Review bombing is nothing new, and it affects even the best games like The Last of Us: Part II. However, it takes a special kind of example to secure the accolade of Worst User Score in Metacritic History – but that’s exactly what Madden NFL 21 has managed. The title is currently rated a 0.3 on the PlayStation 4, having attracted almost 3,500 negative reviews.
Some of these reviews boil down to low-effort rants, but there are some well thought out criticisms scattered throughout. The biggest complaint boils down to the bugs, and it’s true that the title lacks the polish of a major AAA release; we’re not sure whether coronavirus disrupted EA Sports’ plans, but this is the first title to ever cause our console to hard crash.
Players are also frustrated with the lack of improvements to the Franchise mode, and while the developer has been eager to reassure consumers that it’ll be introducing some major updates soon, it seems it’s nowhere near enough to quell the torrents of dissatisfaction. Some football fans are so angry with the game that they’ve launched the #NFLDropEA hashtag.
As we reported earlier in the week, a big patch is scheduled to coincide with the start of the new NFL season, and this will hopefully make the title a bit more stable. Having awarded the game a 6/10, we obviously don’t agree with the 0.3 User Score, but this is pent up frustration from a fanbase that feels it’s been shafted for years now. Hopefully the publisher responds appropriately.
[source metacritic.com]
Comments 46
I hope this means people will stop buying it, but who am I kidding?
@Constable_What You need to shoot em with 6 bullets
This is what review bombing should be used for ✌️For games that are lazy, money-grubbing, microtransactions filled that just copy and paste from previous years with less features.
I congratulate EA on new record!
Wow congrats !!
@Constable_What While it'll obviously still do well, I wouldn't be surprised if their numbers are down this year. Although I suppose the next-gen version will bump it back up.
I do wonder if this year's game is so disappointing because they put resources into the PS5 version, but we'll have to wait and see.
I really don't know or understand the fascination with yearly updates to sport games. If there was like one game per generation from a company for a specific sport, and then paid yearly updates to keep the roster fresh as well as whatever other things needed to help pay the online costs, now that would make sense. It's the one area of video games that GaaS should have infiltrated and prospered AND make sense, yet we get full priced yearly "update" games. By we, i don't mean me. I rarely play sport games purely for the fear that in a years time my game is outdated. To me it would make sense to make one great game per gen, and have that base game be always playable but have a paid side for the hardcore sports gamers that instead of buying up yearly updated full priced customer gouging games, they can just subscribe to a service where everything other than the base game and a simple online mode can be found.
I tend to buy Madden and FIFA once per console. I enjoyed the last one (I think it was 16?), but after you figure the timing out, it makes the game very easy, even on the harder levels.
It’s not a bad game, it just suffers from very little change every year like all the sports games...
...And several other every year AAA titles as well.
@TheAdza
well said, its the greed unfortunately
@TheAdza I enjoy the annual sports game but there is increasingly an argument to be made for them releasing one game at the start of the generation and then iterating on it. Many non-sports games are literally divided into "seasons" anyway.
I liked what they implemented with the Yard this year, though, so it's possible to still deliver meaningful annual updates I think. Let's see how things progress over the next few years.
Truthfully, for once, the user score is valid.
Again this shows Metacritic as an awful metric. There are valid criticisms though. Yes, Madden 21 is terrible but it’s a 4 at worst. It’s lazy but it’s not unplayable. At least I got it free so didn’t pay any money for it.
Well deserved score since Madden is a terrible game series because of EA.
@Constable_What oh you poor naïve fool you... lol. I'm joking, but if course people will buy Madden 21, and 22...
EA Sports have had declining sales for years, hence the excessive sweating of current customers with Micro-transactions. My hope is that it'll eventually implode, because the more publishers get away with this the worse it'll get for other games in the industry. I wish people could just develop a full game, and release it for a fair price. I think there's a place for subscription based games, and live service based games, a just wish we could be fair and honest about it.
@get2sammyb I'm not a fan of sports games, but I hear a lot of complaining every year about Madden, even from casual consumers. I don't know if this is quite the fever pitch, but if the next gen version is not up to par, or has the same issues as this version, I imagine the outrage will get as close to its peak as it can.
Like you said, we just have to wait and see. I don't have a dog in this fight, but it's strange to see a franchise get worse and worse and it still selling so strongly. I think the sports game market is the market where you could get away with it though, if there ever was one.
@SirAngry People will buy it, but one can hope! Not that I care all that much. I just like to watch the controversy.
@Constable_What in that thread on GaaS, you know the one, I made the point that sports games are perfect for the GaaS model, even subscription fees make sense for sports games, I just don't think the annual release and bloated Micro-transactions model holds up much longer, there's a crash coming, I can feel it in my bones.
I feel that EA won't change until sales drop substantially year after year. As long as they meet sales projections, it's just going to be the same thing every August.
@SirAngry Sports Games are already kind of GaaS. You just lose all your progress, and pay 60-ish dollars a year for an update.
You can have the same kind of content, but charge more, and people will totally buy it. They're suckers.
This game is a 3 at best.word up son
That first paragraph reads like a watchmojo paragraph no offense. But Damn, 0.3
EA could (and should) have shifted its sports titles all to F2P models years ago.
Make the base gameplay experience, both single and multiplayer, free of charge. Throughout the year, have teams reflect their real-life rosters and stadiums, in real-time (this is an important hook for later). Free players get to use any real-life roster to play games.
Players can also access a customizable team system (limited to active roster players), and a custom stadium building experience for when they host multiplayer games.
Charge for things like throwback jerseys and access to "legacy/Hall of Fame/retired" players. Sell bundles of specific rosters. Sell customization items for the stadium, as well. And notably, paying for something (anything!) will unlock the ability to use non-active players on your roster for a given season. Meaning it'd take one microtransaction a season to keep players hooked for whomever it is they want on their roster.
Hold special events in-game that align with real world events like the playoffs or championships. Have seasonal events that keep players coming back and "training" for the next season, like their favorite teams/players.
They'd make even more money than they do already. Except it would require a vision for what the games could be that EA truly and utterly lacks.
@TheAdza
The one argument against what your saying is they often change or add mechanics. I'm no programmer so take what I say with a grain of salt. But I imagine it would be difficult to keep changing this every year. Also a few years back, Madden switched and starting using the frostbite engine. Wow what a difference. I'm sure that would mean you absolutely would need to start from scratch. But for the most part, I agree with what your saying. This will be the first Madden, that I will not pay full price for, in over ten years.
@nessisonett I guess this will make them put some work into the game or lets hope it does.
Most gamers do not care about online User scores when picking their next game to play (Or Twitter Rage. Or Youtube Rage)
Not mattered for Nintendo, EA, Activision or SONY games.
I thought we realized this by now.
@nessisonett
How did you get it for free??
@NYJetsfan123 Would you believe me if I said that I couldn’t answer that due to the signing of certain documents which may be in place due to the game being of a certain quality 😛
Watch the angry joe review of this game it’s fairly in-depth but does contain swearing.
He shows how lazy EA have been rehashing the same animations year on year.
The video mainly focuses upon the micro transactions which are horrendous in this game and the one area where EA but in the effort!
Well get used to this till at least 2025 when that exclusivity deal is set to end (though they’ll probably extend it again). When Sega’s NFL2K series was still around EA actually had innovate (gasp!) to entice people to buy their game. But no, when Sega decided to offer NFL2K 05 at a budget price, EA solved thing the way it usually does. Throw oodles of money at it (not to the developers of course).
But I’m a not a sports game (or sports for that matter) fan so I’ll just sit on the stands and watch this play out.
@nessisonett It might also show scores in general as a useless metric. If Madden really is a 4, that might as well be 0.3 or even a flat 0. In what scenario am I going to choose to play a 4 when there are tens of thousands of 5+ games?
And on top of that, if you don't like American Handegg does it even matter what score it gets? By contrast, I can't say I'm a fan of real life shooting or being hunted by militia but I can still enjoy a good Uncharted or TLOU. It's not even like we can say the score matters because it allows you to choose between different NFL games since this is your only choice.
Anyway, long story short, scores tend to be either "don't get it", "do get it" or "get it RIGHT NOW" for practical purposes.
@Matroska Yeah, that’s a fair assessment. I just feel that a score that low implies Life of Black Tiger levels of unplayable. It’s not broken as such, just pretty lazy. And even then, they’ve added a full mode which is more than before. It’s a bad game, it’s just not the worst game ever. This is a statement from fans, albeit a completely pointless one that shows Metacritic to be completely useless.
They need to do this to NBA 2k as well. They've been terrible with micro transactions and grindy gameplay for a while now.
lol sports games...
Obviously no game is truly a 0.3 but I do genuinely like the way Metacritic gives users a collective platform to vent genuine issues/make themselves heard when being ripped off after spending hard earned money. TLOU 2 bombing is completely different. It was impossible for users to have even completed it 12 or however many hours after release. I go by critic reviews generally but user reviews can highlight real anger such as mentioned here and not simply disagreeing with the story as in TLOU 2.
And still, the only sports game worth playing is blades of steel!
AKA...
BRRRRHDDSXZZ.... IFFF....... SSSTTTTRRRRRRLL
Like I said over on pure Xbox, this is why I only buy sports games with Mario in them lol.
Or an occasional NBA Jam.
This is what happens when you support EA, I’m not sure why anyone is surprised.
Good luck to sports fans though, I sincerely hope this works out.
@TheAdza part of their logic is every year you must start from scratch gambling to build all your unlockables again, over and over.
Review bombing is ridiculous, childish and pathetic. It happens when idiot people hate a publisher or developer or storyline or design choice or platform choice or anything else enough to vent their faux anger towards their keyboards. Madden 21 is not the worst game in the world. EA is not the devil. FIFA 21 has shown they do listen to genuine critique (career mode seems a huge improvement from what I've seen so far). This kind of pathetic crap does nothing but single out gaming as the most childish part of modern media.
@Alpine021 So you like review bombing except for when it's a game you like is under fire?
What about PlayStation and Xbox fans review bombing Astral Chain and Bayonetta 2 purely because there were Nintendo exclusives??? Some of those user 'reviews' stated that they were both awful games because they would have been better on another platform. That's not from people who have played the games or ever will play the games.
Videogame football has been literal crap since NFL sold out to EA decades ago. The NFL 2k series was light-years better and gave competition. We all list in that sale.
@Jackalx619 Not true at all. EA have made some fantastic NFL games and, WAY before 2K, Iguana and Acclaim made the fantastic NFL Quarterback Club series. They were fantastic games on all platforms.
‘Even the best games like TLOU2’ I did lol.
The review bomb of LoU2 was justified as it's a bad game that crapped over everything from the previous game. No amount of shilling from any website will deny that.
but there are some well thought out criticisms scattered throughout
That's the same as saying "but some trump says is true"
@SimonB You people provide so much comedy, it's hilarious to watch. Keep it up.
@__jamiie You make too much sense for this crowd. Logic is supposed to be thrown out of the window when you discuss video games. Didn't you get the memo?
Games are even called "literal crap". I mean, you really can't take people seriously when they post like that.
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