By Matt Sarrel Madden NFL 25 breaks its numbering convention (this year should be Madden NFL 14) in order to embrace the franchise's rich, twenty-five year history. This is demonstrated by Barry Sanders gracing the cover of the PS3 and Xbox 360 version (Adrian Peterson is on the cover of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) as well as the more than 50 legendary players and coaches who can be used in Connected Franchise mode. The game, which is also available for Nintendo Wii and PlayStation Vita, includes legendary players and coaches such as the aforementioned Barry Sanders, Randall Cunningham, Mike Ditka, and even sentimental favorite William "Refrigerator" Perry.
In keeping with the "25" theme, Madden NFL 25 brings the All-25 Team to the field. This team roster, available from the Play Now menu, includes players and coaches who were the best at their position according to the player rankings created by the Madden NFL development team. In essence, this is an entire team comprised of players with outlandishly high—dare I say broken?—rankings. Remember how freakishly fast Deion Sanders was in Madden '95 with a speed of 99 and acceleration of 99? Or how about Marshall Faulk with an acceleration of 99 and an agility of 99 from Madden NFL 2003? Now I really do feel nostalgic because I interviewed Marshall when he was the cover athlete and I definitely remember him complaining that EA had shorted him with a measly 93 speed rating. The All-25 Team is the team to play when you need to be guaranteed a victory.
Incremental Improvements
Screens that display during load time prominently feature older versions of the game with a mention of how that game was different from predecessors. This nostalgia may even evoke a tear from eye of a seasoned veteran such as myself who actually remembers playing each version as it came out. These screenshots and captions echo a central theme of the franchise: combine a realistic football experience with steadily improving graphics and small incremental improvements in gameplay over last year.
And that's exactly how it feels when you take the field in Madden 25.
This is year two of award-winning Infinity Engine physics, and collisions are more realistic (which is good because they weren't always so convincing looking to begin with). EA also cleaned up a lot (but not all) of the bugs that used to make players flop around on the ground or stumble over each other after plays end.
The Running Game
Madden NFL 25's ground game also leverages the Infinity Engine and the new Force Impact system to provide physics-driven truck moves, stiff-arms, and big hits for more realism. Many times during my testing I was impressed by the visceral quality that a big hit had. I could almost feel the smackdowns. New audio for physics collisions that scales based on the severity of the hit adds to this feeling.
The new Madden also includes an improved running game called "Run Free" that gives you a huge amount of control over the ball carrier with moves such as spin, juke, stiff-arm, dive, and hurdle. A new mechanic is the stumble recovery, which provides a small window after the ball carrier has been hit and before he's been brought down during which you can pull down on the right thumbstick and regain your balance to add a few yards or even escape completely. Flick up on the right thumbstick and you'll dive forward for extra yardage. Truck and Truck Spins are powerful ball carrier moves, too. Push the right thumbstick forward just before the impact of a potential tackle and try to run through a defender. Using the L2 button combines a "precision modifier" with each ball carrier move to give the player a little something special like a bigger juke or a fake out hop.
No comments:
Post a Comment