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It's been all about Madden 22 (and Aaron Rodgers, but only ever-so-slightly more) these past few weeks. Every year, there's hope among fans that certain features will be added and tweaks will be made to improve the product.
With the game expected to cost $10 more this year, expectations are pretty high for this edition. Here are five features Madden 22 needs to have in order to avoid a social media backlash when it releases later this summer.
How to make Madden less maddening
#1 - Add story mode to the edition
A few years ago, Madden experimented with adding a full campaign mode. Since then, that idea has slowly morphed into a glorified create-a-player mode.
Adding a full story, similar to what they did with Longshot, could be the way forward. Fans have been clamoring for a longer story with feature cut-scenes in the mix that follows characters through a beginning, middle, and end. Will EA Sports give the people what they want?
#2 - Add a season tracker for regular head-to-head
Madden's MUT mode allows players to build their teams by earning coins that can be used to buy packs and players. Players can then take their teams online to play other teams.
The best part of MUT is the season tracker. Basically, each player plays a handful of games and if they pick up enough wins, they make the playoffs. After this, if they win a certain amount of games in a row, they win the Super Bowl.
However, if they lose four games during the season, they have to restart the campaign from scratch. This mode is a great way of replicating the feeling of burning through a whole season. Unfortunately, this mode is only available in MUT.
Adding this feature to the regular online head-to-head mode could have Madden fans purring.
#3 - Better AI
If one plays enough games in Madden, they will know exactly what the artificial intelligence will do in every critical situation of every offline game. It makes the game feel predictable at times and takes away a lot of the intensity. Making the AI a tad unpredictable could, well, change the game.
The AI also tends to make certain poor decisions that regular players never would. For example, the computer has a tendency to wait too long to take a timeout, losing the game in the process.
#4 - Less running
The controls when running the ball are extremely fluid and easy to control. This is great but it makes too many online players rely on running the ball on every single play.
EA needs to make running a little more difficult to encourage players to throw the ball more. Anyone who's sat through a game with someone who refuses to throw the ball can attest to how much of a struggle it can be to have fun.
#5 - New Commentators
Madden 17 introduced the first commentator change in the series in many years. Previously, it was Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. It has been Brandon Guadin and Charles Davis for five long years, and it's time for a new duo to take over.
What could make this change even better is if they add multiple commentator duos to keep the audio experience fresh.
