Sadly, Cruise’s burn is as intense as Longshot gets. This game is sanctioned and licensed by the NFL, and many millions of dollars are at stake. Electronic Arts’ writers decided not to deal with issues such as football-related scandals or concussions.

Just as Longshot moves things forward for narrative in sports games, it also takes steps backward. It nearly goes off the rails early on, when Wade joins a football reality show helmed by a creepy, tactless producer. You feel like you’re participating in a weird American Idol contest where completing a long pass is like singing a song without sour notes. Secondary characters are as cliché as they are one-dimensional.

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Longshot feels off-kilter as you indulge in sudden, lengthy portions of familiar gameplay that pull you out of the story. You choose plays and throw, play defence or pass the football. At its most intriguing, you have to remember how to call a long play, portion by portion, showing that you require intelligence as much as athleticism to succeed as a quarterback.

At some point, you suddenly find yourself in Dubai playing against the US Army with NFL great Dan Marino, who is the Army team’s guest coach. It’s a jarring transition. You don’t really know why you’re there because in the moments prior, you were standing near a cemetery plot. (Later, you realise Wade joined the Army after college.)

As you continue in Dubai, an Army recruit is introduced as an awesome player, yet her only line in the story is “Better call me” when she meets your best friend post-game. Why couldn’t they offer this woman a line (or, preferably, more than one) that showed her intelligence?

These mistakes take away from the narrative that might have stirred, electrified and inspired. One of Wade’s friends is overweight and almost all he ever talks about is eating. He seems to have no other goal in life. A Hollywood producer is an irredeemable, bro-like jerk, incapable of learning from his errors.

Longshot goes on for hours. How could there not be room for more subtlety, for deeper characterisation?

The emotive ending appears satisfyingly poignant for story lovers and a redemption for the Madden player. But wait. They nearly blow it all with an Animal House-like “Where Are They Now?” epilogue. It doesn’t work.

You’ve felt sadness and longing even as success is around the corners. You’ve felt for Devin Wade who has struggled and compromised to get a real shot at NFL stardom. Then, you read these half-humorous, sitcom-style pieces of epilogue text that stain it all. Was the director afraid to leave the audience with a general feeling of depth and satisfaction? Instead, he feels the need to joke about that character’s excess weight once again.

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As the credits roll for minutes, you realise how many people worked on Longshot. With simple edits and additions, the experience could have rocked the game world with a thrilling tale that might have been remembered for years to come.

While some of Longshot equates to creditable narrative, its tone deafness has to be dealt with in the next Madden, the landmark 30th anniversary.