August2023
Review Madden NFL 24 (PS5) - Another Five Yards Forward for EA Sports' Football Sim
Moving the chains
It’s hard not to feel a pinch of sympathy for the Madden NFL 24 team. Despite what the most exasperated online pundits claim, you can tell EA Tiburon cares deeply about its officially licensed American football game. Unfortunately, a challenging annual release cadence – paired with an overreliance on the oft-criticised but...
April2023
Review EA Sports PGA Tour (PS5) - Truly Stunning Sim Plays a Very Pretty Round of Virtual Golf
Fairway to heaven
It’s been almost eight years since EA Sports politely bowed out of the virtual golf arena with its half-hearted Rory McIlroy PGA Tour on the PS4, ending decades of dominance from the publisher – and inviting 2K Sports to take its place. But after a couple of commercially successful PGA Tour 2K titles, the Redwood City...
September2022
Review Madden NFL 23 (PS5) - EA Sports Settles for Another Safe Five Yard Gain
Thanks, coach
The story goes that John Madden refused to sign off on EA Sports’ original football sim until it put 22 players on the field. The rest, of course, is history – and the Madden NFL franchise has been striving for realism ever since. That ambition comes in the form of a few buzzwords this year, including the distinctly marketing-led...
August2021
Review Madden NFL 22 (PS5) - Franchise Finally Gets Some TLC in Improved American Football Sim
Throw it in rotation
Prior to the release of the disappointing Madden NFL 21, publisher EA Sports made a promise to series stalwarts that it would improve Franchise in future entries. The lack of improvements to the popular campaign mode in last year’s entry was the straw that broke the camel’s back for many fans, and it triggered a series of...
December2020
Review Madden NFL 21 (PS5) - Three and Out for Tired Football Sim
The NFC East of sports sims
It’s hard to find any optimism in the Madden NFL 21 community, but a few football fans with a glass half-full of Gatorade had hoped that this year’s PlayStation 4 game was so disappointing because EA Sports was all-in on the next-gen upgrade. Now the PlayStation 5 version is readily available, we’re afraid to say...
August2020
Review Madden NFL 21 - Football Brings All the Boys to the Yard
Fumble
Madden NFL 21 finds itself in a particularly peculiar position this year. The football simulation’s launching less than three months prior to the PlayStation 5, and while there will be a free upgrade to the next-gen console, it really shows. Despite bundling in a potential series cornerstone in the Yard, this is a relatively low-effort...
August2019
Review Madden NFL 20 - Personality Traits Add X-Factor to Annual Update
King of the fling
What makes an NFL superstar stand out? For the Carolina Panthers’ starting quarterback Cam Newton, it’s his ability to scramble out of the pocket, picking up essential yards for his team without needing to fling the pigskin or hand the ball off. Meanwhile, the New York Giants’ Rookie of the Year running back Saquon Barkley...
August2018
Play of the game
Six months since the Philadelphia Eagles snatched Super Bowl LII from Tom Brady’s greedy clutches, a new season of the NFL beckons, with a fresh crop of rookies all eager to ply their trade in one of the league’s 32 teams. EA Sports, as has been the case for decades now, has also returned with a new entry in its annual Madden...
September2017
Gronk star
Yes, the football season may have just started in the UK, but across the pond, something different is going on: the football season is about to start. Not the one with feet or balls, mind you, but one even more complicated and technical, a sport in which “PA Max Protect” actually means something. To a new player, the prospect of...
August2016
Lynch pin
Sports games: the bane of most people's E3 conferences. They're the games that people that call themselves "Serious Moe" play. It's easy to write Madden and other sports games off as "just a roster update" – and, at times, this can be true – but the long-lived American football series has been steadily evolving over the past couple of...
July2015
Review EA Sports Rory McIlroy PGA Tour (PS4)
Missing the bread and putter
EA Sports Rory McIlroy PGA Tour is this year's NHL 15. Moment-to-moment, the gameplay is great, and thanks to a few solid control schemes, anyone can play it. But beyond the swinging, putting, and aesthetics is a lacklustre, depthless sports game. Period. And this really is a shame because the title gets off to a hot...
September2014
Review Madden NFL 15 (PlayStation 4)
Defensive win
It’s Madden Season, so it's time to pone your rivals and show them what you're made of on the gridiron — well, the virtual gridiron, at least. Unlike previous titles, this year’s release of the American football simulator makes some pretty massive changes to the way that the game is played. Madden NFL 15 has taken inspiration...
November2013
Review Madden NFL 25 (PlayStation 4)
Doesn't quite drop the ball
Madden NFL 25 is a celebration of one of gaming's most iconic franchises – and on its silver anniversary, EA Sports delivers a decent experience that will get fans chanting. This is a largely lifelike release with real drama, energy, pain, and sweet victories – and the power of the PlayStation 4 boosts the release by...
September2013
Review Madden NFL 25 (PlayStation 3)
Touchdown
Ditching its typical naming pattern for something a little more celebratory, Madden NFL 25 marks the silver anniversary for EA Sports' massively popular American Football series. However, even though this is still a great game, it's not quite the commemoration that you may have wished for, offering plenty of tweaks and enhancements, but...
April2013
Review Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 (PlayStation 3)
On par
The threat of stagnation with annual sports titles is something that EA faces with a large chunk of its catalogue. This year's iteration of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 is no exception, delivering another enjoyable digital facsimile of golf, with just enough tweaks and additions to tempt truly committed fans into upgrading. For everyone else,...
April2012
Review Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 (PlayStation 3)
Out of the woods
It’s been a year now since the publicity surrounding Tiger Woods’ marital mishaps forced any real acknowledgement of the star to be removed from EA’s premium golf series. But time is a great healer, and, heading into the Masters, last year’s laughing stock is now the one to watch. That change in attitude is reflected...
April2011
Review Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters (PlayStation 3)
The second cut is the deepest
Last year's Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 saw Move support patched into the game post-release, and although the core game was solid, the Move controls were a letdown. Six months later, EA has brought the Tiger back out of the cage for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters, but can it make up for last year's errors? Well, yes...
October2010
Review Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 (PlayStation 3)
Tiger comes out swinging
Tiger Woods is a name that needs no introduction. Rising to fame back in 1996, he's since become one of the most successful golfers of all time, becoming the face of EA's PGA Tour Golf series for over a dozen titles. While it’s all too common to see yearly updates of sports titles from EA, the question is does the game...
