‘Madden NFL 25’ Review: EA Sports Scores With Revamped Football Franchise
The only official NFL simulator game returns with more authenticity and realism ever.
Madden NFL 25—not to be confused with 2013’s Madden 25, which was named to celebrate the game’s 25th anniversary—is finally here. Boasting enhancements across many included game modes, Madden NFL 25 spikes the football with a notably tuned-up version of the NFL simulator that’s better and more engaging than ever.
Last year’s Madden NFL 24 broke records in terms of the number of players and hours played, and Madden NFL 25 is looking to keep that obsessive engagement going. Whether it’s a quick game, an online competition, beginning a franchise, developing a custom player and team or assembling an ultimate team, Madden NFL 25 has plenty of features to entice players and keep them going until the Super Bowl and beyond.
For EA, there’s a new focus on authenticity in this year’s Madden. Presentation is, bar none, better than ever. Regardless of the game mode, gameplay is presented in a way that’s strikingly similar to watching an actual NFL game on TV.
It’s not just about broadcast quality bumpers and replays either. EA has honed in on signature animations that are unique to individual players and imbued them with personal style, both on the field and in replays. Players like cover athlete Christian McCaffrey are almost indistinguishable from their real-life counterparts. So far, it’s been damn impressive.
Style isn’t just the highlight here. There’s plenty of substance too with these creative decisions also informing how the game moves. Linemen can call out adjustments when defensive threats become known. The deep and detailed playbooks are updated and expanded for every team in the league too, giving players the most intimate look behind the curtain on their home team.
Of course, none of this would amount to anything worthwhile without excellent physics. EA’s BOOM tech package enhances everything from ball physics to player collisions, informing the latter with individual player muscle strength and making tackles (or broken tackles) even more realistic.
Couple all this with the ultra high-res graphics, pro commentary teams and new highlight reel controls (aka trick stick) for jaw-dropping on-field athleticism, Madden NFL 25 really feels like more of a simulator than a game, perhaps for the first time ever.
All the upgrades and attention to detail in core gameplay run throughout the modes of the game but the modes themselves benefit from noticeable improvements too. The fan favorite Franchise mode gets a boost with 70 different storylines that are dictated by each player’s managerial decisions. TeamBuilder, an amazing customization tool, allows players to upload their own logos and tweak every detail of their teams look, from uniforms to stadiums. Up to 32 teams can be created too so if a single team isn’t enough, creating an entire league from scratch is an insane but possible option.
If a more personal creation is the goal, building a custom Superstar is a worthy endeavor. Full facial customization is available and Superstars can be built on default archetypes and then tailored from there. For the truly devout, there’s also an option to carry a player over from this year’s College Football 25 game that dropped a few weeks ago. Watching a created player go from NCAA rookie to top draft prospect to Super Bowl MVP across both games is integration that the die hard will love. The best part of it is that created players can be pit against each other in a 3v3 schoolyard style game to see how their creation stacks up against friends.
There’s a lot to love in Madden NFL 25 with the only downside being that, as is often the case, this is very much another entry in the Madden franchise and not something brand new. What is new is worthy of praise. What returns is familiar and, at this point, makes up the backbone of the game which is so good at doing what it’s meant to do, there’s little left to want each year. The end result is an entry that truly earns the game’s status as a simulator and one that’s sure to delight fans of the NFL, its players and its culture and keep them playing until this time next year and maybe even beyond.
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