Madden 18 Longshot: 8 Ways To Make The Story Mode Perfect

It seems that the ability to put yourself into a sports game and enjoy an illustrious career is no longer one of the main selling points of the genre.

Since FIFA 17's introduction of The Journey, instead of creating a story with yourself as the main character, you now get to follow a path chosen by the writers and connect otherwise meaningless gameplay through a character's matches along the way.

While the end result might be fun in some aspects, more often than not it falls flat, submitting to naive conclusions and overtly politically correct directives. Even though there haven't been a lot of instances of these modes, there are already cliches and pitfalls which ultimately, make the stories disappointing.

Criticized for its lack of progress over the years, Madde has also decided to give storytelling a try. In the game, you're going to play as Devin Wade - a forgotten high school and football quarterback, who has to fight for a final chance to get drafted by an NFL team.

Obviously reminiscent of the Story of this Year's editions cover star (Tom Brady) but in a new setting, the story is supposed to breathe new life into the franchise.

We already know that one of the crucial side-characters in the story is going to be Cutter Wade, Devin's dad. Played by Mahershala Ali, he was once a big football star. This creates some problems. If he was a star, why is Cutter struggling now? And why is his son not able to land a spot in the league?

Children of famous parents can get their foot in the door thanks to their names alone. Shaquille O'Neal's son was just recruited by the University of Arizona and he still has to stay for a year in high school!

It's understandable that family relations are important part of the story, because they humanize the character on the screen. Alex Hunter had a shitty dad, Freq (from NBA 2K16) had a blue collar work ethic thanks to his parents. And that's just fine, but in moderation.

With such repetitive gameplay, one might eventually get discouraged when after completing another game the award is another cliche-ridden cutscene about the "complicated" family relations of the character.