The release of Madden NFL 25 is only a few weeks away, so the developers at Electronic Arts are doing everything they can to boost fan's hype meters. Last week, the team hosted "Ratings Week," giving fans the full ratings for every single player in Madden NFL 25. We've also gotten gameplay teasers and deep dives, but recently, Madden NFL 25 gave fans what they really wanted: 20 minutes of pure gameplay. The team posted new footage to YouTube, showing off two games between Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons and last year's Madden Millionaire Henry Leverette. It wasn't completely unedited footage, but it was our best look yet at how Madden NFL 25 will play out on the gridiron.

There was a ton of information shared in the 20-minute video (which you can watch above), but the most exciting might be what we saw from the new Boom Tech feature. Madden NFL 25 is trying to add more skill to the Hit Stick this year, making it a timing and direction-based mechanic. If you can properly time and locate your Hit Sticks, you'll give out even more bone-crunching hits, but if you mess up, your player might just slide off the ball carrier. We got to see this in action during the first game when Henry miss-timed his Hit Stick. Instead of being laid out, Parsons' back slid off the tackle and regained his footing to grab a few extra yards. That new level of risk to reward should make Hit Sticks even more fun when players master it.

We also got to see several features that made their debut in College Football 25 introduced into Madden NFL 25. Of course, it's not a surprise to see things like half slides on the offensive line or the new quarterback timing mechanic make the jump, but those additions have proven popular in CFB 25, so it's good to see them coming across. Plus, we got to see improvements like some of the running styles and a look at the new one-hand catch button to increase your catch radius at the risk of more drops.

Madden NFL 25 has finished ratings week, but will likely continue to drop new information over the next few weeks until launch day. Madden NFL 25 releases on August 16th for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC platforms, but remember that you get three days of early access if you preorder either the Deluxe Edition or MVP Bundle.

Posted: Aug 10, 2024 1:17 pm
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/madden-nfl-25-gameplay-trailer/