Axis Football 2026 Review (PC): A Football Alternative that Comes Up Short

Football is one of the biggest attractions in sports, drawing in millions of fans from stadiums to the virtual gridiron. Axis Football 2026 is a non-licensed alternative to the biggest game in town, Madden, and offers features in franchise mode that players will enjoy diving deep into, as well as a deep bench of creation tool options to customize a team to their liking. Unfortunately, the trade-offs compared to Madden come at the expense of graphics, presentation, and overall fun gameplay on the field, a trade I’m not excited to make.

Franchise Mode is King

Building a team through the draft, signing that superstar veteran to a long-term deal, and trading an aging player for a package of potential young stars. It’s this kind of team management I adore in other sports games, and the true highlight of Axis Football 2026. 

At the start of every season, AI-controlled teams will seek out trades to improve their teams, resulting in offers almost every week. This is something not overly present in other sports titles, and that feeling of wheeling and dealing gives a bit of excitement, and makes paying attention to your own team’s needs active and rewarding. 

Added to that is the need to scout college players during the regular season, making sure that QB1 is worth your top pick, or if he’ll be the next Johnny Manziel. Additional options, such as setting the salary cap, choosing a tier or division style setup, and upgrading and repairing team facilities, did give me that nostalgic feel of franchise modes of old.

Fumbled Away the Game

Unfortunately, the moment I left the menus and headed to the field, the enjoyment I initially felt greatly diminished. Moment-to-moment gameplay feels janky, slow, and lacks any sort of direct control or movement. Offense and defense come down to a few button options, controlling where you move, a speed burst button, and a tackle or break tackle button. For decades, I’ve been used to having the ability to try and beat an offensive lineman to get to the QB, or truck or juke a defender to pick up extra yards, but all of that isn’t present here. 

The passing game doesn’t provide much excitement either, as receivers and defenders just run next to each other without fighting for position, and the throw types are the basic bullet and lobs we’ve seen since the PlayStation 2. A more arcadey feel may have provided fun to the gameplay, because this attempt at simulation is a pale comparison to any other football game you can get your hands on from the past ten years. Added to that are graphics that look to be at home on consoles from the early 2000s. There’s not much atmosphere or pageantry, and I tuned out the commentary as soon as it started. Axis Football 2026 fails at being an entertaining or enjoyable football game on the sticks.

Final Verdict

Axis Football 2026 ends up being a sports simulation game that pushes the simulation part of the game to the forefront, but fails as a sports title. Franchise mode and its management systems are by far the most intriguing portion of the game, with a creation suite and options to make your own fun running a football league to your heart’s desire. That said, the gameplay, presentation, and janky feeling of being on the field sank my will to play faster than a first-quarter pick-six.

Axis Football 2026 was reviewed on PC with a code provided by Axis Games. It is also available on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and mobile.

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