Madden NFL 25 review: Boom and Bust
In some ways, Madden 25 is a step forward from its predecessor, in others, it’s stuck at the line of scrimmage.
Image credit:EA/VG247
This past year, the handegg team I follow – the Seattle Seahawks – missed the playoffs. They weren’t terrible by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, there were some genuinely fun moments peppered throughout their stumble to a 9-8 record. Here’s to you, Jake Bobo , and to you, Geno Smith, for being a nice guy to Drew Lock .
They weren’t that good either though, hence the whole ‘firing a head coach that defined an entire era for the franchise’ thing. They were right in the NFL’s mushy middle, with enough ups and downs to have you pulling your hair out just as often as you were cheering. Madden NFL 25 ’s - no, not that one - is a bit like that too.
As ever, there’s a whole lot in the game that you’ll recognise instantly if you’ve played a Madden within about the past five years. It’s down to the nuances to make this year’s entry stand out from what came before, and to be fair, in a year that’s seen a fair amount of its attention and marketing push go towards comeback kid EA Sports College Football 25, there are a fair few changes for the better.
Gameplay-wise for example, the big selling point is “BOOM Tech” which is designed to deliver more realistic tackles and collisions, something that’s long been on the list of things EA’s been aiming to improve, as anyone who’s seen a rush end in a bunch of players dropping on the deck and flopping like a fish will tell you. This time though, it genuinely does seem to have helped. You’ll still get the odd awkward looking collision, but most of the heftier hits, especially those made via the hit stick, do feel more fluid and natural.
On the other side of the coin, as a runner, you feel a bit more dynamic in your sprints, jukes, and jives. I found myself able to pull off a few more of those spin and hesitations than usual, which tells me the new running mechanics had given me enough extra confidence that I didn’t need to rely so heavily on just booking it straight into the endzone before anything fluky could happen. That’s a pretty fun, if not spectacularly adrenaline-inducing, base for the action.
The hugs are much improved. |Image credit:EA
In most of the match-ups with the AI I’ve had so far, I feel like offences are a bit more powerful than defences, possibly due to the new catching changes - which are designed to facilitate more high risk/high reward haul-ins by the likes of receivers and tight ends. It wasn’t all the time, but I’ve ended up in a fair few shootouts, though with the changes to tackling likely having threatened to stack the deck towards the D, I’d understand if it turns out things have been tuned towards those trying to score points for now, possibly with mind to that being tweaked as the year goes on. Naturally, there’s a bunch of more in-depth stuff piled on top of that for the clipboard connoisseurs out there too, with new signature animations for different players and changes to run blocking, giving you something to look for if you’re big on the details. The new dynamic kickoffs are there to match this year’s new rules too, but aside from there being less fair catches, you might well not notice much of a difference unless you’re big into special teams.
Then there are the new kicking meters, which follow a bit of a theme for Madden 25 - replacing things that looked a fair bit dated, even if they didn’t always feel it. It’s one click to set direction, followed immediately by another to set power, with less margin for error than before and therefore an increased chance of properly ballsing things up. Yep, kicks, especially long ones, are a lot more of a challenge now, as the fans who’ve collected all of my attempts which have sailed just past the post will tell you.
Following that same theme I outlined before, one of the most noticeable changes off the field are the redesigned menus, which do make things feel a lot more fresh, even if they’re a pretty superficial change. The redesigned draft visuals for Franchise mode are along similar lines, in this case replacing a setup that’d felt decidedly stale and unreflective for a while. Now, however, we’ve got a silent Roger Goodell to boo as he poses with each of your team’s next great hopes and others’ top picks. I jest, but there’s some decent variety to it, even if it’s brought down a bit by the fact some of the faces you’ll see being drafted are ones you’ll recognise as having been in the series’ drafts for years. Also, some players’ proportions can look a bit weird as they stride out on stage, but given how weird real-life athletes can look in suits , EA might need letting off there.
Look, please stop staring at me Micah, I’m sure you don’t look weird in suits.
Beyond this, Franchise Mode is a mixed bag that’s largely standing still, with the same kind of minimalistically-rendered - that’s neither good or bad on its own in my book - cutscenes free from voice acting or much drama. The changes to player progression do seem to have fulfilled their goal of making young stars ascend faster, with Jordan Addison and JJ McCarthy having rapidly risen to help the Vikings to a 2025 title in one of my saves ( sorry Vikes fans ). The new team builder mechanic does build on the recently revamped team relocation mechanics, but at first it looked like I’d be totally unable to actually make my own team via the website you have to use to do so. It seems the UK version is just plain broken as of writing, so you’ve got to pretend you’re in the US just to avoid getting served up a 404 error when you try to load the thing up.
Despite the fact it offers a decent amount of logo, uniform, and stadium customisation on the whole - even if you might encounter an issue that sees your team be referred to by the first part of its name twice (eg the Boston Boston) once it’s in the game – that episode made me question why the team builder couldn’t have just been integrated into the game, rather than forcing you to use an outside website. Especially in the case of players who might not be fussed about uploading a tiny custom image to serve as the logo of a team they’ve dubbed something like the Grimsby Gobblers. It’s commendable Madden’s finally trying to match the long-superior customisation offered by the likes of NBA 2K , but additional refinement is definitely needed if that gap to MyLeague is actually going to close.
It’s like this, but with a crappy JPG you’ve uploaded as the logo. |Image credit:EA
Switching gears, the changes to superstar mode are even more minimal, with the ability to import your College Football 25 player and a creator that allows you to make a player that looks detailed enough not be a generic NPC if you’re not doing the whole import thing being the headlines. That creator’s ok, I suppose, even if you only start off with the option of one tattoo, which seems a bit crap, though you can earn more by just playing. Come on lads, at least give newbies three different kinds of embarrassing 2000s tribal and some footballs with flames coming out of them.
Right, now Ultimate Team. Generally speaking, if you were just looking for more to do as you ride the pack dopamine rush to places that’ll probably have you moaning about scripting whenever you lose an online match, EA’s risen to that challenge. There are eight seasons of stuff planned throughout the game’s lifespan, some decently fun sole challenges to grind away at, and some changes to how head-to-head rankings work, with a bigger emphasis on wins and rewards.
So, it’s another year, another pretty mixed bag, even if it does feel like things might be trending in a slightly more positive direction. Here’s the thing though, like those Seahawks, things’ll only keep running in place unless Madden can offer some more meaningful change going forwards. Here’s hoping having the series’ cheeky sibling back on the block, with its marching bands and moral quandaries about exploitation, can help spur that shift.
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Madden NFL 25
PS4 , Xbox One , PS3 , Xbox 360
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Madden NFL 25 PS4 Review: Next-Gen Is In the Play, Not the Graphics
Madden NFL 25 won’t knock you over with amazing next-gen graphics, but the game has changed.
- Developer EA Sports
- Publisher Electronic Arts
- Version reviewed PlayStation 4
- Also available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One
- Price $59.99
- Link Amazon
- Review copy from The Publisher
This article first appeared on USgamer, a partner publication of VG247. Some content, such as this article, has been migrated to VG247 for posterity after USgamer’s closure - but it has not been edited or further vetted by the VG247 team.
Madden and I have never been friends. I don’t hate the game, football just isn’t my sport and the sport I do watch, I don’t play the video game for. I’ve been exposed to football and Madden because of friends and family. My best friend and was an avid Madden player and Washington Redskins fan. My girlfriend is also a big Redskins fan. My family falls squarely on the side of the Carolina Panthers and they’re constantly asking me how the new Madden will turn out.
I know the sport. I watch it every week. I know enough to engage in the sports-related small talk that happens whenever you go. I know the game, I’ve played it before. One roommate I just stopped living with played Madden NFL 13 all the time on my PlayStation 3. But I lack the familiarity with the series that some readers may have. I don’t know it like I know Assassin’s Creed or Dead Space. So I’m speaking from the position of a layman here.
Graphically, Madden NFL 25 on PlayStation 4 isn’t all that impressive.
The Madden team at EA Sports has put a ton of work into the next-generation Madden 25. They’re touting a host of improvements to the game over the current-gen Madden 25: improved player interactions, grass on the field, field wear and tear, new textures on the uniforms and the stadiums, cloth physics on the jerseys, and true 3D crowds. And you can see these improvements… in the replays. The effect is totally diminished in the normal playview, which puts you far above the players. I’m guessing EA Sports knows it too, because official screenshots tend to stay away from how Madden players normally see the game in favor of the superior close-up shots.
Some people probably won’t see the difference between current-gen and next-gen Madden. This screenshot is straight from my PS4.
Even up close, the players’ uniforms and helmets are looking better, but their faces still need a bit more work. Madden has leaped into the uncanny valley and it probably wouldn’t be as noticeable if I hadn’t also seen the superior work being done on NBA 2K14.
So Madden’s graphics won’t shock you and change your mind about the PlayStation 4, but it’s not all disappointment. EA has changed how the game plays. Again, as a layman, one of the few differences I noticed between the PlayStation 3 - thanks Redbox! - and PlayStation 4 versions of Madden 25 is the running game. The PlayStation 4 version prioritizes the simulation over the gameplay, so running includes momentum now. That means your player can’t cut and turn on a dime anymore, he needs time to shift his weight, change direction, and build up some speed. If you’re an avid Madden player, that’s a big change that affects how you’ve been playing the game up until now.
There’s also a number of other changes that make the game lean towards realism. This includes interactive crowds: if they notice a big play, they’ll respond accordingly. It’s a small addition for the series, but I’m sure it’s a welcome one for Madden players. The offensive and defensive lines now benefit from the added processing power of the PlayStation 4 with more blocking interactions and decision-making based on actual player stats. Based on those stats, certain players can actually sense changes on the field and adjust in real-time. I brought in my former roommate to taste test if this actually made for smarter players on the digital field. His verdict? Yes, it does work. The players react like they would in real life and with constantly-updated rosters and stats, that means a better game for football fans.
That grass.
One thing that tends to happen when EA Sports games transition from one generation to the next is you get slightly-improved graphical presentation, but most of the extra modes and options players have come to expect are missing-in-action. Sony must have given EA Sports the hardware early this time around, because Madden NFL 25 on PlayStation 4 stands up well next to the current-generation versions. All the modes players had on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, including Ultimate Team and Connected Franchise, are here. Ultimate Team even transfers over from PS3 to PS4 if you’re upgrading.
While Madden NFL 25’s updated visuals aren’t always readily apparent, EA Sports did a great job making sure the game isn’t lacking in what players have come to expect from current-gen versions. If you’ve bought Madden 25 already, the PS4 version may not impress you when it comes to graphics, but it is the best version of the game. The changes in physics and player AI mean veteran Madden players will have to re-learn certain parts of the game, but this is the way forward for the series and the simulation. Madden NFL 25 on PS4 feels like the beginning of a pivot for the franchise, but the series still has to tear away from the shackles of current-gen platforms. I expect Madden 2015 or 2016 will be where the series digs in and really starts impressing people.
Conclusion Outside of instant replays, Madden NFL 25 won’t impress the average player on PlayStation 4, as the game’s normal play mode doesn’t always show off the next-generation graphics. Improved physics and player AI change how the game is played on a fundamental level, making it more realistic, so veteran players will need a period of adjustment. Unlike previous console launch versions of Madden, Madden NFL 25 on PS4 keeps all the extra modes you’ve come to expect from the series.
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Madden NFL 25
PS4 , Xbox One , PS3 , Xbox 360
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