Madden 17: Early Expert Reviews of Top Modes Ahead of Official Release Date

It's August, which means a few things.

Preseason football. Baseball entering its stretch run. The return of the Premier League and European soccer. College football beginning shortly. And of course, the annual release of one of the most popular sports video game franchises on the market, Madden NFL 17, which will hit stores on Tuesday, Aug. 23.

Below, we'll take a look at the game's trailer and IGN's review of the game, and we'll break down some of the game's modes and features and what people are saying about them.

Trailer

Reviews

IGN

Hit the Pass

Modes and New Features Analysis

The most noticeable change in this year's game will be the game's new announcers, Brandon Gaudin and Charles Davis. Although IGN's Dustin Toms called the pair "mood-killing commentators," reviews for the duo have been more positive elsewhere.

Jay Malone of Gaming Trend felt the game's commentary was headed in a solid direction:

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EA was able to bring them both in and record a large amount of back and forth dialogue, something that has been much needed for years. The result is the best commentary a Madden game has had since Madden himself was in the booth. Gaudin and Davis toss out small anecdotes about different players, even some of the smaller names. It provides a layer of knowledge to the game that hasn’t been there before. There are still some hiccups as lines will repeat, but there is no doubt that EA has found the right duo in Gaudin and Davis.

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And the commentary should only get better, according to Bryan Wiedey of the Sporting News:

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Just as impressive is the plan for new commentary from the duo to be added throughout the NFL season. Gaudin and Davis will be in studio recording new lines regularly, and those updates have already started. The first came out a few days ago, with the pair discussing the first week of the preseason. It's innovative and ambitious, and the development team at Tiburon has absolutely delivered. It'll be exciting to see how it grows as everyone involved gets even more comfortable with the process.

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Several other tweaks should be coming to this year's game, including a deeper Franchise mode, a revamped running game, more dynamic special teams play that will make kicking field goals and extra points more difficult and blocking punts and kicks easier, and small changes to the defensive side of the ball.

Favorites like Draft Champions and Ultimate Team will also return and should be wildly popular once again. As of now, the popular modes don't seem likely to have any major changes, but seeing as they were the strongest elements of Madden NFL 16, not rocking the boat makes sense.

The tweaks to Franchise mode will likely be a huge factor in determining the long-term sustainability and popularity of this year's iteration, however.

Wiedey gave his thoughts on the new additions to the mode:

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The new in-game ticker is excellent, showing scores and stats from around the league in "real-time" (based on day/time of the games). Practice squads have proven beneficial. The change to game-planning involves preparation that actually can pay off in the games, and Big Moments bring the critical decisions that have to be made front-and-center. There have been a decent amount of "major" injuries, but probably too few short-term injuries from games that are actively played. More injuries seem to happen out of the sim engine.

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Malone had several concerns with the changes to Franchise mode, however. For one, setting his season expectations as a coach was a bit inconsistent. The point of the mode is to set a wins goal, and if you hit it, you gain experience. The higher the goal you hit, the more experience. If you miss the goal, however, you open yourself to being fired.

Malone found that in his first season, he set his expectations for six wins and got to 10, reaching the AFC Championship Game. Realistically, that would have bought him a few years of job security. But the next season, he only won seven games and was immediately fired.

He also found the mode's training to be rather tedious and dull, often simulating through the mode for the experience points.

Kat Bailey of USgamer.net also had some concerns with the mode:

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Franchise mode is also plagued by a number of legacy issues. Choosing to play as an owner, for example, means being stuck with inane decisions like whether to raise the price of concessions; and if you're the owner of a team like the Jacksonville Jaguars, you're almost guaranteed to run out of money and find yourself unable to sign new players. Player mode, meanwhile, is sterile in the extreme—a narrative-free mode that does absolutely nothing to make you feel like you're an actual player in the NFL. If you want to enjoy everything franchise mode has to offer, then playing as a coach is really the only way to go.

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Overall, the prognosis seems to be that Franchise mode has definitely been expanded upon and offers players a number of ways to approach the mode. But while some of the changes shine, the others fall flat.

The other major difference in this year's game is the special teams and reworked running game, as Wiedey noted:

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The other evolution for Madden comes with special teams, an area of the game that's always been ignored. Kicks are now challenging — even extra points aren't gimmes — and both punts and kicks can be blocked. Madden has gone from being largely predictable to keeping the user engaged through every single play.

New ball-carrier moves have made skilled players extremely explosive in the open field. Even those a little less agile can weave their way through defenders on occasion and break a play. This has surprisingly proven true for the CPU, as well, which has always struggled to perform competently, especially in the run game. CPU runners can make users who aren't sure-tacklers look foolish when teammates aren't around to assist. In general, the CPU is far more competitive and provides a better challenge than in the past.

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In all, Madden NFL 17 doesn't appear to be a franchise-altering addition, nor does it seem likely to vault the series back into the conversation for top sports game, something the NBA 2K franchise seems to have a hold on at the moment.

But the game does add a number of nice improvements in key parts of the game, making it an improvement—if a modest one—over last year's edition.

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