Madden NFL 23

Madden NFL 23 takes a few good steps forward, but seems to forget other aspects that will hopefully be addressed in the future. FieldSENSE is a good change that goes along with the other recent additions in the series. The Freeform Passing is a huge and fun change and the new hit animation engine is nice, but it can leave the occasional strange animation and outcome. The defensive coverage needs to be addressed as there seems to be glaring issues. The visuals continue to improve to bring a more realistic approach and the change to the presentation is a nice touch. Franchise Mode players should...

Building off the momentum of Madden 22; Madden NFL 23 brings fresh looks to both Franchise Mode and Face of the Franchise while keeping the train rolling with The Yard and MUT. While there are still some buggy moments, Madden NFL 23 is worth picking up especially for those who haven’t played an installment in the series for a while.

It’s that time of year again, when the NFL season starts up and I start getting the itch to play a few rounds of Madden. Due to the hype of the NFL season starting, I get my hopes up for a great Madden release because I just want to be engrossed in football again. With each year comes some new tweaks that are supposedly going to make the gameplay and control better, and while there are some years that feel worth it, Madden NFL ’23 is not that year. It stays largely unchanged from last yea...

In Madden NFL 23, developer EA Tiburon focused on the fundamentals: authentic 11v11 football and cleaning up many of the bugs that plagued previous Madden iterations. The result is a small step forward for the franchise and a strong foundation to build on.

On the field, Madden 23 is the best the series has been in a long time, but several of the surrounding pieces feel like they're on injured reserve.

The story goes that John Madden refused to sign off on EA Sports’ original football sim until it put 22 players on the field. The rest, of course, is history – and the Madden NFL franchise has been striving for realism ever since. That ambition comes in the form of a few buzzwords this year, including the distinctly marketing-led FIELDSense and precision passing – but does it make a difference?

Madden NFL 23 feels a lot like previous entries in the series, although it's a pretty good football game overall.

If you are a seasonal fan of Madden, you will feel like Madden NFL 23 is a step in the right direction with new features to experience and updates to preexisting game modes and features. At the end of the day, this game is meant to appeal to football lovers who want to have the most realistic NFL experience.

Madden 23 is still Madden, but little more. If you’ve been wanting an NFL game that offers something wholly new, or one that can match the NBA 2K series for production values, then this isn’t the place to find it. However, there’s some key incremental improvements happening here which make Madden 23 a tighter, more engaging experience for fans, and one which will happily see you through this year’s NFL season.

Stripping away the flash with a bigger focus on the core basics, Madden NFL 23 feels like a breath of fresh air. It’s still a series lacking an identity right now, but this year’s entry is the course correction the series has desperately needed.

“Madden NFL 23 is an improved game when compared to Madden NFL 22, but that isn't enough to make it good.”

At the end of the day, Madden NFL 23 is a poor pro football simulator. It isn't even a fun arcade-style game. It feels somewhat aimless with the development team pulling the game in many different directions at the same time. The changes from Madden NFL 22 are minimal and the PS5/Xbox Series X/S exclusive features still do not address core gameplay problems.