Madden 19 was the worst that EA has put out for its’ football series. How does Madden 20 build on, literally, the bare minimum?

The biggest change this time around in game modes is Face of the Franchise QB1. The story mode this year is all about the quarterback, and doesn’t give you the option to play another position. You begin in high school choosing your college from a predetermined list of schools, and then play in the College Football Playoffs. After this, you get invited to the NFL Combine, and your performance, college and this annual tryout determines your draft slot. From what I’ve seen, there are about 8 outcomes, which range from the overall first round to a sleeper pick in the 6th round.

Face of the Franchise isn’t a bad game mode. In the beginning, you feel like your answers to dialogue options matters. Then, you get drafted, and it becomes the same career mode we’ve had the past, well, forever. The same goes for Madden Ultimate Team, the card collecting game mode for Madden. You can pay real money for cards, or play games with a subpar collection of amateur players until you earn enough the hard way. It’s not any more exciting than it has been in the past, and casual Madden fans won’t find a reason to grind. With that, let’s get into the overall gameplay.

There are two things Madden 19 really messed up: running the football, and making it way to easy to play defense. When running the ball in Madden 20, you feel like you have total control over the player. Hands down, running is the best mechanical improvement in this year’s game. Between options to stiff arm and spin, as well as user-controlled jukes, running the ball is so satisfying. I usually like to run the ball more than average anyway, but these changes make it more fun than frustrating.

In terms of defense, things are certainly back to being a bit tougher. You no longer win every single in-the-air pass against opponent wide receivers, nor do get to the quarterback as easily as last year. It feels more like an actual challenge, whereas last year, you made even Tom Brady look like a chump on All-Madden mode. It’s great that defense feels more like a battle, just like the NFL. It is the same with running, but instead, you actually get a fighting chance instead of stopped a yard or two into your stride.

Like any Madden game, however, there are some issues. Now, there aren’t as many as last year, but there are some problems. Starting off, there are an insane amount of facemask calls. I know the NFL has stricter rules this year on any contact with the facemask, but in 10 played games when I first loaded up Madden 20, the opposing AI defense averaged 6-7 facemask calls. It gave me better yards and a first down, but when it happens that much, it feels cheap. Same goes for fumbles. Look up Madden 20 and you’ll find countless videos of fumble glitches and nonsense drops and strips. These are things that can be patched, but they’re pretty distracting.

The new player-related power system, X-Factors, also adds very little. For a feature they display on almost every load screen, it does little to change the game. In NBA 2K19, for example, you can play well and build up to a hot streak, which gives you boosts to speed and performance. When you fill your X-Factor meter, you don’t feel improved. If anything, it just gives you a reason to feel confident, but it comes with no actual benefits that I could feel while playing. Things like extra speed or an easier time shedding blocks are listed individually for each X-Factor enabled player, but you don’t feel any different when the feature is enacted. It’s a waste, especially given how much the game likes mentioning or displaying it.

Passing feels, well, not too much different. That’s good; Madden focused on QB mechanics a few years back and things feel great still. Depending on how you press the receiver’s button, you can throw a sharp accurate pass, or lob it up for a running bomb. There is not much to add, but given the emphasis on QBs in this year’s story mode, you’d think maybe a few new features would make it more fun to be a quarterback. It’s worth noting that you can still technically do Career Mode with other position players, but it’s going to be a bit tough to set up. In Franchise Mode, you can choose to play only as one player, as opposed to being a Coach or GM.

One final thought before I give my score. Every time we get a Madden game right before a new generation of consoles, things feel more or less the same as last year. This year is a bit of a sleight of hand; since last year was so bad, this year feels like an improvement. Looking at what’s actually different, however, we don’t see anything new here. It’s almost like things that went horribly wrong last year got fixed, and then they called it a day and started work on PS5 and Xbox Whatever versions of Madden. The game plays like a mid to high 7/10, but it’s only in comparison to last year’s dumpster fire. A solid 6.5 this time around, with hopes that things get back to a Madden 12 or 16 level in terms of balance, consistency, and fun gameplay.

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Madden 20

$50.94 USD

6.5

Score

6.5/10

Pros

• The run game feels great again
• Defense is a real challenge, as it should be
• Improvement over last year's mess

Cons

• Face of the Franchise feels shallow
• Way too many facemask and fumble calls
• Feels like a lull year before new consoles release
• X-Factors offer no real significance