Some small improvements are not small as we says, it sometimes change the way we are playing Madden NFL 15
For years, EA has presented its flag-bearing sports series as an attempt at a pixel-for-pixel simulation of professional football. It has consistently billed the latest game in the annual series as “the most authentic Madden,” leaving the door open a crack for anyone outside its PR department to point out all the ways Madden is not a mirror image of the sport that dominates America's Sundays.
Madden NFL 15 isn’t the first Madden game for the new generation of consoles, but it just so happens to be the first truly “next-gen” one. Madden NFL 25 Xbox One and Madden NFL 25 Playstation 4 wasn’t the step forward many of us had hoped for. The visuals were upgraded and there were improvements to the gameplay, but it still felt somewhat lacklustre. This shouldn’t have been shocking for most people, since the first round of games on a new generation of consoles rarely (read: never) live up to their true potential.
Madden NFL 15, on the other hand, is an extremely ambitious take on the franchise, looking to revitalize and retool almost every single part of the game. Ask anyone who once owned a Mega Drive to name five NFL teams and the majority will respond with a look that’s somewhere between lost and terrified. Follow that query up with the words ‘Hail Mary’, though, and said expression will instantly transform into a knowing, ‘those were the days’ glow.
Madden 15 is a big step in carving out the series’ identity as a video game first and a football simulator second, driving a much-needed wedge between the game and the sport, while retaining what fans crave from both sides. While there are some missteps and questionable decisions, we’re seeing that slow steady march of progress thrusting the franchise into the future, and truly showing what the next generation of Madden could look like. It’s just a shame, then, that the game has tripped over its own cleats.
But this year everything has changed on that side of the ball. The first major change is you can chose to lock in as a single player (meaning extra fun taking charge of players like JJ Watt or Richard Sherman) which flips the camera so you are facing the quarterback. It may sound like a small modification but it completely changes the way you play on defense.
Plenty of Madden installments have proclaimed to “fix” defense, usually by adding some new mechanic or stick functionality that still leaves you with pretty much the same exact defensive game you’ve been playing for years. Once again, I think saying that Madden 15’s changes somehow salve everything potentially wrong with playable defense is overstating things, but what the game does offer is a nice change of pace. First off, now players can swing the camera around while playing defense. That sounds like a small thing, but it’s actually a big help when playing on the defensive line or as a linebacker. Before, I always felt the defensive players were getting obscured by the offensive line. This negates that issue, and in concert with a new defensive minigame--you can jump the snap by hitting a trigger button at the right moment--it goes a long way to helping you play more effectively. In addition to that trigger button, you will also see button icons pop up when your defender is engaged with a blocker, indicating whether you should be using finesse moves or power moves to get by them. If that makes things too easy for you, you can just shut those off entirely, but for my part, I found them to be a helpful instructional tool.
There are a plethora of other additions worth mentioning quickly, like Pass Innaccuracy. It’s not as finicky as Precision Passing first was back in the day, which is great. Still, if your timing is off or you try to zip the ball in there when you should have lofted it (or vice versa) your accuracy will suffer. Even with great quarterbacks this holds true, as I was playing with Aaron Rodgers and managed a few off-target passes. The popular Connected Franchise mode has been revamped and sounds great as has Ultimate Team, however, I didn’t have time for a deep dive into either of these before delivering this review. Rest assured, I’ll be getting into both soon.
Madden 15 a step forward, then, yet still a year behind schedule. There’s a good game here, but there’s still work to do to bring it up to the level of many of its sports game peers.
