay and Franchise Mode improvements, which is mainly the community that provided the feedback.
This game is an unbeatable masterpiece. The charitable developers are charging a mere $70 for so many new players! This game has no bugs nor glitches at all, simply flawless. It's astounding that the developers think $70 is all I should pay for this, when i should be playing much more!
The multiplayer is amazing! I recommend this game to all.
I'm giving this a full 10 for a few reasons. First, I think Madden hit a great general design a few years ago at this point and this puts some good final tweaks on it. Second, the commitment to the John Madden dedication that is completely intwined in this game is emotional and fitting. Finally, this is my final purchase of any Madden game. I've been playing for my entire life and my team, the Bengals, finally have an extremely fun team to play as. I'm going out with a bang. Now, if they happen to win the Super Bowl or have some crazy impressive season i may consider this goodbye a "brief pause" to get that game, but then it'll be goodbye again right after that. Thanks for the fun, John (and EA)!
Madden NFL 23 does some things right and delivers a good experience on the field. However, it is marked by problematic game modes and a number of bugs and technical issues that playing it is frustrating and disappointing, even for the most passionate fan of the sport.
The American football simulation still has technical problems - some old ones that have been known for years (e.g. broken PS5 trophies), but some completely new ones. That's a terrible shame, because otherwise the makers have actually taken a step forward. Franchise mode has finally gotten some love. The gameplay didn't start a revolution, but the skill-based passes introduced an interesting innovation on the offensive. In terms of gameplay, Madden NFL 23 is arguably the best in a long time. However, the many bugs stand in the way of a higher rating.
The latest installment of Madden NFL makes an attempt to treat the passing of the titular football coach last year with reverence, but EA has instead missed the mark in ways that highlight the compounding systemic problems with the game franchise and the troubling nature of the company's stranglehold on NFL simulation.
After 6 games I can confidently say that the core on field gameplay is better than the past 5 entries or so. It feels harder to cheese like previous years with one play TDs or scrambling with athletic QBs every play. The DBs seem to play a lot better man coverage when in years past any time I noticed I was being pressed, i could throw a deep pass for a TD almost every time. I had a few games online that felt like real games with real final scores like 17-13 instead of 43-40 every game. The game still feels mostly like a copy and paste from the past 5 years, and it still needs to be completley rebuilt, but the core field play does feel like a good step forward. I would give it a 7 but these 0s are asinine. Trust me, I want nothing more than the NFL to relinquish EAs rights so 2K can come back too.
The last Madden I've played is Madden 21. This Madden is definitely better than that game was, even though 21 was a buggy launch title. I'd say it's worth a buy if you really like franchise or the other game modes, otherwise it's the same game as every other year, all things considered. They really need to bring back 2K or some other game to add variety and players choice.
Good-
Keeps what works; Good performance; New passing systems are great.
Bad-
Face of the Franchise is largely squandered; Graphics aren’t great; Improvements are too few and far between.
Thoughts-
Some questionable ratings for certain players aside, most of the choices made for Madden NFL 23 do make sense. The problem is that there isn’t enough of those types of choices to really score many extra points. If you’re a die-hard Madden fan who has been loving the series lately, this iteration will give you what you want. But if you have been waiting for that big overhaul or reboot that might revitalize your interest, then you may want to continue that wait. It does more than the past several entries in the way of quality-of-life improvements, but by continuing to do so in such an iterative way, it ends up highlighting its potential more than actually achieving it, which at this point is a little frustrating.
Here we go again. Madden NFL 23 is back, and just as poor as usual. Latency filled menus, poor graphics, same crappy canned awkward animations. Same crappy character creation pictures, with the same on field issues as usual. Sliders don't work, jersey animations are horrible, and they were so lazy that they didn't even properly animate the jersey untucked! They just added a strange looking cloth around the waste. I've always felt they never tried, and that it was just the suits pushing the game out. But these devices can't be trying... do they have any pride?
SummaryFRANCHISE - Call the shots from the front office as you lead your Madden NFL 23 Franchise to the top. New athlete motivations like salary demands factor into contract negotiations and add to the drama of NFL free agency. FACE OF THE FRANCHISE - Play your way into the history books in Madden NFL 23. The League drops you into your fifth NF...