EA Sports released the latest game in the Madden series on Aug. 18, and, yet again, the company is stirring up its fan base.

By the release, audiences already started the annual tradition of ridiculing EA for another half-baked take on the once-beloved NFL-licensed game. This criticism is barely fair; many of the series’ harshest critics have yet to play the game and are just repeating the negative taglines they have heard in their virtual echo chambers. To see what makes this year’s game more dividing than usual, you have to play it for yourself. Then, you’ll realize how hard EA is trying to get out of its decade-long creative rut.

This year, EA supposedly focused on renovating the stiff and robotic movements of the game’s playable characters. To battle this traditional weak spot within the series, the developers implemented a physics-based system, throwing out previously used animations. Although the new system still occasionally leads to awkward movements, the characters finally look and play like real NFL players.  

The Madden engine’s overhaul touches every aspect of gameplay, but the most improved aspect from the previous games occurs when players try running the ball. For years, the Madden run game has been a repetitive, one-dimensional aspect of the game and didn’t let players explore what NFL players are capable of. In Madden 24, the player can feel every step the on-screen characters take. The changes, while more engrossing, have also made it much more of a challenge to find the gap in the offensive line and explode through the hole for a major gain.

In Madden 24, EA wanted to mimic the experience of watching a real NFL game by having an overall cleaner layout. The main way the developers tried to achieve this feat was completely remodeling its user interface. Previously, Madden’s home screen was an overloaded configuration cluttered with information. After fans begged for years, EA finally gave in and remodeled the graphics to appear like an on-field game. This refurbishment improved the layout of the game, making it feel cleaner and more like a genuine NFL game.

With all the chances EA took with this game, there were bound to be glitches and letdowns, but the developers did a decent job of patching these problems as they appeared. However, Madden’s servers crashed for tens of thousands of people across the country on the launch date. These crashes were a very frustrating experience for those who spent $70 on a game they couldn’t even play. For these people, any new features were completely irrelevant due to the fact they couldn’t even play the game. In this year’s rendition, EA intentionally took a risk in adding new mechanics to the game, but their mismanagement of server upkeep ended up casting the company in a bad light.

Even with this major setback, Madden 24 is still a refreshing sequel to EA’s often stale contemporary releases. For the first time in over a decade, it feels as if EA is not afraid of failure, and this newfound bravery led to one of the most innovative games the company ever released. Continued ingenuity is necessary if EA wants to keep making money off the NFL franchise, especially since EA’s right to exclusively produce NFL-licensed games ends in two years, potentially causing companies including 2K to compete with EA for the new contract. 

Overall, Madden 24 is an extremely risky game from EA, but it ended up being my new all-time-favorite NFL football game. Even with the limited time I had to explore the features in this game — I was one of the many people with the servers down — I am looking forward to where Madden 24 will lead the franchise in the future.