Madden 21: 10 Ways EA Can Improve Franchise Mode
With a mix of old and new features, this fan-favorite mode can rule again.
After Madden 21 was officially announced in May, #FixMaddenFranchise has been trending a lot lately on Twitter. Franchise Mode has become Madden's forgotten feature due to the focus on MUT. Veterans of the video game are frustrated with what was once a fan-favorite mode. EA needs to seriously revitalize and turn it into the single-player gem Madden fans deserve.
Many of us have fond memories of picking our player's parents in 2006's Superstar mode, running an expansion team in 2002, the first time we stepped up as owners in 2004, or the amazing presentation of NFL 2K5. Is it too much to ask for a rich, immersive experience? What is the point of even including the mode if you're not going to make it fun?
EA need only look to the past to fix franchise mode, but some fresh ideas couldn't hurt. Let's look at 10 ways they can totally make Franchise Mode a fun experience again. As the game will be released on August 28th (or 25th if you buy MVP edition), it's too late to seriously expect any major changes... but here's hoping!
10. League History
One of the cooler (and under utilized) features from recent Madden games is the "Legacy" scoring. When playing "Face of the Franchise", its fun to progress through a career and see how your player stacks up to his peers. Trying to qualify for the Hall of Fame gives us motivation to play through an entire career.
However, league history is mostly thrown away as your progress though seasons. While a player such as Aaron Rodgers could be observed moving up in the record books, once he's retired we only see maybe a "tweet" from the in-game analysts about how he had a HOF career. We don't have any ability to see his stats afterwards, no listing of his Superbowl win, and we won't even be able to see what team he moved to after Jordan Love took over in Green Bay.
While we don't need to be able to pull up the full 1979 Houston Oilers' roster and game logs, it would be nice to be able to have some historical references. Bring back the "team" column in a player's profile so we know where all they played. Give us the list of HOF players (and coaches). Let us see what the league standings have been, award winners, and who played in the Superbowl over the years.