Madden 21's New 'The Yard' Feature Seems Too Good to Be True

The newest Madden game will be coming out next week. As rollout approaches, EA will be revealing all the new features and other such fun toys for players to use when the game is released. Today, the company unveiled The Yard, which seems to bear a strong similarity to the epic NFL Street games of yore. Frankly? It seems way too good to be true.

Looks pretty sick, right? Well, let me ask you this: when was the last time Madden introduced an entirely new game mode that was actually fun and good? I can't remember. EA usually just tweaks everything a little bit and updates the graphics enough to justify charging $60 per game. People (myself included!) buy the game because it's literally the only football game to buy, but the hopes for substantial change year-to-year have been six feet under since, like, 2010.

I'm really not trying to be a Debbie Downer here. If Madden can successfully bring back NFL Street (with the ridiculousness toned down a little bit because that game was downright outlandish) it would be the best addition to the game since Career Mode was introduced. But how much faith do we have in EA Sports really? I don't know about you, dear reader, but after a decade of the video game equivalent of highway robbery and micro-transactions galore, any belief I might've had in the company was brutally pulverized into the pavement.

Dramatic? Perhaps! But my point stands: EA usually doesn't give us good things, and when it does, it's not what we thought it was. Let us hope and pray The Yard is what it looks like -- but let's also prepare ourselves for disappointment if it's not.