Madden NFL 25 News Post

Madden NFL 25: Next-Gen Gameplay Completely Revamped Under the Hood

04:22 PM - October 18, 2013 by Steve_OS

Madden NFL 25 features some big under the hood changes.

For those asking, you have your answer. Madden NFL 25 appears, from what EA claims in four separate blogs today (linked below) to have been completely rewritten under the hood for next-gen consoles. It is likely many of the improvements of next-gen sports gaming will be small and fundamental changes to the gameplay with things like contextually aware players and much improved line blocking.

True Step Locomotion
EA claims that they have completely revamped the way players move on the field with hundreds of new running animations and more realistic player physics and movement.

Player Sense (New AI)
Most of the changes seem incredibly small, but could lead to a much more appealing game of football. Players in Madden NFL 25 will make 50x the calculations each play they did over current-gen. The fruits of this? Contextually aware players who will make better decisions in traffic to avoid hang ups and will make smarter plays on the ball.

War in the Trenches
The biggest gameplay enhancement you'll find in today's announcements is the completely revamped the pass blocking system to compliment the newly rewritten run blocking schemes you've seen in current gen. The videos we've seen look much improved, with better interactions between the OL/DL, especially the OT/DE matchups.

Now players will pre-sort defenders thanks to the enhanced AI. During the play, blockers will be making up to 60 calculations a second to determine who, where, and when they should be blocking. This results in some incredibly realistic player footwork and movement and the best looking pocket in video game football ever from the limited video we've seen. You can check out the deep-dive, which goes into a lot more detail on why the new system is better.

What do you think of the gameplay enhancements EA revealed today?

Game: Madden NFL 25Reader Score: 5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 54 - View All

Madden NFL 25 Videos

Member Comments

# 21 PantherBeast_OS @ 10/18/13 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raguel


	Anyone care to explain why this should be true? I certainly hope that a free lineman would look to pick up any missed block. As a side note, this is the first time I've read what those routes are supposed to do. I thought they were "chip/block and release" (by which I mean the offensive player would initially help an OT block an outside rusher and then go out for a pass, or like on bootleg a TE would start out blocking as if it's a run then sneak out for a pass) . Are there any chip and release routes?

Ya this something I would like to know to. Chip blocks should be part of the offense M.O. Good point on that bro.

# 22 wordtobigbird @ 10/18/13 07:34 PM

Sorry but a stunt is not an excuse.. don't normally on stunts one Dlineman goes left and the other goes right and they use that motion to get the lineman to engage one while the other goes around? In this video they both immediately run to the right.. the DT i believe runs all the way from the left hash to the right hash with his body facing the sideline and his head looking at the QB. Then the DE to his right side just runs next to him right into the OT. If it was a proper stunt wouldn't long have come around the DT to inside right into the QBs face?

If this is how the dline will play when a stunt is called remind me never, ever, to call it. Because I don't see it ever working.

# 23 StL_RamZ @ 10/18/13 07:35 PM

I've always known what they was showing was a stripped down version.

# 24 splff3000 @ 10/18/13 07:37 PM

Hmm, a little worried that nothing about CB/WR interactions was mentioned.......

# 25 newtonfb @ 10/18/13 07:52 PM

still not impressed. my biggest complaint...ANIMATIONS!!!
still doesnt look as smooth as it should. Most of the things they mentioned should already be in there and not hailed as great new features. Sorry but I expected more with this supposedly "built from the ground up" Ignite engine which is obviously not the case.

# 26 jmurphy31 @ 10/18/13 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by splff3000


	Hmm, a little worried that nothing about CB/WR interactions was mentioned.......

Probably because they didn't work on it this year. They tend to focus on one thing each year. I wish they would improve this and defensive responsibilities in pass and run coverage.

# 27 supdog @ 10/18/13 09:38 PM

Are gonna have penalties that actually work because this seems difficult for the developers

# 28 wordtobigbird @ 10/18/13 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by supdog


	Are gonna have penalties that actually work because this seems difficult for the developers

I reallyyyyy hope they address penalties. At least acknowledge that they've tried to make some improvement. They are still missing a lot of penalties like defensive holding, defenseless receiver, and hitting a QB too high/low. I am happy they are working on the AI if the penalties can get improved too itll be a huge step.

# 29 Tengo Juego @ 10/18/13 09:57 PM

I didn't see enough of the defense winning in that trailer. Not convinced. And I probably shouldn't be by a 2 minute trailer.

# 30 Iceman87GT @ 10/18/13 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tengo Juego


	I didn't see enough of the defense winning* in that trailer. Not convinced. And I probably shouldn't be by a 2 minute trailer.*

In the Trailer's defense it was meant to showcase improvements to the line-play. I'm sure we'll see more examples of the improvements elsewhere in coming weeks.

Check out the Offensive Line videos (they do a lot more in selling the improvements they made than the trailer does), never let a 2 minute video from EA convince you, some games you can trust 2 minutes but most you can't and that definitely applies to EA (there have been times in the past where they have shown great stuff in some videos that never really come through in the actual game).

# 31 LBzrule @ 10/18/13 10:55 PM

Quote:


	ON PLAYER AVOIDANCE A big focus of Player Sense this year was the concept of �avoidance.� Players are going to be more aware of their surroundings, and a big part of that is the ability to avoid things like the sidelines and other blockers. Players can hop over defenders on the ground or tightrope the sidelines, all in an effort to avoid obstructions on the field.

and

Quote:


	ON DEFENSIVE CONTEXTUAL AWARENESS We�ve added the same contextual awareness to defensive players. On Xbox One and PlayStation 4, blitzing linebackers won�t get caught up on their own defensive linemen. The same goes for defensive backs. If a safety is coming over to help a corner, the two won�t collide into each other. Instead, one might extend his hand out in order to create some space and try to make a play.

OK see this is what I'm talking about. Why doesn't 23 avoid hitting his lineman? Shouldn't he calculate/be aware that the line is in a stunt outward and attempt to avoid bumping up against his own player?

Anyway I digress. Some of this sounds really good actually. Another thing I'm wondering also is their emphasis on Launch Point. They need to make sure that if the QB is not where he is supposed to be at certain points then it is detrimental to that QB. He can improvise and move when things start to break down but he should not be moving out of the pocket as soon as he receives the football from the center.

# 32 LBzrule @ 10/18/13 11:01 PM

Also on Contextual Awareness I bet they don't have the DL doing the submarine down by the goalline. I wonder if they also still have guys tackling guys into the endzone rather than trying to keep the out of it.

# 33 michapop9 @ 10/18/13 11:16 PM

completely revamped under the hood......oh ok, under the hood so we cant see it, right, cuz I saw a lil better lineplay, but everything else looked EXACTLY THE SAME, ugly animations still stand out like a sore thumb. Im sorry but I cant take them for there word. Theyve earned that rep.

# 34 friscob @ 10/18/13 11:17 PM

Am I just being negative or does the O-Line "sorting" just look like the telepathic magnet linemen Madden has always had. You know, the ones who pick up every block and you can only get pressure if you blitz more guys than they have to block

# 35 La Verite @ 10/18/13 11:21 PM

Still nothing about presentation. Smh

# 36 jjazwick @ 10/18/13 11:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by La Verite


	Still nothing about presentation. Smh

Probably because the presentation is the same as current generation. Looks like better presentation will have to wait till Madden 15 or NFL 2K15 (Hopefully)!

# 37 friscob @ 10/18/13 11:36 PM

I'm shocked that there wasn't a single feature in the trailer about improved defense. Nope, instead they gave better blocking. They just don't get it

# 38 raguel @ 10/19/13 01:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by friscob


	Am I just being negative or does the O-Line "sorting" just look like the telepathic magnet linemen Madden has always had. You know, the ones who pick up every block and you can only get pressure if you blitz more guys than they have to block

They don't say how it's different but I imagine it's necessary in order for the OL to know when and who to double team when pass blocking.

# 39 UH53 @ 10/19/13 07:42 AM

Ok. So under the hood is all the gameplay improvements we want and expect to have... I get it! Like any successful football team you need to build from the inside out. So with that in mind... Madden 15 should look nothing like Madden 25? We should be getting a game that's as exceptionally eye pleasing as 2K14 right? I'm just glad 2K14 has raised the bar so that we know what we should expect when it comes to Next Gen gaming. Madden may not have any direct competition but the standard of Next Gen gaming has been set.

# 40 roadman @ 10/19/13 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UH53


	Ok. So under the hood is all the gameplay improvements we want and expect to have... I get it! Like any successful football team you need to build from the inside out. So with that in mind... Madden 15 should look nothing like Madden 25? We should be getting a game that's as exceptionally eye pleasing as 2K14 right? I'm just glad 2K14 has raised the bar so that we know what we should expect when it comes to Next Gen gaming. Madden may not have any direct competition but the standard of Next Gen gaming has been set.

Others expectations might be higher and that's great, but eye candy is lower on the list for me vs how the game plays.

Always has been, always will. Madden has been so underperforming in game play the last several years, but has been pleasing eye candy.

I'd prefer the pendulum to swing the other way for NG, but that's just me.

There are other game play improvements that need to be added, but it's a good start.

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