Review: Madden NFL 25 needs competition to really improve

It’s sometimes tiring to defend sports games, especially since most of them are simply under the yoke of a lack of competition that really makes them improve or innovate. At the time of writing this review, Madden NFL 25 It suffers from the problem of not having a single competitor for almost two decades and that, however you look at it, is bad.

This series of American football games caters to the needs of an American public that begins to experience the fever for the sport of tackles with a ball and a helmet starting in August when the very confusing college league starts. This time Madden NFL 25 It came out with a little brother who, although it does not overshadow it, did have significant sales that would surprise more than one.

Now, the situation with Madden NFL 25 It’s not that I’m criticizing, because it’s not a bad game, but you do wonder if your mere love of American football is enough to invest and play the same game year after year. Yes, it’s like a kind of Stockholm syndrome where you become attached to the raptor, but in a way.

I also wonder now if it is the NFL itself that creates the need for me to play the same thing again. It is like a connection that I must get involved in because my love for American football is what causes this. Anyway… Is it time to say goodbye to Madden and take a break from this series?

After a long time they “improved” the collision system

One of my constant complaints with this video game franchise is that animations are always given more value than physics. That said, for a long time we saw that the game has many errors, glitches and other moments that somehow harm the gaming experience.

But no more? Well, let’s say that in Madden NFL 25 has a major change to its collision system that surprisingly works much better than before. However, before you imagine that they’ve finally done something with physics, let’s just say that they’re more small animations but now take into account body size, attributes and other extras.

Playing All-Pro, it seems like running backs now have a much better chance of going up against an average safety or linebacker. Heck, if you bring in a player with good stats, then you’re likely to win a ground game. You’ll even get a significant amount of satisfaction out of making certain plays that previously seemed to be cut short because your player made a bad step.

The same thing happens when you’re going to fight for a ball in the air. If you’re positioned well on defense, you’re probably going to stop the receiver, but if you bring in CeeDee Lamb and he runs a square run, you’re probably going to actually see a breakaway like you see on TV. So far, the game is fine.

Defense adjustments that work for both sides

Yes, suddenly Madden NFL 25 It feels like a unique experience on offense, which is a very important part of the sport, especially for it to be spectacular. But what about the game on the other side? Defense has a lot of strategic adjustments that give the experience versatility. It’s not just about picking a scheme, it’s about knowing how to confuse the opponent.

Until before Madden NFL 25the defense in the franchise was very direct with its respective adjustments prior to the start of a play. That is, you could rearrange or change the path of a player’s defense, but now there is more flexibility found in the playbook. This means that a cover 2 or 3 can be transformed into a “man to man.”

For example, if you know football, you know that a Tampa 2 is designed to prevent the big play and allow few yards. That same defense can be transformed into a tighter man-to-man defense with a few adjustments. Personally, I think this makes the person on defense feel like they are actually doing something to protect their marker.

On the other hand, the subject of animations also caused important changes when it comes to defending, because before you only worried about using the hit stick that the series has had for a long time, but if you are poorly positioned, you will simply miss a tackle fatally and end up suffering the consequences.

It became a kind of deep online strategy game

Play the campaign mode of Madden NFL 25 It can get a bit repetitive. You can live out the fantasy of taking your team to the Super Bowl and making history, when in reality Kansas City is going to repeat. When you get tired of this, you can turn to the old reliable of playing online and maybe put together a league with other players and make the experience worthwhile.

This is when Madden NFL 25 takes a level worth enjoying, this because duels against other users feel like we are playing a kind of chess. Because while you can play straight with the default playbook, you can now decide how far a trajectory can be executed.

For example, you no longer have to worry about whether you have long-yardage or short third-down plays, when you need a player to run to first down. Before, you could choose exactly when to run a hook route – which is very useful – but now you decide what kind of action you want to take to achieve a specific result.

On the defensive side, the same thing happens, you disguise a man coverage and set it up as a zone coverage. On top of that, you can choose how to take advantage of a linebacker, which can be as a spy or chasing a run play. The options they added to the game this year made it a bit deeper, perhaps keeping it from being friendly to some new users.

I liked MUT, but that’s enough

My problem mainly with Madden NFL 25 It’s just that they constantly push me to play MUT (Madden Ultimate Team), which I really enjoyed at the time and invested money in, because it’s actually a pay-2-win, which isn’t bad, it’s a business model and everyone knows whether they like it or not. The problem is the constant reminder that “you have to play it.”

This is really annoying, really. You start the game and it reminds you to “play Ultimate Team” and that shouldn’t happen. Then, in my rush, I end up entering the mode and exiting it requires me to even close the game, which makes the gaming experience tiring. Now, we don’t blame EA for wanting to make money at any cost.

Of course you can play MUT without investing money. There are many missions to complete to earn coins that you will eventually spend in this mode. The problem is that you will end up trying hard in an unrealistic way and when a game forces you to play without real rewards, you end up getting tired and not wanting to do anything else.

Matchmaking does have some significant improvements, but it’s not like it divides players who have invested a lot from those who have played and are making a few coins. The ranking system works, but it sometimes ends up being an unfair experience for many players,
especially those who are a bit more casual with MUT.

Supestar Showdown is perhaps a good reason to play Madden NFL 25

Among all the beet modes available within Madden NFL 25 and that requires us to connect to the Internet, we have Superstar Showdown. You get to this mode by going directly to search for a quick game online and you go directly to the option to have a duel against one player or several in a kind of experience where you choose the players.

This is not like the FIFA Volta mode where it is a kind of flag football or short game, it is 11 against 11 and you build your team as if you were in Fantasy Football. The good thing about this experience is that it is not so complicated to carry out, since it does not make you choose 53 players to build your squad, it is more about taking a few key positions.

Then, the games are fast. Whoever scores and defends, wins. This makes you see the deficiencies and virtues that each player has. Madden NFL 25, Well, the mistakes or the easy things to do in the game are more noticeable. Then, you realize that it’s more about being accurate and playing as well as possible with pre-established offensive and defensive schemes.

You can participate in “seasons,” gaining experience and leveling up in a fair way. There is no pay-to-win barrier here, which is appreciated, and there is also the element of choosing players that can give you both stars and some great athletes. The only bad thing is that the uniforms are really horrible.

Playing on PC

The PC experience of Madden NFL 25 It fully meets the idea of ​​what a next-generation sports game should be graphically. The issue here is that perhaps the game is more demanding than it should be. The first thing we notice is that the minimum requirements are really limited because it asks for a 1050ti which is almost 7 years old, while the recommended requirements already ask for a 3060 with 8GB which is like the standard.

But are you really over-extended with the 3060? Not really, the game is more demanding than it should be when you’re using a 4070ti. You might have a potential bottleneck due to the processor, but it shouldn’t be that bad. I think EA should really optimize the gaming experience on PC, as they have a real potential audience.

What is also true is that when everything is set up correctly, the game becomes a delight on your computer. It doesn’t ask for anything from the console experience beyond the fact that the game suddenly thinks you are using a keyboard and mouse to play.

If this translates to playing Madden NFL 25 on a ROG Ally because you feel like taking the experience on the go, you’re going to run into a couple of problems, which are that the game feels like you’ve put 2 controllers in it and it won’t let you have a solo game against the machine. Apart from that, you have to lower the quality a lot for the experience to flow.

Should you buy Madden NFL 25?

It’s not that Madden NFL 25 It may not be part of the basic basket of sports game consumers, but those who love the NFL will be hard at it – as always – because they are very loyal users of the sport of tackles. Which is fine, but as I said, this feels like Stockholm syndrome because you just have nowhere to turn. Competition is urgently needed! It really is needed.

Madden NFL does a great job of making you experience the NFL while playing, especially since it has major improvements to player animations to make players look more natural when running or tackling. The problem is that all of these tweaks are either too late or should have been standard for a long time. Also, it feels like MUT is some kind of annoying commercial that you don’t want to see on your screen anymore.

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We played Madden NFL 25 on PC with a code provided by an EA representative in our region.