It’s August, and you know what that means. Madden 27 has landed. Naturally, that also means Madden 27 is a mixed bag. Roster updates and a fresh coat of paint are nice, sure. But what’ll make or break this year’s entry for most is the slew of upgrades to Franchise mode.
First things first: this is the best-looking football game EA has ever shipped. Player faces, for the most part, are convincing recreations of their real-life counterparts. Body types finally vary the way NFL rosters do. Watching Puka Nacua’s frame up close, compared to a lineman’s, sold me on the jump immediately. Pregame introductions are also on point, with pyrotechnics, tunnel walks, and stadium-specific flourishes that drip with authentic atmosphere. My only complaint is timing. Those sequences don’t reach the nuance EA packs into College Football 27’s campus pageantry. Worse, they cut off abruptly, feeling more like a dropped connection than a deliberate transition into kickoff. It’s a small blemish on an otherwise gorgeous package, but it’s noticeable enough that I hope for a patch.
Another big part of Madden 27’s solid presentation package is the commentary team. It caught me off guard how well Mike Tirico and Greg Olsen carry a broadcast here. For the most part, their back-and-forth follows the rhythm of an actual game rather than firing off canned lines half a second late. Olsen in particular drops the kind of situational nuggets you’d expect from a color analyst who watched last week’s tape. Of course, it isn’t perfect. They aren’t always on cue, and I’ve certainly heard some flat-out wrong calls. But when it works, it works quite well.
Presentation aside, Madden 27 revolves around its two main modes, Franchise and Superstar. Superstar mode wisely opens at the Combine. It’s clear EA put effort into representing the event instead of treating it as a menu screen. The drills come across as authentic and, admittedly, fun. Each station brings its own pacing and pressure. Are you slow? Are you incapable of more than a few bench press reps? That’ll tank your draft stock before you ever throw a pass. That stock matters more than in past years, too. Where you land and the size of your rookie contract feed directly into your credibility and experience once games start. A modest deal on a rebuilding roster nets you less per snap than a proven starter’s contract. This gives players early-career dilemma decisions that are surprisingly intriguing.
That high-stakes intrigue carries into the redesigned G.O.A.T. Journey. It frames your entire career around three tracked pillars: Skill, Legacy, and Popularity. Every award, milestone, and highlight-reel play helps those numbers. A community leaderboard lets you measure your climb against every other Superstar grinding toward Canton. Three new positions, Tight End, Edge Rusher, and Free Safety, open up build paths the mode has never offered. Cap Breakers add another layer, letting committed players bend an archetype into something the game didn’t originally design. Retirement isn’t just an exit screen anymore either. It leads into an actual Hall of Fame vote, complete with a ceremony and speech. Plus, there’s ongoing live content to tackle throughout the real NFL season.
All of that is to say that I’m pleasantly surprised by Superstar mode. It’s still missing some of the personal decisions I’d like to see when playing as a solo player as opposed to a whole team, but this is a big step in the right direction.
Franchise mode also sees significant upgrades this year, thanks to EA’s Persona Engine. Every player on every roster now has a distinct personality profile. These shape everything, like how they negotiate, how they react to being benched, whether they’re content grinding through a rebuild, or even lobbying for a trade. Contract talks also reflect the player profiles directly. Negotiations no longer mean sliding a number up until you’ve ticked off the CPU’s hidden checklist. They now play out across multiple sessions, with visible interest and patience meters. Occasionally a curveball demand pops up, forcing you to adjust on the fly. A star receiver chasing a ring reacts to your offer differently than one chasing guaranteed money. Seeing those priorities clash with your cap situation is oddly satisfying, but more importantly, immersive in a way Madden hasn’t been for years.
But this is EA, and this is Madden, and you just knew it wasn’t all going to be sweet. The new timing-based catch mechanic is hit or miss. Holding the catch button and releasing inside a meter’s green zone genuinely raises the skill ceiling for contested throws. It rewards preparation over pure ratings, the way the shot meter mirrors rhythm in NBA 2K. My problem isn’t the meter itself; it’s what comes after you nail it. Far too often, a receiver drops a pass despite a clean release. He’s undone by the faintest brush from a defender who barely got a hand up. I’ve watched a receiver’s route die to contact so light you’d swear a gentle breeze would kill the poor fella.
And don’t get me started on the collision issues. In my very first game, one of my linebackers buried a receiver with a monster hit. It should have ended the play outright. Instead, the receiver bounced off him and slid roughly ten feet to the right, as if he’d hit a patch of ice. He then trotted down the field for about 75 yards. Brutal. This obviously wasn’t an isolated issue, either. By the time my review period was up, I must have seen this sort of nonsense dozens of times.
Did Madden 27 change in the ways that matter most? I guess it depends on who you ask. If you’re looking for the next generation of Madden’s on-field action, you might as well pound sand. This isn’t to say I didn’t have fun with it; it’s just a very typical, buggy, EA Sports Madden experience. But, I gotta say, the Franchise and Superstar modes have both seen a ton of improvements that have me coming back for more.
Madden keeps trending in the right direction, slowly but surely. It’s getting to a better place. It just hasn’t arrived yet.
***A PS5 code was provided for this review***
