Madden ’18 was a return to form for a series that was in desperate need of a fresh start. It’s easy to dismiss games that have yearly iterations as more of the same but, with ’18, not only did they make major improvements to the gameplay and overall fun factor – they added a single player story campaign for the first time with the incredibly popular Longshot mode. Madden ’19 takes everything that was good about ’18 and improves on it in almost every way and even brings back Longshot for season two, making this the best Madden game of the generation.
Along with Longshot, Madden Ultimate Team also returns featuring a campaign of its own. Franchise and Exhibition round out the game modes in this year’s title – so no matter how you like to play Madden, there is a mode for you.
Longshot Homecoming
There’s a reason that Longshot is the first option you have when you first boot up Madden ’19. Not only is it an incredible experience that everyone should play through, it doubles down as tutorial this year as well.
Picking up one year after the events in the first season, Devin finds himself in training camp with the Dallas Cowboys fighting for a roster spot. As you go through training camp and the preseason as a member of America’s team, you’ll be asked to run certain plays and read defenses to not only help Devin make the squad, but to teach you the basics of the game at the same time. And when it comes to how deep this year’s Madden can be there is nothing basic about it. Gone are the days where you hit a button representing a receiver and the ball follows one path in or out of their hands. You are now armed with an arsenal of choices. You can throw a bullet, lob it up, or even choose to throw it inside or outside of the receiver’s location, making it easier for them to catch the ball. The control scheme can be so extensive that to really thrive in Franchise mode you’ll want to play Longshot through to learn all the tricks on how to beat your opponents.
Longshot also picks up Colt’s story. While Devin is fighting for a spot on an NFL roster, Colt is just hoping for a call from a team and a second or even third chance at this point. While that is his goal, life usually finds a way of showing you that things never go according to plans. They say, “if you want to make God laugh, tell him you have plans.” Colt must have made God chuckle quite a bit because once again his life is turning upside down.
Longshot is better than it has any right to be and Homecoming picks up right where season one left off. Last year we compared Longshot to games like Life is Strange. While the story line and music still give us that same indie film feel those games do, this year is much more focused on gameplay and teaching you the skills you need when playing the other modes in Madden ’19. Rather than focusing on conversation and choice making (though they are still present,) they take a backseat this year to the story and Madden gameplay.
Homecoming is an incredible follow up to last year’s biggest surprise hit. We can’t wait to see where season three takes us and hope that in time they offer these stories as a standalone download or physical compilation because even those uninterested in the NFL would find plenty to love about Longshot.
Madden Ultimate Team
Ultimate Team returns this year and ups the ante with their very own campaign. Now you can play through an entire season of Ultimate Team as well as run through all the challenges that the mode has to offer. In Ultimate Team, you start with a shell of a team with just enough talent to get you by. As you complete challenges you unlock coins and packs that unlock new players (past and present) that you can use to upgrade your roster. As you win matches you will be rewarded with new players too. Win your first challenge and you could be rewarded with a new Quarterback. In our case, we received Ben Roethlisberger which was a huge upgrade from the original Quarterback we were given to start the game, Derek Anderson. You can even unlock players and uniforms in Longshot that you can use in Ultimate Team.
It wouldn’t be an EA game without some form of microtransactions and loot boxes and this mode is where you will find both. You can buy packs with coins that you collect as you complete challenges, but you can also buy packs with points. Points can be purchased and will usually unlock better packs than you can unlock by only using coins. While this isn’t a shock, it is upsetting because Madden Ultimate team is a fun experience that breaks up the minute to minute repetition of a sixty-minute football game, but to really put an elite team together you’ll be required to grind and grind or use cash to purchase points to open some packs.
There are daily, weekly and promotional lists of challenges for you to take on In Ultimate Team, so you’ll never run out of content or challenges to complete.
Franchise
Franchise is where people will spend most of their time with Madden ’19. After choosing your favorite team you’ll be able to customize the experience to fit your play-style and skill set. First, you’ll chose between Arcade, Simulation and Competitive. Each has an explanation of what the mode has to offer. You can choose from one extreme where points are bountiful and penalties are scarce to the other end of the spectrum where it feels like an actual NFL experience – points are earned and you must answer for your actions on the field.
After making your selection you’ll be asked to choose a difficulty based on your skill level and football knowledge. This has made a very niche game even more accessible to the masses. Yes, football is incredibly popular, but it’s not for everyone. Even casual football fans that may want to experience Madden for themselves but have limited football knowledge can feel right at home by choosing the right difficulty to fit their experience and knowledge.
From here on out Franchise mode fits the mold. You oversee the team from practices all the way up to trading and signing players.
Each week consists of practices and activities that you’ll go through to bolster and upgrade your players all leading to the main event each week game-day Sunday – or Monday or Thursday and sometimes Saturday – well, you get the point. Before each season you must select a goal for your team and the loftier the goal the better the chance you’ll be fired – so chose wisely and make sure every decision you make is for the good of the team.
Exhibition is just what is sounds like, you’ll pick a team and an opponent and play against each other. You can also play against friends online and use this mode to practice and hone your skills.
Recommendation
Madden ’19 is a dream for football fans. Developed using the Frostbite engine, EA has assured that Madden never looked better and the controls feel equally as good. With enough modes and content to keep you busy long after the season ends, Madden ’19 is a no brainer. Though the game includes the taboo of micro transactions and their own form of loot boxes, they can be avoided and don’t break the experience that other EA games have been guilty of in the past. We’re hoping that they have learned from their mistakes and more games from the publisher will follow in the Madden path. Complete with the ability to celebrate after a Touchdown either alone or with your teammates, it’s obvious that the team at EA Tiburon just wants you to have fun. One thing is certain – you’ll do just that.
*Madden ’19 was provided to the reviewer by the publishing company but this fact did not alter the reviewer’s opinion*
Check out our Review Guide to see what we criteria we use to score games.
