This speaks to the legitimate presence that players like Khalil Mack (Chicago Bears) or Aaron Donald (L.A. Instead of a simple "speed boost" or power where a star pass rusher starts glowing and becoming impossible to block, you have X-factors like "Fearmonger," where a pass rusher can make a quarterback feel pressured even if he's being blocked. Instead, EA seems to have mostly found a balance here by making most of the X-factor abilities very refined and football-specific. I'll admit, I was worried this would devolve into a gimmicky mush of arcadey, overpowered silliness. The game even has a handy database so you can look up who can do what.Īn even more elite player group has what are called "Superstar X-Factors," which are special abilities that get triggered if you meet some on-field requirements to get a particular player "in the zone." For example, a star running back like Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants might have to tear off a couple of big runs to get in the zone, and once he gets there, an X below his feet starts glowing orange, visually crackling with energy. Skills include things like extremely sharp route-running or a proven skill of causing fumbles. In this system, NFL's very best players are gifted with tangible skills that set them apart from their peers. It's a refined echo of the "weapons" system the Madden franchise tried to introduce many, many years ago to mixed results. The tie that binds the on-field football action this year is the concept of individualized superstar abilities that can be both latent and activated. Even its innovations feel like boosted remixes of stuff EA has tried eons ago. Strangely enough, the game doesn't seem to want to push boundaries anywhere else, leaving some of its aspects feeling completely untouched. It leans on the special abilities of players like Mahomes, smartly turning them into gridiron superheroes. Conversely, this year's Madden has fed off that energy, offering a style of football that vacillates between gamma-charged football sim and cartoon. His highlights en route to an MVP season make it look like he's playing arcade football as he alternately ran around tacklers and slung the ball all over the field at impossible angles. Mahomes and his myriad abilities have been described as unreal, ridiculous and yes, "video-game" like. To people who view the annual Madden cover athlete as a sort of avatar who embodies the direction and identity of that year's game, it's a bit of a conflicted tell. To football fans, it only adds to the legend being built around the Kansas City quarterback's mythic arm strength. There's a video of Madden NFL 20 cover guy Patrick Mahomes throwing a football out of Arrowhead Stadium.
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