For the first time in three years... I'm not happy....
A bit of context... I'm an overseas NFL football fan from the Netherlands. 3 years ago I grabbed myself Madden '22 and had an amazing time; it even helped me discover the NFL gamepass and I've been following the season ever since. Madden '23 and '24 followed and even though some weren't perfect I always had a good time playing and could also recommend the game to others.

This year though... not so much. There are too many problems haunting this title, and even though I got to play the game 3 days before its official release... none of the problems which I've encountered and which got confirmed (!) have been addressed, let alone fixed. Now an easy 3 weeks later.

The new presentation and overal look of the game is defintiely a step up I think. When you start the game it truly feels as if you're stepping into a "Official presentation of the National Football League...", even the music matches. And the game has 49'er vibes all over, I really love it.

The menu has been redesigned and is now shown as a column on the left side of the screen, making the game look more seriously and less, well, "arcadish". Not that there's anything wrong with that of course.

As one could expect we get all the good stuff which we came to expect... franchise mode, Ultimate Team, training options and quick play to name but a few.

And unfortunately it's here where things immediately start to fall apart. I play with a Steam controller, yet for some dumb reason Madden '25 insists that I have two controllers installed instead of one. The bizarre thing though is that this only happens within quick play, when I try to swap my controller or when I mess around in other game modes: no problem. But in quick play I now have 3 controlling devices: 2 controllers and my mouse + keyboard. It's totally insane.

Not to mention problematic because this actually prevents me from starting a game against the computer; because the game insists that the 2nd controller (which is basically the same I was already using) needs to be used to select the other team, but if I do that I'll end up controlling both teams using 1 controller. And that doesn't work out too well :P Some people claim that you need to disable "Steam input" from the game properties but that doesn't do anything for me. Instead... if I play with my Steam controller turned off and the input settings turned off then the game still insists I have a controller installed. Which I now somehow control with my keyboard?

Game refuses to complete several training drills
One of the first things I do with a new Madden game is hop into the training options in order to refresh my experience with the controls. This is especially fun because if you manage to complete several so called "drill sections" then you'll get rewarded with a few bonusses for Ultimate Team, which is a game mode I really enjoy to play with. Unfortunately the game plain out refuses to acknowledge the completion of several of these drills. Drills across several sections, which is a huge problem because only a fully completed section counts towards those UT rewards. In the first section only 1 drill is broken ("Catching mechanics"), in the second section I managed to come across four drills which wouldn't complete, not even with a perfect score!

What the heck?!!

And these mishaps surface all over the place... when I check the game settings then I get asked every so many times if I want to "Reset my settings", this would reset all my custom options to the default settings. Note: all I'm doing is click "RB" in order to move to the next settings tab. It makes absolutely no sense at all.

The gameplay itself is also seriously compromised. When I press 'a' to snap then I expect a snap to happen, not me having to wait even more seconds before something finally happens. Things like... players running from left to right (or vice versa) while I never asked them to do so and although it shouldn't happen.. this is actually delaying my play somehow. It makes no sense.

In previous games we were granted an actual glimpse into the official team playbooks... if you (re)played an official game and checked out the "coach suggestions" you would more than often see an extra marker which indicated actually used & preferred team strategies. It actually followed the general teams strategy. Oh, and for the record: this also applied to upcoming games, so it wasn't something that merely got added in later. Well, that's now apparently gone.

Another major issue for me... Madden has always been a solid combination of gameplay and presentation. The atmosphere of the game has always been superb, when you play a game and you hear the crowd and the commentators and what not... it really feels like you're actually there.

Yah, so, like... why can't you hear any of the referrees anymore? I would understand if this would sporadically happen because.. it sometimes also happens during real games; which is when the commentators really should be earning their pay. But ... in Madden '25 this is happening all the time. I've played a ton of games already and each and every time you can barely hear the referee... if the commentators are also talking you can't hear him at all anymore!

This game is broken
I'm sorry to say, but that's honestly my conclusion. If I can't even start a quick game using my Steam controller in a normal way... then how else would you call it? If the settings want to reset themselves for no reason at all, when the game refuses to acknowledge you succesfully completing challenges...

And IMO it's a darn shame, because it could have been so much better.

Thanks for reading.

[b]For the first time in [u]three[/u] years... I'm [i]not[/i] happy....[/b] A bit of context... I'm an overseas NFL football fan from the Netherlands. 3 years ago I grabbed myself Madden '22 and had an amazing time; it even helped me discover the NFL gamepass and I've been following the season ever since. Madden '23 and '24 followed and even though some weren't perfect I always had a good time playing and could also recommend the game to others. This year though... not so much. There are too many problems haunting this title, and even though I got to play the game 3 days before its official release... none of the problems which I've encountered and which got confirmed (!) have been addressed, let alone fixed. Now an easy 3 weeks later. [h1]The good[/h1] The new presentation and overal look of the game is defintiely a step up I think. When you start the game it truly feels as if you're stepping into a "[i]Official presentation of the National Football League...[/i]", even the music matches. And the game has 49'er vibes all over, I really love it. The menu has been redesigned and is now shown as a column on the left side of the screen, making the game look more seriously and less, well, "arcadish". Not that there's anything wrong with that of course. As one could expect we get all the good stuff which we came to expect... franchise mode, Ultimate Team, training options and quick play to name but a few. [h1]The bad[/h1] And unfortunately it's here where things immediately start to fall apart. I play with a Steam controller, yet for some dumb reason Madden '25 insists that I have [u]two[/u] controllers installed instead of one. The bizarre thing though is that this [i]only[/i] happens within quick play, when I try to swap my controller or when I mess around in other game modes: no problem. But in quick play I now have 3 controlling devices: 2 controllers and my mouse + keyboard. It's totally insane. Not to mention problematic because this actually prevents me from starting a game against the computer; because the game insists that the 2nd controller (which is basically the same I was already using) needs to be used to select the other team, but if I do that I'll end up controlling both teams using 1 controller. And that doesn't work out too well :P Some people claim that you need to disable "Steam input" from the game properties but that doesn't do anything for me. Instead... if I play with my Steam controller turned off and the input settings turned off then the game still insists I have a controller installed. Which I now somehow control with my keyboard? [b]Game refuses to complete several training drills[/b] One of the first things I do with a new Madden game is hop into the training options in order to refresh my experience with the controls. This is especially fun because if you manage to complete several so called "drill sections" then you'll get rewarded with a few bonusses for Ultimate Team, which is a game mode I really enjoy to play with. [i]Unfortunately[/i] the game plain out [b]refuses[/b] to acknowledge the completion of several of these drills. Drills across several sections, which is a [b]huge[/b] problem because only a fully completed section counts towards those UT rewards. In the first section only 1 drill is broken ("Catching mechanics"), in the second section I managed to come across [u]four[/u] drills which wouldn't complete, not even with a perfect score! What the heck?!! And these mishaps surface all over the place... when I check the game settings then I get asked every so many times if I want to "[i]Reset my settings[/i]", this would reset all my custom options to the default settings. Note: all I'm doing is click "RB" in order to move to the next settings tab. It makes absolutely no sense at all. [h1]The ugly[/h1] The gameplay itself is also [i]seriously[/i] compromised. When I press 'a' to snap then I expect a snap to happen, not me having to wait even more seconds before something finally happens. Things like... players running from left to right (or vice versa) while I never asked them to do so and although it shouldn't happen.. this is actually delaying my play somehow. It makes no sense. In previous games we were granted an actual glimpse into the official team playbooks... if you (re)played an official game and checked out the "coach suggestions" you would more than often see an extra marker which indicated [i]actually used & preferred[/i] team strategies. It actually followed the general teams strategy. Oh, and for the record: this also applied to upcoming games, so it wasn't something that merely got added in later. Well, that's now apparently gone. Another major issue for me... Madden has always been a solid combination of gameplay and [i]presentation[/i]. The atmosphere of the game has always been superb, when you play a game and you hear the crowd and the commentators and what not... it really feels like you're actually there. Yah, so, like... why can't you hear [b]any[/b] of the referrees anymore? I would understand if this would sporadically happen because.. it sometimes also happens during real games; which is when the commentators really should be earning their pay. But ... in Madden '25 this is happening [i]all the time[/i]. I've played a ton of games already and each and every time you can barely hear the referee... if the commentators are also talking you can't hear him at all anymore! [b]This game is broken[/b] I'm sorry to say, but that's honestly my conclusion. If I can't even start a quick game using my Steam controller in a normal way... then how else would you call it? If the settings want to reset themselves for no reason at all, when the game refuses to acknowledge you succesfully completing challenges... And IMO it's a darn shame, because it could have been so much better. Thanks for reading.