A few days before that, Madden NFL 24 will join the Game Pass library on February 8. Specifically, it will be available for PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers via EA Play (on console and PC). A day before that (i.e. today), Dovetail Games’ Train Sim World 4 will become available for subscribers on console, cloud, and PC.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is another notable title included in this month’s lineup, and arrives a week from now, on February 14, for console, PC, and cloud. Meanwhile, A Little to the Left and PlateUp! will be added on February 15, while Return to Grace arrives on February 20.

For starters, Madden NFL 24 makes all the right moves when it comes to refining the game and bringing this sports sim ever closer to the real deal. The fluidity of on-field animations hasn’t always been top-notch, and it still can use some improvement. But EA seems intent on marketing this latest edition of Madden with better and more refined physics via their trademarked FieldSENSE engine. This was introduced in Madden NFL 23 and, of course, makes a welcome return giving players more control over where the ball winds up when passing to receivers on the field. When running with the ball, the players run with far more agility giving you more precise control when faking out the other team or overtaking the defensive line. Essentially, FieldSENSE unlocks an element of skill that can drive the most competitive players.

"A revitalization of the brand is necessary and is something other sports sims have achieved in recent years to great effect. However, each new incarnation of Madden feels like a safe play rather than a solid push to convince fans there’s more to this gridiron gauntlet that they haven’t seen in recent years."

It was a powerful step forward for the franchise that is now only receiving slight improvements. Largely, the tackling animations and player contact is more varied and, at times, markedly improved over last year.

One failure that I found to be mildly frustrating and tends to entirely throw a defensive play is when a defender’s attempt at a tackle either slightly misses the runner despite clearly touching them during the act or the latter manages to recoil off the defender. It’s not a frequent irritation that occurs, but it happens enough to stick in my mind. And whether this element is intrinsically tied to the FieldSENSE physics engine or not is lost to me. Offensive running plays often felt slightly more empowered than the defensive side of things. I found it far easier to manage plays that’d cover receivers or blitz the QB than to bring down a runner.

Another couple of buzz words EA marketing will throw at fans is Sapien Technology. What is that exactly? Well, it’s described as improvements in player designs and animations. Does it succeed? Sure. It’s not a mind-boggling transformation, but player models do uniquely shine in all their individual qualities and differences. Most animations feel organic and fluid. The visual presentation of Madden NFL 24 is impressive. There’s not much to say here other than the development team has made all the expected improvements to the game’s graphical fidelity for an annual franchise such as this.

In terms of other selections outside of standard play, fans will be rather familiar with what Madden NFL 24 offers. The Madden Ultimate Team feels to be a copy and paste of last year’s addition with the exception of a new player catalog. Returning players have an option to skip the tutorial which says it all. Basically, you set out to create the ultimate team by obtaining players across the NFL. They each have their individual stats and you can dictate their positions within your team. It’s essentially digital card collecting with the video game component. After assembling your team, you can take on challenges, face others online, or purchase new players in the marketplace. This is where a major component of the microtransaction element comes into play. Of course, buying packs to obtain new players isn’t required, but the competitive nature of Ultimate Team makes it rather enticing.

"The visual presentation of Madden NFL 24 is impressive. There’s not much to say here other than the development team has made all the expected improvements to the game’s graphical fidelity for an annual franchise such as this."

The Franchise mode is one of the more attractive returning features in Madden 24. It has been modified slightly offering more variability with training modes and even trades. An additional three slots have been added for draft picks which brings your total to six slots when it comes to trades. This update affords more agency and offers players better immersion in the team-building process. In Franchise mode, it’s important to properly train your players by earning experience through mini-games that hone the skills of specific players on your team. Some of these mini-games are great fun like Target Passing which actually helps you hone your own skill at timing accurate passes. Other mini-games feel like a chore in the sense that they’re simple and feel short-changed. You can skip them entirely, but there’s a feeling of compulsion when it comes to doing them in an effort to strengthen your team. Your competency in each minigame will earn you a bronze, silver, or gold medal for each which is indicative of the XP your team is earning for the activity.

Team Relocation is another feature returning within Franchise mode that does just that, relocate your team to a new city. Madden NFL 24 adds more cities to the mix. But overall, this feature feels rather useless with little bearing on the end result. I suppose it’s there for those truly wanting to dive deep into the customizable efforts behind Franchise mode. But functionally, it seems irrelevant to the overall sporting adventure at play. But fans who have knack for management sims will find something to enjoy within this mode.

Superstar is the narrative-centric overhaul of Face of the Franchise from last year. It’s the mode in which you create a player from head to toe and thrust him into his professional football career. You’ll have to hit certain benchmarks with your fresh-faced player, and ultimately guide him through his career on the field. It’s basically the “story mode” of Madden 24. For all the efforts behind this refocused narrative, it still lacks in offering anything truly compelling. As far as sporting narratives are concerned, I still hold the story-based offering “Braking Point” in racing sims F1 21 and F1 23 in high regard. With great voice work, engaging drama, and a true-blue narrative focused around key drivers, it’s largely unmatched. Superstar lacks most of the elements that have you engaged in your own character’s destiny.

"As far as sporting narratives are concerned, I still hold the story-based offering “Braking Point” in racing sims F1 22 and F1 23 in high regard. With great voice work, engaging drama, and a true-blue narrative focused around key drivers, it’s largely unmatched. Superstar lacks most of the elements that have you engaged in your own character’s destiny."

At the end of the day, Madden NFL 24 walks a fine line between creating value for returning players and actually doing something truly substantial with the series. Madden 24 might have the monopoly on NFL games, but comparatively, it doesn’t feel as bold as other sporting games in the marketplace. Madden NFL 24 will undoubtedly inch players closer to an authentic football experience with greater detail in on-the-field play, but it lacks even a modicum of freshness from a franchise that has felt mediocre for a few years now.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Quarterbacks

Patrick Mahomes

Kansas City Chiefs

99 OVR

Joe Burrow

Cincinnati Bengals

95 OVR

Josh Allen

Buffalo Bills

94 OVR

Lamar Jackson

Baltimore Ravens

91 OVR

Jalen Hurts

Philadelphia Eagles

88 OVR

Dak Prescott

Dallas Cowboys

87 OVR

Justin Herbert

Los Angeles Chargers

87 OVR

Aaron Rodgers

New York Jets

86 OVR

Kirk Cousins

Minnesota Vikings

84 OVR

Tua Tagovailoa

Miami Dolphins

83 OVR

Running Backs

Nick Chubb

Cleveland Browns

97 OVR

Christian McCaffrey

San Francisco 49ers

96 OVR

Josh Jacobs

Las Vegas Raiders

95 OVR

Derrick Henry

Tennessee Titans

94 OVR

Saquon Barkley

New York Giants

93 OVR

Austin Ekeler

Los Angeles Chargers

89 OVR

Jonathan Taylor

Indianapolis Colts

89 OVR

Aaron Jones

Green Bay Packers

88 OVR

Tony Pollard

Dallas Cowboys

88 OVR

Joe Mixon

Cincinnati Bengals

87 OVR

Wide Receivers

Justin Jefferson

Minnesota Vikings

99 OVR

Tyreek Hill

Miami Dolphins

98 OVR

Davante Adams

Las Vegas Raiders

97 OVR

Cooper Kupp

Los Angeles Rams

96 OVR

Stefon Diggs

Buffalo Bills

96 OVR

Ja’Marr Chase

Cincinnati Bengals

94 OVR

Terry McLaurin

Washington Commanders

92 OVR

A.J. Brown

Philadelphia Eagles

91 OVR

Amari Cooper

Cleveland Browns

91 OVR

CeeDee Lamb

Dallas Cowboys

90 OVR

Tight Ends

Travis Kelce

Kansas City Chiefs

99 OVR

George Kittle

San Francisco 49ers

96 OVR

Mark Andrews

Baltimore Ravens

95 OVR

T.J. Hockenson

Minnesota Vikings

90 OVR

Dallas Goedert

Philadelphia Eagles

89 OVR

Kyle Pitts

Atlanta Falcons

87 OVR

Darren Waller

New York Giants

86 OVR

Pat Freiermuth

Pittsburgh Steelers

85 OVR

David Njoku

Cleveland Browns

84 OVR

Evan Engram

Jacksonville Jaguars

84 OVR

Offensive Linemen

Zach Martin

Dallas Cowboys

99 OVR

Lane Johnson

Philadelphia Eagles

98 OVR

Trent Williams

San Francisco 49ers

98 OVR

Laremy Tunsil

Houston Texans

95 OVR

Chris Lindstrom

Atlanta Falcons

93 OVR

Andrew Thomas

New York Giants

92 OVR

Jason Kelce

Philadelphia Eagles

92 OVR

Joe Bitonio

Cleveland Browns

92 OVR

Quenton Nelson

Indianapolis Colts

92 OVR

Tristan Wirfs

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

92 OVR

Defensive Linemen

Aaron Donald

Los Angeles Rams

99 OVR

Myles Garrett

Cleveland Browns

98 OVR

Nick Bosa

San Francisco 49ers

98 OVR

Micah Parsons

Dallas Cowboys

97 OVR

Chris Jones

Kansas City Chiefs

96 OVR

Dexter Lawrence II

New York Giants

94 OVR

Von Miller

Buffalo Bills

94 OVR

Cameron Heyward

Pittsburgh Steelers

93 OVR

Quinnen Williams

New York Jets

93 OVR

Jonathan Allen

Washington Commanders

92 OVR

Linebackers

Fred Warner

San Francisco 49ers

96 OVR

Maxx Crosby

Las Vegas Raiders

94 OVR

T.J. Watt

Pittsburgh Steelers

94 OVR

Roquan Smith

Baltimore Ravens

92 OVR

Joey Bosa

Los Angeles Chargers

91 OVR

Lavonte David

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

91 OVR

Demario Davis

New Orleans Saints

90 OVR

Haason Reddick

Philadephia Eagles

90 OVR

Bobby Wagner

Seattle Seahawks

89 OVR

Matthew Judon

New England Patriots

89 OVR

Cornerbacks

Jalen Ramsey

Miami Dolphins

97 OVR

Jaire Alexander

Green Bay Packers

95 OVR

Patrick Surtain II

Denver Broncos

94 OVR

Marlon Humphrey

Baltimore Ravens

93 OVR

Sauce Gardner

New York Jets

93 OVR

Darius Slay Jr.

Philadelphia Eagles

92 OVR

Stephon Gilmore

Dallas Cowboys

91 OVR

Marshon Lattimore

New Orleans Saints

90 OVR

Tre’davious White

Buffalo Bills

90 OVR

Denzel Ward

Cleveland Browns

88 OVR

Safeties

Derwin James Jr.

Los Angeles Chargers

95 OVR

Minkah Fitzpatrick

Pittsburgh Steelers

93 OVR

Justin Simmons

Denver Broncos

92 OVR

Kevin Byard

Tennessee Titans

92 OVR

Jessie Bates III

Atlanta Falcons

91 OVR

Tyrann Mathieu

New Orleans Saints

91 OVR

Budda Baker

Arizona Cardinals

90 OVR

Harrison Smith

Minnesota Vikings

90 OVR

Jordan Poyer

Buffalo Bills

90 OVR

Micah Hyde

Buffalo Bills

90 OVR

Kickers

Justin Tucker

Baltimore Ravens

91 OVR

Daniel Carlson

Las Vegas Raiders

83 OVR

Graham Gano

New York Giants

83 OVR

Jake Elliott

Philadelphia Eagles

81 OVR

Jason Myers

Seattle Seahawks

80 OVR

Matt Gay

Indianapolis Colts

80 OVR

Younghoe Koo

Atlanta Falcons

80 OVR

Evan McPherson

Cincinnati Bengals

79 OVR

Ka’imi Fairbairn

Houston Texans

79 OVR

Matt Prater

Arizona Cardinals

79 OVR

Punters

A.J. Cole III

Las Vegas Raiders

83 OVR

Tommy Townsend

Kansas City Chiefs

83 OVR

Ryan Stonehouse

Tennessee Titans

82 OVR

Johnny Hekker

Carolina Panthers

81 OVR

Logan Cooke

Jacksonville Jaguars

81 OVR

Bryan Anger

Dallas Cowboys

80 OVR

Thomas Morstead

New York Jets

79 OVR

Tress Way

Washington Commanders

79 OVR

Blake Gillikin

New Orleans Saints

78 OVR

Corey Bojorquez

Cleveland Browns

78 OVR

Keep in mind that a player’s OVR rating is a very broad brush to use when determining team synergy. Additionally, much can change over the course of the season. That is the complete roster of elite players by field position in Madden NFL 24.

Upgrading players is accomplished on a player by player basis. Choose a player and navigate to the Upgrades tab. If the tab is unavailable, that simply means the player outright cannot be upgraded and that’s that. Where upgrading is a possibility, there will be a short tree for each upgrade level, listing the requirements beneath.

Training Points are the standard currency used to perform upgrades. Besides that, you will sometimes need items to accomplish subsequent upgrades. These can be gained in a variety of ways including leveling up passes for specific players.

And that is how to upgrade player cards in Madden NFL 24.

Daily Madden NFL 24 MUT Login

The simple act of logging in specifically to Madden Ultimate Team each and every day will reward you with something or the other, including several hundred Coins. The amount increases each day, only resetting if you happen to skip a day.

Daily Madden NFL 24 Chores

Like most modern online games, Madden NFL 24 encourages you to play every day by luring you with some sort of routine activity. These include Daily Missions, Solo Challenges, and Field Pass objectives, which you can complete to earn enough MUT Coins to get off the ground.

Daily Madden NFL 24 Auction House

Playing the Auction House as you would the stock market can allow you to flip cards for a profit in Coin value. You will have to be vigilant and keep a track of things on the daily. You never know who might be willing to pay a substantial premium for which card. Weekdays may see less activity on the auction block.

Quick Sell

Platinum cards are distinguished from regular cards by the fact that they can be sold for Coins rather than Training Points. The Coin value is correlated to the player’s overall rating, with a higher rating returning the most Coins.

Madden NFL 24 Madden Ultimate Team Challenges

Actively participate and complete challenges, of which there are a plethora to choose from, in order to receive Coins, and sometimes cards that you can turn over in either the Auction House or quick sell.

Madden NFL 24 Madden Ultimate Team Matches

Playing games can also earn you Coins, but not always, and there appears to be no rhyme or reason as to when or why you receive them, if at all.

And that is every tip we know of for earning MUT Coins in Madden NFL 24.

Quick Sell

Since you will be most likely using your Training Points to upgrade particular attributes of specific players, your easiest avenue for accumulating said points easily and effectively is to quick sell the players you have no intention of ever playing to begin with. The point value returned is closely linked to a given player’s overall rating. Higher values obviously correlate to higher overall ratings. Be sure to quick sell any items in your binder that you have no use for, as well. Make it part of your routine to clean out the dead weight, to keep things neat and tidy while accruing those valuable Training Points.

Madden NFL 24 Madden Ultimate Team Challenges

Actively participate and complete challenges, of which there are a plethora to choose from, in order to receive players and items which you can continue to turn over for Training Points consistently.

Madden NFL 24 Madden Ultimate Team Matches

Playing games can also earn you Training Points, but not always, and there appears to be no rhyme or reason as to when or why you receive them, if at all.

Training Shuffle Packs

These in-game store packs can be purchased for 295 Training Points and opened for a randomized reward of between a hundred and a thousand Training Points. This essentially means you sacrifice nearly 300 Training Points in order to either break even or turn a profit of up to 700 Training Points at best. Worst case scenario is a loss of up to 200 Training Points.

Swapping Coins For Training Points

In a somewhat circuitous manner, you can buy players for Coins at auction, and sell them for Training Points. The currency conversion rate must make economic sense to be of any use to your overall strategy. For example, players with an overall rating of 70 cost 750 Coins to purchase, but only sell for a single Training Point. On the flipside, an 84 OVR player costs 40K Coins and returns 680 Training Points, which is the best ratio you can expect. There is no sequential pattern to this proportion, but the next most sensible OVR is 87 for 170K Coins and a return of 2700 Training Points.

And that is every tip we know of for farming Training Points in Madden NFL 24.

“Our exceptional teams are creating innovative entertainment experiences across our multi-year pipeline, starting with the highly anticipated, culture-defining titles Madden NFL 24 and EA Sports FC 24,” said CFO Stuart Canfield.

“We had a strong start to the fiscal year, with net bookings growth of 21% year-over-year, highlighted by new releases, continued live services growth, healthy engagement, and new player acquisition. Looking ahead, our teams remain focused on delivering long-term growth and profitability.”

Other standout figures include live services and other net bookings increasing by four percent year-over-year, hitting $1.177 billion and representing 75 percent of the total net bookings. EA Sports FIFA, in particular, had a record Q1 for the series due to “accelerated” year-over-year growth in net bookings. The next entry in the series, EA Sports FC 24, releases on September 29th – check out a deep dive into Career Mode here.

As for Star Wars Jedi, while Electronic Arts is keen on developing more titles in the series, Respawn Entertainment is focused on porting Jedi: Survivor to Xbox One and PS4. Performance improvements are also still coming to current-gen platforms. Stay tuned for more updates in the meantime.

Baldur’s Gate 3

It’s a testament to the kind of year that 2023 has been that Baldur’s Gate 3 is only one of many major releases. Nevertheless, Larian Studios’ tremendous role-playing game is a dream come true for Dungeons and Dragons fans. It offers a dozen classes, 46 subclasses, over 600 Spells, 11 races, 31 subraces and many more options to customize your character.

With a massive campaign that spans over 75 hours on a single playthrough with dozens of quests and multiple locations to explore, Baldur’s Gate 3 promises peak role-playing when it launches on August 3rd for PC.

Tower of Fantasy (PS4, PS5)

Hotta Studio’s Tower of Fantasy is an open-world action RPG, albeit with a sci-fi twist. As a customizable character, players travel the surface, learning more about the fall of civilization at the hands of Omnium, and battling all manner of threats. With four-player co-op, World Bosses and numerous quests, Tower of Fantasy also features an arena mode for PvP.

The combat also employs some interesting mechanics like equipping three weapons with different roles, building up charge and switching between them for more damage, and Simulacrums to transform into a unique character. Though currently available on PC, Tower of Fantasy arrives on August 8th for PS4 and PS5.

WrestleQuest

Wrestling video games are often simulations, rarely arcade titles, with the hottest talent. WrestleQuest takes a different approach, imagining the hero’s journey from the perspective of an up-and-coming wrestler in a fantastical pixel art universe. You start as a rookie and work through the ranks by training and learning from the greats like “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Andre the Giant and more.

As you customize your wrestler’s moves and entrance, you take on all sorts of opponents and fight alongside legends like Diamond Dallas Page, the Road Warriors and more. WrestleQuest launches on August 8th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch.

Atlas Fallen

In a world where everything has become sand and humanity is oppressed, you play as an Unnamed and discover a magical gauntlet. With the ability to manipulate and weaponize sand, you embark on a quest to take down Thelos and restore humanity. Developed by Deck13 of The Surge fame, Atlas Fallen is more of an action-adventure title with three weapons – the Dunecleaver, Sandwhip and Knuckledust – that change shape as you accrue Momentum in combat.

They can further be upgraded with over 100 Essence Stones, encouraging experimentation. Atlas Fallen releases on August 10th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC, and on top of lasting 25 to 30 hours, the entire game supports two-player co-op.

Sprawl

Would it be much of a month without a retro-style FPS? Probably not, but even by boomer shooter standards, MAETH’s Sprawl looks intriguing. Set in a cyberpunk city, you control former special ops SEVEN, who seeks to escape and venture to the SPIRE, while a mysterious voice pushes her onward. Corpo forces oppose you, but thanks to the Icarus implant, you can wall-run and slow down time, slaying enemies with katanas, pistols and a shotgun. Sprawl is out in August for PC, with a more definite release date to be announced.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew

From the team behind Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun comes a brand-new strategy stealth title. Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is set in the Golden Age of Piracy, as you venture the Lost Caribbean with eight crewmates, each possessing unique skills. You can freely select crew members for a mission and take any approach, utilizing new magical abilities to one-up enemies.

In addition to cleverly executed strategies and split-second timing, you can pause the game and instantly rewind to a previous point to try something else. Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew arrives on August 17th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC.

Madden NFL 24

For the uninitiated, EA Sports’ Madden NFL series is its other golden goose that has proven a monstrous success year in and year out with even fewer changes than FIFA. However, as EA transitions from FIFA to its new EA Sports FC franchise, Madden NFL 24 offers several improvements. FieldSENSE returns for added realism and control; the AI is smarter and more reactive; Franchise Mode features Free Agency changes and new commissioner tools; and new modes like 3v3 Superstar Showdown promise some unique experiences. Launching on August 18th, Madden NFL 24 will be available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and PC with cross-play support.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

Lethal League developer Team Reptile presents a spiritual successor to Sega’s Jet Set Radio – Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. As Red, players join the Bomb Rush Crew and compete against rival crews for turf, tagging spots and earning REP while executing all kinds of tricks, whether it’s inline skating, skateboarding or BMX. Police forces will try to stop you, and new members join the crew, backed by the tunes of Jet Set Radio composer Hideki Naganuma. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk arrives on August 18th for PC and Nintendo Switch.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Based on the 1974 classic, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a new asymmetrical multiplayer title, which previously published Friday the 13th: The Game. Releasing on August 18th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and PC, it sees Ana Flores, Julie Crawford, Connie Taylor, Sonny Williams and Leland McKinney searching for Ana’s sister Maria.

Of course, the Slaughter family, including The Hitchhiker, The Cook and good ol’ Leatherface aren’t keen on letting them escape. The victims must use stealth and complete objectives to escape while the killers stop them. It’s pretty straightforward and backed by plenty of realistic kills.

Fort Solis

This cinematic sci-fi adventure game from Black Drakkar Games and Fallen Leaf is unique in its immersion. There are no camera cuts, loading times or a HUD, and its story is composed of four chapters with an all-star cast featuring Roger Clark (of Red Dead Redemption 2 fame), Troy Baker (The Last of Us) and Julia Brown (World on Fire). As engineer Jack Leary, players venture to the titular Fort Solis for a routine inspection and find the crew missing. Strange events begin to occur, pushing Leary to the brink. Fort Solis launches on August 22nd for PS5 and PC.

Immortals of Aveum

Ascendant Studios’ magic-based first-person shooter has been five years in the making, utilizing Unreal Engine 5.1 for its stunning visuals and Michael Kirkbride of The Elder Scrolls fame to help craft its narrative. Set in the world of Aveum, with Lucium and Rasharm at constant war, players control Jak, a recruit in the Order of the Immortals who looks to take down the big bad Sandrakk.

As a Triarch, Jak can utilize all three Colors of magic in devastating ways. With several different spells and talents, tons of gear pieces, and a meaty campaign with plenty of side content, Immortals of Aveum could be a dark horse in a jam-packed month. It releases on August 22nd for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC.

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon

FromSoftware’s latest entry in the mech combat series begins with a clean slate, taking players to Rubicon 3, where megacorporations and factions battle over a precious resource Coral. As a mercenary pilot, you pilot a fully customizable Armored Core, utilizing different long-range and melee weapons while battling all manner of mechanized opposition in fast-paced combat.

Larger environments, seamless switching between projectiles and melee attacks, a new stagger mechanic, multiple endings and more await fans along with the return of the Arena when Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon arrives on August 25th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and PC.

Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy

It’s hard to keep a band of heroes down, especially the Heroes of Trine. Amadeus the Wizard, Zoya the Thief, and Pontius the Knight embark on a new adventure to battle the Clockwork army. As a 2.5D action-puzzle platformer with co-op support, players must use each character’s skills to traverse environments in unique ways (like using Pontius’s shield to skate across water).

A new combat system and bosses, more variety with skill quests, and an adaptive difficulty to encourage replay value await fans when Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy launches on August 31st for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch.

RIDE 5

If you’ve looked upon The Crew Motorfest or Forza Motorsport and wanted something more bike-oriented, RIDE 5 may be worth checking out. The latest in Milestone S.r.l.’s motorcycle sim franchise features over 35 tracks and 200 bikes to ride. This year’s Career Mode sees players working through various Rivals to make a name for themselves, braving the dynamic weather to succeed.

Along with extensive motorcycle customization, the Race Creator lets you shape custom tracks and scenarios while riding aids help ease newcomers into the experience. RIDE 5 is out on August 24th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC.

Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle

As the sequel to Invader Studios’ Resident Evil-inspired Daymare 1998, Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle is a prequel with new characters, improved visuals and a revamped UI. It also features dismemberment, a la Dead Space, and a scanner for revealing items and puzzles in the environment. While it won’t compete with Dead Space Remake, Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle may be an enjoyable blast from the past for fans of 90s survival horror when it releases on August 30th for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

VERSION PARITY

Let’s get the basics out of the way first. Up until this point, Madden has been one of several annual sports franchises that made certain features and gameplay improvements exclusive to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, with PC versions being on equal footing with last-gen consoles instead. With Madden NFL 24, however, EA Sports is finally ensuring parity across PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, which means those on PC will finally get access to the improvements and refinements the series has accumulated over the past couple of years.

FIELDSENSE

FieldSENSE is the name that EA Sports has given to several gameplay systems that collectively push the on-field action towards greater authenticity, and Madden NFL 24 is promising a few iterative upgrades on that front. For instance, catch tackles will now provide more control and tackle variety on defense on top of having new and more fluid tackle interactions and animations. Meanwhile, catching AI has also been improved, and comes with new throw animations and more authentic defensive reactions.

REVAMPED CATCHING

On top of the aforementioned changes, Madden NFL 24’s catching system also boasts hundreds of new animations, many of which, according to the developers, are designed around maintaining players’ speed and momentum and leading to fewer dropped catches. Dive catches are also back and will allow much greater flexibility and an added range of options in certain situations.

TACKLING AND BLOCKING

Madden NFL 24 is also promising to bring improvements to its tackling with what’s been dubbed the New Defender Advantage formula, which now chooses tackles based on players’ ratings, size, speed, and momentum in much moe dynamic fashion. Blocking has also seemingly seen big changes, and will now be much more physical and versatile. The stand-up tackles system from last year’s game has also been expanded upon, and now allows blockers to join in on a gang tackle and push the pile forward.

SAPIEN TECHNOLOGY

Madden NFL 24 also features overhauled SAPIEN technology, which is essentially the series’ name for the skeleton created by the developers to base the bodies of players on. In this year’s game, EA Sports has built a new skeleton and improved its animations, as a result of which the movements of players should look and feel more authentic.

AI IMPROVEMENTS

EA tends to make a bunch of small AI improvements to new instalments every year, and that will be the case in Madden NFL 24 as well. Your teammates will now be much more responsive to your plays, according to the developers, and improvements will be made to areas such as quarterback awareness and behaviour, defensive back awareness and pass coverage, blocking AI and open field targeting, ball carrier AI and pathfinding, and more.

PLAYBOOKS

On the more tactical side of things, this year’s game is also making a number of additions to its Playbooks in order to provide players with greater flexibility and a wider range of options that will specifically leverage some of the bigger on-field gameplay improvements. That will entail over 700 new formations that will contain over 500 new plays from across all 32 NFL teams.

POST-PLAY IMPROVEMENTS

Coming to the presentation aspect of games beyond the moment-to-moment on-field action, Madden NFL 24 also claims to have an overhauled post-play engine that is adding thousands of new animations for players. Between the whistles, players will now react much more realistically to whatever situation they’re in.

SUPERSTAR MODES

We’ve spent plenty of time speaking about the actual gameplay improvements that Madden NFL 24 is promising, but what can we expect from how modes will be improving? Starting with the returning Supersta moder, players will have a couple of options here. There’s Superstar: The League, which lets you create your avatar and play through your entire career, starting at the lowest rings and building your way up. Superstar: The League will also feature new minigames and live player trading this year. Meanwhile, Superstar: Showdown will let you use your avatar to play with or against your friends in 3v3 matches. Showdown will not be available on PS4 and Xbox One.

FRANCHISE MODE

Franchise tends to be the meat and potatoes of Madden games, and this year’s release is promising a number of improvements on this front (though most of these will not be available on PS4 or Xbox One). Some of these improvements include new cities, logos, and uniforms for the team relocation feature, greater control over restructuring contracts and making counter offers, 50 new unique draft generators, new trade logic tuning, and more.

FRANCHISE – TRAINING CAMP

One of the biggest changes in this year’s Franchise mode is the addition of Training Camp, which is finally making its return to the series. At the beginning of each season, players will be able to run players in their teams through varied training drills, which will essentially be minigames. At launch, the game will feature nearly a dozen minigames covering all positions.

FRANCHISE – NEW LEAGUE CUSTOMIZATION OPTIONS

Franchise mode’s customization options have always been appreciated by Madden fans, and this year’s game is adding even more tools to mess about with. Players can now toggle reordering of the depth chart on or off, the strength of draft classes can now be set across five varying levels, cooldowns and play call limits can now be applied to offense and defense independently, players can now choose a Snake draft for the Fantasy Draft order, and much more.

ULTIMATE TEAM

While Madden NFL 24 is touting several improvements with the Franchise mode, in addition to bringing Superstar back, where Ultimate Team is concerned, it doesn’t things are going to be too different. Ultimate Team will receive new seasons of content throughout the year, according to EA, while Field Pass challenges will also unlock Ultimate Team rewards.

CROSS-PLAY

Madden NFL 24 is also going to be the first game in the franchise to feature cross-platform multiplayer support (which seems to be something of a trend for new instalments in EA’s sports franchises this year). It does come with a bit of a caveat though, since cross-play will be supported across PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, which means PS4 and Xbox One players will get left out.

PC REQUIREMENTS

Madden NFL 24’s minimum and recommended system requirements on PC have also been revealed, and as you’d expect, they aren’t terribly demanding. On minimum settings, you’ll need either an Intel Core i5 6700k or an AMD Ryzen 5 1600, along with either a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or a Radeon RX 570, and 10 GB of RAM. Meanwhile, on recommended settings, you’ll need either an Intel Core i7 8700 or AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, along with either a GeForce GTX 1660 or a Radeon RX 5600 XT, and 12 GB of RAM. On either setting, yo’ll also need about 50 GB of free storage space.

One of the key features of Madden NFL 24 will be the addition of cross-platform multiplayer between PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. The current-gen versions of the game will also have feature parity, while the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game will be missing some of the features present in the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game, like Superstar Mode and mini-games.

Madden NFL 24 will also feature what is being referred to as SAPIEN, which revolves around the studio rebuilding player skeletons in the game to provide more realism when it comes to body definition and player physiques in the game. This level of realism is also slated to give us anatomically-correct players and more true-to-life movement patterns.

Check out the game’s announcement trailer below.