I may have set my expectations too high after last year's Axis Football game. I expected to see an overhaul of blocking logic and of special teams, and said that if Axis 24 got both of those upgrades, it might finally be a robust football game that I can recommend without caveat. Well, Axis Football 24 got one of those 2 upgrades, and it isn't quite enough.
Axis Football 24 doesn't have nearly as many visibly apparent upgrades this year. A lot of what's different in this game is stuff that is under the hood, which most players may not consciously notice. There's supposedly upgrades to CPU team-management logic, substitution logic, CPU play-selection, and so forth. These are changes that most long-time players will probably appreciate, but they won't be visibly apparent to most other players.
Pocket presence
One thing that will be noticeable is the long-overdue blocking overhaul. For years, blocking in Axis Football was very robotic and difficult to read. Blockers and defenders just kind of created a pile-up at the line of scrimmage that defenders would suddenly squirt out of with no warning and sack the QB. This doesn't happen anymore, as blockers will now get depth in pass blocking and create actual passing pockets.
Edge rushers don't get as many easy sacks by running around offensive tackles.
This both looks better and makes the pocket more readable for the user. It also makes stepping up into the pocket more viable as a QB, since you won't get sacked by a defensive tackle insta-shedding his block. It also mitigates (but doesn't completely eliminate) the exploits where defensive ends could just run around the offensive tackles and get easy sacks. You can still run around tackles if you have a fast enough edge rusher, but the tackles getting more depth means they'll usually slow down your edge rushers just enough to let the CPU QB get most of those throws off.
There's some weird stuff with pass blocking. Since there aren't any double-team blocks, offensive linemen who have no one to block one-on-one will often just run upfield as if they're run blocking. This does not result in an Illegal Man Downfield penalty (because penalties are completely random), and can sometimes be exploited for extra yards if you can throw to a spot that allows that linemen to become a lead blocker (which is exactly why it is against the rules).
Thankfully, there have also been some under-the-hood and above-the-hood improvements to pass defense that will help a 4-man rush get the occasional coverage sack. Defensive playbooks are completely new, and feature a couple new types of zones with accompanying logic. In fact, defensive playbooks look almost exactly like the defensive playbooks in Madden. There used to be only 5 different defensive assignments: rush, man coverage, hook zone, deep zone, and QB spy. Now there are also proper hard flat zones and seam flats that will cover short and intermediate routes to the sidelines.
There are new zone coverage assignments.
The result is that zone coverages are actually viable now! I used to avoid Cover 2 zone defenses because they were basically an invitation to the offense to throw deep. The underneath defenders would never run with receivers running deep, and the 2 safeties could never converge on a receiver running a post or along the sidelines before the ball gets to him. Both of those things are still true, but they aren't as consistent of a problems since zones are played deeper and won't get burnt so easily over the top. It's still a good idea to have lots of speed in your defensive secondary, but it's nice to see defenders playing the pass a bit better.
Hit the outside
Running the ball towards the sidelines is still obnoxiously dangerous though. I'm a bit disappointed that these new flat zones don't lead to defenses having better containment against off tackle and outside run plays. Defenders are still too eager to crash inside and get sealed by receivers, instead of setting the edge and forcing the ball-carrier back inside. Hopefully next year, defenses will get outside contain assignments as an alternative to simply rushing upfield.
The outside running game is still overpowered.
The CPU is also much better at calling and executing outside running plays to take advantage of this weakness in defensive schemes. I've had to go back to manually controlling a safety in order to set my own edge and limit the CPU's outside running game. Thankfully, if I pick the new cover 3 defenses with the proper seam flat zones for the strong safety, I'm actually playing the correct assignment for my selected defender as well. Which is a nice bonus.
As for the run blocking itself, the logic seems to be marginally improved. There are still no double-team blocks that I could see in either run blocking or pass blocking, which is disappointing. However, I have noticed offensive linemen appearing to pass off blocks to each other. Even though an offensive guard and tackle cannot double team to pass block a rushing defensive end, if that end makes a move inside against the tackle, I have seen the guard pick up the solo block against the end after he disengages from the tackle.
I've also seen similar logic in running plays. Even though I don't see explicit double team blocks, I have seen plays in which an offensive tackle appears to block down against a defensive end in a 3-technique, and then disengage the block and pass it off to the guard, while the tackle goes up to the second level to block a linebacker. Unfortunately, there's still a lot of silly stuff going on in these situations. For example, that tackle passing off the 3-technique to the guard might run behind the guard to try to block a backside linebacker, instead of going upfield.
I've seen Tackles go behind a Guard on his way to a linebacker.
Another unfortunate issue that leads to outside runs being too easy is that defenders will often freeze for a moment after breaking a block. During this time, I've seen running backs or quarterbacks move right across the defender's face without the defender reacting at all. If that defender happens to be a defensive end or outside linebacker who is supposed to be setting the edge, he'll stand still while the runner runs right past him to hit the outside for a big gain. I'm not sure if this is a limitation in the block-breaking animations (possibly with poor transitioning from the end of the break-block animation back into the normal run/pursuit animations), or if it might have something to do with a low awareness or Break-Block rating on the player. Either way, it does not look good. Ideally, if this player is going to miss a tackle due to poor ratings, I would at least like to see an animation of the player attempting to make the tackle, even if he whiffs on it.
My team, my plays, my strategy
Another long overdue feature to go along with Axis Football's extensive customization options is a new playbook editor. Users can now edit every playbook included in the game by default, and also create new playbooks from scratch. Well ... not quite completely from scratch. We can't create or edit actual formations or plays; we can only select which of the pre-made formations and plays we want to include in our playbook.
Unfortunately, this feature falls almost completely flat for me. It's certainly nice to be able to pick and choose which plays go into my playbooks. I like that I can run my favored Pistol offense, replace the Empty formation that has the QB under center with 5-wide Shotgun formations, and also throw in some I Form runs to give me Fullback running options. So creating your own playbook isn't completely useless, but there simply isn't enough variety in plays and formations to make playbook customization feel as meaningful as it should be. While defensive playbooks were redesigned, they are still pretty basic. And the offensive playbooks are (as far as I can tell) completely identical to last year. There aren't any new, exotic play concepts to make a team's playbook feel unique compared to other teams.
There isn't enough variety in available plays.
There's no option plays or RPOs. No jet sweeps or reverses. No designed QB rollouts or bootlegs. No Wildcat, Flexbone, or Full House formations. No "Deebo Packages". No running back direct snaps, Flea-Flickers, or double passes. Heck, there's hardly even any Draw runs or Screen passes, and the ones that are included aren't blocked properly and don't work. On the defensive side, there's no 5-2 or 46 formations, no 3-3-5, and no pure Prevent defenses such as Dollar or Quarter formations.
Want to create a service academy for your college football mod? Sure, you can remove all the pass plays and leave nothing but run plays, but there's no Flexbone Triple Option plays available to make your team really play like Army, Navy, or Air Force.
Exotic schemes like the service academy Flexbone Triple Option are completely absent.
So even with a playbook editor, every team still feels like it's just minor variations of the same basic offensive and defensive schemes. Every offense is basically either an under-center running team, a shotgun spread passing team, or a little bit of both. And every defense is either a 3-4 front or a 4-3 front. Most of the schematic identity of a team will come from their situational play-calling preference sliders, rather than from the playbook itself.
The inability to flip defensive formations causes
mismatches for the nickel formation.
What frustrates me even more is that despite a complete redesign of defensive playbooks, we still don't have support for flipping defensive formations and play calls. This is especially problematic for the Nickel formation. The Nickel back will always line up on the left side of the offense's formation, regardless of where the slot receiver is, and regardless of whether the defense is in man or zone. This creates mismatches on passing plays, since a slot receiver on the right of the offense's formation will have to be covered by either the strong safety or the strong-side linebacker, while the nickel will usually cover the tight end or the running back in the backfield.
Not being able to flip Nickel formations also causes problems with run fits. The offense can put the slot and tight end on its right side, and run off tackle, while the nickel will still line up on the backside. This has always been a problem in Axis Football, but I'm especially surprised and bothered that it wasn't addressed this year, considering that Axis completely redesigned the defensive playbooks. It's a glaring omission!
A stand-alone review of Axis Football 2024's playbook editor is available on YouTube.
Around the league
Aside from the playbook customization, Franchise did not get much attention this year. There's a few new setup options for the number of teams and the length of the season. And supposedly some under-the-hood improvements to team-management logic. The user can also keep up to date with the CPU's team-management decisions through the new "Team Activity" widget. Personally, I wish this widget were called "League Activity". "Team Activity" implies (to me) that it is a summary of what my team is doing; while "League Activity" would emphasize that it covers activity across the entire league.
Unfortunately, this new Team Activity widget isn't as useful as it should be. It's been incredibly buggy in my experience. It will show the same player being signed or released from the same team week after week. It will show the same player being signed by multiple teams. It will say that a player is signed by a team, but that player won't be on that team's roster and will still be in the free agent pool.
Team Activity seems buggy, with players being repeatedly signed or released, or not actually moving.
For example, in the screenshots above, you'll see that Vancouver signed linebacker Ephram Vrabel and released linebacker Brennan Nunez multiple times in consecutive weeks. After noticing this, I checked the free agent pool, and still saw Ephram Vrabel listed as a free agent, while Brennan Nunez was still showing up on Vancouver's active roster. Worse yet, in the following weeks, I saw other teams also signing Ephram Vrabel, even though there was no record of Vancouver ever releasing or trading him.
So I still have no idea what's going on in the league. I expect that most of these issues will be fixed, and, in fact, they might already be fixed by the time you're reading this.
Even if the bugs are fixed, there's also some simple usability issues. Transactions are filtered by team, with no option to show "All Teams" or to filter by week. Which means looking at league-wide activity requires browsing through every single team, for each type of transaction, each and every week, only to have outdated transactions clogging up the lists. I also wish that the Franchise Hub would highlight recent transactions to show on the hub (similar to how it shows top free agents, draft prospects, or possible trade targets). Without such a notification on the Franchise hub, I have no idea whether any signings or trades or releases even happened, and so don't know if I should even bother looking through the actual history.
Franchise Hub should highlight recent transactions,
just as it does with available free agents and trades.
I want this feature in the game. It absolutely should be in the game! In principle, it gives some life to the Franchise by showing the user that other teams are playing the game too. But with how buggy it is, it's borderline useless, and the user still has to go a little too far out of our way to get any value from it.
Falling behind the competition
I have to say, I'm disappointed by the lack of progress with Axis Football. In addition to this year's new features not really exciting me, there's still the laundry list of legacy issues. Special teams is still a bare-bones mess. I'm not sure if it's even possible to block kicks. The lack of any fakes means that if the opponent brings their punter or place-kicker onto the field, you don't have to worry about defending, because they are kicking. Penalties are still completely random crap-shoots. Weather has little-to-no impact on games. There's no instant replays. There's no tutorials or practice mode. And the physics and tackling is still a long way from where it needs to be.
I've been playing Axis Football since 2018, and it has definitely shown noticeable improvement since 2018. But it's also still very rough and lacks polish. I also felt like Axis Football benefitted from the existence of Maximum Football. Not just because of competition pressuring both products to get better, but also because the flaws in Maximum helped to highlight some of Axis' relative strengths. But with Canuck Play canceling Maximum Football after 2020, Axis has been left to stand or fall on its own merits only, and it doesn't hold up as well in that environment. Worse yet, when Maximum Football is resurrected by Modus Games (whenever that ends up happening), it's going to be with a much higher budget and higher production quality, which is going to make Axis Football look further behind by comparison.
And with EA actually putting a tiny amount of effort into Madden's Franchise Mode (possibly as a result of competitive pressure from Axis), and with the imminent return of a college football video game, a 2K football game, and even VR football games, Axis is going to have a very hard time keeping up without expanding its development team. I've been patient with this series, but with more football games to play and less time than ever to play them, my patience is reaching its limits.
The only special teams improvement this year is that the kicking meter stays on-screen after the kick,
which gives the user feedback as to how well they timed the kick to get maximum power.