After an overly long hiatus from Nintendo systems during the Switch era, football enthusiasts can rejoice that the Madden franchise is back. After a strong opening salvo of reasonably-good play and performance last year, there’s even more to cheer for with this year’s edition, which feels more polished pretty well from top to bottom. Better yet, as long as you stick with the game’s Performance mode, while seemingly not sacrificing much at all, you’ll also be able to enjoy an impressively steady framerate whether you’re playing docked or handheld, which is no small feat.

Having been away from this series for quite some time, I’ll admit that last year’s edition left me feeling pretty rusty, as well as somewhat overwhelmed by the wide variety of options it put in front of me. Ranging from the game’s modes, control schemes, and styles of play, there’s no question that a great deal of effort has been put into trying to make this a game anyone can enjoy, and since this time around far more aspects of the game began to click for me, that was a fact that was much easier to appreciate.

Strangely enough, what felt like it gave me the space and opportunity to kick the tires and get into the swing of things wasn’t the various training options, it was the game’s Ultimate Team mode. Starting out with bite-sized challenges, with a strict focus on completing very attainable simple objectives, it really felt like more like I was playing in a sandbox where I could quickly succeed or fail, working the same issue until I got it right. Buoyed by some success there, I’ll admit that I was then still inundated by what felt like a tidal wave of attempts to extract microtransactions from me. But buried in all of the different booster packs and other noise I did see the strength of a mode that is trying to entice you on a regular basis to keep pushing yourself and engaging with the game, including if you’re unwilling to spend any more money than the cost of initial entry.

You’ll need to look elsewhere for the deeper details of all of the different modes, ways that you can intimately manage your team roster, or get the most out of the many control schemes that are available to you and their nuances. What I have to offer is simply the perspective of someone who has always enjoyed sports games, but probably dug them most back in the 16-bit era when it was all a bit simpler and just far easier to enjoy in smaller bursts. What I like about where this franchise has landed is that while you can’t dial it all the way back to the earlier days, you can really tweak the game to be just about whatever you’re looking for. If you want to drag out a full length contest against the CPU or someone online, you’re obviously going to be set. But if you’re feeling like you’ve just got 30 minutes or so to spare, and are just looking for a quick fix, there are ways the game will accommodate you as well. Making the effort to support so many types of fans of different skill levels and tastes really makes a difference, and I’m glad that it is performing so well on the Switch 2 at this point.