jonah0807

While I can see the appeal and fun for the late 90's here, the game has aged rather poorly. Frame rate issues, bugs, and broken physics are inexcusable for a port of a video game this old. And again, BROKEN PHYSICS. 9 out of 10 times I die, it's because I fell through some broken geometry, or something happened that's not supposed to. If the issues here where fixed for this port, this would definitely be a good game. But this is unfortunately, not the case. I would only recommend this to diehard Sonic fans. Casual gamers should stay away. 6/10

Combat is very fun and easy to learn, but hard to master. Decently sized open world with plenty of side activities; that I found to be more of a time waster instead of tedious. Story is decent through the few hours I've played so far, but isn't really a masterclass of storytelling; though I like the setting. Open world navigation is fun especially with the glider you unlock early on. It also looks nice but graphics and performance are underwhelming. Overall, it's a pretty good game. while it may not a game of the year contender, it's still a great pickup for fans of Team Ninja games, or the genre itself, with great combat, and plenty of rpg elements in the mix. 8/10

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

I really wanted to enjoy this game. But due to crashing issues and half baked features, I just couldn't. First, the gameplay. Gameplay saw drastic improvement last year, with the new "FieldSense" and "Hit everything" systems. This year, the game has introduced the "Sapien Technology" and "Hit Everything 2.0" systems, along with other improvements and additions. The new sapien technology supposedly improves character skeletons, and allows for more fluid animations. The characters do honestly look more realistic, though they just look like they came straight from Madden 22. Last year, the FieldSense system changed gameplay for the better, but made character skeletons look a little off. I honestly don't really feel the new animations either, so it just feels like a bug fix instead of a new feature. Catching has also been improved with receivers more able to run after the catch, and new diving catches. Hit everything 2.0, has improved blocking as well with new concepts and better AI. In fact, AI seems to be one of the biggest focuses this year. Oh and Sapien apparently allows officials to go back to the field. Why they were removed in the first place, I have no idea. Quarterback AI has been improved, allowing them to use the skill based passing added last year. Ball physics have now been improved as well. Most of these changes are for the better. However, gameplay is unfortunately the only bright spot of Madden 24, as you'll see when I cover franchise mode next. Franchise mode has seen some improvements this year as well. Trading has finally been upgraded to 6 slots, allowing for big blockbuster trades that couldn't happen before. Contract restructuring has also been introduced, allowing a way to free cap space without releasing your star players. Commissioner tools have also been introduced, allowing ways to customize your experience. Team relocation has been improved with new locations. But, the uniforms have been downgraded all having the same font. Why can't I just create my own team? Even EA Sports own NHL series has a team creator. Training camp mini games have also returned for the first time since Madden NFL 12. But this also feels half baked. Some of the mini games like Target Passing just felt infuriating to me. Others like rushing attack are a great time waster, and earn your players xp. These lack polish however, always ending immediately. Despite some draft class and AI improvements, that is unfortunately it for franchise mode. Maddens franchise mode is just way behind their Competitors and feels bare bones in comparison. The Superstar career Mode returns for the first time also since Madden 12, and is um.... mediocre. Already from the start, you only have 5 positions to choose from, excluding ones like defensive line, and tight end. Even less than what the mode originally had. You go to combine, which is a fun set of mini games, but only happens once. And no matter how bad you do, you're always drafted in the first or second round. After that, it's just a basic career mode. You play games, do the training camp mini games, and that's it. The original has so much more to do. But this version of superstar just feels like playing franchise mode as a player. The superstar showdown mode has also been introduced, replacing the yard, with an interesting concept. I don't need to talk about ultimate team. You know what it is. Presentation: I probably should've covered this earlier, but Presentation is bad. Brandon Gaudin and Charles Davis are back for the 8th year in a row! Wow, how exciting. Also, the fun next gen stats introduced just 2 years ago, have been completely removed along with some scenes in the presentation, Just like the SuperStar KO mode, which has not received any changes, and actually had half of its teams removed. The presentation is nowhere near as good as a real broadcast. Finally, polish. While I haven't noticed as many bugs as other people, I have experienced many crashes. Despite multiple updates, I have been receiving many crashes on the Xbox Series X only from this game in all modes. This especially hurts during an online game, where if you leave the game for any reason, it counts as a loss against you. Changing the graphics from image quality to performance did help, but crashing was still an issue. Final score 4/10 Pros: Gameplay Improvements New minigames can be fun Cons: Game lags behind other sports games in comparison Superstar and franchise new features feel half baked Lack of polish, with glitches and numerous crashes Presentation