This year has been no different as the anticipation for my beloved Chicago Bears had me surprisingly looking forward to the new Madden NFL 25 more so than any year in recent memory. Sure, it's still the same old game, but with upgraded key spots and a refined presentation that makes minute-to-minute action feel as modern as it ever has.
This version of Madden is a lot like a team with a high overall draft pick – rejuvenated, forward-looking, and ready to continue improving for years to come. For all intents and purposes, Madden has been streamlined into three modes: Franchise, Ultimate Team, and Superstar. The three modes are broadly the same as they've always been.
Franchise Mode
Of the three main modes, Franchise has finally and noticeably been reworked and, despite some quirks, definitely feels more consistent and enjoyable over a longer period of time than past entries. The weekly off-the-field activities have become more prominent and important as your actions as a coach and general manager have more concrete, direct impacts on the field.
You may be asked by a disgruntled player to receive a certain number of touches in the next game or you may be asked by the Press how you reacted to your team's performance in the last game. Both of these can have positive and negative effects based on how you respond and how you play the next game.
Even longer-term decisions can have an impact, such as that same player asking for a season touch total or your fans asking you to trade for an upgrade at a certain position. Time and we'll see what they do here on the second down. Here's a throw on the Move, headed right now. He takes it on top of the off-field upgrades, the use of ubiquitous mini-games throughout the Franchise, and the rest of this year's Madden make the onfield gameplay more diverse, though they don't have huge impacts on player progression.
Short passing drills with the quarterback or tackling drills with a Defender allow you opportunities to show your skills in non-game environments.
Superstar Mode
The other key mode that's seen meaningful upgrades is Superstar – the player builder that allows you to create a player in one of five positions across offense or defense and get drafted to lead or support your team in their Quests for a Super Bowl. Taking cues from games like MLB the Show, your Superstar can be upgraded across multiple different modes, including Showdown against online opponents and the league as an offline classic player build mode.
While playing and upgrading your Superstar, you will have decisions to make and questions to answer that determine certain player boosts for the coming game, but you also have quests that provide longer-term goals and rewards for your accomplishments, such as getting a certain number of passing yards in a game or touchdowns in a season.
Ultimate Team Mode
Unfortunately, Ultimate Team has seen fewer upgrades over past installments and, given the improvements in other modes this year, really sticks out as a broadly underdeveloped mode littered with unnecessary microtransactions.
The progression continues to move at a slow pace as it exists within Madden, encouraging you to purchase in-game currency with real money to expedite the process. However, the actual game tends to be less fun than the other modes as you begin with and will have to use subpar players for an extended period of time.
While the overall game has more polish than in past years, the vast majority of the technical bugs I encountered were in Ultimate Team, particularly one reoccurring bug where my quarterback would be subbed in on defense and repeatedly called for offsides.
Overall, if you've played an Ultimate Team in the past, this one will be no different, but the mode is itching for an overhaul like the ones the rest of the modes have been given. Regardless of your mode, the onfield gameplay feels refined from last year and overall feels about as good as a recent football game has felt.
The new boom Tech makes a real difference in how ball handlers are controlled and tackled, especially as skills improve. The ability to Juke and break tackles or alternatively to lay out opponents with a well-timed hit stick feels fantastic to perform.
Someone like Christian McCaffrey, a short outlier, but a great Showcase of the best of the best, can turn on a dime and stay on his feet through contact in ways unheard of in past games or with most other players, and in the end zone, can use his new signature celebration to cap it all off.
Madden NFL 25 has surprised me with so many mediocre or underwhelming entries in recent years. It's hard to have high expectations for a modern game, but like a high draft pick, this year's entry gives the franchise some hope for continued improvements in coming years.
The streamlined approach to modes makes it much easier to ground yourself in just a couple of places for the most refined gameplay, and while Ultimate Team still has a long way to go, Franchise and Superstar feel like they're headed in the right direction. The additional inclusion of the boom Tech Ball Carrier adjustment and the phenomenal new broadcast makes onfield gameplay that much better as well.
While it's not a perfect game and there are still certainly major changes needed to improve various features or remove microtransactions altogether, Madden NFL 25 has put a lot of effort to improve some of the most needed systems and modes in Madden, and this could very well be the start of a new era for the franchise.
