EA SPORTS Madden 21 review: Exciting new features, Colin Kaepernick included but latest NFL game has its flaws
The 2020 NFL season is back despite the threat of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The reigning Super Bowl Champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, got things going on Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Lamar Jackson is the cover star of Madden 21
The new season also means another thing – a new instalment to the Madden franchise, which hit the shops at the end of August.
Madden 21 sees Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson feature as cover star following his record breaking season.
Patrick Mahomes went on to guide the Chiefs to win Super Bowl 54 last season after featuring on the front of the game.
Reigning NFL MVP Jackson will hope he can inspire his team to similar success.
Here at talkSPORT.com, we’ve put Madden 21 through it’s paces to see what the new game and extra features offer this year.
Lamar Jackson was the NFL MVP of the 2019 season
Gameplay
A quick search on social media and you see hundreds of people complaining about the glitches and inconsistencies in Madden 21.
The first impressions that I, and so many others, got was that the latest version of this franchise was rushed out.
The coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly had an impact on that with home working becoming the norm and the usual ways of communication having to shift massively.
That being said, people are being asked to pay between £50-55, depending on the console, and it’s hard to justify that it’s value for money.
When I downloaded it from the PlayStation store, getting the game on the console was initially no problem.
Madden 21 has made some tweaks to gameplay but has stayed largely the same
But a massive update, presumably to fix some of the issues noted by players, meant it took another couple of hours to get onto some of the main features.
That being said, the general gameplay is what you’d expect from a Madden game. The bugs look like they’ve been largely fixed and it ran pretty smoothly on the PS4.
The look of the game is pretty similar to Madden 20, so no real innovation on that front, and it might not be until next year that we see an overhaul of the franchise when the new consoles are released. Although Madden 21 will work on the PS5 and Xbox Series X when they are released later in the year.
The X-Factor and Superstar abilities add a nice dimension, although can make some players overpowered.
Lamar Jackson feels like playing with a cheat code – so they’re got that pretty spot on.
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Career modes
The main career modes available are Franchise and Face of the Franchise, which replaces a similar personalised player campaign mode in Madden 20 called QB1.
Franchise mode is much the same as it has been for sometime with the usual rigmarole of taking over a team throughout an NFL season.
Although few changes have been made, it’s still a fun career mode as you mould your franchise and you can get pretty detailed with things like training and player contracts.
Colin Kaepernick is also available to sign as a free agent in the game, which is a welcome addition but more on him later.
The Face of the Franchise is the chance to take your character through High School, to College, and then to the pros.
The customisation options to change your player’s appearance are fairly limited and there is a lot of story you have to watch through between actual playing action.
On the whole, it’s a fun experience that you can keep coming back to and will provide hours of entertainment.
Madden 21 is available on PS4, Xbox One and Steam
New features
One of the best features about the new game, and stopped it from being a disappointment, is The Yard.
As the name suggests, it’s meant to resemble backyard football and is a good concept.
It’s six vs six matchups with three drives for each team to make it an action packed contest either against the computer or your friends.
It’s a nice addition to be able to throw the ball as many times as you want, behind the line of scrimmage, and can make for some unpredictable sequences of play.
It’s something that will make you definitely want to come back and play again.
Player ratings
This is a source of contention every year when the ratings come out and fans of different teams disagree.
But there seems to be a few wild ratings in Madden 21 that raised a few eyebrows.
First, is that of Rob Gronkowski. Gronk is back in the NFL where he rejoined Tom Brady but this time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The 31-year-old received a 95 rating – the third best tight end in the game behind only Travis Kelce and George Kittle.
He’s been out of the NFL for a year and was by no means at his best in the 2018 season, even if he popped up at key moments with some big plays.
The Madden franchise of games has been going since 1988
The 95 rating seem a little high even if he is one of the greatest players at that position.
The second is that of Colin Kaepernick, who is available to play in the game on Franchise Mode, and he was given an 81 rating.
This was understandably a tough rating for Madden to asses given he’s been out of the league since 2017 but he’s higher than 17 starting NFL quarterbacks.
It’s hard to know what he’d be like if he was plugged in as a starter but 81 seems a little high.
Overall
Don’t expect groundbreaking innovation when you play Madden 21.
Glitches and bugs aside, it’s very similar to previous iterations of the franchise and is crying out for a refresh.
It’s still a good game to play with your friends or online but some changes to the career modes would be nice.
The Yard is a solid addition and probably one of the better aspects for some more casual games.
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