Football video gaming fanatics can finally rejoice after the yearly awaited edition of EA Sports’ Madden NFL, Madden 22, made its way to the world debuting on August 20th. For Madden fans, the spirit of hoping for EA Sports to listen to their needs and wants and actually pull through with some much-needed improvements to the game has become as daunting as landing the best NFL picks against the spread week in and week out.

Year in and year out football fans and gaming fans cautiously wait for the release of Madden in the hopes of the game not only allowing them to get their football video gaming fix but also for the new edition to surpass the expectations and correct the mistakes that the prior editions have. Sometimes you just have to shoot for gold and hope for the best.

Well, gaming fans, with Madden 22 out and about in the world and with millions of fans either already playing it or stalling to see if the wait and the hope for mistakes being fixed were tended to, here are our initial opinions on what’s good and what’s bad about Madden 22’s game fixes.

The Good: Franchise Mode

The franchise mode in the Madden NFL video game can be easily described as all over the place ever since coming out as a feature of the game. It’s been good, it’s been bad, it’s been really bad, but for Madden 22 we’re going to go out on a limb and say it’s one of the most improved features in the game, making it one of the better, great features that this game has to offer. Being that the franchise mode is one of the most popular styles of playing for Madden fans, this year’s version was a welcoming sight for gaming fans who are still resenting past versions. 

One of the better features that this year’s Madden franchise mode offers players is the option to work your coaching staff more than in previous editions. While before, players had to limit themselves as outsiders looking in through their posts as general managers or head coaches of the team, this year, the feature was fixed to make fans get a more personal and in-depth feel of how to properly manage their franchise. In Madden 22 players will be able to have direct control over their whole coaching staff, including of course the head coach, the main coordinators, offensive and defensive as well as the player personnel department of the team. This feature allows players to build up staff points for achieving in-game goals that are featured in the new skill trees feature. Basically put, for every matchup there will be goals to be obtained both on offense and defense.

madden 22 Ranking The Good and The Bad Feature Fixes From Madden 22 | VGLeaks 2.0

On offense for example, if you like your team to be heavy on the running game then it’s on you to improve and strengthen up your offensive coordinator’s skill set when coming up with run-heavy strategies. Every single core of the team has its own skill tree with branches that will allow players to focus on making the best decisions for every matchup they play in order to climb up the ranks and earn more and more staff points. Fans should expect this feature to continue showing more and more signs of improvement as more updates surface during the year.

The Bad: Face of the Franchise

This is one of the main features that fans have been praying to the football video gaming Gods for much-needed updates and fixes and with Madden 22 there are some little fixes here and there but no, sorry, not enough, not even by a longshot. Why if career modes have become so popular in other sports video gaming franchises like FIFA, NBA 2K, and EA Sports NHL Series, all having very high approval ratings from fans, can’t Madden get it right? In all fairness, Madden 22’s “Face of the Franchise” feature is better than in previous years but, it’s not even close to where it should be, considering the levels of popularity that this game upholds. In this year’s edition, just like in the last two installments gamers play two college football playoff games, no matter what college you choose to attend and then that’s that, you’re off to the pros. While all that doesn’t really cause much of an issue, here’s where logic hits a wall.

If for example my player is a quarterback and gets selected in the game’s draft by a team who just selected a quarterback in real life and who is in the game, how would that work out? Would the team bench their actual draft pick to put my player in? Where’s the logic in that honestly? The selection process needs improvement desperately, not only to make the experience more likable but to make it more realistic and fun for the gamers. EA Sports should really look into how their other sporting video games manage career modes and take a page or a book off them to try and improve.