Madden NFL 25 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions (360, PS3)

[miniviking10]

Quote: Originally Posted by ghettogeeksta

Receivers still don't fight for/go aggressive after the ball,

Unfortunately, probably won't until the next iteration of Madden. The engine just isn't there yet.

[miniviking10]

Here's what I gathered from my first game on the demo:



+Infinity Engine is much more refined, and I really did not witness any crazy physics. Weight/speed/agility of each player really changes the feel of running in the game.

+Seems to be slick/quicker menus

+Passing and running the ball feels solid, WR's make a more realistic effort at jumping for the ball.

+Computer provides a harder, more realistic challenge, even at All-Pro.



-Tackle assists still don't count in the statistics

-Hardly a noticeable improvement in the presentation of each game. Announcers say pretty much the same things as last year and really no improvement to halftime and post-game.

-Graphics are the exact same as last year for current gen



With some of these things said, the overall gameplay feels solid...but hardly revolutionary. I'm glad that the physics engine is starting to come in to its own and provides a great feel for a football game. I really wish they spent more time with the graphics of the sideline because players still stand still, coaches are robotic, still pretty much static..and players still do not show much emotion on field. I'm looking forward to seeing how Connected Franchise is and if the progression system has been improved along with all the new additions to it. I want better customization...including ability to edit almost anything.

[DeuceDouglas]

Game 1 (CPU) BAL 20, (User) SF 17

Base All-Madden

Baltimore
J. Flacco - 9-11, 144 yds, TD, Int
R. Rice - 14 car., 107 yds, TD

San Francisco
C. Kaepernick - 12-18, 168 yds, TD, 5 car., 27 yds, TD
F. Gore - 6 car., 20 yds

Impressions

Spoiler

• Intro graphics and transition into the stadium shot were nice. However, the amount of time it took to get from the booth, to actual kick-off was just too long.
• Kind of wish they would throw in some ref & player audio while doing the coin toss. Doesn't have to drown out the booth but having it in the background would be a nice touch
• Not a huge fan of the camera view. I like it as a passing cam but I would prefer if it was zoomed in pre-snap. Tried to change it but couldn't find where it was located. Overall not worried about it in a demo.
• Only took me about three defensive plays to turn 'Heatseeker' off. Ray Rice bounced a run to the outside and I switched to Willis and it felt like he was completely out of my control as did the player I switched to right after and it ended up being a huge run. Didn't have any issues with it afterwards.
• Saw something nice where I tried to float a corner route to Boldin and it was intercepted but the defender landed out of bounds and it was incomplete. Part of it was frustrating because you still can't seem to get balls when your guy has a step to a point to where, at best, it's knocked down. But seeing the defender catch what ended up being an incomplete pass was nice, last year it would have just bounced off his hands.
• Kicking still sucks. The RS method is awful. Don't know if I was just rusty or what but on both XP's I clicked the stick but nothing registered.
• Made a FG with :20 left in the first half and had the Ravens at there own 19 and watched Ray Rice take a handoff and pretty much forearm shiver consecutive defenders to go for like a 50 yard gain. Then on the next play, Flacco threw an out to the receiver and my DB sort of bumped into him and just fell to the ground allowing the touchdown. Really didn't like seeing that.
• The on-screen graphics are slick. I like them.
• Commentary is still a little iffy. Some moments of dead space but overall it's not bad at all. Some lines don't really belong but the fact that Nantz and Simms sound so well together kind of makes up for it and makes it stand out a bit less.
• The read option felt a lot better to me than the NCAA demo. Wasn't nearly as easy.
• CPU playcalling seemed good. The Ravens ran 14 times and threw 11 times. Never got the feeling of it ever being run heavy so that's a good sign.
• Pass rush seemed fairly non-existent for both sides. I was never under too much pressure and I never really got close to the QB either.
• Definitely seemed like the amount of hitting was toned down. Liked that most of the time my players were wrapped up rather than imploded by the defense like you would usually see on All-Madden.
• The hurry up audible system seems really cool. Didn't use it very much but it seemed really deep and nice to use.

[TheBleedingRed21]

Guys who complain about the camera, do you use the cord cam from NCAA? I love that camera and it is as far back as you can get. Its amazing. Is it like that or closer in?

[NDAlum]

Quote: Originally Posted by ghettogeeksta

Animations are pretty bad in this game, maybe because im playing on All-Madden and the cpu is over powering me, but I hate it when I am running full speed squared up to the defender right in front of me with my head down ready to truck stick him and all of the sudden the defender does a hit stick and knocks my back in the opposite direction off his feet and on his back, that shouldn't happen. The hit stick should only work when the ball carrier is not squared up to the defender. Weight, momentum, and leverage don't matter in this game animations are chosen like a game of rock-paper-scissors. And the tackling is very herky jerky, seems like they don't wrap up or follow through the tackle when IE kicks in on defense and far too many times the backs fall down to their knees like they've been hit by knock out punch during an IE tackle. I really didn't mind all the after play goofyness pre-patch IE 1, at least we have way better/more gang tackling during play, maybe this will be tuned in the release version.

They put your sliders at 25 on AM, it is stupid.

My super early impression is that offense is wide open and I hate it. They made it so easy yet again.

I am gonna need sliders and thank goodness I don't play the CPU, online league games really.

[CT Pitbull]

So now for some positive impressions

the camera angle we got in the demo blows BUT the replays are beautiful. a really nice step up here in presentation.

I really noticed that the infinity engine has been tightened up quite a bit and im seeing a lot of nice crisp tackles without all the flopping and flailing that is still present in ncaa14. the flailing is still there at times but it has been cleaned up a bit.

I like what I saw from safeties separating the ball from the wide receivers on some of the would be catches across the middle. ive seen some nice pops laid by the secondary on balls that were caught then dropped due to a nicely timed hit.

throwing motions for the quarterbacks seem smoother and i like the touch you can put on the ball so far.

i actually had a defensive pass interference called on Packers in my first game. it was on a ball thrown over the middle and the safety Burnett impeded my progress/route to the football and the refs threw the flag. if this is called on a consistent basis it will be a HUGE upgrade and a shocking surprise for all of us. well see i guess the jury is still out

i really wish they put the zoom cam in the demo but i guess those of us ZOOM guys are gonna have to wait to really dive into this game and see how good it can be

i hope sliders in this game are true and responsive because if they are it will be a fun game in the end.

[DGuinta1]

Im having a blast!

[o Elevate o]

Played the SF/BAL (me) matchup, lost 17-16. My slider changes before I go further: (EDIT: on All-Madden)

Speed threshold lowered to 40; QBA set to 15, Reaction Time and Pass coverage set to 55, INT set to 35 (CPU 40), and Tackling set to 35 (cpu 40).

Generally the game played well, and I'm enjoying this demo a lot. With the small changed I made I really feel like I'm playing a good game.

Passing
Flacco: 15-27, 193 yds, TD, INT
Kaepernick: 5-13, 104 yds, 2 TD, Int

Passing felt pretty good (again considering my changes). Saw maybe 3-4 overthrows, and the CPU had 2 drops early that would've been money in the past. Dennis Pitta and Jacoby jones led w/ 4 catches, though slot WR Tandon Doss scored the TD (man how far Nnamdi has fallen...). Kap seemingly struggled, but 3 guys dropped passes for him, and I also managed to get pressure. AJ Jenkins had 2 rec for 69 yds and 2 TDs.

Rushing
Rice: 17 car, 82 yds, 27 yd long
Gore: 13 car, 113 yds; Kap: 3 car, 11 yds.

Surprised SF didn't run much read option - gore had a 40 yd run on an Inverted Veer (or it looked like it). And I didn't have much success as it looks; out side of my two decent runs I was consistently held to 2-3 yds a pop. Stayed with it and it payed off though. But SF is tough in the interior.

Defensively not much notable, just tough defense. There was a nice overthrow deep by Kap that resulted in a punt return-like INT by Michael Huff.

Commentary is average-at best but it's SOO much better than NcAA. The atmosphere too.