Madden NFL 26 Reviews
Indeed, there's so much to enjoy in the base game that splashing cash just feels unnecessary, and a little grotesque. You won't play Superstar mode for as long as franchise, but fleshing out the folks in your 'Sphere of Influence' – from your agent, to tattoo artists – adds a neat off-field wrinkle, where every decision has a degree of consequence.
Madden NFL 26 finally pairs the series' great on-field gameplay with a destination mode thanks to an impressive Franchise makeover.
Under the hood, EA made a lot of changes to how gameplay feels between the hashes with every single hit, catch, and pass feeling more precise and impactful. However, with all those changes being made to the game, there are still lingering issues within it that can’t really push the medium forward such as robotic announcing, bugs, and a lack of true innovation. The overall groundwork for what a truly great football game could be is there, and with each passing year, EA is slowly pushing the ball closer to that ever so elusive goal line.
Will you enjoy this year if you hated Madden 25? Probably not. However, it certainly feels like EA is one step closer to joining the upper echelon of sports games if it can continue making improvements of this kind each year.
There is enough depth to Madden 26 that makes it an experience worth the update. It still is not as strong as the CFB franchise, but it is making strides in the right direction.
Server issues at launch aside, and with the loss of cross-play noted, Madden 26 is a very solid port of one of the best outings for this franchise in recent memory. Yes, you'll need to get used to a drop in the frame rate to 40fps on Switch 2, but it's a reasonable downgrade in order to get this type of game running as well as it does on a portable machine. It really is a very close match in all other ways to other consoles.For newcomers, this is one of the best Madden games I've played in terms of teaching you the ropes, and for the returning hardcore, the improvements on the pitch, and with regards to presentation, should impress where its predecessor felt a bit lacking.