EA Taking Step In Right Direction With Madden 24 Updates

Being stagnant is almost never a good thing. Stagnant water attracts mosquitoes and other gnats, stagnant air can make you sick, and being stagnant in life can hold you back. The same goes for EA Sports “Madden NFL” Video-Game Franchise.

For at least the past decade, the developers at EA Sports have seemingly put out the same product with “Madden”, year after year. Not a lot of improvement in major areas of the game (Franchise mode mostly), and no new bells and whistles. Which had come consistently in each game before this stagnant run.

It seems that they are starting to listen to the fans,

Training Camp Is Back!

One of the best features to ever grace a Madden Video Game, is finally coming back. The Training Camp mini-games were the biggest hit when they debuted in Madden 2003. Slowly evolving as the game went on, such as getting put into Franchise Mode the following year. You are able to upgrade a certain players different attributes according to how well you did on the drills you took part in. There are drills for just about any position possible.

My favorite was always Coffin Corner, which was for Punters to test your accuracy skills. The closer you could get to the 1 yard line, the better. The developers are upping their game just a tad with this year’s version. Letting you focus on one player on your team for the upcoming game, with a mini-game similar to training camp to help their rating specifically.

Which albeit, a small upgrade to a returning mode, a nice one to see.

Relocation Gets Bigger

In recent years, one of the more intriguing aspects of Franchise Mode has been the ability to relocate the team you are using. For a few years the cities to choose from have just about stayed the same. As well as the team names, with very little change in those as well.

Big changes for relocation this year. The cities have been expanded, and include more overseas locations than ever before. As well as the fact, whichever city you move to, you can choose from any of the team names given to you. Instead of having to be the “London Bulldogs”, a usual choice only available for relocation to London. You could be the “London Mounties”, used in last years game solely for a move to Toronto.

Cities added this year include:

• Tokyo, Japan
• Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Canton, Ohio (Home to the Pro Football Hall Of Fame)
• Virginia Beach, Virginia

Hopefully the backdrops line up with the cities, at least enough to make it seem semi-realistic.

More Blockbuster Trades

Lastly, another thing they added to help line-up better with the reality of the NFL, was expanding the trade market a bit. Meaning, that instead of just three slots to add a player or pick to a trade, there are now six. While the players you can add stays at three. You can now add three extra draft picks, that includes the current year and up to two years from now.

This could end up in a Lions fan trading Goff for Mahomes. While that’s not realistic, this upgrade to the trade market could definitely help the game make it happen.

There are three of the several new (or returning) features coming to Madden 24. I didn’t buy last years game, but I think these upgrades are gonna make me buy this years game to check them out.