Madden NFL 17

Madden NFL 17 does one hell of a job at emulating all the on-filed action right in your living room!

While Madden 17 isn’t a huge leap for the franchise, it does a fantastic job of continuing to move it forward. With stellar graphics, vibrant commentary and intuitive gameplay it is certainly amongst the finest games in the series and, at this point, it’s difficult to see where the next dramatic improvement for Madden can come from.

Madden has finally found its comfort zone between the tackles, and offense and defense have reached a great balance. The community’s gameplay wishes were granted with a new focus on Franchise mode, led by the Play the Moments feature. Outside of its mood-killing commentators, Madden 17 is just about everything we’ve been waiting for since EA Sports took full control of the NFL license. Football is...

In Madden 17, a specific line stands out from the excellent new commentary team of Charles Davis and Brandon Gaudin. Davis, the ex-player providing the color commentary, talks about how coaches are always looking for that "perfect game." The perfect game doesn't exist in the NFL or in any given rendition of Madden. Even so, Madden 17 has a lot to enjoy. As they do every year, developers EA Tiburon...

Sweet Seventeen

Smart but subtle additions rule the day in the latest edition of EA's football simulator.

By focusing on improving the minute that matters on and off the field – EA Tiburon have created an experience that is a phenomenal triumph. Even with all the problems I encountered while playing, the balance of accessibility and depth the game provides may make Madden NFL 17 the best game the series has ever produced.

It’s icky at times, but Madden 17 is definitely a step up. If you skipped a year, now is probably the time to come back around. Coming back around? Kind of like the Ravens, who have an open path to the playoffs again with a healthy Flacco. You heard it here first, folks.

Madden NFL 17 certainly isn't a release for the series that introduces sweeping changes for the annual franchise. Smart tweaks to familiar modes, a slew of accesibility features, and a presentation that continues to impress, it's hard to knock this year's package for what it contains. NFL 17 builds off of the base that we've seen established over the last couple of years, for better or worse.