Madden 21 may have just been released, but it's already been review bombed all the way down to the lowest levels of Metacritic. Its user ratings are only matched by The Division 2's Warlords of New York expansion and it's only been a few days since its release.
Fans of the Madden franchise were not particularly pleased with last year's installment, saying that it felt too much like Madden 20. This year wasn't much different. The story seems to be the same, menus feel recycled, and there is very little to differentiate this installment from last year. As such, fans have given the game an impossibly low score of 0.4/100 on Metacritic.
Professional critics were much more forgiving of the game. Still, it received a luke-warm 63/100. For those of you who like letter grades, that would be a D-, just barely passing. Obviously, that's not the kind of performance that EA would like from one of its larger franchises. That said, there was a myriad of problems with the game, ranging from sound design to loading times. One journalist was even willing to go as far as saying it was, "The worst Madden in 15 years."
Of course, day-one brought a lot of fixes to the glitches and bugs that people experienced during early access, including a glitch that didn't render in the coach's head during cinematic scenes. However, unless you release a patch that changes the core aspect of the game, nothing is going to change the fact that this amounts to a very expensive re-release of Madden 20.
Players have a right to be upset with a game that isn't substantially different from its predecessor. However, a score of 0.4 is probably largely symbolic of the frustration that fans feel, rather than a reflection of the performance or quality of the game. Luckily, that balance comes from professional critics who are looking at the quality and performance of the game. That being said, there was a lot to be desired even on that end. If EA wants to keep the Madden franchise alive, they are going to have to learn from this experience. Otherwise, the Madden name could be in for serious trouble.
Source: Metro