Review: Madden 24 isn’t a perfect game by any means but getting closer

Hi, my name is Joe Cowley, and I’m a same-play-oholic.

It has been 13 days since I last ran gun empty verticals with a hot route to the Y . . . three straight times. At first it was hard to sleep, going counter runs and play-action fake out of the pistol, and admittedly I’ll go back to the gun formation and run the occasional bubble screen, but I feel good.

It’s nice to actually have a running back in the backfield next to me.

Heck, when I landed my legendary Franco Harris at fullback, I even got bold and went Power I a few plays.

Thanks, Madden 24!

And that’s the best place to start with the annual release of EA Sports’ Madden football franchise — the updated FieldSENSE AI.

Gone from Madden 24 is the ability to run the same play over and over, and watch the defensive AI make basically the same mistakes over and over. Was it effective when playing the computer? Of course. It was also a major reason the game became so stagnant and was on a shelf collecting dust by November.

Those aren’t the only improvements FieldSENSE has added.

There were over 1,700 tackle animations added through the new AI, which means big bank takes little bank on the defensive side of the ball. Bigger players now drop ball-carriers backward. And highly rated players who also have size? Well, they turn them into folding chairs.

The new tackling animation is as realistic as Madden has ever been on defense. You can almost feel the hit.

That also means the line play is more realistic on the offensive side of the ball. It’s not the same block, the same hole every time.

It’s a change that makes the entire gameplay more realistic and the running game better. It needs to be applauded.

The other technology that lifts the gaming experience is the SAPIEN skeleton that makes the players and builds the movements.

You can see a body part actually suffer an injury in Franchise Mode.

And speaking of the Franchise Mode, an overhaul was long overdue and finally came. Back in the mix is training camp and the ability to boost your players. And if that still doesn’t make the general manager happy, the trading system has been made more realistic, including more draft picks to acquire or send out.

So why is the latest version of Madden taking the usual body blows in a lot of reviews and on the social-media circuit?

First, the launch was not great. It was filled with glitches and technical issues. That usually puts a bad taste in the mouths of the loyalists.

There were two instances in Ultimate Team where a quarterback was sacked and stripped and the ball went 20 yards backward as if it was a pass.

It doesn’t help that the microtransactions in Ultimate Team also seem to be even more expensive, but I’m from the school of, if you feel like you have to shortcut to build a team, well, pay for it.

Is Madden 24 — a version that many consider make or break for the franchise — the perfect football video game? No.

But two points to keep in mind: Name another one better, and secondly, it’s a video game.

It doesn’t feel like EA has become lazy and is just rolling out the same old game with a different cover, like the critics presume.

There’s effort in making the game better, but that effort has hits and misses.

That’s why I feel good giving Madden 24 a solid B-plus.

Now, if I can only stay away from running those dang empty verts.

One game at a time.