Everything we’ve heard about the updates coming to franchise mode in Madden 20 is promising. The Scenario Engine, which is designed to generate organic storylines throughout the season sounds excellent. I love the differentiation between true superstars and other players with the rating span and X-Factors. The updates to draft classes were just another of the positive changes that appear to be on the way with this year’s version of franchise mode.
While I’m excited to see the rest of the mode and game unveiled, I’m still hoping to see some other details and layers revealed. Here are five things Madden 20′s franchise mode still needs to create the best experience.
Accurate Stat Tracking
Legacy issues seem to plague Madden a little longer than most sports video game series. One of the most annoying as it pertains to franchise mode is the inaccurate stat tracking. Specifically, I can’t remember the last version of Madden that accurately kept up with sacks.
For the past five versions or so, I’ve just become resigned to the fact that no matter how many times I take a QB down, my players won’t show up on the league leaders board. Hopefully, that’s one of the kinks that gets worked out ahead of the next release. My hopes are high on this one because it’s not exactly a feature, so it’s something that EA might reveal as we get closer to the release date.
Better Injury Presentation and Logic
I’ve gone to Madden headquarters, spoken with members of the dev team, and written articles on the injury presentation in the game–I even talked to Brandon Gaudin and Charles Davis about it during one of the more enjoyable interviews I’ve done in the world of sports gaming. I’d love to see Madden adopt a more realistic unveiling of the severity of an injury during franchise mode.
As it is in Madden 19, a player gets hurt, and you find out the full prognosis in the next three minutes. That’s not how it works in real life. Ideally, you’d have to sweat out the rest of the game and advance a week before learning how long your player would be out of action. There was a point when the presentation worked similarly, but now all of the healthy anxiety has been removed.
Also, Madden doesn’t present off-ball injuries very well. It’s mostly a simulated injury with no visual representation. Anytime a player is injured on the field, there should be an animation to serve as proof. I’d love to be able to look back at the replay to see a collision, or even evidence of a non-contact injury to establish a cause and effect for the injury. Without the visual, the seemingly random injury doesn’t add to the experience.
At the very least, we should have a choice as to whether you’ll find out immediately or in a more realistic manner.
Coordinator Impact
More than a decade ago, Madden had offensive and defensive coordinators in the game, and that’s an element that needs to return with even more impact within a franchise mode. EA has paid more attention to scheme fit with each new version. Therefore it makes even more sense to reintroduce the coordinator element.
Also, the Madden coaching carousel needs to be brought back with coordinators becoming hot commodities for head coaching positions. This dynamic would spice up the offseason activities, and at the end of the day, that’s the most critical part of a franchise mode. To add another layer to the coaching carousel and attrition concept, some retired players should become coordinators. The older Madden games used to allow retired players this, and they could ultimately become head coaches. It’s another small feature that would help to establish the immersion that makes a franchise mode fun to play for multiple seasons.
Create-A-Team
Team branding, customization, and creation is something that has been lacking in Madden franchise modes for more than ten years. NBA 2K’s MyLeague and MyGM smoke every other franchise mode on the market because of the many ways you’re allowed to create teams and leagues.
Madden needs to turn its fanbase loose and allow them to do more with their franchise mode.
Weekly Wrap-Up Show
Franchise mode in an NFL game should have a weekly halftime show. We moved in the right direction last year, but it was pretty barebones. There is a need for highlights, the week’s top stars, major injuries, and other stories, especially with the Scenario Generator.
Of all the things on this list, this is one of the things I’d most like to see added. However, I’m not optimistic about this addition because if it were on the way, you’d think we would have heard something about what would be a pretty significant feature.
