''Madden NFL 25'' is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

based on the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

and published by

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...

. It was released for

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

in August 2013. Instead of numbering it ''Madden NFL 14'' with the year like in previous versions, the "25" in the title refers to the 25th anniversary of the ''

Madden NFL ''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football video game series developed by EA Tiburon for EA Sports. It is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden and sold more than 130 m ...

'' series. The eighth-generation console versions of ''Madden NFL 25'' are the very first games to run on EA Sports's

Ignite To ignite is the first step of firelighting. Ignite may also refer to: Music *Ignite (band), a melodic hardcore band from Orange County, California * ''Ignite'' (Econoline Crush album), 2007 * ''Ignite'' (Shihad album), 2010 * "Ignite" (Eir Aoi s ...

game engine. However, the seventh generation versions still run on EA's previous game engine, Impact. The seventh-generation versions featured former

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

running back

Barry Sanders Barry Sanders (born July 16, 1968) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL), from 1989 to 1998 for the Detroit Lions. Sanders led the league in rushing yards four times and ...

on the cover, while the eighth-generation versions featured

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

running back

Adrian Peterson Adrian Lewis Peterson (born March 21, 1985) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest running backs in football history. He played college football at Oklahoma, where he set the ...

, and were released as launch titles for the

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

in November 2013.

Gameplay

In Connected Franchise career mode, players own and manage a National Football League (NFL) team. Players can also move teams to new cities, including international markets like Toronto, Mexico City, Dublin and London, or revive historic teams like the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 as ...

or the

London Monarchs The London Monarchs were a professional American football team in NFL Europe and its predecessor league, the World League of American Football (WLAF). The Monarchs played their final season in 1998 as the England Monarchs. In 1999, they were re ...

from NXL Europe. It was the first time this happened since '' Madden NFL 12'' for the franchise and team relocation since ''

Madden NFL 09 ''Madden NFL 09'' is an American football video game based on the NFL that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the 20th annual installment in the ''Madden NFL'' video game franchise. The game was released for the Ninten ...

''.

Development

The game was announced in early 2013. It was shown in conjunction with EA Sports's

Ignite game engine The EA Sports Ignite game engine (styled as EA SPORTS IGNITE) is a collection of video game technologies built by Electronic Arts and designed to make video game sports "alive". The technology was announced at Microsoft's Xbox One reveal event in ...

announcement at

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

reveal as one of four upcoming games to use the engine. Electronic Arts confirmed the game as an

and

launch title at its

E3 2013 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2013 (E3 2013) was the 19th E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California with many press conferences taking place at nearby venues including the Microsoft Theater ...

press conference. Improvements over the previous ''Madden'' titles include upgraded graphics (including for the first time real metallic shine for teams with metallic helmets for the Xbox One and PS4 releases), better real-time physics, new running controls, and a reactive environment, including a playing field that wears out in high-activity areas. The next-gen console versions are better equipped to handle these updates due to their extra processing power.

Player-character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

foot tracking is five times as accurate on the newer consoles. The debuting

tracks all on-field players simultaneously in order to predict path collisions for more realistic impacts. The game can also store more animations to make player movement more realistic. The next-gen versions will also include exclusive features, such as an improvement to pass blocking where increased computer player awareness lets the

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

change priorities mid-play and

double-team In basketball, a double team (also double-team, double teaming, or double-teaming) is a defensive alignment in which two defensive players are assigned to guard a single offensive player. Among basketball strategies in which defenders are assign ...

players, new to the ''Madden'' series. These choices are designed to let the player think more like the quarterback instead of retreating every play to evade the rushing defensive players.

Cover player selection

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

, who played for the

from 1989 until 1999, won the contest to be featured on the video game's cover over

of the

, with 58 percent of the vote. Sanders became the first player to appear on the cover of ''

'' more than once (he appeared in the background of the '' Madden NFL 2000'' cover).

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

later announced that Peterson would be on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One game covers, while Sanders will remain on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 cover.

Release

The game was released on August 27, 2013 for

and

. It was released as a

launch title This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...

for the

on November 15, 2013 and as a

launch title This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...

for

on November 22, 2013. An announced Anniversary Edition available only at

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

includes a code for

NFL Sunday Ticket NFL Sunday Ticket is an out-of-market sports package that broadcasts National Football League (NFL) regular season games unavailable on local affiliates. It carries all regional Sunday afternoon games produced by Fox and CBS. The ideal customer o ...

access.

Pre-order bonuses

''Madden NFL 25'' includes multiple pre-order bonuses. If pre-ordered through

GameStop GameStop Corp. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer. The company is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas (a suburb of Dallas), and is the largest video game retailer worldwide. , the company operates 4,5 ...

the user will receive head coach Bill Walsh and quarterback

Joe Montana Joseph Clifford Montana Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. Nicknamed "Joe Cool" and "the Comeback Kid", ...

for Madden Ultimate Team and Connected Franchise and Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. for Connected Franchise. If pre-ordered at

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

;

John Madden John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight pla ...

Tom Flores Thomas Raymond Flores (born March 21, 1937) is a former American football coach and quarterback. After his retirement as a coach, he was a radio announcer for more than twenty years. Flores won a total of four Super Bowls in his playing and c ...

, and

Fred Biletnikoff Frederick S. Biletnikoff (born February 23, 1943) is a former American football player and coach. He was a wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for fourteen seasons and ...

for Madden Ultimate Team and Connected Franchise.

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

Rod Woodson Roderick Kevin Woodson (born March 10, 1965) is an American former professional football defensive back in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. He is currently the Head Coach of the XFL's Vegas Vipers. Woodson was drafted in the ...

and

Franco Harris Franco Harris (March 7, 1950 – December 20, 2022) was an American professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily for the Pittsburgh Steelers. A nine-time Pro Bowl selection ...

for Madden Ultimate Team and Art Rooney, Sr. for Connected Franchise. At

Best Buy Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...

: head coach Jimmy Johnson and

Troy Aikman Troy Kenneth Aikman (born November 21, 1966) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. After transferring from Oklahoma, he played college football at UCLA, ...

for Madden Ultimate Team and Connected Franchise. If ordered from

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

Mike Ditka Michael Keller Ditka (born Michael Dyczko; October 18, 1939) is an American former football player, coach, and television commentator. A member of both the College (1986) and the Pro (1988) Football Halls of Fame, he was UPI NFL Rookie of Year i ...

and

William "The Refrigerator" Perry William Anthony "The Refrigerator" Perry (born December 16, 1962) is a former American football defensive tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons, primarily with the Chicago Bears. Nicknamed "the Refrigerator" b ...

for Madden Ultimate Team and Connected Franchise. And finally, if ordered from

Origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * Origin (comics), ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * The Origin (Buffy comic), ''The Origin'' (Bu ...

Kurt Warner Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals. His career, which saw him ascend fr ...

and

Warren Moon Harold Warren Moon (born November 18, 1956) is an American former football quarterback who played professionally for 23 seasons. He spent the majority of his career with the Houston Oilers of the National Football League (NFL) and the Edmonto ...

for Connected Franchise.

Soundtrack

Madden NFL 25's menu music was once again an original orchestrated score, composed by Christopher Lennertz. The licensed soundtrack only plays in stadiums.

Reception

''Madden NFL 25'' received mostly positive reviews. Jack Devries of

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

gave the game 8.5/10, praising the improved franchise mode, while criticizing the repetitive touchdown celebrations and glitchy presentation, such as the fictional tweets which say teams "barely won", when the final score is 35-14.

Joystiq ''Joystiq'' was a video gaming blog founded in June 2004 as part of the Weblogs, Inc. family of weblogs, now owned by AOL. It was AOL's primary video game blog, with sister blogs dealing with MMORPG gaming in general and the popular MMORPG ''W ...

's Mike Suszek scored the game four stars out of five, commenting on the inconsistency of the running game, as a result of the sensitive collision detection of the Infinity engine. On the contrary, Dustin Toms of Operation Sports praised the running game, primarily due to the addition of the

pistol offense The pistol offense is an American football formation and strategy developed by coaches Michael Taylor of Mill Valley, California and popularized by Chris Ault when he was head coach at the University of Nevada, Reno. It is a hybrid of the traditi ...

; Toms scored the game as 7.5. Brett Todd of

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

criticized the commentary by

Jim Nantz James William Nantz III (born May 17, 1959) is an American sportscaster who has worked on telecasts of the National Football League (NFL), NCAA Division I men's basketball, the NBA and the PGA Tour for CBS Sports since the 1980s. He has anchor ...

and

Phil Simms Phillip Martin Simms (born November 3, 1955) is an American former football quarterback who spent his entire 15-year professional career playing for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He is currently a television sport ...

, stating that they "offer nothing but inanities, generic observations about the 'offense' and the 'defense' that rarely refer to players by name, and loads of those obnoxious 'I'll tell you what' tics that make Simms so insufferable." Todd also commented that the passing game is too overpowered, though he praised the "Run Free" addition. Ultimately, the score given by Todd was 6.0.

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

' Erik Kain also criticized the commentary, stating that the exclusive rights deal between EA and the NFL hindered the amount of improvements to the series. On the positive side, Kain praised the "Run Free" feature, calling it a welcome addition to the franchise. Steven Hansen of

Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. History ' ...

praised the physics, but noted the possible lack of replay value, calling it "''Madden XIII-2''" due to it being too similar to ''

Madden NFL 13 ''Madden NFL 13'' is an American football video game based on the National Football League, published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. EA's Chief Creative Officer, Richard Hilleman, said that defense would receive various changes in mechan ...

''. GameZone's Lance Liebl gave the PS4 version an 8/10, stating "If you're a football fan and an early owner of one of the next-gen consoles, go out and get ''Madden NFL 25''. There's enough improvements to justify buying it, especially if you do the trade-up program for Xbox One." ''Madden NFL 25'' for Android and

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

received negative reviews, the iOS version receiving a

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

Metascore of 39 based on two mixed and six negative critic reviews. Eric Ford of

Touch Arcade ''TouchArcade'' is a mobile video game website that launched in 2008. Arnold Kim of ''MacRumors'' worked on the site and its editor-in-chief was Eli Hodapp from 2009 to 2019. ''TouchArcade'' has been recognized as one of the best mobile game ...

gave the game a 1/5 rating, criticizing the game's highly simplified football matches and excessive freemium

Pay-to-win Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...

elements. Matthew Diener of

Pocket Gamer ''Pocket Gamer'' is a video game website that focuses on mobile, portable and handheld games. The site launched in 2005 and is published and owned by UK company Steel Media Ltd. The site covers all major portable and mobile gaming formats, incl ...

gave the game a 2/5 rating, criticizing sticky and unresponsive controls which "pose more of a challenge than the AI does" and

Free-to-play Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...

elements.

References

{{Madden NFL games 2013 video games Android (operating system) games IOS games Xbox One games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation 3 games Xbox 360 games Madden NFL Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by Christopher Lennertz Video games set in the United States