Madden NFL 25 finally arrives and becomes the latest title in an iconic franchise. Unless you've been living in a cave, you'd also know that after an 11-year hiatus, the College Football gaming franchise makes a grand return with EA Sports's other American Football title, College Football 25, arriving last month. So, EA Sports is definitely cooking this summer for football fans worldwide.

Speaking of 11 years, Madden NFL 25 is the second game with the exact title. Back in 2013, the first one was given that name because it was released as a celebratory edition, marking 25 years of Madden video games. It was the first NFL game in the franchise to arrive in the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One era, and it had the cover star, Minnesota Vikings legend Adrian Peterson, on it.

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Fast forward to a new gaming generation, and the man to be on the cover is Christian McCaffrey, the 49ers running back. Funnily, he's the first running back to be a cover star of a Madden game since the aforementioned original Madden NFL 25 game. Now, 11 years is a very long time when it comes to technology – especially gaming.

The original was one of the first EA games to use the revolutionary Ignite engine for previous-generation platforms and PCs. It featured many mechanics and features that allowed virtual players to move like real-life athletes and think like them, too, with their incredible artificial intelligence system. The last game to use the engine was NHL 21 a few years ago.

Now that we're in a new console gaming generation, EA uses a different engine, Frostbite. This isn't a new engine, but its multiple versions have also brought drastic advancements in its technology. Despite the conflicting reviews of last year's Madden NFL 24, we, on the other hand, produced a review to express how very pleased we were with the game's overall presentation and execution in gameplay mechanics, visuals, animations, and content, although there were a few things that needed improvements.

Nonetheless, we were impressed with the additions to the last game, including the fieldSENSE technology that brought your American Football experience more to life. But how much more was added from the previous title to the latest, Madden NFL 25? The answer is EA Orlando has made many big and small changes, but I believe it's best to discuss the biggest changes and a few small changes as a taste of what you'll be getting from the latest game.

We must start with arguably the most talked-about feature: EA Orlando has taken realism to the next level with fieldSENSE with the new physics-informed, dynamic tackling system called BOOM tech. You've seen the tackles and how players react to those tackles on your flat screens when watching your favorite NFL teams live. Now, you can experience them in the game, as tackling has become much more realistic.

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BOOM tech is a highly advanced technology that provides many physics-based animations that will play out after a point of contact. With this new system, you'll see players fall in many different ways. Furthermore, how a player is tackled, the momentum of a tackle, the angle of a tackle, and so on will determine the appropriate reaction of the ball carrier once contact is made with a defensive player. Player ratings also play a significant role in this system.

Let's say, for example, a ball carrier makes a run. When a defensive player approaches him and attempts to make a tackle to stop him, the carrier immediately prepares for the impact. The carrier still has total control by using the hit stick (right analog) to perform evading moves such as a stiff arm, a juke, or simply shifting direction.

This is just a fraction of what you'll be getting with the BOOM tech – making it, without a doubt, the most authentic tackling system in the franchise's history. Just like last year, only the current generation console owners and PC players can reap the benefits of this system.

Along with BOOM tech, the reloaded hit stick, which has been rebuilt from scratch, encourages players to place much more emphasis on timing, size, momentum, angle of approach speed, player ratings, and more when using the hit stick. This system was redesigned for the sole purpose of increasing your realistic experience on the virtual football field.

With the system's new look comes increased difficulty in hitting sticks because it is now a skill-based mechanic. This means you'll need to use the features mentioned in the last paragraph perfectly to achieve successful outcomes. You'll also need to use appropriately sized players to use it. For example, if you attempt to use the hit stick with a smaller player against a much larger player, you'll most likely lose that battle. And again, player ratings play a role.

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Another feature that was rebuilt was the ball carrier system. Now, ball carriers can shimmy and rebound off of defensive players in an abundance of brand-new ways based on ratings, momentum, timing, and so on. And for all of you offensive-minded players, you'll be pleased to know that because of the new system, you can chain many more hesitations, spins, and jukes more efficiently than you've ever done in a Madden game.

That's not all—the new ball carrier and BOOM tech system also include brand-new abilities. They've added new running moves for the offense, such as steamroller, and new tackling moves for the defense, such as form tackling.

Madden NFL 25 now has over 1000 brand new gameplay animations ranging from ball carrying to blocking to catching to celebrations, as well as brand new kicking and throwing styles and more to give you a far more authentic experience than last year's game. For catching, there are over 700 new catching animations, including hand catches and more, and this has been a long time coming, but receivers can move much better when trying to catch the ball. Plus, there are also over 500 brand-new blocking animations.

If you want more plays to experiment with, Madden NFL 25 has you covered with over 900 new plays with a new update to their playbook. There is an abundance of new trick plays and more, as well as new plays for when it's time for you to defend. They even went as far as to include plays like the Super Bowl-winning play from this year's champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, allowing you to emulate how they've won the biggest prize in the league.

Moreover, in terms of gameplay, they've improved the audio to improve the atmosphere of your games. Real-life crowd noises, chants, reactions, and sounds you hear on the field and sidelines have been implemented. Plus, additional on-field animations such as more antics, banter, even heated moments, and more from players and coaches.

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Remember in Madden NFL 24 when certain players, especially the game's top players like Patrick Mahomes and last year's cover athlete, Josh Allen, would move, play, and behave just like their real-life counterparts with animations? Now, they've done much more with signature player animations by implementing more of the top players' signature characteristics, such as their unique stance, gestures, and more.

They've also added signature running animations that completely mimic players such as Kansas City Chiefs' Isaiah Pacheco and, of course, this year's cover star, Christian McCaffrey. But they didn't leave the defensive side hanging. To duplicate what we see in real-life football matches, there are now so many more pre-play cutscenes.

Madden NFL 25's visuals are even better because the game includes grass that is now in 3D. It also improved the lighting, shadows, and motion blur to give the players gear, footballs, stadiums, fields, and much more virtually lifelike appearances that look just like their real-life counterparts. All of these improvements are at their best if you're playing in 4K resolution.

Unfortunately, Madden NFL 25's content has not changed much. However, most improvements were made with the Franchise mode, which now features over 70 brand-new scenarios in the story mode. That's right. They've done this to provide the players with the most realistic experience as NFL players, which includes more lifelike decisions and more realistic cutscenes.

Moreover, in Franchise mode, they've revamped the NFL draft to make it look much more like it is in real life, and it's now being hosted by Roger Goodell. For more authenticity, they've added more actions, like Goodell taking photographs with the draft picks while holding their jerseys, live reactions of the draft picks at their homes, and much more. Moreover, they've improved the arrangement of prospects, making it easier to choose college players based on their stats, conditions, and more.

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Franchise mode has also added Franchise Central, which is essentially the place where you'll receive all the vital information. Plus, they've added a brand new personal message system. With this system, you'll get an abundance of messages that include suggestions on free agents, updates on players, their health statuses, and plenty more. The mode now has Team Builder, where you're able to fully customize your team. Create custom jerseys, logos, helmets, whatever your heart desires.

For Superstar mode, they've added over 900 brand new quests for you to select which objectives you want to do and in any order you please. As well as go for the rewards you wish to get first. They've also rebuilt the Combine feature. You can improve your current ratings based on how well you do in drills. This is a nice touch because it's great that we're actually being rewarded now after entering these enjoyable mini-games.

They've no doubt improved the depth of Superstar mode's player customization. There are now many more preset archetypes, faces, hairstyles, tattoos, and more to allow you to create your player to look as much like yourself as possible. It would've made much more sense to implement the facial capture feature for players who want the in-game player to look just like themselves. But I guess EA Orlando's goal was to bring out the artistic side of players. Plus, Superstar mode allows you to customize your player's starting skills and physical ratings. In case you didn't know, you can import your custom player from Road to Glory to Madden NFL 25's Superstar mode if you'd like, as long as you own College Football 25.

There is still a small number of positions for players to choose from. They've still provided only five positions. This will surely frustrate a lot of players and, in some cases, deter them from even playing this mode because their favorite position isn't available. There really isn't much to be said about Ultimate Team other than its brand new Head-to-Head Ranked mode, where you can raise your rank by simply winning matches. Sounds simple enough, right?

If you loved last year's mini-games, then you'll love this. Madden NFL 25 has 15 new mini-games for you to enjoy. They feature new games such as the Pitch Party, where you must score as many points as you can as you pitch to your teammates behind you. The Two Minute Drill is where you have total control of a full team, and you must try to score touchdowns and, at the same time, snatch any chance of redeeming yourself against your opponents in two minutes.

Bucket Drop is where you practice your skill-based passing and destroy as many scattered targets as possible before the time runs out. As a bonus, completing each mini-game, as well as the many new ones, comes with rewards. But if you're after bigger fish to fry, they've introduced the new gauntlet where you enter over 100 difficult challenges and test how far your skills can guide you, and completing them follows larger rewards.

Before we conclude, you may want to know that Madden NFL 25 has not only added a new play-by-play commentary team but also multiple commentary teams. Along with the standard team of Brandon Gaudin and Charles Davis, there are a couple of additional commentary teams. One has the partnership of Brock Huard and Kate Scott - as she becomes the first-ever female announcer in the franchise's history. The other team consists of Mike Tirico and Greg Olsen. Not to mention, they've also added new kick-off rules, trick-off returns, and more.

Ultimately, Madden NFL 25 can officially claim the crown as the most authentic Madden game of all time. It's like EA Orlando has taken the already incredible gameplay, visuals, animations, and more of last year's game placed them on the surgery table and given them a major facelift. However, despite some of the impressive additions that were made regarding the content, you might get the impression that having much more would've sufficed. Nonetheless, Madden NFL 25 is definitely a must-have.

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