Maximum Football

Leading up to Maximum Football’s 1.0 release on consoles, I had been following its development rather closely, excited about its potential to create an interesting wrinkle in the football simulation subgenre. A free-to-play football sim sounds like a great idea on paper, but like any good idea, execution is paramount. Maximum Football is rough around the edges in a lot of ways, some of which I expected because when something is “free,” the adage of “you get what you pay for” is always in the back of my mind, and sometimes true. That’s very much the case here, though I can see a path to viability for Maximum Football if it can play a cleaner brand of football, so to speak.

So, what do you get for free in Maximum Football and how does it implement monetization? Great question. For the cost of nothing, you can play the base version of the game, which grants access to Maximum Pro League, the full team and player customization suite, single-player exhibition games, and Dynasty Starter Mode. The line in the sand shows itself in dynasty mode, where without spending a dime, you’ll only have access to a limited number of seasons and save files before hitting a paywall. It should be noted, however, that you can earn additional seasons by completing daily and weekly challenges, which cost you nothing. For $19.99 more, the Dynasty Edition of the game unlocks full, unadulterated access to dynasty mode. But wait, there’s more! The Legend Edition is $39.99 and includes everything I’ve already mentioned, plus premium access to Franchise Mode when it launches later this year, and a bunch of extra in-game cosmetics and goodies.

To sum it all up: for $39.99 you can have access to everything Maximum Football has to offer now and in the immediate future. Is it worth spending cold hard cash on it? For my money, no, it’s not. At least not right now. My recommendation would be to give it a go since you have nothing to lose, but don’t make any purchasing decisions until you’ve drawn your own conclusions. Having followed the development process like I have, I think the folks at Maximum Games would tell you the same, though I’m sure they’d be thrilled to have your money as well.

Okay, you’re right – that’s not exactly a vote of confidence for Maximum Football 1.0 as we sit here in June of 2025. That’s because on the field, and back in the locker room, this game needs some significant work. It’s not completely broken, but it’s not fun to play right now either. Developed on Unreal Engine, Maximum Football feels like a mix between an old NFL Blitz game and EA Sports football sim on the field, and that’s not a good thing. Player locomotion and animations are robotic, linear, and unnatural feeling. I hate to compare it to EA Sports College Football or Madden, but it’s obviously trying to siphon some of the market from both games, and yet it feels miles away from both titles in terms of how the football looks and feels. I’m not saying it should be a copycat, as iteration and innovation are good things for the industry, but Maximum Football’s version of the sport does not feel satisfying to play currently.

Not only does every player feel like they’re on ice skates, but passing is wonky to boot. Every pass feels floaty, and camera angles make it hard to always see where you’re throwing. For a football simulation, the gameplay feels far too light and arcade-like to appeal to someone who has spent almost 500 hours playing College Football 25 in the last year. I don’t want it to be the same as that game, but I do want it to be more realistic. To me, it looks and feels like they’ve animated everything with little to no motion capture, which, if that’s the case, must be a steep hill to climb for a sports game. My hope is that with refinement it can feel more authentic to the real thing, but as is, it lacks excitement.

There are other gameplay glitches too, like when the play clock never runs even though the game clock is ticking away. Or when the AI running backs just stand in the backfield after taking the handoff. Or how synthetic turf somehow stains player jerseys green. Those are relatively minor issues compared to the dull gameplay, but in the same way that penalties can kill you in a real football game, bugs can kill you in a virtual one.

The presentation package is decent, especially for a free-to-play game, apart from the in-game commentary, which is atrocious. It’s so bad that it sounds like AI. Please, someone tell me it is AI – I won’t like it, but I’ll at least understand why it’s so bad. With generic remarks, incorrect timing, and unnatural speaking tempo, when I heard the color commentator robotically say, “The medical staff is…coming…onto…the field,” it began to sound fishy.

Now, with all of that said, Maximum Football doesn’t fumble everything. For starters, the modes currently on offer are surprisingly fleshed out. Maximum Pro League is a card-based team building mode that you can play in ranked online matches or unranked against the CPU. What is typically one of the more popular modes in other sports games, MPL lets you buy card packs with either in-game or premium currency to build your team with the best roster of players that (real or fake) money can buy. Cards have various rarity levels which correspond to their skill ratings and can be upgraded to add more attributes as well.

Similarly, I was particularly surprised by dynasty mode, which features over 130 pre-made college teams you can take control of to build a powerhouse program. You can also create a custom team from scratch if you please, and customization in Maximum Football is rather robust. With no licensing or Name, Image, and Likeness issues to contend with, there is a much higher level of team and player customization than we see from the competition. It’s certainly a selling point for Maximum Football. The premade teams reminded me of Super Mega Baseball 4 and its franchise mode, featuring teams like the Hattiesburg Horror (shoutout to the amazing eateries in Hattiesburg), the Roswell Greys, and the Lexington Rhinos, to name a few. Honestly, I didn’t expect 130 premade teams to be on offer; I figured there’d be 10, maybe 12 tops, so they went all out in that regard. Plus, there are so many cool team names, logos, color schemes, and uniform designs that it’s hard to imagine you won’t find one you like, if you don’t feel like building your own team.

Dynasty mode features most of what you’re used to such as multiple seasons, a four-team playoff, and player recruiting, but there is one aspect that not even EA Sports College Football has yet. With the line between professional and college football blurring to the point of nearly disappearing in real life, Maximum Football lets you get into the business side of things. You can set ticket prices, merchandise prices, and even how many food carts you want to staff on gameday. Each team also has an overall operating budget to hire coaches and purchase team or facility upgrades with. Considering that a lot of Division 1 football programs in America now have a “General Manager,” much like pro teams, it is a nice touch to be able to treat your dynasty like the business that it is. Maximum Football is ahead of the game in that regard.

Of course, dynasty mode is not perfect either. The menus are wonky on a controller, requiring you to click the right stick and peruse a drop-down menu each time you need to switch a position group in the recruiting menu. Speaking of recruiting, it is totally broken right now. After adding prospects to your recruiting board, you can call, text, or email them to discuss one of several topics. The trouble is that no matter which topic you select, a bug in the game talks to every player about playing close to home, rendering recruiting useless.

I can’t say that Maximum Football 1.0 is the play right now. I’d like to come back for Maximum Football 2.0, or even 1.5, to see how they improve the game. Any college program or professional football team that has enjoyed success had to start somewhere, turning little wins into sustained success. There are some promising little wins to build upon here, but there is plenty of work still to do. If winning was easy everyone would do it, as they say. But the best part is that you don’t just have to take my word for it; you can play the base version of Maximum Football right now for free. Then you can see if you’re going to hang around for the clock to hit all zeroes, hoping that it makes a glorious comeback, or head for the gates at halftime and cancel your season tickets.