Though they run in somewhat different circles, both FIFA and Madden have a lot in common. Ultimate Team is at the heart of their lasting appeal to players on the latest generation of consoles, but with Madden 16 – out on August 26th – that’s being taken a step further. Draft Champions takes and adapts the team creation aspects to incorporate American Football’s player drafts.
Played either solo or online, you go through a multi-round draft before then taking your team and controlling them in play, with the idea being that a season in this mode can be played in a single evening.
Of course, there’s the usual incremental approach to the game’s development, with the focus of the iterative changes this year looking to improve the passing gameplay. Quarterbacks can now throw high and low with body-relative throws, while receivers have three new catch types – possession, run-after-catch and aggressive catches – each of which open up new possibilities on the field. Not to leave defenders out of the fun, you can now play the receiver for the first time, aiming to disrupt their play.