To some extent, my excitement for every year’s Madden fluctuates alongside my excitement for the actual NFL season. This year is no different, as the anticipation for my beloved Chicago Bears had me surprisingly looking forward to the new Madden more so than any year in recent memory. What caught me by surprise, then, was how much I found myself enjoying Madden NFL 25. Sure, it’s still the same old game, but with upgrades in key spots and a refined presentation that make minute-to-minute action feel as modern as it ever has, this version of Madden is a lot like a team with a high overall draft pick: rejuvenated, forward-looking, and ready to continue improving for years to come.

For all intents and purposes, Madden has been streamlined into three modes: Franchise, Ultimate Team, and Superstar. The three modes are broadly the same as they’ve always been, but they finally feel both mutually exclusive and exhaustive of the foundational modes I’d like to see in an NFL game. No more confusion about where various content lies; rather, it’s purely a franchise manager, deck-based team builder, and create-a-player, respectively. It’s definitely disappointing to see modes like The Yard still absent, but it’s certainly a refreshing change of pace to see the franchise rethink how different types of football gameplay are presented.

"Sure, it’s still the same old game, but with upgrades in key spots and a refined presentation that make minute-to-minute action feel as modern as it ever has, this version of Madden is a lot like a team with a high overall draft pick: rejuvenated, forward-looking, and ready to continue improving for years to come."

Of the three main modes, Franchise has finally and noticeably been reworked and despite some quirks, definitely feels more consistent and enjoyable over a longer period of time than past entries. The weekly off-the-field activities have become more prominent and important, as your actions as coach and general manager have more concrete, direct impacts on the field. You may be asked by a disgruntled player to receive a certain number of touches in the next game, or you may be asked by the press how you reacted to your team’s performance in the last game. Both of these can have positive and negative effects based on how you respond and how you play the next game. Even longer-term decisions can have an impact, such as that same player asking for a season touch total or your fans asking you to trade for an upgrade at a certain position.

On top of the off-field upgrades, the use of ubiquitous minigames throughout Franchise and the rest of this year’s Madden make the on-field gameplay more diverse. Though they don’t have huge impacts on player progression, short passing drills with the quarterback or tackling drills with a defender allow you opportunities to show your skills in non-game environments. I appreciate how many minigames are offered and how much freedom you have to play as many or as few as you’d like, giving you freedom to truly take control of progression or leave it to the computer. With these, alongside familiar but refreshed and slightly faster menus and navigation, Franchise feels like it’s finally taken multiple steps forward. I’d still like to see it perform a bit more smoothly and provide more complex sets of decisions off the field, but I can say I thoroughly enjoyed my Franchise this year and plan to return to it over the coming months.

The other key mode that’s seen meaningful upgrades is Superstar, the player builder that allows you to create a player in one of five positions across offense or defense, get drafted, and lead or support your team in their quest for a Super Bowl. Taking cues from games like MLB The Show, your Superstar can be upgraded across multiple different modes, including Showdown against online opponents and The League as an offline, classic player builder mode. While playing and upgrading your Superstar, you will have decisions to make and questions to answer that determine certain player boosts for the coming game, but you also have Quests that provide longer-term goals and rewards for your accomplishments, like getting a certain number of passing yards in a game or touchdowns in a season. It can definitely take a bit to get used to, as my highly-ranked quarterback prospect was top 5 in both passing yards and interceptions in his rookie year, but the progression opportunities and wider range of gameplay possibilities make Superstar a great create-a-player mode, about as much as you can expect for a mode like this without a true story.

"On top of the off-field upgrades, the use of ubiquitous minigames throughout Franchise and the rest of this year’s Madden make the on-field gameplay more diverse."

Finally, Ultimate Team has seen fewer upgrades over past installments and, given the improvements in other modes this year, really sticks out as a broadly underdeveloped mode littered with unnecessary microtransactions. Progression continues to move at as slow a pace as exists within Madden, encouraging you to purchase in-game currency with real money to expedite the process, but the actual game tends to be less fun than the other modes, as you begin with and will have to use subpar players for an extended period of time. In addition, while the overall game has more polish than past years, the vast majority of the technical bugs I encountered were in Ultimate Team, particularly one recurring bug where my quarterback would be subbed in on defense and repeatedly called for offsides. Overall, if you’ve played an Ultimate Team in the past, this one will be no different, but the mode is itching for an overhaul like the ones the rest of the modes have been given.

Regardless of your mode, the on-field gameplay feels refined from last year and overall feels about as good as a recent football game has felt. The new “Boom Tech” makes a real difference in how ball handlers are controlled and tackled. Especially as skills improve, the ability to juke and break tackles, or alternatively to lay out opponents with a well-timed hit stick, feels fantastic to perform. Someone like Christian McCaffery, a sure outlier but a great showcase of the best of the best, can turn on a dime and stay on his feet through contact in ways unheard of in past games or with most other players, and in the end zone can use his new signature celebration to cap it all off.

Madden prides itself on its presentation, too, and this year has one of the largest jumps in presentation in a long while. Of course, menus are slightly refined with the streamlined modes, but visuals look truly gorgeous on the PS5. Character models can certainly feel wonky or occasionally unrepresentative of their real-life counterparts, but gameday atmospheres are undeniable, and the work to bring true-to-life stadiums into the game is apparent. Plus, there are two new broadcasting duos, including the great Mike Tirico and Greg Olsen, plus the first female play-by-play announcer in the series in Kate Scott. All three teams are fantastic with seemingly more analysis than normal, and while there are the expected lines that play at the wrong moments, the three broadcast duos successfully translate their real-world expertise and quality commentary into game form, often making you forget it’s not a real-life football game.

"Regardless of your mode, the on-field gameplay feels refined from last year and overall feels about as good as a recent football game has felt."

Madden NFL 25 surprised me. With so many mediocre or underwhelming entries in recent years, it’s hard to have high expectations for a Madden game, but like a high draft pick, this year’s entry gives the franchise some hope for continued improvements in coming years. The streamlined approach to modes makes it much easier to ground yourself in just a couple of places for the most refined gameplay, and while Ultimate Team still has a long way to go, Franchise and Superstar feel like they’re headed in the right direction. The additional inclusion of the “Boom Tech” ball carrier adjustments and the phenomenal new broadcast duos make on-field gameplay that much better as well. While it’s not a perfect game and there are still certainly major changes needed to improve various features or remove microtransactions altogether, Madden NFL 25 has put a lot of effort to improve some of the most-needed systems and modes in Madden, and this could very well be the start of a new era for the franchise.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.