Madden NFL 25 Impressions (PS4)

[apollon42]

I like true step, it makes cutting a lot more realistic. No longer can you just turn on a dime.

[Tommyklaid]

I have/had high hopes for this game, because I "madly" want an excellent NFL game during my generation...

My impressions are as follows:

If you enjoyed CG version of Madden, you'll absolutely love it - it's definitely a smoother, more-polished version of CG...but nothing noticeably different to the casual "sim" gamer.

Pros:

*Lifelike grass (it really DOES make a difference to the overall atmosphere - it's great)
*Crowd involvement (upgraded but there's room for improvement)
*Footplanting
*Replays (the replays look stellar - gone is the annoying 'pick-a-play' screen)
*The smoothness feel from CG to NG feels great!

Cons:
*very similar presentation-style/commentary/animations as CG
*sidelines still "somewhat" react (but not as I had hoped)
*TD celebrations are still "canned" (wish everything was real-time)
*Some of the next-gen players' faces look worse than in current gen (wtf)


All in all, if you are warranted the $10 update and are currently enjoying CG Madden (like myself), you'll love the polished look.

Is it an entirely brand new game? No...

I'm having an absolute BLAST with this game regardless - I just love sports games - PERIOD!

It's VERY similar to CG, but I can't wait for next year to see what EA can do next.

[TheBuddyHobbs]

Seriously is anybody else experiencing bad FPS/stuttering? It's almost every play.

[Herschie]

Honestly, the more I play this game, the more difference I can see, and the more I like it. That said, EA does have a ways to go. But I like this game.

[Dogslax41]

For anyone that has seen my posts I have been very critical of what we have seen in streams and videos. That being said here are my observations after playing one full game

Default all madden
Bengals (me) v Steelers
Won 23-20
15 min
Acceleration down to 16 seconds

Pros
CPU run defense is almost perfect. Night and day to ps3. On ps3 I could average 5ypc with my eyes closed. Not on next gen. I averaged right at 3 and that was a combination of getting stuffed 90% of the time a breaking two decent runs.
Second string back also got a good amount of carries despite me not touching auto subs

All madden difficulty has teeth. Blitzes are no joke they force you to either get the ball out quickly or take a sack. This combined with the run defense actually gave me a challenge, which did not happen on ps3. I either had to make the sliders so imbalanced it was cheesy or basically try not to pull away on ps3. Not so in this game. I actually had to work for the win.

Graphics do look much sharper than ps3. It's not a wow factor by any means but very noticeable

Foot planting and ball carrier movement is very very well done. Twitchy ball carrier was gone and I played on default speed, which I always played on slow to negate as much off this as possible on ps3.

Secondary play. Does not feel cheap at all. Curls are well defended by players breaking on the ball, not simply standing next to the receiver and waiting to make a play on the ball. Safeties played phenomenally breaking when necessary and resulted in one very natural looking pick

Online/dline play looked great. No more patty cake. Defenders actually made moves to break off blocks.

They fixed the player and play of the game. Both were accurate to what happened on the field

Post play camera angles are much improved. Nothing phenomenal but I would say they are where they should have been to begin with. Looks much more natural than before.

Player celebrations. No more player isolated by themselves in the opposite end zone. Celebrations had good camera angles that were almost cinematic but had other players around the celebrating player.

Cons
Living worlds. The sidelines had more graphical detail but ea basically cheated the system here to make them look interactive. Players do back away from the play as it's coming toward the sidelines but that's where it ends. I did not see any interaction with the ball carrier and in fact the game cut away very rapidly when a player in play went more than one foot out of bounds. It is very jarring to see and looks very unnatural. Foundation for the future but the awkward cut away does more harm than good this year.
Stadium noise. Again this feels like ea cheating the system. It feels like all they did was amp up stadium sounds and add the occasional situation specific reaction. No crowd swells. I intentionally threw a bomb to aj green to see how the fans would react. A 40 yard completion into the red zone yielded no swell and simply got applause upon completion.

Qb accuracy. Both the CPU and human qb at default are way way too accurate. Sliders will probably help this but Ben went 28/34 for 350 and dalton went 26/30 for 300. The qb accuracy issue is augmented by the receivers catching anything that comes near them.

Human blitz. I had 8 sacks 3 form my le, 4 from my fs and 1 from my mlb. Will need to be tweaked with sliders.

CPU late game clock management. I was up 23-20 steelers drove down to my 18 and had a timeout left, threw a short pass to the left flat and was tackled in bounds with 5 seconds left and ran a hurry up to spike the ball and snapped it with one second left and the clock expired.


In the end I was set on keeping the shrink wrap on it and returning it after seeing the streams yesterday. Seeing the debate today made me think what the heck, I'll give it a try and try to give some insight to others that may be on the fence. Is it a next gen title, in my opinion no. Does it play a much better and challenging game than ps3, absolutely. I am glad I decided to open it because I think that the improvements, especially they CPU run defense are solid enough that this game will provide me some enjoyment. But again if you are looking for a true next gen experience then I really don't think this is for you. If you kind of enjoyed the ps3 version but never found it a challenge, which I know many one here were in that boat, then you owe it to yourself to give this one a go because I think you will be satisfied enough.

[onac22]

First game. First quarter network is down on psn everyone is logging on at once my guess.

First impression, let me say it is the little things, dumped it outto my rb in flat he was on the sideline as I threw it I braced for the typical madden out of bounds unaware bs. To my surprise he tiptoes turns up field and gains me eight. The game does what I tell it to very responsive.

Oh yeah went quickstart Cheifs vs Rams in KC game is an upgrade. Haters hate but it is an upgrade intelligence wise for sure.

[Lexicon]

Only got to play about a half of a game, but my first impressions are very good ones. I enjoyed the player sense on the DB's. It was a great challenge and I'll have to stay sharp. The PS4 integration (screenshots and streaming) makes it worthwhile to me. The game also looked great on my TV and I'll be taking a LOT of screenshots. Also love the DS4 controller. Overall, it feels like I have much more control over the players. Pass rush definitely had a presence, and it was fun to step up into the pocket, even though I was playing with Seneca Wallace. Thumbs up from what I played. I'll be playing much more tomorrow.

[onac22]

Quote: Originally Posted by Lexicon

Only got to play about a half of a game, but my first impressions are very good ones. I enjoyed the player sense on the DB's. It was a great challenge and I'll have to stay sharp. The PS4 integration (screenshots and streaming) makes it worthwhile to me. The game also looked great on my TV and I'll be taking a LOT of screenshots. Also love the DS4 controller. Overall, it feels like I have much more control over the players. Pass rush definitely had a presence, and it was fun to step up into the pocket, even though I was playing with Seneca Wallace. Thumbs up from what I played. I'll be playing much more tomorrow.

Aware is right I was making pre play adjustments on D and accidentaly dove on the snap. My safety recognized it and immediatly began to move to cover.