Madden NFL 22 Review: 4 Ups & 5 Downs

3. Franchise Mode Progress

Madden 22
EA Sports

Shout out to the Franchise folks.

Madden 22's changes might not be the complete overhaul they wanted, but EA's baby steps are finally going in the right direction. They've added in the ability to hire/fire offensive and defensive coordinators, went for it with pre-game planning (the risk/reward, simplified training suite is very nice) and more.

Balancing XP improvements with potentially-knackered players come game day makes one feel more like an NFL overseer. Saying that, it would be nice to see greater impact on squad morale and management structure if you repeatedly dump coordinators every season despite success on the field.

Another big change is the addition of coaching skill trees. Levelling up your staff actually makes sense for once, and there's a unique thrill that comes from focusing on one side of the tree knowing you'll be locked out of the other.

Finally, cinematic cutscenes (which will be familiar to anyone who has played FIFA over the past few years) do get tedious after a while, but they’re better than nothing. There’s also a much-needed scouting feature coming post-launch too.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.