Madden NFL 25 Impressions Thread

[NDAlum]

If you are an online ranked player you are screwed. It's WIDE OPEN

If you play in online leagues you'll be fine. My favorite thing about the game so far is the drastic reduction in lead pass effectiveness. Lead passing was an exploit last year and used by "exploiters" to bail themselves out when they really needed a big play. Those days are gone my friends.

A few other notes:

Exploit route: curl vs soft man coverage
I put a scrub out there on All-Madden against Joe Haden. I completed every single curl route against Haden in man. I had pass reaction & pass coverage on 100. It's just an exploit. This does not apply to man press though. Haden draped all over me and I had a hard time completing anything.

PA TE Corners & slot corners are not as effective
You can still get it in there but it's not the money play it was in M13.

Wheel route can be completed but isn't money and the defender doesn't run 10 yards away from the receiver

WR Screens are improved
Smoke screen audible is great. You can actually get some decent blocking this year.

Overall I'm very happy. Sliders appear to be functioning so far this year. The running locomotion is improved. Played a few online games and no lag whatsoever or issues. I'm enjoying the Owner Mode interface.

[schmit_95]

Overall, its just what I expected.

The good:
Dive tackles are nice.
QB throwing animations seem to work for the most part
graphics are better

The dreadful:
The stadium songs are NOT fixed this year. Played witht eh eagles, scored, I hear fly eagles....my hopes are up, its going to work this year, and then I hear....fake crazy train drowing out the fight song. Sigh...looks like that wont be fixed.
Hate the fact that the user pocket collapses after 3 seconds, but the cpu pocket holds up for 10-15 seconds almost every passing play. Where's the balance?
The 87 eagles throwbacks have the silver pants this year, but the darn helmet is green, THERES NO WING. Not a big deal cause its a throwback but still, cmon.

Way too many interceptions, maybe if I turn the ball hawk thing off that might offset, we'll see.

Overall, not really impressed, in no way has my thinking changed that "this is on the right direction" I never thought I would long for the Ian Cummings era.......

[SECElit3]

After a few more attempts at making it through a complete game, I can honestly say, that this game comes no where close to the expectations I had for it, based on my experience with the demo. It plays so much like Madden 13, and I hated that game. EA had it right with demo, and has it so wrong now. It makes no sense to me why this company does the things it does. I may try downloading again, this time without the patch to see if that helps anything. I really wish this company would relinquish the exclusive licenses, because they are single handedly the worst game developer in the industry. Can anyone with the disc tell me if it plays the same as the early release?

[ABR173rd]

Just wanted to point something out regarding the Commentary ( I am in no way endorsing the overall mess that has been presentation and Commentary this gen).

I played my first preseason game with the Saints versus the Chiefs- Nance and Simms went on a dialogue about Andy Reid and taking over the Chiefs, then talked about how the Matt Cassel era was over and how Reid brought in former first rounder Alex Smith. There was a little more substance to this commentary but this snapshot of commentary is exactly what I am talking about in regards to bringing this game to life.

If EA can adapt this dialogue to evolve throughout an entire franchise between player and coach moves and acquisitions during the in game commentary (to include the draft classes and created coaches) this would be a huge leap in regards to where the game currently stands and creating a UNIQUE STORY and user experience through every franchise.

I have a feeling every time I play the Chiefs from here on out I will hear that same spiel for the next 30 seasons, but I will say the first time I heard it I was pretty impressed.

[bowld]

Well, while I think its one of the best Madden's to date(thought demo played better than actual game), I am already bored with it. I have been playing the Madden, NCAA and NHL series for about 15 years now and all 3 of them have just gotten stale to me. The minor improvements made each year certainly help, but overall it feels like I am playing the same game year after year.

Can't wait for next gen as my fingers are crossed that the new engine will bring new life to these games

[Cpterp22]

SEC.. Report back without patch. I feel the same as you, but I think if its just the patch or download of early release. I feel something is off, but not in a I can't play the game sort of way

Quote: Originally Posted by SECElit3

After a few more attempts at making it through a complete game, I can honestly say, that this game comes no where close to the expectations I had for it, based on my experience with the demo. It plays so much like Madden 13, and I hated that game. EA had it right with demo, and has it so wrong now. It makes no sense to me why this company does the things it does. I may try downloading again, this time without the patch to see if that helps anything. I really wish this company would relinquish the exclusive licenses, because they are single handedly the worst game developer in the industry. Can anyone with the disc tell me if it plays the same as the early release?

[duffman]

So i decided to go and try out some sliders for a play now game and noticed something strange. Set my difficulty to All-Madden in main menu, then went to player skill...and all my sliders are set at 75? Backed out, set difficulty to Pro and they were still set that high. Does difficulty this year not impact user slider settings like it used to? In previous years, AM difficulty put all your sliders down to 25. Does everyone elses do this too? I'm on PS3 if it makes a difference

[AlmostLikeFlacco]

This game just doesn't impress me. Sure, the running and blocking is improved greatly, but those two improvements have made the offense overpowered. Every running play is good for 4+ yards. In fact, I was calling it a miracle whenever I didn't get burned for 20+ or if I actually made an open-field tackle.

Pass rush is virtually non-existent. Playing as the Ravens, with Dumervil on one side, Suggs on the other, and Ngata in the middle and none of them even get close to the QB or they fall right off the RB's shoulders on a run.

I've been playing this early release version all day yesterday and now for a few hours this morning and it's the same thing each game, I can't make a defensive stop to save my life. I either have to let the offense score, or hope they mess it up somehow. Playing on offense is just too easy and playing on defense is a waste of time.

I just can't get into this game unless they fix these problems sometime down the road.