Madden NFL 25 Review (360/PS3)

[Armor and Sword]

Quote: Originally Posted by hbgreg

How can you play a game like The Show and agree Madden is a good sports simulation game.

Ok let's get something straight. Where do I use the words good simulation and Madden in the same sentence.....ever?

Hey I love playing a good game of "Madden". Is it a great simulation of NFL football? Nope. It has all kinds of things that make it more arcade than simulation. So what I do is play the game my way.....and as long as it functions properly like many great "Madden" games of the past then I have a blast.

I would never even entertain the idea that Madden can compete with the amazing Show 13 or NBA 2K11 as a true representation of it's respective sport.

But damn when Madden functions like Madden should....it is a heck of a good time. It does some great things and some things it does not get right....but for me the good outweigh the bad most of the time. I make my rules, slider adjustments....and have fun.

[tarek]

No mention of coach mode in the review nor the comments. So I want to ask, is there a proper coach mode in this version? And not the auto-throw version of madden 13 but a proper coach mode which enables a scrambling QB to actually run etc etc.

[TheBinnzer]

To the folks who gripe about the adding and taking away of features.. how is this franchise supposed to reinvent itself every year without new features that may eventually be replaced by others?
There are tons of features we can go back to that this applies to.
If the game was perfect (every feature and graphics/gameplay perfect) and EA only added only new rosters each year... could you imagine the griping then?
The revolving features are just the nature of a yearly franchise.. a franchise based on a game that rarely changes.. in the last few years, how many real changes have come to the NFL?

We have had running QB's change the game in real life, and he read option is being ran in the NFL
We have had spectacular passing season totals, and AP almost broke the rushing record.

Does that sound like a ton of content to base a 4 years of updates on? Of course not.. so EA has to make stuff, add features if you will to make the annual game release interesting.

[Radja]

when i saw the amazon.com sunday ticket offer, i got skeptical. sunday ticket had to be hurting a little to offer something like that, for sure. however, i was worried that madden was doing anything to get pre-order sales up also. i think they knew they had only a marginally better product and once that was discovered, sales would flatline.

i was waiting for this and pastas review. so far nothing has been said to change my original thoughts.

[liberaluser]

Binnzer, the game shouldn't be reinventing itself every year for purely marketing reasons. That's why the quality is all over the place at the end of this generation. Tiberion needs to start fresh with a good foundation that they can build off of with new features that add depth and aren't taken away the next year for no reason.

The practice of adding half-assed features that are pure fluff because they sound good on the back of the box means that all that work was wasted when the next game comes around and undos all of it.

[timbosliceGB]

at the end of the day football is football. I don't really have high hopes for next gen madden and im not even getting a xbox one or ps4 at launch just to be let down by that madden will see reviews first. I'm really pleased with this year game and think it is best on this gen.

[clarkboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by deacon21206

That is the point it is the best Madden, but it isn't by far the best football game that has came out to date. Even in regards to presentation. Arguably 2K5 or Allpro2K8 is still a better playing football game. It had better fundamentals mechanics and A.I. LOL Madden still hasn't reached the concept of double team passing blocking, weight, speed, and so forth. Madden easily beats itself because there isn't much to beat, but in comparison to games that came out years ago and also old tech and programming. Is still regarded superior than what has came out this Gen cycle is just sad and also shows the inability of EA to deliver a Good Football game. Not just a better than Madden experience.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner...Give this man a prize!!!

I couldn't agree with you more. Comparing Madden to Madden yeah it may be better, but if you compare Madden to APF08 it's not close. Haven't brought Madden in a couple of years, but I like to read the reviews after playing the demo. They still can't truly capture the essence of football. Until they get the lineplay down then it really doesn't matter, because that's where the game of football starts. All they have to do is hire the guys from 2K. I thought we would get that 2K football experience when Peter Moore came onboard. It just hasn't translated over to EA's work. Oh, well I will continue to wait and hope like millions of others. I'll keep playing NHL, NBA 2K, and FPS's. EA you got NHL and Battlefield right, so what's going on with Madden, GEEZ!?

[Dolphins88]

Ya if they have all this cash to flow around hire the 2k team to make the dam game and get it right because obviously these developers know squat how to program the game of football. Dam I wish they had of invested in NHL team to make a next gen game rather then football. Oh well at least 2k bball, show, bf4 will keep me busy.