Madden 20: Early Expert Reviews of Top Modes Ahead of Official Release Date

Naturally, some of the biggest notes from early Madden 20 reviews center around the game's new modes and features. 

With Patrick Mahomes on the cover and layers of improvement each year, the latest release from EA Sports naturally arrived with some massive hype levels. The game has been out on Origin Access but fully launches August 2, so plenty of reviews have started to roll in before it goes out to the masses—as of this writing it has a 73 on Metacritic. 

When it comes to new modes for the annual sports powerhouse, it doesn't get any bigger than Face of the Franchise: QB1. 

As noted in our review, the game had an uphill battle to climb in the expectations department after setting the bar high over the past two years with Hollywood-level presentation and cutscenes in the Longshot modes, which told the tale of fictional players. 

This came up quickly in Eddie Makuch of Gamespot's official review: "After making it to the NFL, the game then disappointingly becomes the standard Franchise mode, except your character has more backstory that acts as fuel to drive you to succeed on the field. That's the idea, at least; in practice, it leaves much to be desired."

On paper, QB1 sounds great: Players get to insert themselves into the NFL, work through a College Football Playoff and meet some fun characters along the way. Performance in the playoff and at the combine seem to help dictate where and when a player gets drafted, and going undrafted is indeed a possibility. 

As far as modes go, franchise is one of the other bigger talking points in early reviews. Most note the mode didn't get much in the way of updates this year, as attention clearly went to things like QB1 and the Superstar X-Factor feature. 

But IGN's Robert Kollars singled out one nice touch added to the formula: "On top of that, EA has also implemented a few new defensive schemes and a new scenario engine that add a bit of dynamic realism to Franchise mode. For instance, if a player is not getting enough touches during a game, they will make it known. If you, as the coach, decide to ignore his request, you will see a hit in his morale and performance."

Indeed, these aren't much more than weekly text blocks that pop up and ask players to make a decision. But the dynamic effect they can have on gameplay and year-to-year consequences—which is an especially big deal when free agency rolls around—makes for a welcome change. 

It wouldn't be an annual Madden release without Ultimate Team getting some love, too. Understandably, based on player feedback over the years, EA Sports worked hard to streamline the approach to the collectable side mode that has morphed into a beast of its own. 

This gets a nod from GameInformer's Matthew Kato: "MUT's overall flow has changed in that Missions are now the overriding sorting structure for challenges (no longer called Solos since you can play some in co-op). Either way, all the content and your progression is familiar."

One of the big themes surrounding Madden over the past few years has been accessibility and reaching all types of players. This shows up again in the form of game styles, with players able to pick Arcade, Competitive and Simulation, which all have a distinct ability to change how the game plays. 

This same theme has now been applied to Ultimate Team, as charting out a course to preferred rewards and avoiding the mundane that has nothing to do with what a player wants is easier than usual. Crafting the ideal deck or getting preferred cards is still a big grind, but the new systems in place have made it more tolerable and leave it feeling just as rewarding. 

As a whole, the early reviews have an identifiable plot: Great gameplay again, with some of the big back-of-box items lacking. The on-field portion of Madden 20 is superb thanks to years of tweaks and adjustments, while some of the norms a mode like Longshot established haven't been fully met just yet. 

Once again, Madden 20 is a great starting point for newcomers or a re-entry point for those who took a break, with annual players surely like to find enough to keep them coming back for more, too. Just like Mahomes' play on the field, it's fun to experience now but hard not to think about the upside, too.