Madden NFL 17

Madden NFL 17 for PS4, XONE and etc. is another installment in a series of sports games branded with the name of the legendary baseball player, coach and commentator – John Madden. Although the franchise has been developed for over three decades, it has been also overshadowed by the most popular sports series, such as FIFA, NHL or NBA Live, which is mainly due to relatively low popularity of American football outside the United States. As usual, this installment was developed by EA Tiburon - the branch that has developed the series since the mid-90s.

Similar to all the most recent installments (released since 2013), Madden NFL 17 was released both for consoles belonging to the current and the previous generation of hardware – the two versions differ only in the quality of graphics. This time, Rob Gronkowski appeared on the cover of the game. Along with New England Patriots, he won the Super Bowl championship in 2015.

Mechanics

In terms of the mechanics, Madden NFL 17 for PS4, XONE and etc. brings further developments to the series, combining traditional and successful elements with a portion of new features. Improvements introduced in this edition touched upon all the formations, which makes the match-related mechanics the most complete and the most balanced of all the installments released so far. Among the most improtant changes brought by this installment, there’s a new system responsible for controlling the player who is carrying the ball, which allows mainly for spectacular and more creative approach to deceiving the defenders. Also, improved AI of defensive formations deserves special attention. The game offers a set of licensed teams of course, as well as detailed statistics describing particular players. Interestingly, thanks to the special Madden 365 system, these statistics are regularly updated as the season develops.

Game modes

The creators were focused mainly on expanding and improving the Franchise – an extensive carrier mode, in which, the player leads their team through subsequent seasons as a manager, being responsible for all the aspects related to how the team functions, such as trainings, contracts, transfers or selecting the coaching staff. However, the game does not lack a variety of more traditional modes - both single and multiplayer ones. For instance, Madden NFL 17 features the Draft mode introduced in the previous installment and the Ultimate Team mode present in other games created by EA Sports.

Technical aspects

When it comes to the technical side of things, Madden NFL 17 for PS4, XONE and etc. utilizes the modern-day Ignite engine again - it has been used in production of other EA's sports games and created specifically for the eight generation of consoles. Because of the hardware-related limitations, both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions are not as visually pleasing as their Xbox One and PlayStation 4 equivalents. Nonetheless, the versions for older consoles offer many visual improvements as well. As usual, EA Trax delivers the players with a lively soundtrack consisting of licensed tracks created both by popular artists and beginners, all of whom represent different music genres.

Last updated on 19 May 2016