Madden NFL 26 Review - The Best Madden In Years

The Madden curse is lifted.

No, not that one--the one I alluded to at the end of my review last year. I'd said it felt like I was cursed to play a frustrating football game year after year forever, because I liked it enough to invest my time (if only for my job and my online league), but I never felt like it was living up to its responsibility as the only NFL sim available on the market. Madden NFL 26 finally gives me hope. Supplementing the great on-field gameplay with a Franchise overhaul that turns Madden into a sports RPG in the way it should be, this is the best Madden in a long time.

Sunday Spectacle

Madden's on-field gameplay has been improving year over year for a good while now. It's not that it can't improve any more, but it's finally in that stage, like some other sports games have reached before, where the foundation is sturdy and, with the most important aspects in a good place, the development team is now focusing on enhancements more than fixes.