‘Madden NFL 18’ is the most accessible, ambitious ‘Madden’ game in years (2024)

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The story mode in “Madden NFL 18” is called “Longshot,” and it’s easily the most dramatic change to this year’s game. Playing it often feels surreal considering what “Madden” games are usually like.

In Longshotyou play as Devin Wade, a Texas-bred 23-year-old with football in his blood. He was a five-star recruit and the star of his high school team, just like his dad, Cutter, before him. But he fell on hard times shortly thereafter and abruptly quit football altogether. Now he’s looking to rebuild his life and career by living up to his lost potential and making it to the NFL.

Wade is joined throughout by Colt Cruise, his best friend and former teammate who also dreams of playing in the pros. He’s goofy — the kind of guy who nicknames himself “the Cruise missile” — but earnest, loyal, and ultimately likable.

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Longshot itself is a series of long cutscenes interspersed with quick-time events (moments where you have to hit a button as it appears onscreen) and limited sections of the usual “Madden” gameplay.

It’s very straightforward: You only play as Devin, and Devin is always a quarterback. There is no fail state.

This might frustrate veteran players who want something more flexible, but as an olive branch to lapsed “Madden” players it works well as a sort of extended tutorial. The script includes a few breakdowns of football concepts — how to read pass coverage, what formation names mean, etc. — that are explained in human terms, yet don’t feel out of place within the larger narrative.

That said, the value of Longshot is in watching its story unfold.

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If the setup above didn’t make it obvious, Longshot deals heavily in clichés and sweeping terms.

The story is based in an idyllic Texas town, where football is worshipped and the only working people you see grind away at a rock quarry. It’s all very “Friday Night Lights.” Devin and Cole drive around that town in a beat up pick-up truck.

Every single character is a type: There’s the smarmy TV producer, the no-nonsense football coach, the constantly loving and supportive father, and the portly friend who’s always hungry. (What there is not: women who aren’t devoid of personality, which is sadly predictable.)

It’s largely a tale of redemption and overcoming the odds, which is well-worn territory for sports movies.

But that’s manageable. “Remember the Titans” had its clichés, too. For much of its roughly four-hour run time, Longshot is an enjoyable, Disney-lite sports flick bolstered by strong lead performances and the sweet, believable bromance between Devin and Colt.

It does well to set a particular tone, and there are more than a few genuine laughs in the script.

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It’s also surprisingly dark.

Longshot’s first few actsare by far its most interesting. As hinted above, Devin’s struggles stem from the sudden death of his father — played by Oscar winner Mahershala Ali, superb in a sadly limited role — and it’s briefly acknowledged that his mother died during his youth.

The game doesn’t dig terribly deep into Devin’s trauma, and "dead parents" is an easy narrative device for generating sympathy, but there is still a lingering sense of sadness throughout.

Building on that: Devin’s desire toclean the skeletons out of his closet has him accept a spot on a reality TV show in which former and would-be NFL players compete for a chance to make it into the league. At one point, one of those players, whose career was cut short by injury, says, "I went from playing with Philip Rivers to sitting on my couch." That’s kind of tragic!

The idea of people desperately trying to play in a league that’s already discarded them isn’t that far from reality. Nor is the idea of people cheering and jeering those players as they put their very real hopes and dreams on the line for our amusement. A moment where an ex-coach admits he rushed an injured player back too soon in an attempt to advance his own career is similarly striking.

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Unfortunately, Longshot loses some of its momentum toward its conclusion.

"Madden" is an officially licensed product from the NFL, so I can’t realistically expect Longshot to scrutinize some of football’s darker realities. You won’t hear anything close to the word "concussion"here.

But the story starts to veer a little too close to advertisement for comfort toward the end. It becomes less clear whether Longshot is really in on the themes it floated earlier; without getting too deep into spoilers, let’s just say the phrase "Football is family" plays a not-insignificant role in how things play out.

That, plus the product placement liberally peppered throughout the story, is kind of gross. It also makes the need for some competition in the football game space even clearer.

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It’s also pretty basic when it comes to your decisions affecting where the story goes.

In other words, it can feel more like a movie than a video game from time to time.

There are various points where you can make one of a few binary decisions, be it in dialogue or on the field, that will affect what ending you receive. But the process of getting to that ending follows a mostly straight line: Even if you ace one of Devin’s various challenges on the TV show, the game might still insert a moment of “failure” to keep the story on its preferred track.

Longshot is far from the only game to do this, but don’t confuse it with a true role-playing gamelike “Mass Effect” anytime soon. On the plus side, those endings are suspenseful, and it’s not always obvious where you deviated to get the ending you do.

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So that’s Longshot. It deserves the bulk of the attention here because much of the rest of “Madden NFL 18” isn’t dramatically different than last year’s game. In many ways, that’s not really a problem.

"Madden" in its current state is more complex to manage and comprehend than other sports simulators like "FIFA" or "MLB The Show," but it follows the logic of football well.

At its best, it’s a chess match: You have to read your opponent and constantly find the counter to what they’re trying to do. Provided you’re not playing on an easier difficulty, you typically can’t cheese your way to victory with any deep pass or blitz. If a team is playing zone defense, short passes work. If your run game is rolling, mixing in play-action passes opens up receivers downfield. Calling audibles and making smart adjustments before a play to address a possible mismatch is often a must.

For all its brutishness, football is still a thinking man’s game at heart, and generally speaking,"Madden" is smart enough to reward those who pay attention, think critically, and play off their opponent, especially online.

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“Madden” is still a mega-popular game, though, so it’s not like it brushes off more casual players.

The playbook is set up in a way so you can call plays based on their type ("shotgun pass," "inside run," etc.) or formation, which makes it a bit easier to digest.

Before you kickoff, the game also gives you the option to play with "Arcade" settings, which generally makes it easier to go for big home run plays.

That said, it’s still a faithful simulator at its core, so it’s not like the game becomes a free-for-all a la "NFL Blitz." Playing in the game’s standard "Simulator" mode is still where it feels most natural. (A third mode called "Competitive" is meant to emphasize user skill moves, but I didn’t notice much of a difference.)

Because of that, the chasm between great "Madden" players and merely good ones is still huge.

The play-by-play commentary team has good chemistry and rarely feels grating. They're good enough, but they’ll still repeat lines and miss the gist of certain big plays at times.

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The overall presentation is fine. Having a halftime highlight show is fun, and many stadiums have their own little touches during a game’s intro. Most people will likely skip through this stuff and just go to the game, but if you bother to watch, it’s a nice touch.

It also looks fantastic. EA, the game’s publisher, switched the series over to its fancy “Frostbite” graphics engine this year, and the results are wonderful. Every image in this review is a screenshot I took while playing. Here’s Tom Brady in all his Super Bowl champion glory.

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While Longshot is the most fascinating thing in this year's game, most “Madden” players will spend their time in two more traditional modes: Franchise and Ultimate Team. The former, unfortunately, has been practically untouched since last year. You play games, conduct weekly practices, manage your roster, and prepare for drafts. It’s standard, unremarkable sports game fare. That's disappointing.

I’d still like the option to have just a simple "season" mode, where you could just play a team’s games without having to manually disable anything extra. "MLB The Show" is more thoughtful in this regard.

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Ultimate Team, meanwhile, has you grow your own assortment of players and use them in solo challenges and online games. The idea is to win coins and collect cards, continuously improving your team to give yourself a better shot of beating everyone else.

This is by far the most popular mode in "Madden" (and "FIFA"), and it’s not hard to see why: It puts players on a million different treadmills and has them chase upgrade after upgrade.

This is either sadistic or addictive, depending on your personality. EA supports its Ultimate Team modes throughout the year, but the only real way to get your team off the ground in a way that doesn’t involve monotonously grinding solo games is to spend actual money on coins and buy better players yourself. You may be fine with that! But EA knows what it's doing.

This year, EA’s added a "MUT Squads" mode that lets you team up with two other players and take on another three-man team online. This is fun! You just have to be sure you're playing with people who know what they're doing first.

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There are some in-the-weeds gameplay tweaks worth mentioning — but not all of them are noticeable improvements.

For one, the gap between high- and low-rated players feels wider. This is good: You should feel more comfortable taking deep shots on a second-string cornerback than a Pro Bowler like Richard Sherman. A good online player can still make do, but real football is all about exploiting good matchups.

On the other hand, EA has advertised a "targeted passing" that lets you aim passes more precisely; itseems to be aimed at lower difficulty levels, since you usually have suchlittle time to get a pass off to begin with.

And some longstanding issues still remain. Short passes and screens can still feel inordinately effective compared to throwing downfield, defending the run is often easier than defending the pass, and player animations can still look too unnatural. If you want, you can still abuse a handful of "money plays," and the AI won't do much to adapt.

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My biggest issue, though, is with the AI’s open-field blocking. EA said it focused on improving this with “Madden NFL 18,” but too often my receivers and running backs would get crushed after their teammates mindlessly ran past the defender right in front of me.

Watch number 33 in the clip above. I run my receiver out wide to give the back time to pick up the block in front of me. But instead of doing that, he scoots by to block thedefender in the back.

It’s a subtle mistake, but it meantlost yards. Though this isn’t a constant problem, it still happens enough for it to bea problem.

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“Madden NFL 18” still needs some tune-ups, but taken together it’s a smart, engaging football sim.

Longshotisn’t compellingenough to make the game worth recommending to non-"Madden" players, and the lack of changes outside of that story modemeans "Madden NFL 18" isn't quite a must-buy for those who're still content with last year's title. But itshould be the push needed to reel in former players who want a reasonto come back.

And while people like to say "Madden" is the same every year, that’s just not true: The cumulative improvements to the game’s looks, physics, and general feel are miles ahead of where the series was two or three years ago.

At the end of the day, anyone who wants a football game has no choice but to buy "Madden." Thankfully,those who do will find a game that’s both steady and surprising in mostly the right ways.