Madden 16 Review: 10 Hands-On First Impressions

Madden 16 is here. After months of anticipation, EA Sports have dropped their latest edition on the public, and just a few games in, it's clear to see that they've gone all out this year to come up with a tremendous game, but have they succeeded? The American Football simulator has had a sketchy history, with some installments sparkling while others failed to deliver, but Madden 16 certainly feels like a success with a range of new features and an array of fairly major gameplay tweaks. They add realism and excitement to the game, and at the end of the day, those are the two crucial aspects Madden needs to deliver on. The NFL season's sprawling off-season can be tedious, but now it's great to sink our teeth into a new bit of gridiron action, here are our 10 first impressions of the new game.

10. Storylines Have MASSIVE Potential

Before you've even reached a menu page you're thrust into the future. Super Bowl 50 sees the Pittsburgh Steelers squaring off against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium, and you watch the game unfold in awe. Players are chatting away to each other, coaches are firing their men up on the sidelines, and Big Ben Roethlisberger is on the comeback trail. You're dropped into some fairly simple situations where the game holds your hand through some big plays to demonstrate its capabilities. It's a gentle start in terms of difficulty, but watching the players' cut scenes in between the several plays you make is outstanding. It makes you feel like your in control of an actual NFL game. This matters, these aren't just globs of pixels you're controlling. It's a fantastic example of how the game is drawing storylines into gameplay and how incredible that blending could be.