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The Madden 23 Beta finally had franchise mode added to it. I spent a few hours playing and taking notes on things I liked, didn’t like, or just didn’t understand. The beta gave an insight into franchise mode and gameplay. Here are the impressions it made on me.
Gameplay:
Defense plays better— old cheese plays don’t work, and I haven’t found new ones (and hopefully never will)
The new presentation is fresh and exciting
Gang tackles look better & make sense
The second defender for gang tackles will actively try to strip the ball (I love it)
Field sense is basically pass leading, but visualized
Nearby defenders will try to make a play on the ball
If a ball is near the wide receiver (even if not thrown to) they will try to catch it
Quarterbacks have their own, different color practice jerseys
Missing a hit stick will cause friendly fire
Franchise:
Mid-season free agents can only be signed to a one-year deal, with a fixed amount.
Motivations are external factors that influence where a player wants to play, and how likely they are to resign with you or sign in free agency.
Tags are basically player roles from old Maddens. I love how they’re returning.
If players do not live up to tags, they will lose them (Tua lost QB of the future after not playing at all in 2022).
Scouts have multiple positions of expertise, and are now represented in stars.
OLB, IOL, OT, S, and DE are all one bucket instead of having to individually focus on right or left outside linebackers, tackles, guards, etc.
Important Skills are shown without having to click into a player’s card.
Scenario press conferences are largely the same.
Cloud was unplayable.
There are four present contract options, with pros and cons shown before offering.
A player can sign for less than market value if a team really fits what he wants.
Free agency is more waves, in each stage, there are three “eval offers” where players look at their offers and might sign.
There are active negotiation limits for the first (five per eval period) and second (ten per eval period) stages of free agency, while stage three (final stage) has no limit.
Teams double-dipped quite a bit, and it seemed like previous moves did not matter much (Eagles went big on wide receivers in free agency despite the prior AJ Brown trade).
Development trait regression is fair.
Free agency has a lot of big names.
Players cannot see how their offer ranks against another team’s in free agency.
In conclusion, these were the biggest things I noticed. Some of them are due to the fact that the game is still unfinished, and I hope they get addressed. The rollover cap is massive, and greatly adds to how teams handle off seasons. I need to see the full game before I can make a true determination on whether Madden 23 will be good.