Madden NFL 24 Reviews
New animations and improved AI make Madden NFL 24’s on-field action the best it's ever been, but everything that happens off the field is a slog of dated modes and laggy menus that brings everything around it down.
No matter what nominally noticeable technical changes are happening under Madden 24's hood, they don't represent the gargantuan changes needed to bring the NFL series in line with various yearly sports game competition.
The improvements to the fundamental gameplay in Madden 24 continue to pay dividends with some of the most authentic football the series has ever seen. But, like an ill-timed penalty, the dreadfully slow menus and funneling toward tedious minigames wipe out any forward progress and move the series backward overall.
But this season’s Madden could also be someone’s first, and the reason they become a die-hard fan of the franchise. Some of my most cherished memories are of playing an old copy of Madden NFL 04 with friends, sifting through franchise mode and drafting custom rosters without even playing a game until the crack of dawn. Every football fan has their favorite game, and will tell you that each year’s entry has flaws. Madden NFL 24 has flaws, as well, but it offers more customization than ever, even if it’s just barely more. I can’t wait to dive into Madden NFL 28.
Madden continues to improve on the field, but surrounding that attribute with worthwhile modes or features still eludes the franchise.
Madden 24 takes some big steps forwards in terms of the underpinning technology, and it continues to play a good game of American football. For all those steps taken technically, it feels as those the rest of the game has stayed firmly in place, and there are far too many bugs to hinder the experience at launch.
Madden NFL 24 also carries over a handful of bugs and visual glitches that were present not only last Madden, but the game that came before it. Bugs like the one where both teams appear frozen on the field during the cinematic view between plays, or where the camera isn’t showing the players despite them being at the line of scrimmage. It feels like such a slap in the face to the player and makes a strong argument that this franchise is long overdue for a reckoning. The real Madden heads out there will likely find Madden NFL 24 tolerable, but as a die-hard football fan, it sucks that we’re still doomed to this annual mediocrity.
Madden NFL 24 feels great to play, especially with FieldSENSE finding its feet, but some of the modes need more to make it stand out.
Despite all the positives and added-on fancy features, I can't recommend paying full price for Madden 24, as it feels like a slightly better version of last year's edition. But if you're a series veteran craving a Madden that promotes more player agency, EA has fine-tuned the football emulation to make it a better experience.
Overall, Madden 24 hits all the right spots with exciting gameplay, incredible graphics, and fun new game modes. It is extremely difficult to put the controller down regardless of its flaws.
After seeing so much change in Franchise Mode from Madden NFL 22 to 23, expectations were high for Madden NFL 24. While some things are what fans wanted from the Madden franchise in 24, it seems like time was truly against the game as glitches are more rampant than last year and things simply seem half finished. While we assume that things will get fixed as the year goes by, it might be time for Madden to look at trying to complete a game before putting out another one.
Madden NFL 24 is a step up from Madden NFL 23 in some ways, but not enough to make it feel like a huge improvement. Animations and AI have never been better, but the stale vibes past Madden games have suffered remain the same in the latest entry in this long-running franchise.
Madden NFL 24 is a solid entry that simply doesn’t do enough to push it forward. I feel like EA really needs to take a year off, do a roster update, and build an entirely new game. This copy paste stuff continues to bring down the advancements made. It is wild that we say the same stuff every year and each year it rarely changes. Like most people though, I play it every time because there simply isn’t another option, and it isn’t a bad game, far from it, it just feels on cruise control. I want the game to get better, and it does, just not enough to warrant yearly iterations.
Madden NFL 24 is a good sports game, a playoff contender even – but you just never really get a sense this game is going to win the Super Bowl. That's the fundamental flaw here: it's a good effort from EA Tiburon with a lot of strong under-the-hood gameplay and presentation improvements, but the annual development cycle is preventing this series from really taking meaningful strides forward. Superstar, the reskinned Face of the Franchise, is fine for a few hours – and even Ultimate Team has improved to be more accessible overall. But cumbersome menus and a general sense of familiarity drop the ball, and prevent the release from reaching its full potential.
Despite the excellent work done by FieldSENSE, Madden NFL 24 fails to solve some of the issues that have plagued the EA Sports saga for years. Adding poor menu navigation to predictable game modes and imperfect AI, the final result is a game that has some good moments, but has no chance to win the Superbowl.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Madden NFL 24 continues EA Sports’ legacy of making smaller more incremental yearly changes to its beloved franchise. While there doesn’t seem much in the way of “new” this time around and Ultimate Team suffers from some awful UI performance issues, the gameplay is silky smooth and all the fan-favorite modes return with notable improvements. If you’ve been away from the franchise for a few years, you’ll like what you see here, but for those hardcore folks who eat and breathe a steady diet of Madden, is this really that much better than NFL 23?
You can't go wrong with Madden NFL 24 as the new superstar showdown mode is a compelling selling point for fans pining for arcade gameplay.
While Madden NFL 24 is better than last year’s release, there are still some glaring shortcomings that hurt it, specifically with UI clunkiness, game mode access at times, and repetitiveness.
Madden NFL 24 is the latest iteration of Electronic Art's popular Football game with a few new features this year. There are refinements to existing gameplay mechanics, the return of others, and the addition of crossplay (FINALLY). The game isn't perfect, but despite a few fumbles, Madden NFL 24 is a solid entry for those who enjoy the Madden series games.