One of the biggest issues with the EA's Madden franchise for years has been the head-scratching decisions made by the AI, either from your teammates, or your opponents. So many times fans of the series have watched computer players routinely ignore the action on the field, and act as if they were involved in some type of digital point-shaving scheme. Communities such as Operation Sports have tried their best to tweak sliders to compensate for the apparent lack of logic, but only so much could be done to negate the consistent absurdity of the AI decision making.

With the release of Madden 15, EA touts the all-new Player-Sense 2.0. Some of the improvements include smarter tackling, better QB play and decision making, contextual awareness, smarter zone coverage, etc. While all of this sounds like it will make for a much more enjoyable on-field experience for Madden 15 players, it only does so if implemented correctly – and that’s always the big question surrounding this franchise.

We can honestly say that from our time with Madden 15, which has been quite a lot, the developers (and upper management) seem to finally be grasping what its fan-base wants. Now that’s not to say there are no longer any deficiencies in the decision making progress, but in my humble opinion, the improvements far outweigh the negative this in this year’s iteration.

Even with all of the improvements across the board for this year’s title, we would be doing an injustice to our readers if we didn’t mention the DB-WR interaction. I am specifically talking about the wide receivers inconsistent approach to fighting for the ball. If you have played or watched any type of football on any level, than you have an understanding of when the ball is the in the air, both the receiver and defender are fighting each other for possession. In Madden 15 (and past titles) the defender does a very nice job of attacking the ball, but the receiver is entirely too passive. Occasionally one will see said receiver go up aggressively for the ball, but not nearly enough. From the earliest stages players are taught that when the ball is in the air, they are equal parts receiver and defender in instances of off-target and under-thrown balls. This is simply not the case in EA Sports’ NFL franchise – at least not enough.

The WR-DB interaction isn’t the only issue one will find with Madden 15's improved Player Sense 2.0 either. Although claims of zone-coverage being fixed isn’t entirely wrong, there are still too many instances where zone coverage just looks busted. One should expect a defender in zone coverage to anticipate and react, not just react. Sadly though, there are still cases where you will see the defender only react after the play has happened.
If you played last year’s Madden 25, than you have a complete understanding of the atrocious late-game clock management and play-calling system. In Madden 15 we have seen a very nice improvement in this area, but there are still cases where if a certain decision was made like that in real-life, someone’s getting fired on Monday. Once again, the improvement in AI play-calling is a huge leap forward, but there is still room for improvement.

EA Sports claims the computer now makes the same decisions a user would make. While we wouldn’t go quite that far, we can say we were pleasantly surprised by the progress made in the overall AI awareness and decision-making process. From a computer controlled player and decision making standpoint, the game has come a long way, but still has a way to go before one cannot differentiate between playing a human controlled team, or an AI controlled one.

Here is to hoping that the EA understands the improvements made in Madden 15 won't be the last -- there are areas that need still need attention. But this was a great start, and it gives hope to sports gamers now that they know they have a voice. Let’s hope the powers that be will allow the developers to continue along this path of improvement, leaving the old avenue of back-of-the-box features in the wind.