Madden NFL 25: Next-Gen Gameplay Completely Revamped Under the Hood

[Steve_OS]

Madden NFL 25 features some big under the hood changes.

For those asking, you have your answer. Madden NFL 25 appears, from what EA claims in four separate blogs today (linked below) to have been completely rewritten under the hood for next-gen consoles. It is likely many of the improvements of next-gen sports gaming will be small and fundamental changes to the gameplay with things like contextually aware players and much improved line blocking.

True Step Locomotion
EA claims that they have completely revamped the way players move on the field with hundreds of new running animations and more realistic player physics and movement.

Player Sense (New AI)
Most of the changes seem incredibly small, but could lead to a much more appealing game of football. Players in Madden NFL 25 will make 50x the calculations each play they did over current-gen. The fruits of this? Contextually aware players who will make better decisions in traffic to avoid hang ups and will make smarter plays on the ball.

War in the Trenches
The biggest gameplay enhancement you'll find in today's announcements is the completely revamped the pass blocking system to compliment the newly rewritten run blocking schemes you've seen in current gen. The videos we've seen look much improved, with better interactions between the OL/DL, especially the OT/DE matchups.

Now players will pre-sort defenders thanks to the enhanced AI. During the play, blockers will be making up to 60 calculations a second to determine who, where, and when they should be blocking. This results in some incredibly realistic player footwork and movement and the best looking pocket in video game football ever from the limited video we've seen. You can check out the deep-dive, which goes into a lot more detail on why the new system is better.

What do you think of the gameplay enhancements EA revealed today?

[bcruise]

Oh, nice. I saw the True Step blog but missed the other 3. Time to get to reading!

[wordtobigbird]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYnhp2H8AGo

Good stuff overall with the line but I'm kind worried about the defenders here. Looks like they are playing guys that come into their zone well but look how the LB on the right is running forward and backward and forward for no reason. He should just stand next to the man in his zone. The LB and Defender to the right of him are running back and forth in sync and Im not sure for what.

The line looks good though.

[GiantBlue76]

Ok - now I will say that I need to see it to believe it. That being said, I am happy that they are working on the right things. Under the hood. A lot of what I saw there looks really good. Realism = fun. The more realistic it is, the better the game will be.

[wordtobigbird]

Quote:

CHECK AND RELEASE PURPLE ROUTE Since RB’s are such an integral part of pass protection, the team updated the legacy “Block & Release” blue-route to encompass this in an authentic manner. When a RB in the backfield has a purple route, he will stay in the protection to block his target if that target is rushing the QB. The RB will not release into his route unless his target has dropped into coverage, and the offensive line will not block his target under any circumstances. If you want to know which defender is being targeted by your purple-route RB, simply toggle the Coach Cam art. The target will be denoted by a purple ‘C’ icon above his head.

Thought this was interesting.

PASS RUSH ANIMATIONS

Quote:

We didn’t just give all the love to the offensive line. We’ve also added well more than 300 new pass-rush animations to Madden NFL 25 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The ratings-based animations are sure to provide constant pressure on the QB, so you won’t feel so comfortable standing in the pocket too long or dropping back 15 yards to throw a curl route. Pass rushers now force QB’s to step up into the pocket and throw the ball on time – or pay the consequences. All of the new animation coverage, which also includes engaged interactions, really bring the physical nature of the trenches to life and make the offensive and defensive lines a real key to success just like in the NFL.

Good to hear.

Quote:

ON AUTO HURDLE AND DOWNFIELD BLOCKING Because players can make all types of contextual decisions with EA SPORTS IGNITE, the development team has been able to add Auto Hurdle. In Gen 3, players could truck someone and then stumble over them. Now you can truck somebody and then automatically jump over them. Players are smart enough to recognize a player on the ground and then act with perfect sense of the situation. We’ve also added the ability to point out blockers downfield. So if a ball carrier is looking ahead of him and recognizes a player 15 yards downfield, he can point out the defender to his blockers.

Kind of enjoyed having to hurdle myself. Hopefully they keep the flick down/up to maintain balance. Gets you more involved in the running game.

Is that 2nd paragraph like playmaker or just automatic?

[raguel]

Quote:

The RB will not release into his route unless his target has dropped into coverage, and the offensive line will not block his target under any circumstances.

Anyone care to explain why this should be true? I certainly hope that a free lineman would look to pick up any missed block.

As a side note, this is the first time I've read what those routes are supposed to do. I thought they were "chip/block and release" (by which I mean the offensive player would initially help an OT block an outside rusher and then go out for a pass, or like on bootleg a TE would start out blocking as if it's a run then sneak out for a pass) . Are there any chip and release routes?

[wordtobigbird]

Quote: Originally Posted by raguel

Anyone care to explain why this should be true? I certainly hope that a free lineman would look to pick up any missed block.

I THINK they are saying it goes like this.

Say a team is running the nickle sugar blitz. So they have 4 lineman and 2 LBs in the A gaps that look like they want to blitz. Based on the AI the 5 lineman should pick the 5 guys or whatever and one guy is assigned to the RB (if you have this option route thing). So when you zoom back you will see a "C" above that LBs head.

So IF the LB blitzes, the RB will be the one to pick him up. The other olineman wont block the guy assigned to the RB. Since its a fake blitz and the LB drops back the RB will see this and go out into his route. There should never be a situation where that LB blitzes but the RB goes out into his route and no one blocks him.

I Hope.

Quote:

As a side note, this is the first time I've read what those routes are supposed to do. I thought they were "chip/block and release" (by which I mean the offensive player would initially help an OT block an outside rusher and then go out for a pass, or like on bootleg a TE would start out blocking as if it's a run then sneak out for a pass) . Are there any chip and release routes?

That's something they should have. I've never seen it so far though.

[SA1NT401]

meh.... Still not buying anything that's said or shown until I actually play it myself.

EA can boast anything they like about this tech or that tech... Their track record proves that it will not be what they say in the end....

It may indeed be there in theory, but the execution could make it a moot point.

Hype factor still 2/10