For so many of my friends, fall is their favorite time of the year. Why? Well, it’s not because the trees change colors and it’s not because the sun gives us a break and it definitely was never about going back to school. Fall is fun because of football. Period. Just as the NFL season is ready to kick into high gear, as always, EA Sports’ longtime Madden series is back again, celebrating their 25th year with a revamped Connected Franchise mode and more ball-carrier control than ever before.
Much of the criticism the series received from hardcore fans over the past few years stemmed from the gameplay. Defensive backs looking lost. Not enough pressure from the defensive line. Gang tackles that don’t look real. If you’re heading into Madden NFL 25 expecting a complete overhaul, you’ll probably be disappointed. That’s unrealistic. What the game does do well — and I suspect most people will enjoy this since… you know… we’re playing a video game — is create explosive and fun offenses. I got the chance to preview the game early using a copy for the Xbox 360, and that aspect has never been more apparent than now.
With the Precision Modifier, Madden NFL 25 gives you an unprecedented amount of control while running with the ball. What this does is it turns the left bumper and the right stick into modifiers in the same sense that basketball games use them. Depending on how you push the stick or move it, you can create a string of spins and jukes. There’s now a repertoire of over 30 moves. The stiff arm, in particular, stood out to me. The arm movements (with the Precision Modifier) are so realistic. You can almost feel the helmet on a linebacker getting knocked up. At one point, Ray Rice got locked into a shoving match with a linebacker, something that went on for three or four yards, the two of them almost arm wrestling before he finally went down. It looked awesome. Still, I’m sure some will find a way to abuse it — at times, it almost felt too powerful. I took an off-tackle play with Fred Jackson about 65 yards and used the stiff arm to easily knock two defenders off me once I got into the secondary.
Overall though, this gives players the opportunity to really add some pizazz to their moves and break out their inner Barry Sanders (don’t worry, it’s not overpowering), and it’s probably needed since dive tackling seems like it received a major upgrade this year.
Defense in general plays pretty similar to last year’s game. But while it lacked any massive upgrades like the Precision Modifier, I found gang tackling has turned a corner to become more realistic. It’s been smoothed out in year two of the Infinity Engine. Gone are the days where an offensive player gets stood up and a corner comes flying in and knocks the entire pile backwards by four yards. The few gang tackles that I did see were really cool. At one point on a punt, the return man went up the middle before a defender took out his legs and another hit him in the shoulder pads, the type of real life play that puts someone in the hospital with a torn-up knee.
Speaking of injuries, I played four games and didn’t see one. In fact, I don’t remember drawing a single flag either. I left the default settings as they were, and obviously most gamers will do their own tweaking, but still, that’s been a problem in the past.
All in all, the gameplay felt similar to the past few years of Madden, and your enjoyment of it will probably depend on where you stood with the last few versions. I did, however, crack a smile at some of the gameplay’s smaller improvements… like the way players push themselves off the ground after a particularly hard hit or the way you can tell Ray Rice has the ball by his quick, jitterbug-style steps.
Another small improvement came in hurdling. I know it sounds like a minor issue, but seeing an offensive player trip over a fallen defender was so satisfying. You’re going to have to use the hurdle button more often this year, something I never really utilized in the past. I had a kickoff return with Coye Francies that would’ve been an easy TD but as I was coming out of a juke, I didn’t see the body below his feet and it tripped him up. He tried for perhaps three yards to stay on his feet before going down face first. It cost me six, but I was impressed.
Madden Share has also taken a step forward with the ability to create and upload rosters, sliders and even playbooks (important because there are 351 new plays this year, as well as 20 new formations and two totally new playbooks in the Piston and Run and Shoot), which is something that I know will come in handy when I’m trying to get a leg up on my boys. Madden Ultimate Team is also here, sporting a heavier emphasis on Chemistry, and a new mode that allows for head-to-head seasons (10 game that culminate in eight-team playoff runs).
All of that is great, but what I was really looking forward to checking out was the Connected Franchise mode.
Keep reading to hear about the improvements in the owner/coach/player franchise mode…
Madden’s Franchise mode has always been the highlight of the series for me, and this year, it’s become more immersive than ever. In Connected Franchise, you have three options:
-PLAYER: go to work as a single play in hopes of creating a legend
-COACH: this is the traditional franchise mode
-OWNER: act as an owner with final say over all of the franchise’s finances
The career mode did produce a few improvements this year. For those of you who don’t have patience, XP and skill progression have been tuned up to help you improve and get on the field quicker. The game will also feature over 50 legendary players and coaches to choose from in Connected Franchise, adding legends like Mike Ditka — as a player AND coach — and William “Refrigerator” Perry.
That’s all well and good, but it was the returning “Owners Mode” that I was really excited about. As an owner, your primary focus is making money, selling tickets and keeping the team profitable and the fans happy. As the BMOC, it’s all about improving or maintaining your Team Value, which is a blend of factors, including Team Success, Popularity, Staff, Stadium, Concession Sales, Merchandise Sales and Ticket Sales. You control ALL of that. For example, when you go into the specific sections, you’ll see fake reactions from fans talking about how your product compares to the rest of the league. With tickets, you can set prices for everything from suites to upper level seats. Pretty cool. Merchandise has everything from signed footballs to jerseys to hats, and you set the prices. I went in and jacked up all the food prices just to see what would happen. Yo, you want a Pepsi? $10. People were pissed. You can even eventually upgrade the food options to five-stars restaurants, so fans aren’t stuck eating some chicken salad that’s probably been sitting out for weeks.
I started out as Ralph Wilson with Buffalo and immediately noticed that our fan zones, concessions and bathrooms were all rated as 48s. Way below average. I went out to improve those immediately because, just as in real life, it’s all one long chain. Fans will be happy if your stadium is up to par. They’ll spend more money. You’ll make more money to use as bonuses for free agents and coaches. Then, you’ll become a better team and people will spend more money. One big circle.
You can also renovate, rebuild an entire stadium or even relocate if you feel like making some enemies. Each city reacts differently as well. If you decide to move from Philly, know that those fans will be ruthless… at least compared to other places like Jacksonville.
If you decide to relocate, you’ll get the option of moving to different cities with different strengths and weaknesses. There are 17 eligible cities for relocation, everywhere from London to Mexico City to Sacramento, and all of them feature their own backstories, strengths and weaknesses. L.A. might fork over the most money whereas Orlando is only willing to shell out half for a new stadium. Take into account the market sizes, personalities of the cities (are they front runners or hardcore?) as well as the fan interest (speaking of Orlando, they had just 10 percent fan interest when I tried to move there whereas L.A. was 95). When I did finally move my team, there were immediate repercussions. My ticketing and concessions ranking plummeted as fans grew upset and I had to call a press conference to address the issue, saying basically that L.A. was a great place that would attract future free agents to come play for us.
The following week you decide on a new name. They’re all preloaded with backstories and logos, so that was cool and it simplified the process somewhat. As the new team in Los Angeles, I was only given four options, though: the Jaguars, the Dreams, the All Stars and the Aftershocks. Not exactly great names, but whatever. I went with Aftershocks for L.A.’s earthquakes. For some reason, the fans enjoyed that one.
The new uniforms are already preloaded, so that simplifies things again and helps keep it from getting too ridiculous. You’ll have the chance to go for a traditional look, a classic get-up or even a modern style.
Finally, choosing a stadium was the coolest part for me as it forces you to look at aspects like weekly costs, how many suites it offered and seating capacity. With 10 different options — canopy, futuristic or hybrid stadiums — there’s something for the ambitious as well as the penny savers.
Overall, I had only minor complaints in this mode; lengthy loading menus and sometimes seemingly random financial rankings didn’t dampen my enthusiasm. One thing I would’ve liked to see is the ability to hire staff members outside of a head coach, trainer or scout. But considering the massive amount of decisions I have to make on a week-by-week basis anyway, that’s not anywhere close to a deal breaker.
In the end, Madden NFL 25 may not always completely mimic exactly what you see on Sundays, yet it does a great job of fusing the details that’ll hook a hardcore gamer with on-the-fly “playability” needed to help a casual one. Between the ball-career improvements, much smarter AI and, of course, the improved Connected Careers mode, Madden NFL 25 is definitely another step in the right direction.
What do you think?
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