If it isn’t obvious, I’m very excited for this year’s Madden 26. Way more than I’ve ever been for a version of the game.
From what’s been shown to this point, the Madden dev team has definitely been helped by the revival of the College Football series. And now EA has released a 20-minute look at gameplay.
Madden 26 looks the part
Much of the conversation over the last month or so has been about the changes to movement in Madden 26. And even in the glimpse into the game with the new trailer, you can feel it. It’s not as fast as CFB 25 or CFB 26, but it really seems like the perfect middle ground between the slower, pro pace of Madden and the quicker pace of the college offerings.
I will say that, like the College Football games, there seems to be an overused animation for receivers. In the college games, it’s one where the defender tackles the receiver from behind while he’s in the air. It’s a very odd animation and also pretty aggressive. In Madden 26, the receivers are doing a lot of leaping forward to catch passes that don’t really seem to call for it. It causes them to slow down and let defenders catch them. That’s going to be a problem leading them on crossing routes and drag routes.
That said, the ball placement passing mechanic looks even better. And I have mentally committed myself to getting this down and getting away from the revamped passing. The snow games look insane, too. I do wonder how it looks actually playing versus watching it on video, though. Obviously, the video has been cut up a bit because games can go about an hour or so, but it doesn’t seem to hinder gameplay.
The presentation looks great as well. Even the touchdown graphics look far more exciting than anything we’ve seen in previous Madden games. And the score bugs look great.
I’m sure they’ll make another change in a couple of years, but I do feel like they’ve found a solid look for the series with the “every other game” score bug. The primetime ones should always mirror the real-life broadcasts, but they’ve nailed the regular one.
As I’ve said before, you can catch me on the Switch this year. I may run up the PS5 version just for the CFB 26 connection on Road To Glory, though.
Madden 26 comes out on August 14th, 2025.
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