What's Hot and What's Not With Madden NFL 25

Feature Article

Submitted on: 06/03/2013 by Matthew Coe

We've been bombarded with tons of information on Madden NFL 25 in the last week. While a lot of what we are hearing sounds great, such as the return of Owner Mode -- we are not seeing any real gameplay up to this point.

It's doubtful the Madden team is hiding a red herring in the form of atrociously bad gameplay, but most Madden fans want to see what this year's game is bringing to the table with the new 'run-free' feature as well as the second iteration of the 'Infinity Engine.'

Here's what we're excited about and what gives us pause for this year's edition of Madden NFL 25 heading into E3:

Owner's mode is back, and not a moment too soon!

What's Hot

The return of Owner Mode and full 32 team control. This is truly not a moment too soon, Madden is getting a much needed infusion of depth in it's franchise mode. Full 32 team control is an underrated feature for those who like to keep their NFL world running realistically as well.
NCAA Draft Import is back! A very unpopular decision to remove this feature from Madden NFL 13 has been rectified for Madden NFL 25. While yes, this feature should have never been removed, it is nice to see the feature's immediate return after a one year hiatus.
More depth to the commentary in Madden NFL 25. Jim Nance and Phil Simms should have more lines recorded and hopefully more relevant information for Madden 25. Stitching should be better and the commentary should be more specific to your world.
More authentic audio. Supposedly the Madden team has been hard at work adding more team chants, first down and stadium sounds. Also promised is more authentic tracks from various stadiums and redone referee audio. All of this 'sounds' good. We'll see how it plays out when we see some in-game footage.
Trey Wingo and Adam Schefter at the NFL Draft. The NFL Draft is a huge NFL event in real life and in Madden 25 the team aims to make it feel more alive and real with branching storylines and new audio. New this year, draft guides should be rendered less effective since the same draftees won't boom or bust in every draft class.

The big problem: WE WANT TO SEE MORE GAMEPLAY!

What's Not

No news on improved late game AI, game planning, and other weak points of Madden NFL 13's gameplay. We haven't heard anyone acknowledge the issues with the awful single player late game AI, play calling, and roster management. I think we're all looking to hear and see that these things have been fixed.
No PC version of Madden NFL 25. News broke recently that Madden 25 will not be headed to the PC. There was some initial hope that there might have been a PC version in the works, but no dice this year and the outlook doesn't look great going forward.
Owner Mode restrictions. In Madden NFL 25, we're finding out that we don't have all of the freedom that we had in Madden NFL for last-generation consoles. We're restricted to relocating to a select 17 cities and we still have some player editing restrictions. It's great that Owner Mode is back, but it might be another year away from greatness.
"Exclusive" content for XBOX ONE. We don't quite know what this means, but EA has made some kind of deal to bring exclusive content to the XBOX ONE version of many of it's next-gen games. What does this mean for Madden NFL 25? There's too much vagueness going on here currently.
We need to see some actual gameplay. I'm sure EA Sports is holding off on gameplay for E3, but it would really help assure the restless Madden fans if we could see some gameplay footage showing improved blocking, Infinity Engine 2.0, and much improved AI decision making.

What are you looking forward to most with Madden NFL 25 and what are your top concerns as we head into E3?

Madden NFL 25 Videos

Member Comments

# 41 LorenzoDC @ 06/06/13 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by infemous


	The issue lies in the inclusion of a 'splash' feature like Owner mode, which definitely has a market, but that its inclusion is at the expense of a deeper version of the other two, arguably more important, game modes.

I'm hoping their approach is to do one "splash" item a piece for one gameplay item and one presentation from now on, as long as they are things worthy to remain in the game year on year, that they can build on next gen (personally, not sure Run Free won't end up being vision cone). That approach would satisfy the marketing need for the mass audience, and insulate them from knee jerk "roster update" criticisms, etc.

But then, simultaneously and more importantly, I want them to keep building each year with future years in mind, like any consistently successful NFL franchise would. That means things like new basic code, new database structures, consoli****** management of modes as CCM/CFM does, and rapidly eliminating these legacy bugs and longstanding "little things" we all know so well.

Because there are so many "little things" littered throughout the game, together they are a Big Thing. And hopefully a refresh on the game for nextgen will allow them to stop fixing one thing while making another thing worse every year, which gets to the whole annual progression issue.

They've invested a lot in preparing for nextgen over the last two years, doubling staff head counts and such. Maybe that's a thin excuse for some iffy progress over the last two years, as they are doing a lot of basic work and in a way developing for two games at once. That's why, to me, the big launch to watch for in Madden is not in August, but November.

# 42 Ford74 @ 06/06/13 11:13 AM

The main thing I want back is custom audible and playbooks in Online Franchise!

# 43 Ozair Hussain @ 06/06/13 01:08 PM

there was editing in Maden 12 that allowed you to change players postitions

# 44 Ozair Hussain @ 06/06/13 01:12 PM

Uhhhhh.....I'm not being rude, but why are people having fights on a forum about Madden 25....That's what Facebook's for.....

# 45 harlemkiid149 @ 06/06/13 10:38 PM

there have to be routes that Wrs can run to break free from man press. How many times have you played the 49ers and all someone did was play man press the whole game. Big receivers should be able to get off the line and guys with quick 1st steps should make a DB pay for playing too close. On read option plays sometimes the outside linebacker(3-4 defense) is being read not the DE. QB avoidance needs to be fixed I feel like your only option when dropping back to pass and being blitzed is to ground it or throw it up for grabs,these agile qb's have real moves in the pocket(spin,juke,tailback type moves). More strip sacks,QB's don't have the greatest carrying attributes and alot of the defensive players are going for these tomahawk strips sacks not just the Ko hit. I want to see the dline get results when they perform stunts and when guys like JJ Watt and Suh power rush,I want to see the o line get pushed back. Certain guys should be considered athletes and should be able to line up in certain positions regardless of formation. Guys like Brad Smith,Denard Robinson,Josh Cribbs should be allowed to line up at QB,WR,RB in any formation. Can you allow Percy Harvin to line up as a tailback bcuz if you can't use him as a tailback your not able to utilize his full potential,that's why he left Minny duhhhhhhhh
.

# 46 harlemkiid149 @ 06/06/13 10:44 PM

The Madden franchise is like the government they give you just enough each year. Right.... kinda like how all of a sudden Bin Laden was killed in an election year...right...Why hasn't Madden came out with a feature that allows you to edit plays in each playbook similar to how you could do in NFL Head Coach. This is long overdue but obviously the people over at Madden either aren't the brightest bulbs in the box or simply they're just inflating the market since they know they have no competition. Its like your job cutting your hours and your wages bcuz they no you won't quit bcuz finding a another job is a job in itself. With that said I'll be whooping *** this year on Madden 25 with PHiLLY SoN!!!!

# 47 Trick13 @ 06/06/13 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ford74


	The main thing I want back is custom audible and playbooks in Online Franchise!

You essentially got that already, the changes to formation audiblesaudible will greatly expand audible options, the only limit being personnel groupings and custom playbooks (grab a play and add it, no custom plays) is already confirmed.

# 48 reyes the roof @ 06/08/13 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schnaidt1


	What's not hot is that Donny Moore still fits ratings and over rates absolutely everyone. The reasons need to be spread out and we need 80% of the players need to be rated 75 and under. And they still haven't fixed progression..... smh

Yeah no kidding. I just did a franchise with the updated rosters someone made in the roster section with all the free agent moves and draft picks. I used the Bears and my salary cap was such a mess after 1 year because they over rated all the jabronis the Bears signed off the scrap heap this year like Matt Slauson, Eben Britton, Tom Zibikowski and the cpu gave them huge contracts. I ended up having to turn the salary cap off to play my second season

# 49 negativefx83 @ 07/01/13 08:48 AM

Did they confirm offline fantasy draft?

# 50 Clemsonpanther @ 07/01/13 04:40 PM

Is offline ccm fantasy draft in?

# 51 SteboSSK @ 07/01/13 06:02 PM

I want to know more about the possible used of NCAA import from current gen into next gen games. Made a thread and Steve said it was mentioned as a possibility by the devs.

# 52 CT Pitbull @ 07/01/13 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteboSSK


	I want to know more about the possible used of NCAA import from current gen into next gen games. Made a thread and Steve said it was mentioned as a possibility by the devs.

if this is possible it will be the only reason I DO NOT trade in one of my 360's and NCAA14 after launch of the XB1. it would be great if they could have a way to create draft classes via "madden share" on next gen just like the nba2k series does now. But if draft classes from ncaa14 end up being able to be ported to the XB1/PS4 I will definitely take advantage of that. Its not a perfect solution but it's better than nothing and a "do-able" option for many of us who keep an old console around.

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