Madden 25 - Demo Impressions

After downloading and playing around the Madden 25 Demo, the game isn’t really how I expected it. It seems that the developers made a current gen build of a game gear for next-gen consoles (that’s a let-down). Despite that it seems to be an overall good game. I am interested to see what people will create in Madden share, how the Ultimate Team chemistry system will work (already got a few cards), and of course Owner mode.

Gameplays has so far offered what feels like true player motions and definition visuals. The game looks crisp and the player movements are pretty fluid (although it will probably be x2 better on the next gen consoles). I did like how some of the menus were moved around and provided a bit of a different look to the game. I feel like they over did the cut scenes a bit but that can be overlooked. Here are a few other things I noticed early.

The AI – I really thought they had fixed the blocking and the overall AI but I still go EAed. At one point, I had one guy to beat and one blocker ahead of me up field. I am thinking this block is going to happen and I’m headed to the end zone for 6 but no. My blocker ends up running out of bounds in the complete opposite direction (as if off field players were going to tackle me) and I was unable to pull off an effective move to get buy this defender. That is a pretty bad glitch and I hope doesn’t happen to often (we fixed the blocking to make it realistic they said).

Precision Modifier – The precision modifier was something newly added and I have mixed feelings about. It just seems like a mini-version of reaction time in NCAA Football 14. In some instances I was able to cheese and have defenders bounce off of me while in a juke animation (didn’t seem like it should happen). It makes the moves a bit more realistic in how they are timed to be effective and if that is fluid throughout the game, then thumbs up.

Overall I have mixed feelings about the demo. The gameplay and feel the game isn’t what I expected only because it looks and feels like a current gen build of a next gen game (and I know, it is) but it shouldn’t be that noticeable. I still have a hard time trying to figure out how I go up for a clear INT and the ball bounces of my defenders hands like it hit some invisible wall (that’s a swat in EA logic). I can’t wait to tackle playing in Owner mode (connect franchise) and Ultimate team.