E3 2013: Madden NFL 25 Xbox One Hands-On

Feature Article

Submitted on: 06/12/2013 by Steve Noah

Finally.

Madden NFL 25 has redesigned pass blocking with its new targeting system, which is the foundation of the battle in the trenches. Offensive and defensive lineman are more physical and intelligent, but unfortunately you won’t notice any of this until you pop Madden NFL 25 into your Xbox One – hopefully you have patience, and, well, an Internet connection.

Here are a few bullet points regarding Madden NFL 25:

Double team pass blocking
300 new pass rush animations
On passing plays, tackles set up the edge rush to create the width of the pocket, guards and center create the depth of the pocket
The QB has a pocket, and not just a pretend one anymore
No two pockets will look the same.
Offensive lineman will double team and abort double teams when they sniff out a blitz
If a blocker can't get to a defender in time, he will chip to try to slow him down or adjust his path.

Hands-On Impressions

The Hands-on was extremely limited. So limited as in we took control of Adrian Peterson on a dive and sweep play on the Rookie difficulty setting.

The blocking improvements and running animations looked good, but it wasn't eye-popping beautiful as was the hope. I really thought I was going to be blown away by the graphics, but that didn't happen. Saw quite a few different animations, which might be in the current-gen of Madden NFL 25 as well. One animation had Peterson hurdling a defender, only to be spun around like a helicopter from a hit from another defender. It looked amazing, not sure how often that would happen, but I only saw it once.

For those doubting double team pass blocking, stop worrying. I saw it quite a few times as the producers were showing actual gameplay and going into slow motion replay to showcase how much the pass blocking has improved. You could see the double team pass blocking on almost every occasion, especially when the defense didn't send a blitz. Even when they did send a blitz, you could see a quick double team, then be smart enough to quickly release and engage with the blitzing defender.

Pursuit angles, foot planting and blocking impressed me. Check back at OS later in the week for more impressions of Madden NFL 25.

Madden NFL 25 Videos

Member Comments

# 1 jpdavis82 @ 06/12/13 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMChrisS


	Finally. Madden NFL 25 has redesigned pass blocking with its new targeting system, which is the foundation of the battle in the trenches. Offensive and defensive lineman are more physical and intelligent, but unfortunately you won�t notice any of this until you pop Madden NFL 25 into your Xbox One � hopefully you have patience, and, well, an Internet connection. Read More - E3 2013: Madden NFL 25 Xbox One Hands-On

As i suspected, rookie difficulty

# 2 juicey79 @ 06/12/13 12:07 PM

The graphics didn't look much better than current gen? That's a bit disappointing. How did the crowd look, react, and sound? What about the stadium sounds (p.a)?

# 3 myownsun @ 06/12/13 12:11 PM

That write up was spot on and sums up exactly how I feel about next gen madden.

# 4 trey2k198003 @ 06/12/13 12:17 PM

Who cares about difficulty on a demo and better yet...how do you suspect it ? lol

# 5 TheBleedingRed21 @ 06/12/13 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by juicey79


	The graphics didn't look much better than current gen? That's a bit disappointing. How did the crowd look, react, and sound? What about the stadium sounds (p.a)?

The colors are a hell of a lot better. Still shocked people expected a ps2-ps3 kind of leap in graphics lol. It's about gameplay now folks (The true measurement of games).

# 6 The_Balm @ 06/12/13 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by juicey79


	The graphics didn't look much better than current gen? That's a bit disappointing. How did the crowd look, react, and sound? What about the stadium sounds (p.a)?

They played in practice mode, so no crowd (I think they played the exact same thing IGN demoed).

# 7 phantomremix @ 06/12/13 12:38 PM

game play game play game play. Bring the feeling into the game now. That's what i care about.

# 8 Iamloch @ 06/12/13 12:47 PM

Graphics look good just hope the gameplay is more realistic-with the line hopefully based on ratings the lineman perform based on attributes-sometimes they miss that lb coming (lineman can be fooled) aswell as dlineman can be dominated sometimes-aswell as ur lineman may be strong in one area and not in another and it actually shows on certain plays-even to the point where u feel as a coach u have to replace them in the offseason and get better at different positions

# 9 simfballcritic @ 06/12/13 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by juicey79


	The graphics didn't look much better than current gen? That's a bit disappointing. How did the crowd look, react, and sound? What about the stadium sounds (p.a)?

They are playing a very limited practice mode with no crowds, sidelines, etc. This game still has much more development to be done before launch, that's fact. We will see how the finish.

# 10 Iamloch @ 06/12/13 12:48 PM

# 11 RogueHominid @ 06/12/13 01:25 PM

This new stuff gameplay wise--it's not limited to the XBOX One, is it? I'm assuming that the same improvements will be part of the regular 360 title. Am I right about this?

# 12 The_Balm @ 06/12/13 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMP


	This new stuff gameplay wise--it's not limited to the XBOX One, is it? I'm assuming that the same improvements will be part of the regular 360 title. Am I right about this?

Some is, some isn't. And some of the stuff is the same new feature, but it's better on next gen.

# 13 RogueHominid @ 06/12/13 01:45 PM

If that's the case, that's pitiful. In the absence of full disclosure on this issue, I'd have to wait to purchase the game until reputable OS guys can speak to the improvements on the 360 compared to the XBOX One. I'm hoping that they put a lot into the final version of the 360 game and made it the best of the bunch. I suppose time will tell.

# 14 jpdavis82 @ 06/12/13 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMP


	If that's the case, that's pitiful. In the absence of full disclosure on this issue, I'd have to wait to purchase the game until reputable OS guys can speak to the improvements on the 360 compared to the XBOX One. I'm hoping that they put a lot into the final version of the 360 game and made it the best of the bunch. I suppose time will tell.

Have you watched the videos of current gen in the E3 video thread? It's looking pretty good IMO.

# 15 jpdavis82 @ 06/12/13 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bucky60


	You don't get near enough of a picture looking at just a couple minutes of gameplay. How good is the AI, both on and off the field. CPU AI drafting, FA's, Roster Management, etc. How realistic are injuries? How realistic are the stats in both played and simmed games? There is so much more to a Video Football game than just "some small sampling of videos look pretty good". The things I want to see before buying won't even be visible in a demo. I'll just wait until the game is out and in trusted hands before I go forming any opinions. Not sure how others can form such extreme opinions and even try and correct others opinions with such little "real info".

That's true, but unfortunately we are very limited as to what we can see of Madden 25 this year at E3.

# 16 RogueHominid @ 06/12/13 02:01 PM

Yeah, I've seen some of them, but it's hard to know what's been rendered and what's taken straight from gameplay. I would really like a list of exactly what's in the One that's not in the 360, but I don't think we're likely to get that kind of straightforward information. That may be a bit cynical, but we usually don't find out how games really are as consumers until we buy and play them. That goes for all games, not just Madden. If I'm going to invest in this game, I want to play it for 2-3 years, until the One game gets really good (it usually takes that long on new generation consoles), so it will have to have a really robust feature set and lots of gameplay improvements.

# 17 huskerwr38 @ 06/12/13 02:04 PM

Do lineman still have eyes in the back of their heads? Where they would come all the way from the back side to pick up a blitz.

# 18 Instant C1a55ic @ 06/12/13 02:12 PM

wont be getting an xbox one at launch...ps4 all the way for now.

Its good to see the line itself getting some love this year, I really liked during the E3 presentation when I noticed a d-lineman reaching out for the QB.

So do all the improvements JUST for the next gen consoles or is current gen getting the same thing?

# 19 jmik58 @ 06/12/13 02:37 PM

I'd like to hear what changes were made to defensive player AI/logic from a programming perspective. Are defenders reading and reacting to real keys (like in real life) via dynamic progression throughout each play, or is the defensive AI still the same as current gen?

# 20 jpdavis82 @ 06/12/13 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMP


	Yeah, I've seen some of them, but it's hard to know what's been rendered and what's taken straight from gameplay. I would really like a list of exactly what's in the One that's not in the 360, but I don't think we're likely to get that kind of straightforward information. That may be a bit cynical, but we usually don't find out how games really are as consumers until we buy and play them. That goes for all games, not just Madden. If I'm going to invest in this game, I want to play it for 2-3 years, until the One game gets really good (it usually takes that long on new generation consoles), so it will have to have a really robust feature set and lots of gameplay improvements.

Nothing was rendered for next gen except for the CGI trailer. Everything at the E3 press conference was from actual gameplay. Including the close up of RG3 and his visor. Shopmaster said they had a presentation aside from the demo and it was stuck on that close up of RG3 close up and everyone thought it was just the trailer again, but then the EA rep went and hit the pause button and resumed the game, so that was gameplay that you saw in the E3 trailer.

This is what I am referring to, this is confirmed as in game.

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