Madden NFL 25 restored my love for the annual football franchise — but it may only be a short return

Madden has been the king of football for decades, but the crown has slipped in recent years, can Madden 25 NFL retake the throne?

It’s been 12 years since the 25th Anniversary edition of Madden released under the same Madden NFL 25 moniker, and we’re sure a snarky commentator is lying in wait to claim that Madden hasn’t improved since then. I would argue that Madden has improved tenfold in the last decade, but would also acknowledge that the franchise’s monopoly on digital football hasn’t necessarily been a good thing for players. However, with the release of the excellent College Football 25 earlier this summer, Madden finally has competition. College Football 25 is a joyous experience, and has enjoyed a richly-deserved enthusiastic reception from players. With this rival on the scene, it’s never been more important for Madden to avoid fumbling. 

For the last couple of years, the Madden series has been laden with game-breaking glitches and frustrating quality of life choices. Unfortunately, EA hasn’t really had to try with Madden. This year, it feels like EA Orlando has finally listened to the fans, providing genuine on-the-field upgrades and spending more time on the little details that make playing a game seamless.

After years of lackluster performance, does Madden NFL 25 finally right the ship? Read my full Madden 25 review to find out how it stacks up.

Madden 25: The Basics

• What is it?  Madden NFL 25 is the latest entry in EA’s long-running NFL football franchise, not to be confused with the 25th anniversary edition released under the same name in 2013. The sports simulation game virtually recreates pro football action and lets you play as some of the best teams and players in the world. 
• Who is it for? NFL football fans of course, but also players of sports and football video games in general.
• What’s the price? The standard edition of Madden 25 costs $69. There is also a Deluxe Edition for $99.99 and an MVP Bundle for $139.99 which includes College Football 25. Each edition comes with a selection of additional digital content, mostly for Ultimate Team.
• What other games has the developer made?  EA Orlando, formerly Tiburon, is best known for making previous Madden games and more recently College Football 25. They also made EA’s latest golf sim, EA Sports PGA Tour. 
• What games is this similar to? It’s a continuation of the long-running Madden franchise and is now competing with College Football 25 and maybe Maximum Football.

On the field

I quickly noped out of Madden NFL 24 due to some absolutely ridiculous bugs. I played a game where Justin Jefferson, known for this circus catch, refused to catch any ball thrown his way for all four quarters. It was the glitch that finally broke my resolve to play. 

Fortunately, Madden NFL 25 has not presented the same issues (so far). If anything, gameplay has been a massive improvement with tweaks to a number of systems that the casual fan might not notice but regular Madden players will love. 

Player animations are smoother than ever. The stellar animation work in both Madden NFL 25 and College Football 25 suggests that EA Orlando has finally figured out the Frostbite engine. 

I still find Madden’s pre-snap play art to be somewhat cartoonish, but adjustments to systems like the pass-blocking assignments really open up how you direct the offense. The ability to assign pass protections like Half Slide Right or Left to the offensive line helps you pick up blitzes and forces you to diagnose defenses more.

The AI finally catches up with how real-life football teams actually play the sport. So far, run heavy teams actually try to use their running backs in both passing and the run game instead of swapping in random bottom of the depth chart guys for swing passes. Noticeably, archetypes actually play to form, where a scrambling QB is more likely to run first than a pocket passer who will just throw the ball away if they can’t find an open receiver, which is something that wasn’t always a given previously.

A shiny new toy

On the whole, Madden NFL 25 significantly improves the overall presentation compared to last year’s edition. The UI is snappy and dare I say even fun? 

I found that loading outside of gameplay is atrocious though. There were times when I would tap into a menu and it took so long that I thought the game had frozen. 

There are two audio quality of life changes that make Madden NFL 25 lightyears ahead of recent iterations. First, the soundtrack is probably the best its been in some time with no songs that I would classify as distracting or irritating, like LG Malique’s “Winning” from Madden 24. I even added a few of the game’s tracks to my own personal playlist. 

Secondly, EA has refreshed the stale commentary duo of Brandon Gaudin and Charles Davis with two new commentary teams. The headlining Mike Tirico and Greg “Third leg” Olsen offer up a fairly relaxing vibe while Kate Scott and Brock Huard offer a more intense play-by-play. Both are welcome additions, and I hope they return for Madden NFL 26

Game day

Ultimate Team exists, with the same criticisms as always. Do you want to spend more money on Madden? If so, MUT will encourage you to drain your pockets from the get go. That said, the new challenge mode is surprisingly fun and engrossing and will keep you in the mode longer than you might have imagined, especially since you don’t have to play against other people. Still, if you never liked MUT before now, that won’t keep you here.

Outside of Ultimate Team, Franchise mode is still disappointing. Playing as a coach or an owner remain separate options which is nice for people who just want to focus on the Xs and Os. However, I like having the ability to set absurd prices for hot dogs, but I do admit that I glaze over when it comes to contracts and other financial busywork.

Where Franchise mode is lacking, and always has, is the inability to just be a coordinator of the offense or defense. It’s a stark contrast to College Football 25 where you can start a coaching career as a DC or OC. Honestly, it's a feature that Madden desperately needs to add to Franchise mode, and it’s a shame to see it omitted once again. 

The new “storyline” feature, which is supposed to break up the action and add a personal touch to your footballing career, forced me to make such bizarre choices that I started ignoring it. For example, in a pre-season training camp, I was asked if there would be a position battle for defensive end between my homegrown 92 overall superstar and his 75-rated backup. Of course not, never in a million years would that be a battle. I said, "No," and lost 10 team morale points for my team. And this wasn't the only absurd question I was forced to answer either. Even more frustratingly, Superstar mode has been slowly invaded by Ultimate Team’s microtransactions, with cosmetic uniforms and streetball options still available at additional cost for your avatar. 

However, the core pro-career mode is still good and the mini-game laden scouting combine is a delight. Even better, performance quests beyond just passing or running for a ton of yards offer a pleasant high when the RPG-like little green numbers tick up.

Madden 25 verdict 

EA Orlando has made a good Madden game, and that’s no small achievement after two or three years of iterations that I would describe as disappointing at best, outright bad at worst. Unfortunately, despite the improvements , I spent most of my time playing Madden NFL 25 wishing I was back in college. 

If you’re primarily an NFL fan, you’ll be pleased with on-field action compared to previous iterations. However, if you’re a football fan regardless of league, then Madden will disappoint. It lacks the pageantry of College Football 25, resulting in a more sterile feel. And surprisingly, even with a new commentary crew, it doesn’t celebrate the NFL’s rich history, something College Football 25 does with a great aplomb. 

However, Madden NFL 25 remains one of the franchise’s best efforts in years, and I’m hoping that having to face off against the prodigal son will finally get EA Orlando to substantially improve thier mainstay franchise in the years ahead. For now, Madden NFL 25 is merely a good football game, rather than a great one like its college-set sibling.