There’s the “one-cut” move, which tries to replicate real pros’ ability to switch directions, leaving a defender and a clod of dirt behind. Madden NFL 19 has two new tricks to address this, but you’ll only know of them if you’re watching loading screens or have been reading developer diaries. But in open space, users still need an innate awareness of the moves available and when to deploy them, thanks to the sluggishness imposed upon runners meeting the line of scrimmage and the automatic hesitation of a receiver grabbing a ball without the run-after-catch (square/X) command. I saw a lot of stumbles and staggers forward for extra yards, much more than in past editions. I’ve always felt that Madden’s longest-running gameplay problem was being a game of down-at-first-contact, and Real Player Motion meaningfully extends plays after the first hit. It makes them heavier and palpably slows their movement. Real Player Motion, which polishes up last year’s introduction of the Frostbite engine, now obligates on-screen performers to meaningfully arrest their motion before they change direction.

In past Maddens, I could steer, stop and start a player using the left stick alone. Even a table-setting first-and-10 run requires some kind of special input to become productive. But in Madden, it demands more user interest and investment. Running in Madden NFL 19, whether from a handoff or after a catch, is a lot truer to life thanks to a new piece of technology called Real Player Motion, which was seen in FIFA last year. In the granular options of the Franchise mode and the bewildering dictation of its Longshot story mode, it is a game reconditioned to appeal to longtime players. Madden NFL 19 is, therefore, a game for the core sports video gamer. That phase of American football, running with the hand-off or after the catch, always tells me the story of this year’s game - where its priorities really lie and to whom, among the vast audience it commands, Madden is making this year’s sales pitch. My barometer for Madden NFL has always been its running game.

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