Outside of the minor graphical upgrades that needed more power to pull off and couldn't have been done effectively last generation, there is practically nothing in this game that couldn't have been done last generation or the generation prior, and we know that because we've seen it done by other football games, and in a number of cases done better.
The whole True-Step promotion was laughable to me, but sad at the same time because the fact that something like that would be promoted at all is a great example of how the genre has devolved as a result of a non-competitive environment, especially since systems just as good and arguably better were done before and without the need for real-time physics. The grass promotion just sealed it as the pinnacle of absurdity. EA/Tiburon hasn't innovated a single thing in nearly a decade. It's the same thing with how they were promoting something basic like pass trajectories a few years ago. It just makes you sad, smh.
While the game is a small improvement over last gen, if this is what the developers wanted last gen to be, then to me that's a pretty damaging indictment on them. In reality, this game could've been so much more last generation, and it should be so much more right now. I like Madden 25, especially after the patches, but it was too little too late. The game bombed in sales (by Madden standards) despite constant promotion, people just quit falling for the okie doke. Heck, I didn't even buy the game, I got it free. I want to wish the sales bombing to be a wake up call for them, but after a near decade, I know better than that.
For them to put their sales back on track, Madden 15 will need to be a walk-off TD. With the same engine still carrying on--and even worse the same animations--I can't see how it will happen. Like I said in another post, going the port route with their legacy engine saved their butts for this year, but doomed them and us for the next 5-9 years. I don't know what else they can do with their legacy engine. It's like they're trying to squeeze blood from a turnip at this point.