Broken Auto Substitutions

In Connected Careers mode, the auto substitution feature simply does not work. Tired players will remain on the field with orange and red stamina, regardless of how high the “sub out” threshold is set.

With so many fatigued players stuck on the field, injuries are bound to occur, potentially ruining teams' season whenever key defenders or skill position players get carted off.

At certain positions like running back and wide receiver, setting the “sub out” value too high will cause players to leave the field and never return to play, even after resting up.

Lack Of Off-Ball Injuries

In Madden NFL 25, 95 percent of the injuries occur between the tackler and the ball carrier.

As a result, offensive linemen never get injured, aside from the odd time when they're making a tackle on a fumble return or interception return.

With no need to carry backup linemen on the roster, general managers can load up on defenders and the offensive skill positions.

Frustrating Formation Subs System

Despite all the menus and sub-menus in Madden NFL 25's Connected Careers mode, there remains no way to set up formation-specific substitutions prior to entering a game.

Even if you're willing to sacrifice a few delay of game penalties on the opening drive to set up your substitutions from inside the huddle, those changes will be automatically reset at the game's conclusion.

Madden sorely needs a menu inside its career mode where every starter in every formation (including special teams) can be edited and permanently saved.

Custom Playbook Limitations

If All-Pro Football 2K8 for the PlayStation 3 can allow all 6,442 plays in the game to be stored in a single playbook, how is it that Madden NFL 25 on the PlayStation 4 remains limited to just 400 plays and 11 formations per playbook?

Fans of the Ask Madden playcalling option still have no way to use that feature in a custom playbook, as Ask Madden will be automatically replaced by My Gameplan.

There also seem to be several glitches on the PlayStation 4 that will cause custom playbooks to randomly crash the system or bug out during games.

Removed Create-A-Play Feature

Madden NFL 09 on the PlayStation 3 was the last game in the series to allow user-created plays, and even then, gamers had to own NFL Head Coach 09 just to access the feature.

It makes no sense that a $1 independent game like Avatar Football can include a play creator, but a $60, million-selling blockbuster like Madden NFL 25 cannot.

If Madden is unwilling to reinstall a full play editor, the game should at least be able to remember players' preferred hot route combinations. That way gamers would not have to waste 10 to 15 seconds every down recreating the same pre-snap adjustments.

Lack Of Individual Defensive Assignments

If you want to have your best cornerback automatically lining up over the offense's best receiver all game long, you're simply out of luck in Madden NFL 25.

There is currently no way to make a specific defender shadow a specific offensive player, outside of coming to the line and manually performing a hot route every down.

Convoluted Hot Route System

Madden NFL 25's pre-play offensive controls are acceptable, apart from the inability to flip the direction of shotgun runs or any play that involves pre-snap motion.

But on defense, having to manually move your cursor over each player just to alter his assignment is frustratingly slow and tedious.

It takes far too much time and far too many button presses to perform basic tasks like telling a defender to use inside coverage technique.

Madden's pre-snap controls are badly in need of a redesign. On the Xbox One, Kinect voice recognition could be a tremendous help for speeding up and simplifying pre-play commands.

Few Coverage Shells, Little Pre-Snap Movement

Passing the ball has always been too easy in Madden games, and a lack of defensive deception is a major reason why.

In Madden, a quarterback can easily diagnose the defensive coverage as soon as the teams get set.

Aside from “base align” and “show blitz,” there are no defensive shells in Madden NFL 25 that could be used to show the quarterback one look before falling back into a different defense at the snap.

And barring a small selection of predetermined plays, individual defenders cannot creep up on the line of scrimmage to show a fake blitz or improve the angle of an intended blitz.

Can't Call Defense Line Stunts

For as long as Madden has existed, it has given gamers no control over the defensive line stunts that are tied to each play call.

As a result, the awareness ratings for interior linemen simply do not matter in Madden, as guards and centers will become engaged in a block the second the ball is snapped.

Additionally, athletic interior defenders like Ndamukong Suh or Jurrell Casey cannot use their explosiveness to maneuver around slower offensive linemen, as large percent of the game's plays will force them to run straight ahead, directly into a blocker.

The lack of line stunts also limits how creative gamers can be with their blitzes, as the potential to confuse the offensive line with loop blitzes and delay blitzes is nonexistent in Madden NFL 25.

Position Change Restrictions

Want to move a defensive end to defensive tackle? Cornerback to free safety? Outside linebacker to defensive end? Offensive tackle to guard?

You cannot in Connected Careers mode, due to player editing restrictions.

While it is possible to move players around on the team depth chart, anyone who is not lining up at his listed position will receive a huge penalty to his awareness rating, rendering that player ineffective on the field unless he is being manually controlled every snap.

Cannot Take Your Connected Careers Team Into Practice Mode

Yes, Madden NFL 25 does offer practice drills, where you gain experience points from completing weekly minigames. But if you want to take your Connected Careers team into Madden's fully featured practice mode, there is no way to do so.

For serious, competitive Madden gamers, practice is arguably the most-played mode in the game, yet it cannot be accessed from within Connected Careers. There is also no way to export your franchise team for use in outside game modes.

By the time you advance three to four seasons into Connected Careers, and the rosters no longer resemble today's NFL, there is no good way to get a feel for your team or for your opponent's team outside of actual league games.

Penalty Problems

Have you ever seen an ineligible man downfield on a screen pass in Madden NFL 25? What about pass interference or illegal contact? Late hits out of bounds or after the whistle? My answer to all those questions is a disappointed “Nope.”

The NFL rulebook contains 85 different penalties, yet there are currently just 14 possible penalties in Madden NFL 25.

The few penalty types that have been programmed into Madden rarely get called on the field, unless you are playing with the slider settings significantly pumped up.

Many of the game's sliders do not even function properly. Turning up holding and clipping, for instance, will cause lots of infractions on pass plays and kick returns, but virtually no flags on running plays.

Madden already contains far too many player ratings, but one attribute that's sorely needed is a “discipline” rating ala the EA NHL series. The game needs a way to distinguish between an aggressive safety like Bernard Pollard, who's good for at least two personal fouls a game, versus a disciplined player like Wesley Johnson, who played 169 consecutive quarters on Vanderbilt's offensive line without committing a holding penalty.

Incorrect NFL Rules

In Madden NFL 25, games that end in a tie are not correctly calculated in the standings. If one team finishes with a 9-7 record, but another team has an 9-6-1 record, the game will incorrectly place the 9-7 team ahead of the 9-6-1 team.

On the final play of a half, if you take a fair catch on a punt, your team is supposed to be granted a free kick from the spot of the catch, even if there is no time on the clock. This rule does not exist in Madden NFL 25. In the 20 or so games I've played, there have been three opportunities where this rule could have come into play and potentially added three points to the scoreboard.

Backward Wind Indicator

In Madden NFL 25, the wind on the field blows opposite the direction of the wind indicator. This is an easy adjustment to make once you realize what's going on, but for the millions of people who play Madden without reading its Internet forums, this mistake will mess with their kicking game.

Kicking Is Too Easy

I cannot remember the last time I missed a field goal in Madden for any reason other than a lack of kick power.

Madden NFL 25 still does not discourage players for lowering the aim arrow all the way down on every kick, as there is little chance of ever getting a field goal blocked, regardless of its trajectory.

If Madden's developers do not want to include blocked kicks and bad snaps for fear of alienating casual players, the least the team could do is include a "real field goal percentage" option ala NBA 2K, which would finally make the game's kicking accuracy rating relevant.