Madden 23: Extra Realism and More

The late former Hall of Fame coach John Madden may have passed away, but his legacy lives on in one of the most popular franchises on the planet: Madden NFL. These games are still a top seller and make up one of the most successful franchises in history, with the publisher, EA, having sold more than 130 million Madden games and generating at least $4 billion in total revenue.

In 2020, the NFL and the league’s players’ union agreed to a five-year extension for the game to continue featuring it. The deal will bring $1 billion for the NFL and $500 million for players, and there will be a further $500 million for marketing commitments. That just gives you an extent of the success of the game.

Below is a look at realism in the game and how the latest version of the game, “Madden 23” differs from “Madden 22” and other previous versions of the game.

Madden football: incredibly realistic

From the very start, John Madden wanted a game that was realistic. After signing up, he immediate asked the programmers to change the format from 7-7 to 11-1 like real football.

EA have incorporated a variety of features into the game that reflect real NFL. For instance, crowds will get extremely noisy in some circumstances. The game renders the different NFL stadiums beautifully, and the commentary you hear while playing wouldn’t be out of a place on a real live broadcast. There are close-ups of the action, and one game, “Madden 10,” even included a half-time show.

If you’re a fan of sports betting, you’ll also appreciate the realism in the game when it comes to the betting lines. The teams that are best in the game always receive acknowledgement of this in the betting lines, which demonstrate further the realism of the game itself. If NFL lines suggest one outcome is more likely than another, the chances are you’ll see this when playing the game as well.

Comparing Madden 23 with the rest

Just like every new version of a game, “Madden 23” has some tremendous new features.

FieldSENSE

The first of these is the FieldSENSE feature, and the makers have embedded it into each of the different game modes. Thanks to FieldSENSE, players will have more control when rushing the quarterback, gang tackling, covering wideouts, performing defensive line blocking and more.

Ultimately, FieldSense is something of a blanket term the company appears to be using to cover all the different tweaks in the gameplay. Under it falls the “Hit Everything” subsystem which adds even more realism than previous versions. The system tracks the movements of a player, including where they get hit, and will then determine how a player reacts to a collision in a way more consistent with an actual game of football.

The game also offers skill-based passing in quarterbacks, another FieldSENSE feature. Players use a new accuracy reticle and power meter to help them generate stronger, more precise throws. Again, this increases the realism of the game compared to previous versions. The function will give players more control of their movement when in possession of the ball. If they wish to stick to the classic automatic function for throwing, however, they may do this.

Franchise mode

In the Franchise mode, the game has revised the scouting and free agency features. Signing free agents is more detailed than before, and the scouting players have more detailed information rather than mere surface level ratings. Roster depth, the starting quarterback, the state income tax and other factors all come into play and are possible parts of the players’ motivations, which means it might cost you more to lure a player over to teams in certain states. If the weather isn’t right, you might get a no from them!

Ultimate Team

The franchise continues with the Ultimate Team feature and has added “Field Pass,” which will improve the progression system in game mode. Thanks to the feature, players will be able to identify a clear path they can follow for progression. The Season, Competitive and Ultimate Team-specific passes can earn players goodies as they play.

One aspect in which “Madden 23” has remained the same has been in the absence of a cross platform feature. It’s only possible for players to play with friends on the same console or platform as themselves. There is hope, however, that future versions might incorporate cross platform options, as the new “FIFA 23” will when it comes out.

The Madden franchise is extremely popular and never disappoints. The new features increase the realism of the game for fans, which is exactly as John Madden himself would have wanted. Why not invest and see how you find the latest edition in the franchise?