Madden 15

Madden 15 begins with a bang, putting the player in a highly scripted opening sequence in which you must control Cam Newton as he navigates the challenging Seahawk defense in the NFC Championship.  This all takes place before the player has even reached the main menu (it only happens the first time you launch the game), but I thought it was an interesting attempt to make the intro sequence more immersive (no more FMV with a Madden rap).

After completing this sequence, there is an option for a skills trainer to get the player acquainted with the new changes to game play.  I thought this was nice, but largely unnecessary for those familiar with Madden 25 or its immediate predecessors.  Once finally onto the main menu, I started a franchise and was pleased to see an option to immediately sim to the playoffs, which saved me from the tedious task of advancing every week manually, one at a time.  While it took some time to sim through every game, it was nice to be able to click a button and walk away before finding my Patriots in the Wildcard game against the Chargers.

Once in the actual game itself, I was immediately impressed by the graphics and the silky smooth frame rate.  Even the crowd animations are improved.  Despite some long load times, upgrading to the PS4 clearly presents its advantages.  As Tom Brady took the field, I was treated to some nice video highlights of his from last season.  The game itself was a defensive struggle, with my (not unusual) challenge of having long, grinding drives that result in few points.  After this rather boring experience, with multiple picks by each QB, I advanced with a 7-6 win.  There are now commercials have been inserted between the first and second quarter (for the Verizon halftime show), with the sponsor changing each game.  I liked the fact that the highlights from the halftime show used actual key plays from the game, and gave the option to view these at any time from the options screen.  The only issue that I had was that some of the commentary was just plain wrong – with the announcer saying that there was a kickoff return from a touchdown at one point, something that never happened.
The divisional match up was at Baltimore, and once again I struggled with ball control, throwing two picks.  Thankfully for me, the Baltimore offense was abysmal (or stifled by my “great” D).  I managed two scores this time, including monster 13 and 16 play drives, leading to a 14-3 win that set up the championship game in Denver.  Once again, I was able to put together some long drives, along with a pick 6 from Jerod Mayo and a safety by Vince Wilfork, leading to a 26-0 shellacking.

This all set up the Super Bowl match up between the Patriots and the Seahawks – the actual Super Bowl match up in reality that year.  While I fell behind 0-3 early after my long opening drive stalled with a goal line stand at the 1 yard line, a TD late in the 3rd quarter put me back up for good.  I was able to tack on a field goal in the fourth to cement a 10-3 final.  In a somewhat strange finish, despite losing by just one score late in the fourth, the Seahawks opted to punt the ball with 2 minutes left and allow me to knee out the clock and win the game.  Whatever.

Despite some wonky stats and strange clock management, I viewed Madden 15 as a small but steady improvement in Madden 25.  The emphasis on defense kept the scoring low, but that may have been more a result of my style of play.  Much of what I liked about that game remains intact, with upgrades to animations and graphics to improve game play.  Overall a fun experience, but still with some bugs, and probably not as good as Madden 2005 or some of the earlier greats in the series.

Madden 25

Madden 25 takes the refinements of Madden 13 and smooths out the rough edges even further.  The game is notable for a number of reasons, not least the decision to break with convention and calling it “25” rather than Madden 14 to celebrate 25 years of Madden football games.  The history of the series is emphasized throughout the experience, including the logo of every past Madden video game on the menu screen (which brought back memories for me), along with the use of screenshots and fun facts from past iterations of the game during the loading screens. 

Initial impressions of Madden 25 were that it was even slower in loading times than in previous years.  It took me over 30 minutes to manually advance week by week through a regular season before I could finally start my first playoff game.  Before the AFC Divisional game against Baltimore began, I was treated to a pair of team introduction videos to get me sufficiently pumped and fired up.  I thought this was a nice touch to have custom videos for all 32 teams. 

Once in-game, in a snowy Baltimore, I immediately noticed that the graphics had improved over the previous year.  Nantz and Sims were back, along with sideline reporter Danielle Bellini.  In addition to sharper graphics and smoother animations, I also noticed the addition of power meters of some kind underneath each player, showcasing how much “speed burst” and stamina they had left.  A bit gimmicky, but not terrible.  It did not take long for me to notice that the blocking AI had been improved in Madden 25, giving me an opportunity to experiment with a number of running and short passing plays – namely pitches, draws, screens.  This strategy in the snow worked out beautifully – after a pair of Joe Flacco picks, I found myself sitting comfortably with a 14-0 lead at halftime.  This included a monster 16 play, 94 yard drive at the end of the half.  After dominating the clock for the third quarter, I tacked on three more for a 17-0 lead into the fourth.  While the Ravens attempted a frantic comeback, an illegal touching play in which one of their players ran out the back of the endzone before running in and catching a TD wiped out their best chance at points.  The 17-0 Pats win was marked by total domination of the clock (15 minutes to 5), the way I like it. 

The AFC Championship in Denver (which also took a long time to load) was a very different experience.  Peyton Manning was playing out of his mind, changing plays at the line, and surgically pushing the ball down the field.  Less than two minutes into the first quarter, I was down 0-7 after a Manning to Welker TD pass.  I came out swinging though, and despite losing Stevan Ridley to injury managed to tie things up with just under 4 minutes left in the second.  Manning responded once again with a dominating drive before I finally got a stop with them deep inside the redzone.  By holding the powerhouse offense of the Broncos to just three, I went into halftime down just 7-10 despite Denver’s domination of all the stats. 

I opened the third quarter with perhaps my best drive ever in a Madden game.  I used frequent audibles at the line based on defensive packages and was unafraid to take shots deep.  In a grinding drive that lasted nearly five minutes, I finally took the lead 14-10 with just 18 seconds left in the third.  My self-satisfaction did not last long, however.  After the Broncos failed to convert on a third-and-long a questionable roughing the quarterback flipped the field for them and gave them new life.  A few plays later, I was once again behind, this time 14-17 with just 3 minutes left in the game.  Clutch time.

Brady came to play in this one, taking the ball across the 50 to the Denver 41 by the 2 minute warning.  Once I was in field goal range, I tried to strike a balance between milking the clock by not scoring too quickly, but also making sure that I came away with points.  A few plays later, a Gronk TD pass put me up once more – 21-17, with just :34 ticks left on the clock.  It wasn’t over yet though.  Manning and the Broncos once again mounted a furious comeback, slinging the ball all over the field.  After a string of first downs, it all came down to one play with 2 seconds left and the Broncos on my 30 yard line.  Fortunately, Alfonzo Dennard stepped in front of DeMarius Thomas to snag a pick as the clock expired and to cement the 21-17 win in thrilling fashion. 

All this set up the Super Bowl against the Saints in a very snowy New Jersey.  I felt confident going in, based on my success in the snow against the Ravens – perhaps overly so.  After I got called for roughing the passer on the first play, the Saints took advantage of their good field position and scored easily, putting me in the hole 0-7 just two minutes into the game.  In contrast, it took my offense a little while to get going, but I did manage to tack on 3 points early in the second after my drive stalled at the 6 yard line, cutting their lead to four points.  On their subsequent drive, I continued to struggle to get off the field on third down.  After a string of failed attempts, I found myself down 3-14 with less than two minutes in the half.  I had no answers on D and no idea how to stop them. Thankfully, my offense was able to respond thanks to Mr. Rob Gronkowski.  On second down, I hit him streaking down the right sideline.  A broken tackle and 75 yards later, I pulled back to within four points to make the score 10-14 going into halftime. 

My drive to start the second half was the most critical of the game.  It took a few clutch third down conversions, including a deep pass to Josh Boyce that flipped the field, and Gronk trucking a guy near the goal line to convert a first down.  A short Stevan Ridley TD run later, I had finally taken a 17-14 lead with 2 minutes left in the third.  Playing from behind, the Saints suddenly became more desperate in their play-calling, shifting heavily to the passing attack and allowing me to flood the field with corners through nickel and dime packages.  I was able to force back to back punts and effectively milk the clock for the entire fourth quarter to claim a 17-14 win and another Lombardi trophy. 

These three games of Madden 25 were different and memorable, but each seemed fair and made sense to me as a player.  From a run-dominated blowout against the Ravens in the snow, to a back-and-forth shootout with Peyton Manning and the Broncos, to a come-from-behind thriller in the Super Bowl against the Saints, each game was fun for different reasons, mixing strategy and action.  Madden 25, as its name implies, has the feels like the culmination of years of improvement in the long history of this series of video games.  Here’s to another 25 years of Madden to look forward to!

Madden 13

Madden 13 is the first in the series that I played on the PS3 and things started off strong.  Following an inspirational video featuring Ray Lewis that encouraged me to “leave my mark,” I was treated to a stream of silky smooth menu animations that were completely over the top and reminded me of something out of the Matrix.  One of the first things I noticed was the disappearance of the traditional “franchise” mode, which had been replaced by something called “connected career.”  While I’m sure that this feature has all sorts of multiplayer implications, for my purposes it just meant that I had to manually advance one week at a time on the menus until I finally found that Pats in the playoffs, this time in the wildcard round against the Raiders.

First impressions on getting into the actual gameplay on the field were that the framerates are much improved over the previous year.  Even Jim Nantz and Phil Sims looked more realistic in their pre-game reports.  I’m not sure if it was the better frame rates, if the game was easier, or if I was just in the zone, but on my very first drive against the Raiders, I was able to methodically march down the field before punching in a TD run with Shane Vereen from just a few yards out with mere seconds left on the clock in the first quarter.  A combination of ground and pound alongside short and medium passes allowed me to dominate the clock and strike first.  After a second quarter battle, I was able to take a 10-7 lead into the locker room at halftime.  I was dominating the time of possession (8 minutes to 2), but only had a three point lead to show for it. 

It was raining hard in the game, which to me made the consistent framerates even more impressive.  A third quarter pick gave me good field position, but I was only able to tack on another three points, giving me a 13-7 lead late in the third.  While it looked as though the Raiders might surge ahead to take the lead late in the fourth quarter, a pick by Will Allen sealed the game and a 13-7 final.  Following a fun postgame show with some highlights from the actual game, the Pats were on to the divisional round against the Steelers in Pittsburgh. 

The game got off to a rough start for me, with Tom Brady throwing a bad pick that led to a Steelers field goal late in the first quarter.  I followed this up with a failed fourth and inches QB sneak by Brady, and then a suspect 51 yard pass interference penalty against the Pats’ D.  This put the Steelers deep in New England territory late in the second.  While I was able to hold them to a second field goal, I was not feeling terribly confident taking a 0-6 deficit into the locker room.  I was not moving the ball and it seemed as though nothing was breaking the right way. 

Things turned around in the second half, as I opened things up with a sustained drive that was by turns systematic and aggressive, culminating in my first TD of the game with just 21 seconds left in the third.  Short-medium passes from Brady were enough to reclaim a tenuous 7-6 lead.  The game was not over yet, however, and the Steelers mounted a serious drive of their own late in the 4^th.  A critical sack of Big Ben on third down pushed them back to set up a 51 yard field goal for them to take the lead with 55 seconds left in the game.  After a good snap and hold, however, the Steelers kicker pushed the ball just barely wide-right, allowing for me to cling onto a 7-6 win.  It felt good to win, but I needed to figure out how to put more points on the board. 

Nevertheless, the AFC Championship in Indianapolis was a defensive struggle for much of the first half.  After a series of three and outs, the Colts finally struck first with a field goal to take a three point lead with just over 2 minutes left in the first half.  As was the case in the Steelers game, the Patriots were able to respond from behind.  Throughout the ensuing drive I found myself reading their defensive packages and formations and using audibles when necessary to take what they were giving me.   This drive eventually set up 2^nd and goal from the 8 yard line.  I had a quick pass play called, but when I got to the line I saw that they were playing dime and had no linebackers in the middle of the field.  I audibled to a draw play with Danny Woodhead and walked in untouched to take a 7-3 lead with just 17 seconds left in the half. 

The Colts were far from dead, however, and responded with a field goal in the first drive of the third quarter, cutting my lead to just one point at 7-6.  However, I once again applied the methods used in my successful 2^nd quarter TD drive, switching plays and reading defensive coverages all the way.  While I had to convert on two 4^th and inches plays, I ate a ton of clock before scoring a second TD to go up 14-6 with just 1:58 left in the game.  Andrew Luck’s comeback bid was put to rest with a Will Allen pick to seal an intense and fun AFC championship and set up the Super Bowl against the 49ers.

At first it seemed as though the Colin Kaepernick-led Niners would be tough to stop, as they came out with a string of first downs.  While I was able to eventually force a punt, their D was equally up to the task and my offense was promptly shut down.  After a string of 3 and outs on both sides, followed by a trading of turnovers (they fumbled and then I threw them a pick), both teams went into the half deadlocked with a boring 0-0 tie. 

I knew I had to do something different in the second half to get things going, so I started to experiment with different play types.  My first play of the half was a screen pass to Danny Woodhead who was able to sidestep a tackle before taking the ball 60 yards down field.  Unfortunately for me, their defense once again tightened up after this and held me to a field goal.  3-0 with 3:31 left in the 3^rd quarter.  Not to be outdone, the Niners came out with a series of first downs of their own, setting up a long 54 yard field goal.  The ball came in low and hard, hit the left upright and miraculously bounced through to tie the game up at 3 with 1:34 left in the third.

Frustrated, I tried to get aggressive on my next drive by forcing the ball deep.  This was a costly mistake, as Brady threw a pick that set them up with strong field position in the fourth quarter of a tie game.  The Niners followed this up with their best drive of the game, grinding out the clock before finally scoring a touchdown with just over 2 minutes left in the game.  Down 10-3, desperation time had arrived.  After a couple of incomplete passes, the Niners miraculously forgot to cover Julian Edelman on a go route from the left slot.  A perfect Brady pass deep down the field allowed Edelman to walk untouched into the endzone with just seconds left in the game.  Things were now tied up and the Super Bowl was going into overtime! 

The Niners won the toss and elected to receive.  With the new overtime rules, I knew that I had to do everything to ensure their first drive was not a touchdown.  I did not have much time to think this through though, as on their very first play Kaepernick threw an interception to Aquib Talib on the right sideline at about the 25 yard line.  I ran the ball a few times up the middle before kicking a short Super Bowl winning field goal to seal the 13-10 final score.  Talib was rightly awarded Super Bowl MVP honors in this tightly fought and very exciting contest. 

Perhaps my playcalling was too conservative, leading to consistently low scores and tight games.  Nevertheless, each game I played in Madden 13 felt fair and exciting.  The Super Bowl in particular was one of the most memorable that I had played, and the experience was enhanced by uncharacteristically good commentary from Phil Sims and Jim Nantz – they spoke at length about how amazing it was to have a Super Bowl go into overtime, for example.  The bar is low for Madden commentary, but they cleared it in Madden 13.  Overall, Madden 13 is a huge improvement over its predecessor.  While the physics can be wonky at times – with some hopelessly unrealistic body contortions and occasional bugs – this does not offset the huge improvements of better animations and framerates.  Put simply, Madden 13 is the most fun I have had playing Madden in a long time.