The first Madden on 360 (2006) was an absolute reboot. It was bare bones, particularly compared to it's OG counter parts. They dropped all the things had done previously, they didn't do when they transitioned in the era to the era that was PS2/Xbox. That's not starting from scratch and changing the whole game. It was the exact same gameplay with only less features like announcers. The principles were the same. Much like now they then add and remove attributes those features back so they can call it a feature that is new.
It's a soccer match, what are you expecting to change in it's entirety? Even when 989 Sports 2k, and others were making sports games, they did not feel different. The one thing that split them were features in and beyond the gameplay. That on top of everything else which was a standard being dropped along with the game being the very vanilla profootball game in years seems for me like a blank slate.
The difference between those games and Madden was that those matches played better had improved presentations and were more economical at least 2k had been anyhow. Madden does not have any competition so they can put the exact same game every year with the exact same issues every year, not fix anything. All they do is set out a carbon copy of the previous year using a roster update and occasionally add something which actually utilized to maintain the game and call it a new addition. Occasionally they do not even change anything or banners. It is half assed and if someone can operate over 130+ operating in a tournament with no single pass and use a punter since the QB there are issues.
When have they ever? They give us the exact game every year. The only thing they change is perhaps call it a new inclusion and remove something or add something they had removed from cheap mut coins madden 21 years. It had nothing beyond a quarter soccer sim that is practical 4. From there on they've gradually added fundamental attributes back to the game and still haven't made it all the way.
