Madden NFL 21 Review (PS5)

It’s hard to find any optimism in the Madden NFL 21 community, but a few football fans with a half-full glass of Gatorade had hoped this year’s PlayStation 4 game was so underwhelming because EA Sports was all-in on the game. next generation upgrade. . Now that the PlayStation 5 version is readily available, we’re afraid to say that this is another long-running franchise escape.

Let’s make one thing clear from the start: the game is a little better on the new system from Sony. While the graphics improvements don’t come close to FIFA 21, the increased resolution and new reruns of next-gen stats are quite interesting. The weather effects are also a bit better – especially the rain – while the sidelines are a bit more active.

Load times also make a huge difference, especially in Ultimate Team which has been built around small gameplay challenges for quite some time. The fact that you can now navigate your way through missions without having to wait for each of them to load individually over and over again greatly improves the flow and is a game-changer.

The problem is, there just aren’t enough game changers in the rest of the package. EA Sports has stated that it will incorporate real-world NFL data using next-gen stats, and that made a minor difference to how the game played out. Unless you control speed demons like Tyreek Hill , you’ll find that your players move more realistically, which is good.

But overall, aside from a few tiny tweaks in turn-based player balance, the gameplay is almost entirely identical, using the same animations as the PS4 version. While it’s not as horrific as some Reddit reviewers would lead you to believe, it’s disappointing – especially when you compare it to what NBA 2K21 has delivered for its next-gen debut.

In fact, we would say that some elements have moved back a few meters. The new game call menu – which now lets you play favorite games like in some previous Madden NFL games – is really tedious to use and has left us with a half-dozen inexplicable game penalty delays while struggling with. We’re still looking for the QB Kneel game, actually.

Elsewhere it’s the exact same game. The divine tale of Tommy Matthews and his dicky ticker returns, but we wouldn’t recommend playing through. We still think there’s a promise in the concept of Face of the Franchise, but EA Sports needs much better writers, and we’d rather see it move on to something more meaningful, as the watered-down franchise mode that follows is disappointing.

In fact, even with all of its options turned on, Franchise Mode is still a pale imitation of what you find in other sports games. While there are a few minor management mechanics, like contract negotiation and actor swapping, it’s clear fans want a deeper experience – like the ability to hire and fire coordinators, design patterns depending on the opponent, etc.

The Yard, a sort of arcade-themed backyard football mode, is still great fun on PS5, and it has expanded with new environments and challenges since the initial release of PS4, which is good. Other than that, however, you can read our Madden NFL 21 PS4 review and our thoughts remain the same – it’s, overall, the same game.

Conclusion

Madden NFL 21 has all the same issues as its predecessor PS4, as it is basically the same game. The presentation took a half step forward due to the increased power of the hardware, but there are many meters behind the standard now set by FIFA 21 and NBA 2K21. Increased load times improve the flow of modes like Ultimate Team, and gameplay is slightly more authentic thanks to the Next Gen Stats implementation, but an aging Franchise mode and tired animations mean it’s hardly there. improvement expected by fans.