Version with the cleanest animations

[mooch49]

I've been playing a lot of Maddens lately. To me, the animations have taken a big step back from at least 20 and 21. However, I have not played the 24 beta. I'm hoping they are cleaned up from 23. But from the impressions, it doesn't seem like they are.

I just can not deal with all the dangling and mangling of the physics. It's so distracting that it takes away from the overall product, and it is inexcusable at this point in time to have such sloppiness. I like 20 and 21 the best, even 10,11,12 were good, despite being canned. Those are the games I find myself going back to.

16 was also very clean. I have not played 17 and 19 recently. 18, however, was a mess, even post patches.

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[caseyj622]

12 imo for 360/ps3 has the best animations. 16 is by far the best for PS4/X1.

[gr18]

16 was really good.I didn't think 18 was nearly as bad as 19.When they implemented RPM,(real player movement),into 19 it didn't mesh well with Frosbite,which in itself wasn't a great choice for a sports game engine.

[TarHeelPhenom]

Madden 25 was good too animation wise with Infinity Engine 2.0

[Mattanite]

Madden 17 was the last version on Ignite and Madden 18 onwards were on Frostbite which is probably why you notice the switch in animations there.

[oneamongthefence]

The old games were very much an animation that dictated the outcome. Now the outcome dictates the animation in many respects so you have more physics and such influencing things. While a more animation dependant game definitely looks cleaner it also means less user control. NFL 2k5 and 08 were very animation dependent. It looks almost lifelike at times with the movements and outcomes. But there were very few opportunities to break out of animations. Ratings also played a large part in those animations as well. Madden 12 was the last Madden game to have a mostly animation based system. So Madden 12 has the cleanest animations. Madden 15 has individual animation systems for things like WR/DB interactions that looked cool but it was also pretty predictable and you would get locked into an animation. But it does look good on the field.

Madden 24 looks smoother. The blocking is better. The new tackles look really nice. I think though one of the ugliest things in the game is the QB drop backs. They don't have any sense of weight to them or they don't have any momentum. But you start to ignore it after a while. Running through a hole is also pretty bad looking since there no way to put your head down except to truck. Madden 25 had that ability to basically lean forward and brace for contact which makes more sense than straight up trucking someone. Trucking is more physics based. Put your head down with enough force and lower body strength and you run them over. It's not really an offensive move. More of a defensive protect yourself move.

To answer your question if you're looking for something that looks realistic go NFL 2k if you can get a copy. Madden 12 looks good. Madden 15 looks good between the whistles. Madden 24 is a better looking 23.

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[tc020791]

21 for me, PS5 version. Players had weight and you didn’t see the same exact DB/WR animation on every play. Tackling was really good as well, lots of wrap ups and gang tackling.