Early in the year I came across a free month - or was it $0.99? - trial of EA Access and decided to give it a shot. Despite not caring much about football since, oh, 2013 or so (and especially after the Kaepernick debacle) I found this game weirdly compelling. I get why a lot of modern Madden players complain about this game - they all play Ultimate Team, and that mode sounds predatory in a supremely evil way - but I think the Franchise mode is actually pretty cool. I hadn't touched the mode since Madden NFL 14 or so, an era of Madden I would confidently describe as "dogshit" and was surprised to find a bunch of fun and sensible RPG mechanics tucked into the mode in addition to all the usual bells and whistles the mode has had for years. The game's got a good, dynamic commentary system thanks to using no-name voice actor dudes instead of established TV personalities (or that's the impression I get anyway) and the practice modes that give your players XP based on your performance are also really good at teaching football, something that's become way too complicated for the average person to understand.

These 11 hours were crammed into a little under a week, and when I dropped it I dropped it, because the knees on these players still look ridiculous and the running game still feels like a comedy of errors once the new graphic shine wears off, but my impression of this game was surprisingly pleasant given how down Alex Navarro has been on this franchise for, I dunno, most of his life? I used to almost exclusively play Madden and NCAA franchise modes as a kid while devouring new and favorite albums, and it was really refreshing to spend a week during the early optimism of Biden's presidency reliving a bit of my childhood.