'Madden 23' guide: How new Fieldsense feature, different playing modes affect gameplay

The "Madden 23" release on Friday signals the start of another season of joining in the game's competitive modes such as Head to Head (H2H), Madden Ultimate Team, and Connected Franchise. In fact, "Madden" has become an annual tradition of sorts for fans of the franchise, but newcomers to the game might find it a bit challenging.

For long-time fans of the sports video game who want to learn about the new mechanics of "Madden 23" as well as for newcomers to the franchise looking for winning strategies, here are some things to know about the game that could give you a competitive edge.

EA has introduced a new feature into "Madden 23" called "Fieldsense," which affects on-field gameplay such as when tackling, running back cuts, and wide receiver route-running. Under the Fieldsense umbrella is Skill-Based Passing, which is described as bringing in the biggest changes to the title's gameplay, according to GameSpot.

The Skill-Based Passing system removes some of the older games' RNG elements in the passing game to introduce more direct player control. Tutorial guides won't likely help much in this area, and it will be a bit confusing even to old-timers at first. The best way is to play the game and get used to the new feature.

It is important to familiarize yourself with Arcade, Competitive, and Simulation, the different playing modes of "Madden 23." Arcade mode allows for more broker tackles and more big plays. Meanwhile, the Competitive mode makes the athletes more reliant on the player's skill on the controller.

Simulation mode is described as having less chaos than Arcade and, unlike Competitive, places more emphasis on the skills of the individual virtual athletes rather than the player's controller skills. Thus, this mode will take into account the ratings of athletes, which makes the outcome more realistic. Again, practice is key before players can master the feel of the different modes.

For those who want to play the game, "Madden 23" was already released on August 19. The sports video game is available for Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Microsoft Windows.