Madden NFL 18 Has Been In The Process Of Realizing Its Sport

After a successful 2017 edition, EA Sports returns this year with a 2018 edition giving everything back. New graphical and physical engine, a brand new story mode, and a real evolution of the gameplay. What if this Madden NFL 18 was simply the best version of the American football simulation?

In recent years, the NFL and American football in general has been in the process of realizing and internationalizing its sport. This year for the first time, championship games will be played outside the United States. As the season unfolds, and as the first day begins in September, EA Sports is releasing its annual Madden NFL. On this year's program, the developers made many changes, starting with the arrival of the Frostbite engine, already used in the last episodes of Fifa and Battlefield.

Where is the leather?

The first thing that marks when starting a part of Madden NFL 18 is to see the graphic evolution performed with the engine change. The players have gained more precision, the lights of the stadium radiate on the players' helmets, everything seems to have been improved by a notch. The realization also took advantage, especially on the introductions of the teams, where the whole seems much less artificial than before. This new engine, also known as new collision management, and in this field, has rarely seen such devastating and impressive tackles! However, we can blame the new engine for some graphic bugs, which in the end gives funny situations, with one leg in the belly of another on the ground.

The interface has, as every year, also evolved. If it appeared a bit invasive in the 2017 edition, minimalism is de rigueur this year, due to the choice of color, with lighter tones, while retaining the concept of tiles, dear to EA Sports for some years now. While a refreshing stroke of the entire EA Sports range could be interesting, it remains rather coherent and readable for all. It is always possible to set the whole game, from difficulty, to music, through the various options related to the parts. One of the big novelties associated with this customization is the arrival of three ways to play.

You can now choose between arcade, simulation and competitive games. The first is really access for immediate playability, with less faults counted, and more permissive passes. The second one looks more like what we had up until now in the previous episodes of Madden, while the competitive one will ask the players a true precision in all gestures and decisions.

He is a Longshot

One of the big novelties of this new episode is the arrival of the mode History. A mode already present in the soccer homologue of EA. It is here to follow the epic of the young quaterback Devin Wade, a good little guy who tries his chance to be drafted and to arrive in NFL. But, as nice as he is naive, he gets caught up by a shady producer in a funny reality show where he has to show his quaterback skills. The Longshot mode will propose you to follow his adventures until his draft. Like a Telltale game, you will be confronted with moral choices to make, which is quite refreshing for a sports game. The soundtrack is pretty nice, it is a shame that we do not find the titles in the menus of the game, it could have added a variety to the song choices.

The scenario is not worth much, but the atmosphere is rather nice, there is a good acting, and the mode allows us especially to discover one of the biggest features of this new episode: precise passes. This gameplay feature offers players to choose in addition to the receiver where the ball will arrive. This makes it possible to be able to anticipate an adverse trajectory and to ensure a good reception of the ball. However, it will be necessary to have very good reflexes to release the functionality outside the Longshot mode. To remedy this, developers have thought of us by adding a whole tutorial still full on all the features and possibilities of the game.

"Longshot is an ambitious mode of play but lack of means implemented"

The final problem with this Longshot mode is that it only serves as an initiation to Madden NFL 18. Where the career mode of a NBA 2K has become an undeniable mode for players, this mode is ultimately used only for highlight other game modes: doing the Longshot mode allows you to retrieve maps for the Ultimate Team, allows you according to your choice of Draft team to make the franchise mode with the main character. One would have really liked that the mode does not continue by what is done around, but in what it is itself. Still in the comparison with NBA of 2K, when the career mode ends in its scripted part, the mode him, continues, proposing you simply to continue your parts, chaining the seasons and proposing to you to make your own experience. Here with Longshot, one has the impression that EA has proposed a history of 5 hours, which when finished, will have no follow-up, which is a shame because in the end, our character is only at the beginning of his career .

A Complete Game

After five hours of the Longshot game, we have all the real content of the game available to us. Starting with Franchise mode. Like last year, you will have the choice between the role of coach, player or general manager of one of the franchises of the competition. It is always pleasant to be able to live his season in parallel with the current one. Updating scores, teams and even comments is a real achievement, giving real realism to this mode of play. Everyone will go of his preference, but the management of the franchise as a coach remains in our opinion the most balanced to play the game. From training to transfers, you will have the opportunity to perfect yourself for the second big chunk of the game.

And this is no less than the Ultimate Team, which returns this year with an improved formula. Always more complete, it will propose you as usual to manage a team thanks to the different cards that you will win over the openings of packages. Each pack is unlockable by filling various challenges, leveling up or winning games. This year EA added the UT Squad allowing to play the mode in cooperation. The Draft mode, previously separated from the Ultimate Team, is now included in the game mode.

Gameplay Evolutions That Go In The Right Direction

Each year, EA Sports comes back with some new features, going in the direction of gameplay wanting more and more realistic. If you forget the few worries of physics, you can say that they have done a good job. Based on the excellent foundations of the 2017 episode, the formula is complemented by a few additions. We have already mentioned the new system of precise passes, but the small details such as injuries, recoveries of balls after fumble, or even receptions have been changed. The regulars of the series will find that a real effort on the side of the defense has been provided. Whether in the blocking possibilities, the possibility to follow the trajectory of a receiver, to block it or to make a remote pressure in order to counter it.

It is this set of small changes that, in the end, makes this Madden 18 one of the most striking and changing games in the series. On the other hand, we may be disappointed with the change of engine. Indeed, if the arrival of frostbite allows the game to benefit from very beautiful graphics, the game is for the shot less polish. Framerate falls are to be blamed, physical bugs, and the loading times between matches become interminable at times. It is hoped that an update will soon be made to correct these minor defects.

Virtually perfect, this is what could characterize the overall feeling when playing Madden NFL 18. Whether you are a beginner or a fierce of the series, you will find your happiness. If the Longshot mode seemed a little short, it offers a rather decent entertainment, while remaining a mouthful for one of the most complete sports games today. Cheap Madden 18 Coins PS4/ Xbox One in store now, you guys can click www.madden-store.com for it.