The most difficult part of Madden NFL 15 is trying to find a place to begin. The game is limited with options to play, but incredibly deep with the options you do get. So, in other words, if you’re looking for a minimum amount of choices, but the choices you do get have some nice depth to them, then you’ve come to the right place. Being a fan of quality over quantity, this year’s Madden hit the right spots. Outside of online play, you have five major modes to deal with in the latest edition of Madden NFL. Let me lay them out for you:
Play Now – Do you really need an in-depth explanation of what you see here? It’s instant football gratification that doesn’t require any hurdles to jump over. You play instantly with your favorite team (whoever that might be) and against a team of your choice. It has been around forever and its placement is no exception in the latest version of the series.
Connected Franchise – We’ll call this ‘career mode’ for short. Connected Franchise allows you to play the owner, coach or player. You can create your own of each, and you can also play as someone who actually exists. This is my favorite of all the modes and the first I jumped right into. While the idea of coach and owner intrigue me, I find getting my hands dirty to be the best route in this mode. I created a player called Darren TaBegrate, a QB for the Browns. It was fun getting him in the groove of things and getting him up to speed with the Browns offense (no, really, they have offense). I particularly liked the fact that EA Tiburon included a confidence gauge of sorts in this portion of the game. You can actually see and feel your player becoming more confident and better on the field. So much, that my boy led the Browns to a division title…then promptly lost in the playoffs. Oh, well. Fun, accurate and long.
Ultimate Team – I’ve never been much of a fan for this mode in the past, but as my age gets older and my attention span gets less sporadic, I found myself enjoying collecting cards and making an ultimate team. While I still don’t like the microtransaction process, the idea of getting a unique coach, a band of diverse players from around the league together and a will to win, made me happy. I will definitely sit back and enjoy the view with this one after this review is finished, but until then just know that Ultimate Team is a smooth, fun way to make a typical football team far more interesting. Like Magic the Gathering, expect with large men.
Skills Trainer – I got lost in this mode. I’m not saying it was confusing, rather it was addictive and it took hours of my time in a blink of an eye. Kind of like an alien abduction where you have missing hours. I found this mode to be intriguing because it was the mode that replaces the typical tutorial. BUT! This tutorial was more than just catch/throw/block/spin. Skills Trainer actually teaches you the game from both sides of the field. For example, it explains how to read coverages, how to react to the read and how to get the most out of the read. Seeing the breakdown of a Coverage 1 and how to identify it was pretty cool. For football fans like me, who get lost here and there with coverages, this was a fun mode to get involved with and spend time learning. I’m not a huge fan of tutorials, but I could still play this one well after completing it. The fact that you’re scored by medals (no biggie, we’ve seen this before) will entice you to come back and do better. Hardcore players like our Will Johnson and Chuck Combs might find some of it a tad boring, but for newbies to the game this is probably the ultimate way to go through a tutorial.
The Gauntlet – You’ve played Wario Ware, right? Stay with me. Well, this is the same concept. You have mini-goals to complete in a single sitting (like stopping a first down on third and ten), after four of these goals are completed, the fifth one is a boss stage. What’s the boss stage? It can be things like your running back going 100 yards without being taken down or something wild like kicking a 100-yard field goal in hurricane weather. The Gauntlet is dumb fun and it resets after your fifth failing attempt. Honestly, the first time around is amusing, but after a while it gets kind of boring. Give credit to EA Tiburon for trying to make it interesting by randomly giving you tasks (you likely won’t get the same first task if you have to start over), but it wasn’t nearly as fun as the other modes. I’m a grumpy old man who likes seeing constant progress, though, so judge for yourself.
These five modes are the main ones you’ll be running through. There are things like practice and online competition, but you’ll spend the most time in the above modes. Honestly speaking, these modes are pretty solid as an entire package. I didn’t feel like any particular one dragged my interest. The closest would be The Gauntlet, but it’s not a deal breaker nor is it a total disaster for me. It simply was the mode that didn’t catch and hold my interest. The rest of them are damn good.
Modes aside, let’s talk some of the gameplay techniques to expect in this year’s Madden.
On the offensive side of the ball, you have a lot of nice choices to deal with when you’re trying to run and pass the ball. The running game is a bit smoother and refined this year with the same techniques that you’ve come to love with the controls. Spins, side-steps and basic bowling over people is still easy to pull off and isn’t too far off from last year’s game. My only big gripe with the running game, and it’s not as bad as it has been in the last few Madden games, is how stiff it can feel turning your player away from the defense once you’re in the scrum. I have jokingly called it a piece of gum sticking to a tree when running backs touch a pile of players, even if the players touched are the running back’s own players. It’s tough to turn them out of the pile, even if you’re on the outside of it, and switch directions. It feels a bit stiff in this area and little bit delayed in reaction time. Does that ruin the running game? Heck no, but it’s an improvement that can be made for Madden NFL 16. Write that down, Tiburon.
As for the other side of the offense, the passing feels a lot better than it did in previous years. Leading the receivers with passes and generally placing the ball where you need to place it to give your receiver the best chance for success is pretty spot on. Using the left thumbstick helps to dictate whether you throw the ball in front, below or lead the receiver. It was comfortable, natural and easy to pull off. The only issue with passing, and this is more of a gamer’s judgment, is when to throw. Making sure you know where the defense is hanging out and reading the coverage is a bit more vital now than it used to be in past years. EA Tiburon tightened up the CPU AI quite a bit for this game, so don’t expect to run the same set of plays over and over again – it ain’t gonna work. I can’t tell you how many times I misread the coverage and had the ball either batted or intercepted. All on the gamer, and it’s as it should be.
Before we move on to defense, one improvement in the points game for Madden NFL 15 is the kicking game. It’s intuitive, makes sense and it works. You get three places to put the ball when you’re doing a field goal. Each one is dictated by a color. Each color represents a power gauge on the kicking power meter. Adjusting the arc, and seeing the arc adjusted, makes for an easier time when you’re kicking a long field goal. Love this and it works well.
All in all, the offensive side of the ball is pretty solid, though not entirely perfect.
The old saying that defense wins championships may not be right all the time, but my saying that revamped defense is fun when it’s well thought out, is pretty spot on.
The defense in Madden NFL 15 is damn good. EA Tiburon has given you a gauge of how well you can hit someone and your chances of taking them down. For example, if you run at a running back a vision cone will appear. The inside of the cone, if you can get it lined up with the running back, will deliver the best hit it can. Outside of the cone means that you’ve got a shot at bringing the running back down, but plan another way just in case. Unlike the disastrous QB vision cone from Madden’s yesteryears, this is an effective defense gauge and a welcomed addition, if you love getting a measuring stick of performance. It’s a pretty slick way of taking an opponent down.
In addition to that newbie on defense, you also have the ability to jump the snap. By pressing R2 when the ball is snapped, your d-line has the opportunity of getting ahead of the o-line, and by pressing the corresponding button over your defensive player’s head after you jump the snap, you also have the opportunity to simply break through the line. This is simply ingenious, as it makes things a bit more fair and balanced when it comes to the overall game. No longer does the defense feel like it’s constantly hitting a wall and depending on the right play to be called to sack the QB. This is on the player and it requires some much needed skill to pull off. EA Tiburon did an excellent job creating and including this, as it works brilliantly and gives a much needed edge to the defensive side of the game.
The focus with gameplay this year was on the defense. In the past, the minor tweaks that were put in Madden were just that – minor. The simple additions of the vision cone and the ability to jump the snap puts this game on another level of enjoyment and intensity. It seems simple, and it is in hindsight, but the shift in gameplay with this simplicity is pretty significant. Both sides now feel truly even in my opinion.
Shifting a bit from the technical side, let’s talk the pretty.
The presentation portion of the game is quite good. The graphics have been upped this year from last, which isn’t a surprise considering that EA Tiburon had another year with the new hardware. The animations are noticeably more detailed, as the players bodies react more realistically in the game, especially on the defensive side. Typically in a Madden title, we would have players clipping in and out of each other’s bodies, as twisted as that sounds. This year, EA Tiburon nearly perfected the art of player animation and collision, so what you get is body parts twisting, grabbing and reacting to each other, as they properly should. For example, when you see a linebacker take down a running back, they will grab their body perfectly, roll them and hit the ground in an eloquent style – without much (or any) clipping through their bodies. That is impressive, folks, as simple as it sounds. There will be times in the game where you just enjoy the visual ballet of football in Madden 15. I know I did when one of my Browns’ linebackers knocked the red out of Andy Dalton’s hair. Loved every frame of that animation.
Anyway, collisions aside, the actual models of the players on the field has been vastly improved. You can now see reacting muscle tone in arms and legs, as well as sweat dripping down their bodies. You also get a better, dirtier collection of crud on the uniforms, which makes sense, especially when the weather changes. Like I stated at the beginning of this review, it’s not the big parts that needed improving to make this game great, it’s the small details. Again, it’s not much, but these things improve it.
Something that has taken a centimeter step forward is the coach animation. I know what you’re thinking, “Seriously, the coaches?”, but hey they’re a part of the game. They are also still a work in progress when getting it right. Marvin Lewis doesn’t really look like Marvin Lewis. Pete Carroll looks sort of like Pete Carroll, though a Pete Carroll that has had some work done on his face and contains a massive wall for a head, like a wall you would see in Attack on Titan. The coaches look ‘okay’ at best in this game. They need a bit more improvement, though I’m starting to wonder if maybe the lack of detail is from a likeness clause in their contract. Hmm.
Only a dash worse is Jim Nance and Phil Simms, who were apparently overthought when being created. Their general expressions and animation are a bit scary, with their skin textures looking very weird and dirty, though their voice over work in the game is actually top-notch. Their voices didn’t really miss a beat in the game. If they’re coming back next year then they need major work or EA Tiburon needs to go back to the Sega CD/Saturn days and just put video in the game. That would do the trick.
Player, coach and commentator models aside, the on-field visuals are out of this world stunning. The fields are gorgeous, the lighting and environment reaction is spot on where it needs to be. The crowds, which are typically dull and repetitive in the Madden NFL series are lively and rowdy. If you own a 5.1/7.1 sound system then you might want to tell your neighbors that you’re playing the game before you get it started – the stadium is going to be enormously loud, which is fantastic for this game. The audible motivation you get from the crowd as your team is moving down field is breathtaking to hear. It’s so damn good.
Before we move on in the review, I have to give props to the halftime show in the game. You get a great recap that seems flawless, as it recaps how the first half of the game went. I do wish that the game would incorporate that bird’s eye view of the field when the highlights are going on, as that’s how real football shows generally do it. For what it is in Madden NFL 15 in comparison to what it used to be, it’s a vast improvement. Good audio that flows with the best highlights in the game. It’s well done.
Having said all of this, is this game fun? The game is great because of so many reasons. The depth you get from Ultimate Team, Skills Trainer, Connected Franchise and somewhat from The Gauntlet are enough to keep you going until at least February. In addition, how you do online will dictate how much longevity the title holds for you. I’ll play the hell out of this game until I give up on my Browns, which should be somewhere around November – since history seems to repeat itself in Cleveland without a hitch. I’ll certainly come back to it once baseball season begins in April because…well…it’s baseball.
In all seriousness, Madden NFL 15 is fun because EA Sports development teams have been hitting a strong stride lately with not trying to reinvent the wheel. Focusing on improving gameplay mechanics already established, while adding small bits here and there that make sense and benefit the game is far better than a year-in/year-out redo of the series. For example, they added some much needed defensive improvements to Madden’s gameplay, which help to finally balance out the offense and defense gameplay mechanics. The defensive cone and the way to break out of an offensive lineman’s grasp doesn’t make the defense a one-trick pony, which is what it was in the past. You no longer have to depend on a certain play to stop the offense, though that is still in the equation. You now have the ability to make a defensive stop with your gaming control skills. The offensive side of the ball is improved with a more accurate receiver passing game, and a tough ground game that can break through the toughest defenses. It didn’t take much to get both sides of the ball going in terms of fun, but it feels like a 100-yard break to the end zone when it works well.
So, should you purchase this year’s game? It’s more than just a roster update. It’s an improved game that deserves video game football fans’ attention. It’s worth the $59.99 asking price, which can’t be said for every Madden NFL game prior to this one. You won’t be unhappy with the end results of Madden NFL 15.
