Madden 25

Let me start by saying I haven't played any Madden games since the Sega Genesis days but I'm looking for some more games for the Xbox One. Looking for any opinions for the gameplay and if it's worth picking up now or waiting for it to be in the bargain bin.

This will be the madden for us to buy for sure.
The seahawks will probably have really good stats, except for russell. I can imagine his overall being like 79

Axx":1quifon5 said:

This will be the madden for us to buy for sure.
The seahawks will probably have really good stats, except for russell. I can imagine his overall being like 79

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Pretty sure RW is in the high 80's, like 89 or so.

In the latest update Wilson is a 92.

I had a chance to play this at my friend's house for New Year's Eve, and I'm in the same boat where I really haven't touched a Madden game since the SNES days. Seemed to be very realistic, if a bit impossible to get players turned correctly after a catch. Plenty of variety when it came to play calling, and overall a more difficult game than I expected. I'd say it's probably worth it, if you're hardcore about learning the intricacies of a game, but that's only a guess.

Sarlacc83":xvi0i06c said:

I had a chance to play this at my friend's house for New Year's Eve, and I'm in the same boat where I really haven't touched a Madden game since the SNES days. Seemed to be very realistic, if a bit impossible to get players turned correctly after a catch. Plenty of variety when it came to play calling, and overall a more difficult game than I expected. I'd say it's probably worth it, if you're hardcore about learning the intricacies of a game, but that's only a guess.

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That's why I bought it. My nephew gave me his 360 when he wanted to spend his first ever paycheck on a new version an xbox/game combo, so I've just been playing his old games here and there. I saw 25 and liked how the play design and game play was more developed than I expected. I haven't played since I had a playstation 10 years ago, so there's a learning curve. I get it tomorrow in the mail and can't wait, but I am looking forward to the challenge of it hopefully being a game where the plays you run against certain defenses (and vice versa) actually matter.

Abs, with your knowledge of the game, (the real game of football, not video games) after you've learned Madden pretty well, can you tell us how realistic you think it is?

Madden has gotten pretty good. I've played it every year since it started. This year they have a stupid dive tackle thing where you can get tackled from behind really easily as the defender (CPU) lunges at a higher speed than they can run, which isn't realistic at all.

OTOH, pass defense physics have gotten leaps and bounds better. Underneath defenders have a better change at PBUs and INTs because the range of motion is better and arms actually go for the ball now rather than the previous very pre-set static single arm movement that allowed defenders to miss easy pass break ups. That said, it's a bit more difficult, but it is more realistic. Pass lanes now actually play a part. I haven't seen any of that stupid ball morphing TD crap either where the ball goes right through your guy when you should have had an INT.

Even with the improved pass defense catching balls as a WR can be pretty acrobatic now. I like the passing game a lot more now on both offense and defense. Much more realistic than ever before.

Running the ball is also a lot more fun. On defense it can be difficult to disengage from blocks, however. It seems they've made that more difficult than last year and I'm not sure that it actually is more realistic.

Overall it's the best game they've produced.

The only thing I can tell you right now is that I miss the two button controllers.

I've had every Madden since Madden 94. This is one of the better ones. I had it for the 360, now I have it for the XBOX One. They do a good job with zone blocking, maybe too good. Sometimes stretch plays work just too damn well.

As far as realism, the plays that work on certain defenses in real life, actually work in the game. The hardest part for me is run defense, as I've found its hard to run sideline to sideline on run plays without getting picked off by a linemen at the second level. Also, CPU quarterbacks typically complete between 70-80 percent of their passes.

One of the worst things about any Madden game the last couple years is that Peyton Manning gets up to the line and spends 30-40 seconds changing formations and calling audibles. Its maddening. They used to have the option to turn it off.

Definitely fun to play though.

They have done a good job with allowing the player to make reads on the D pretty accurately. Zone running reads are pretty straight forward like they are coached to a RB, and reading the defenders in pass d stay true to the coverages. The only complaint I have is that sometimes the DB's turn into Flash Gordon when the ball is in the air. I've spent a couple games working exclusively out of Doubles on offense (since it's my favorite personnel group) learning the plays/getting the reads down, and there's times when I will run pretty simple two WR combos and with a single defender read (slants. smash, curls) and once the defender commits and I throw it, he suddenly changes course and either makes a play or comes really close. Kind of funny when the flat or hook/curl defender makes a play in the deep 3rd, but otherwise I really think they did a good job with keeping the players true to the coverages and schemes they run

Absolut, I 100% agree. I run out of doubles all the time and the game CB's are always jumping my hook routes.

19-0 SB champs my first season at the pro level, going to bump it up for next season. Still had trouble with the DB's turning into Usane Bolt after the pass was thrown, so I'll have to work on that for next season. But Lynch running for a couple thousand yards helped.

Any advice on free agency? I only re-signed a couple role players during the season and was surprised to find out that if a player doesn't like your first offer, they refuse to negotiate any further.

Also, any advice on block shedding vs the run? I think if teams ran against me every play, they had a shot to be within a score at the end of the game.

Second season was 15-1 SB champs - I lost to Tarvaris on the Redskins week 17, absolutely everything went right for them. Couldn't believe it, my guys were getting trucked left and right, they were running through two tacklers, picking off everything I threw, I was fumbling. Just a mess. Played All Pro with a couple slider adjustments.

Early in the year, I re-set the Pass D sliders because it was insane how fast the D was getting to the ball in the air, and how far behind I was. QB's regularly threw for 75% or more against me, but if I made them punt once and picked one off, that was enough to get a win. Anyway, I set the pass D reaction time down for the CPU, and moved mine up. But, a week ago I found out that those damn sliders are reversed! So setting their Reaction Time down meant they had a shorter reaction time, and vice versa for me. So no wonder. I moved them back towards 50 and normalized a couple others for the upcoming season. But I still have to have the Pass D sliders adjusted, otherwise it's seriously difficult to throw or defend the pass. As it is, it's almost impossible to throw deep, they close so fast I can't even get Harvin behind the secondary. I probably threw more picks on curl routes because a LB ran 15 yards in about half a second to his coverage.

Traded off Sydney and Zach prior to free agency for draft picks and about $19 mil in cap room. Signed Nick Fairley and brought Browner back into the fold for a year. Traded up with the picks for a DT, QB and CB - I don't know if I can afford to keep Russ if he asks for $20 million after this season considering I am a running team. Lynch broke the rushing record and his own TD record this year for his 2nd straight MVP. Having a lot of fun, playing 7 min quarters and obviously zipped through this last season. Going to take more time to practice between games and build a custom playbook this season. Do some more scouting for the draft. I have A LOT of free agents after this season, including Russ, Lynch and Okung. I just gave Sherm big money and have a lot tied up (he's been worth it), so I might just let some talent go and see what it's like to rebuild with the guys I've drafted. I think that would be more fun than increasing the difficulty to All Madden

If you ever want a more I depth GM mode, look at Head Coach for PS3/Xbox. The game play mechanic is broken so just Sim the games.

The draft, training, offseason, roster building is unmatched since its release. I would love for them to go back to it. If you love team building, its such a great game for the GM aspect.

The rosters are super old right now, but if you can get past that its worth a look.

anyone playing ever have a problem with CLink being super dark during day games? It's like the roof is shading the field, but the Hawks blue is hard to see on the field.