Madden NFL 26

Impulse GamerPaul Stuart

Let’s call it what it is. Madden 25 was mainly a slightly prettier rehash of Madden 24, and paled in comparison to the spectacular EA Sports College Football

The Nerd StashJulio La Pine

8.5/10

Madden NFL 26 is the best Madden entry we've had in years. While it suffers from some lackluster modes and long loading times when navigating menus, it also offers an immersive and engaging football experience, and one that surpasses its college counterpart.

GamingBoltMatthew Carmosino

8/10

EA hasn’t reinvented the wheel, but their latest NFL outing still managed to impress me. Every mode, except Ultimate Team, has been enhanced with more engaging systems and streamlined features. The presentation feels livelier and more dynamic, with a welcome dose of college football DNA. Unfortunately, sluggish load times and a few poor interface choices continue to plague the yearly series.

IGNWill Borger

8/10

There’s always room for improvement, but it’s hard to overstate what a leap Madden NFL 26 feels like both on and off the field.

Nintendo World ReportNeal Ronaghan

8/10

At a glance, Madden on Switch 2 isn’t visually impressive, but after playing a ton of the game docked and handheld (and also coming off of years on PS5), it plays totally fine. The load times are kind of long. Sometimes crowds load in weird. But the gameplay, easily the most important part, is not an issue. It’s evident to me that the team at EA Sports tried to do what they could to make a solid version of Madden early in the life of the Switch 2. It’s rough around the edges, but it’s the most feature parity a Madden game has had on a Nintendo platform since the age of the GameCube. I…

COGConnectedTrevor Houston

77/100

For all its highs, Madden NFL 26 still stumbles over familiar hurdles. Bugs and unpolished animations occasionally disrupt an otherwise strong experience. Game logic can break, with random offsides or crashes. Menus remain clunky and prone to glitches, and some Superstar mode choices simply don’t register. Ultimate Team continues to be heavily monetized and feels predatory at times. That said, Madden 26 makes strides in authenticity and strategy. Smarter superstar behavior, improved playbooks, more realistic weather effects, amazing soundtrack, and enhanced presentation all contribute to a sol...

Worth PlayingRedmond Carolipio

7.1/10

EA Sports Madden NFL 26 is the latest installment in the long running football franchise, featuring AI-driven systems, explosive gameplay, and authentic NFL atmospheres.

Pure NintendoKirk Hiner

7/10

We're only a week into the 2025 NFL season, and we've already had a player ejected for spitting on an opponent. So, the big question for the Switch 2 release of Madden NFL 26 has to be whether players can spit on Dak Prescott. "Spit's in the game," right EA Sports?Read More

ShackNewsDonovan Erskine

7/10

When an NFL player is entering the final year of their contract with a team, they have a tendency to overperform, going above and beyond their previous effort in an attempt to net themselves the best possible deal in the upcoming offseason. That's exactly the vibe I got from Madden NFL 26. I’m not here to speculate on the status of EA’s NFL rights deal, but to share that this year’s Madden was developed like the studio had something to prove, even if it doesn’t all land.

DualShockersJake Valentine

6/10

Once again, Madden NFL 26 overpromises and underdelivers. The new updates to Franchise mode and the general gameplay are nice, but let's be honest: the core issues are still there. This is a house with a shoddy foundation, only excelling at delivering a disappointing football experience. It's the only game in town for the NFL, so there's sadly nowhere else to go. I'll still probably begrudgingly play on occasion, but only when I want to enact revenge after the Patriots lose.

Game InformerBrian Shea

6/10

During each NFL offseason, front offices work to add the pieces necessary to field a better team than the year before. Sometimes, despite making all the right moves on paper, things just don’t come together the way they had hoped. Similarly, the Madden NFL franchise looked to have a terrific offseason, adding several exciting features to its long-running formula, but sadly, despite various important improvements, Madden NFL 26 falls well short of being championship caliber.

WayTooManyGamesAaron Price

5.5/10

It’s that time of year again, every sports game is releasing their latest installment that promises to evolve and innovate on last year’s experience. With tickets available for a not very reasonable price to see the Vikings play in London, I figured why not just jump into Madden NFL 26 instead and enjoy the experience from home. That’s certainly what the idea was with this year’s game, I just can’t promise that everything went to plan right from the get go.