Madden NFL 24 is NOT GOOD - Review 

I've been a bit sick recently so my voice is a little off in this video. I hope you guys enjoy it regardless!

Soft drink I think you’re putting too much effort into these. You should just change the title and release the same video every year to match EA’s effort for their annual sports game releases.

The funny thing about Madden is if they ever were to lose the exclusive license and allow other companies to make simulation football games, I bet that next iteration of Madden would be everything we’ve asked for the past 15 years. That’s the crazy part

It's so weird how the NFL was able to given EA a contractual monopoly despite US Antitrust laws.

I think the most frustrating part of the franchise mode is the fact you have the same maybe 40 heads to choose from for character creation or draft prospects. The point of franchise is to feel immersed in the progression of the league through the years. Nothing takes me out of it more than after two seasons, the league is just a bunch of doppelgängers. And it’s frustrating because they have this in the Superstar mode, so the ease of even just copy and pasting or establishing some advanced auto randomization generator to switch it up in Franchise is THERE.

“A lifeless bare-minimum product that barely passes for entertainment” could not be more spot on

As someone who doesn't even play Madden, these are always so satisfying to watch

We have to get this man’s video spread to more viewers. I have sent this video to ALL my friends that deal with EAs bs. Never stop making these one day your efforts will hopefully pay off and help us get the game we have deserved for so long!!

SoftDrink you are the TRUTH. Thanks for the time and dedication you put into these madden reviews. Your attention to detail is phenomenal..

I love listening to softdrink tear into Madden and EA. He always nails EVERY single detail that is wrong with the game.

I look forward to Soft Drink TV and Angry Joe's annual Madden videos more than the game itself. I have so little faith in EA making a good Madden game nowadays, that I look forward to videos ripping on the new releases because I know they'll be bad.

For the past probably 5 years now, I only look forward to people like you doing videos like this for the Madden games.

I remember in 2004 when EA got the exclusive NFL license I was regularly reading Gamespot (I know, don't bother commenting, I already know...) and after reading the "news story" I commented below and said this will be the end of quality Madden games, without competition there will be no reason to innovate, they'll just release the same game every year with updated rosters, the games will eventually become garbage...and my comment was deleted by a Gamespot moderator, plus got a warning lecturing me about attacking a quality product made by a quality corporation, my comment wasn't relevant and that if I continued behaving that way I may jeopardize my future on Gamespot, not noticing the six EA ads on the Gamespot page

I was playing ncaa 06 the other day and just the hype you get from the crowd is unreal... 4th and inches on the opponents 35 and the crowd is just going BANANAS chanting "GO GO GO GO" and then when I come out in goal line they go wild. Madden just feels so soulless nowadays.

It's both sad and inspiring that indie developers with a tiny fraction of EA's resources can completely outshine them in making good sports games.

I would love a Glitch Mode in the next Madden game, I’m sure EA would be really good at making it!

Thank you for your yearly reviews and all the work you put in for the community. Hopefully it pays off one day and we get a great football game. Ps2 era was the best and that is absolutely sad. Anyway thank you

Given how the NFL's own products for the actual sport tend to be, I don't think they really care about performance. Look at their app for watching the games. They don't care about the quality of the product, they care about how much money it makes

It is genuinely impressive to me how EA can't do anything right.

Excellent in-depth review, SDTV. This is the first year in ages I didn't pre-order or buy Madden day one. I showed self restraint.

I was always hoping for NFL games to have the ABC, CBS, & FOX main broadcast teams, throughout the season, seeing those different presentations while you play week to week would be so awesome. I'm playing Madden 11, All Pro 2k8, 2k5, & the blitz the league games this season. Going to get gaming pc soon so I can play the 2k8 mods

So frustrating that they have been holding the NFL license hostage and phoning it in for years. Imagine if the Visual Concepts guys could make an NFL game now.

30:02 That's actually not a glitch but just EA's brand new Sentient-Being-Technology™ in which players just give up on their virtual life once they realize they're trapped in a horrible game, truly game changing stuff by EA as always

4 years in a row with the same pre game and halftime. 8 years in a row with the same commentary crew 5 years in a row with the same super bowl celebration 6 years with no NFL Films or ESPN licensed music or broadcasts how many years without cheerleaders how many years did we go without referees No super fans dead crowds dead sideline No pre game, halftime or post game interviews or broadcasts and reviews Madden has been so bare bones but its the only NFL game on the market so we have to suffer and they know this. Thankfully its on PC and modders are including some of the features missing. My mods on PC have player likeness where they have their actual tattoos and equipment Tattoos for CPU generated draft classes NFL Films music More equipment and attire options Fox and CBS presentations Its at least made the game bearable. I cant even imagine how bad theyre gonna butcher NCAA with its upcoming release and how bare bones it will be.

My most missed feature is Create a Team and my theory as to why EA refuses to put that feature back in the game is because whenever a team changes their city or gets a new uniform, you can’t just recreate it and if that kind of inaccuracy bothers you, the only option is to buy the newest game so you can get the uniforms/stadiums, and I also thinks this is why Madden as a whole severely lacks a lot of customization that other sports games and older titles have

Seeing where Madden is at right now, is honestly just sad. I used to love creating custom teams and making a league out of it. The last Madden I bought was 20. And I'm glad I'm playing games like Sunday Rivals and Axis Football. Heck even playing Madden 09 is fun. Asking for them to add Create-A-Team is a pipe dream at this point. If this is a "make or break" year, then honestly good. This series needs competition.

“It came back in a worse form” That’s the best summary of everything that’s happening in gaming, movies, etc creatively

@17:58 as a Michigander, it's really awesome to see EA implement glitches for the Detroit Lions as they completely crumble against Green Bay IRL too.

The main issue I have with franchise mode is the unrealistic statlines. All Qbs have 4000-5000 yards, there are like 25 rbs with 1000yd and same with wrs

This is only happening because we lack the consistency when it comes to a development team. The truth is EA employees first time game developers, fresh out of school to get their experience. These new graduates stay with the company for about a year sometimes 2 years and then they are let go, and a fresh batch is brought in. There’s absolutely no consistency when it comes to EA and the people that are working on this game. It’s always a new face.

You're accurate as always with these videos. And your attention to detail is on point. 💯

Thanks for this. I haven't played a Madden game in a decade and I won't play one again until you say they've released a good one. I played franchise offline exclusively and the last good one was the one with Tony Kornheiser

This video needs to be sent directly to EA!!!!! You hit every point a true madden player has been waiting for since 05

This approach of "Consumer will buy anyways" is hitting a lot of entertainment industries. Movies, TV, certain Games and even sports/sports talk has started ro reach a stale point because everything is copying one another or have been around so long they know the bottom line will always be met, with extra boost from newbies.

PLEASE keep dropping I LOVE THE EFFORT U PUT IN THESE VIDEOS

I look forward to these videos every year more than the actual game. Thank you for preaching the good word brudda

Finally, an actual honest review.

As much as I don’t really dislike Madden, you gotta appreciate the effort this guy puts into these videos year after year lol

as someone who has only played madden 20-madden 24, i am constantly stunned by the features in old maddens. i actually had to pause the video and take a second to recompose myself when i saw a CREATE YOUR OWN PLAY AND FORMATION feature🤣🤣 what the heck madden

As long as people keep buying this game nothing will improve. I haven't played in 10 yrs and until significant improvements are made I wont

I'm so glad that you're upfront and honest about the game, more so than EA themselves 👍

EA: “Madden has gotten bad press four years in a row! We need to actually make it good this year else we could lose the exclusive NFL sim license!” Also EA: “Yeah but I don’t wanna.”

As consumers we could just stop buying it. Maybe then EA would put in some effort to make a better Madden game

Here from AngryJoeShow. A solid review, pointing out proper flaws, despite me not really playing said games.

At some point we can just re-upload our same videos and trust the game has the same issues.

“Eluding the pressure right” killed me 💀😂

My favorite over the past year has been Draft Day Sports Football. They have college and pro versions. Now, it's TEXT-BASED and the gameplay consists of circles moving over the field that you cannot directly control. However I've found it quite addictive. It doesn't have the depth or realism of the real game but it's getting there. I was never very good at player control anyway. If you want the graphics, it seems Axis has just taken a great step ahead in that department. A few years ago there was reason to be despondent over EA's seeming monopoly. But if anything now I think we're actually spoiled for choice. Axis Football, Maximum Football, Sunday Rivals, Football Simulator, Wildcard, Backbreaker, Pro Strategy Football, that new mobile game, and if you don't care about graphics and just want a good solid text-based sim, there's Draft Day as I mentioned, FOF8 is still there AND a new version of Football Mogul. I find myself SPOILED FOR CHOICE! Let EA run Madden into the gutter. They will NEVER learn their lesson even if they lose the exclusive license, even if other games overtake them. They are such a "too big to fail" behemoth like the NFL themselves, they are *not capable* of turning things around. But so what? *I'M TELLING YOU NFL LICENSES ARE 100% OVERRATED* anyway. Draft Day Sports, within a day of release, had an OFFICIAL NFL mod put out. Please SOFTDRINK take a look at and do a video on Draft Day. Being text-based with no 3-d animation at all, it's not for everyone, but for a sim it's pretty good.

This game and franchise is a joke

My biggest gripe with madden that’s not spoken about enough is how they throttle online play. The AI that you’re not in control is favors one player in every online game and there’s no rhyme or reason. Sometimes i kill players while playing a bad game and sometimes every pass I throw is deflected or intercepted even with clear throwing lanes. It almost feels like it randomly chooses one person to give a huge leg up with their AI

You just set the tone for Angry Joe’s Angry Review. Both of you two’s Madden review videos are legendary.

What kills me the most is that scoreboard is always on top of the screen they can at least change it up and put it on the bottom and the same announcers 😂😂 Brandon and Charles Davis

Old time Madden player. Remember buying the first one and the song hahaha. I tell people that in the 90s you could do things like change the weather, night game evening or day. The franchise modes you could do everything. I played from Madden to 2014 Madden. This guy making the video is the gold. Hes saying it all. I did get 2023 and there is no doubt its gotten worse and worse which with "Technology" its crazy. Ratings are a big issue as well. Madden and EA needa to bring fans in, like this guy again doing this video.

Ever since I’ve discovered your channel, you have opened my eyes to ACTUAL good sport games. Recently, I’ve found myself playing and emulating the classic sports games like NFL2K5, Madden 07, and even NBA2K16. Thank you for making me realize what I was missing. It pains me to see where sports games like Madden have become today, but at least I can still enjoy amazing sports games from back in the day.

I waited for a year for this vid. So glad you decided to keep making videos like these. Keep up the good work.💙

I've officially uninstalled Madden 24. It's not bad, it's really bad.

I can almost guarantee you that QA found all of the bugs you've mentioned, but the producer in charge of whatever part of the game the bug was for, marked it as "not blocking" and put it on a wishlist backlog (the we'll get it it, maybe, list).

Man, I really appreciate your effort spent into making these well thought out analysis towards these games. It becomes very tedious going into these sport video game franchises. Your retrospectives are very valuable pieces of work bro. I think it would be cool if you did some tier-list or other types of videos showcasing the ranges when it comes to bad games within these franchises and the great games that were once appreciated in the past.

I appreciate how passionate you are about football games. If more people had the passion we have the NFL would have the greatest football simulation ever created yearly.

This is what happens when a corporate company tries to monopolize a game and then does nothing to cater to gamer's interests but instead focuses on just squeezing out dollar bills with little investment in return. EA Sports needs to just drop the game already and let someone else develop.

I feel like madden purposely makes a bad game

we need to continue to hurt ea's pockets and stop buying their trash madden games, they'll get the hint. great video soft drink tv as usual, always speaking facts and backing it up with proof 💯

6:00 I'm sure in Madden 25 or whatever it will be called, adding the extra defender in the mini camp drills will be the "awesome new feature"

One thing I noticed was that with one of the more recent updates, the RB drill in practice got a lot more difficult because the fullback barely ever blocks even when I have the best blocking fullback on my team

I am an NFL history geek, and hate how Madden has monetized it. Got so fed up that I looked for something else, and found a very basic, yet fun to watch game made by 1 developer. Its called Pro Strategy Football, and there are mods to add every single season in NFL history. Literally have not touched Madden since. Even if PSF is flawed, I have had more fun with that than I have with Madden since the old PS2 era

I dont even need to watch this video to lnow my copy of Madden 2005 is there on my shelf, and I still love every minute of it. The last great Madden. Ever.

The last Madden I purchased (rented a few since) was Madden 12. I love how you brought back all the actual things that made Madden good in the early days that EA has taken out and all the features they lack compared to NBA 2K. I loved Madden 2001. Madden Cards, all the customizations you could do… I think in that one you could play as like superhero’s and zombies and stuff?? lol it was so much fun. I also just loved doing the mini drills, being the GM and controlling every aspect of the franchise like setting ticket prices and hot dog prices 🤣 I wasn’t even high school yet and I enjoyed that stuff so much! I would love to do that now and see my profits compared to the years before and adjust prices depending on how we’re doing as a team or have different promo packages to get people to attend the games if we suck lol Also I believe Madden is really missing NCAA Footvall. It will be interning to see what they do.. they should really put their engine in the trash and just take time to build something great. - said for the last what decade!?

I often switch player positions like taking a low rated CB with good athleticism ratings and turn them into a Free Safety. If you do this in the edit roster screen it causes a glitch where the players Bio Info and years of experience turns into 31. No one has discussed this glitch

Dude, you are right about ALL of this and I for real wish that you were in charge of creating a football sim. But then again, sadly, MOST people realize all of these things, that play football sims. I have been playing these games since since Madden was first released. I expected them to get BETTER as time progressed and NOPE. So, now we all can see the issue with monopolies... This really has to stop. Without competition nothing will get better.

Sports gaming peaked in the PS2 area. Graphics are great now but revenue stream content is all they truly care about. Thanks for the great video. It helped me choose not to buy it. Bad sales is the only way they'll lose the license or choose to improve

This also makes me nervous that if they bring back College Football in 24 that it'll be just as bad.

Your reviews are precise and accurate. In the late 90s and early aughts we had the best simulation sports game as multiple companies were competing. I bailed out of Madden way back then, and I found 2K to be a better game every year. The odd thing is, 2K has failed on the same front (but not so utterly as EA) in basketball. Once these companies get the licenses long term, the need to innovate to be competitive is gone. We, the customer, are left with the crap results.

We just need one good football game every 5 years,not one bad one every year.

I was so close to buying this game but something told me to watch a review before I bought it, I’m so glad I did! Great video and insight , thank you!

Very good review of the game! I agree with almost everything thing you pointed out! Great job! I couldnt believe they increased the price when they didnt really add anything to the game.... CRAZY!!!!

A UI refresh would even be big at this point. Like unironically am tired of seeing these same menus every year.

The game is literally a scam. No exaggeration. It's actually a legal scam.

Another thing bugging me during games is how the different camera angles also glitch and you are stuck in an off angle, mid-pan, shot. You need to call a timeout OR call a play. Fixes that issue, however, missing one play or having to burn a timeout for no reason (because of a glitch) sucks.

More money has been spent licensing and advertising this game than developing for the last decade. This has gotten ridiculous, there must be some fraud case to be made here

I haven't touched a Madden game since 2000 on the N64, I am very proud of that fact.

Now that I think about it that probably why Josh Allen is doing bad a Madden curse bc he not playing that good at all in irl 😂

Great video! Amazing points were made. It’s important to have these discussions if we’re ever going to get a better simulation football product.

Thank you for this. Been seeing other, openly paid for videos talking about how this year they finally got it right and took a huge step and all that. Glad to finally see a bit of seriousness about the game.

I’m convinced one day Oldenburg is gonna hire assassins to take Softdrink and AngryJoe out 😂😂

When you mentioned soundtracks it made me think about how many artists old Madden games introduced to me when I was younger. Just off my head I can name Killer Mike, Seether, Thrice, Bone Crusher, Alien Ant Farm, Jet, Soil, Avenged Sevenfold, and I'm sure I could name more if I thought about it.

Softdrink puts more effort in these videos than ea does in madden

Man career mode menus are absolute trash, feels so empty and lifeless

SOFTDRINKTV I’ve watched all your old madden videos and also the All Pro football 2k8, and ESPN 2k5. I only have a ps3. What is the best football game I can get, I’m looking for best franchise mode and gameplay I can find to have the most fun? I couldn’t decide based off all the other videos so I just need a straight up answer on which game is the best that I should get. Also huge supporter of the channel, I’ve spread your message and shared your videos as much as possible. You make great vids and it doesn’t go to waste.

Bro seeing the QB mini camp game from old madden was upsetting.. still remember my first game Christmas 2007 with Vick on the cover…. crazy how a company can destroy such a beautiful title

At 4:45, I had to burst out laughing at the visual, I'm sorry 😄 but your truthful reviews of Madden every year are always spot on. Thank you for your honesty 🙌🏾

I don't have the vast majority of anything you're talking about on my version of Madden 24. Do you think it's because I'm still on the PS4 or is there a cheaper version I bought for some reason? Cuz I haven't bought Madden in 10 years.

As someone that has been playing Madden since Madden 11. This will be the last madden I purchase. EA has completely neglected their user base and constantly drop the same crap every year. The game is just reskined with slightly better graphics but the same bugs and problems occur every year. For example, I just finished my 4th season on superstar mode and was forced to retire and lose my 99 ovr player because I was unable to get signed to a new team (Just won the MVP as a LB btw) This problem has CONSTANTLY happened since Madden 19. EA's incompetence to make a complete game come back all the way from Madden 16 and nothing has changed. Im glad I got madden with EA play or else there would have been 0 chance I would've spent the $70 to pay for this incomplete game.

Thank you Soft Drink for a well edited, well researched, and well explained Madden 24 review. It helps me with my purchase decision.

This a great time of the year because we get madden reviews! You could play the reviews from 2019 and it would fit

I hope you post a second review to this I’ve been a long time madden fan and think that after the first month it’ll get better yah know.

Gen Z gamers will never understand what football games were Let alone what MADDEN games were

Gee, between this and the literal slot machine and new battle pass in the NBA 2K series, I see sports gaming remains in an excellent spot. Thanks for the review, you work too hard on these!

Really nice video on this. I was also a casual fan of madden but started to realize how little improvement there was year over year. The game looks and feels the same as it did 10 years ago

Hell yeah! Appreciate the work you do to call out these money hungry companies .

I truly appreciate you and the work you do. So sick of the cycle. It really is annoying that I have no options for a modern NFL game… haven’t bought one in a long time and was thinking about it this year but nvm lol. I legit only play franchise mode.

Soft drink I love the work you put into your content and please never stop exposing ea