New Madden 25 Gameplay details emerged now, revealing a new BOOM tech tackling system. Whether you play modes like Franchise, Superstar, or Ultimate Team, you'll be able to utilize this new tackling system to your advantage. Additionally, many more features are receiving some new improvements. Without further ado, let's take a look.
Boom Tech
BOOM tech is the biggest change. BOOM tech is a dynamic physics-based tackling system that will change the way tackle animations are done in Madden. This revamped physics system will give a new level of ball carrier control. The Hit Stick mechanic has also been overhauled thanks to BOOM tech. Hit Stick now uses a timing-based mechanic to allow players more control over movements in the game.
Enhanced rushing attack
Along with the enhanced tackling mechanics, there is a greater focus on the running game. Running backs will now have more situational awareness. The juke move has been re-tuned so that not everyone can execute it well. In addition, players who deserve to have killer skill moves, they'll have more directional control, including moves being performed at angles of 90, 135, or 180 degrees. New hesitation moves will also be unleashed. All of these new skill moves can be chained together in ways that are meant to create a higher skill ceiling for the best Madden players on the sticks.
Hit Stick Update
The re-engineered Hit Stick uses a timing-based mechanic to provide more control determined by your angle of impact, stick skill, and accuracy for cut sticks, big hits, and trucks, with more realistic physical movements and results. Simply put, it will be more skill-based going forward. Hit-Sticking someone on the shoulder as they run by you is going to be less of a blow than centering on their gut as they move vertically down the field, for example. This essentially rewards defenders or ballcarriers for properly lining up or skillfully evading the Hit Stick, respectively.
Signature Player Locomotion
Some guys just move differently. Madden 25 is going to express some of that too, though it's uncertain to what extent. For example, cover star Christian McCaffrey's signature stride and Isiah Pacheco's stomp-running, which has jumped off the screen since he started getting playing time with the Chiefs. Hopefully, this year and into the future, we'll see even more players with particular movement styles see themselves more authentically expressed in Madden.
Deeper Pass Protection Adjustments
In Madden 25, you'll be able to call half-slide line adjustments for the first time, meaning only the left or right side of the line can be told to change their protection, rather than demanding the entire OL moves as one unit. A new on-field icon, the Hot Indicator, identifies a player showing blitz, allowing players to try to account for the pressure that may be coming at the snap. Of course, the defense can disguise these things by showing blitz, but ultimately backing off, or by showing blitz with a player but bringing the heat with a different player.
Branching Catches
A new catch type is coming to Madden 25: the spectacular catch, but it's no longer tied to aggressive catches, given how previously an aggressive catch may or may not result in a spec catch. Now, if you want to attempt a spec catch, even just to be a show-off, you can, and when you want to use an aggressive catch instead, you can do so while trusting the animation you get won't be a snag.
New Pass-Catching Enhancements
Also, you'll now be able to change your catch animation before the ball arrives. For example, if you initiate a secure catch but notice you've got space to turn it upfield, you can switch to catching it on the run before the ball gets there. Benefitting the passing game are also new custom route stems. Building onto the "smart route" option, which tells a pass-catcher to perform his route's break at the first down marker specifically, you can now adjust the depths with more options, like running an out at 5, 10, or 15 yards down the field. This should give some players more ability to dissect a defense.
New NFL Kickoff Rules
The NFL surprised many when it announced it would adopt new kickoff rules meant to reduce the number of touchbacks starting this fall. Basically, the league wants to make kickreturns happen more often without sacrificing the player safety initiatives seen as of late. The Madden team has promised these new kickoff rules will be seen in-game at launch, after a mad dash by the team to get them in the game swiftly.
Multiple Commentary Teams
Play-by-play never sounded so good with two additional commentary teams – Mike Tirico & Greg Olsen, and Kate Scott & Brock Huard – across the game plus fresh pregame montages, camera angles, environments, Super Bowl celebrations, and immersive audio that looks, feels, and sounds different at every level.
Better Draft Presentation
For Franchise players, the NFL Draft presentation is getting a visual overhaul, alongside some mechanical improvements, too. For one, you'll now see high draft picks walk up to the stage in their suits--no longer wearing weird Draft jerseys. Later picks will be seen getting calls from GMs in their homes. All the while, a "big board" will display all the picks in the round so far, just like you'd see during a network's presentation of the event.
Improved Draft Prospect Scouting
New sorting and player comparison tools will also limit the number of button presses and screens you'll go through in order to browse players by certain metrics, such as 40-yard dash times, and the game will finally let you compare Draft prospects side by side.
Roger Goodell
It wouldn't be the Draft without Roger Goodell announcing picks on the stage. The commissioner is coming to the series for the first time in a move that will also see him present the Lombardi Trophy to the champions at the end of each season. Sadly, despite Madden's emphasis on authenticity, the commish won't be booed, as is the norm in real life.
Randy Moss in the Lombardi presentation
Also new to that Super Bowl championship cutscene will be Randy Moss, not a generic player, carrying the Lombardi Trophy through the crowd of players and up to the stage. In real life, this responsibility falls to a legendary player, and the EA team wanted to give that small moment more authenticity for its game.
Female Head Coaches
Women are only recently getting the opportunity to be in the coach's room in the NFL, but EA is staying ahead of the curve and letting you create a female head coach for the first time in the series' history.
70 More Franchise Story Scenarios
In Madden 25, 70 more scenarios are coming, including many that emphasize season-long arcs rather than one-and-done narrative beats. You'll also need to worry about players' personality attributes, which have been in the game seemingly without a purpose for a long time. Now, a player with a low personality attribute may be higher maintenance and express their frustrations with you as their coach, demanding you appease them, ignore them, or perhaps ship them away to another team.
Team Builder
College Football is back this year, but thankfully the Team Builder website is not exclusive to the student-athlete sim. Madden players will also have the ability to build their own team logos and uniforms from scratch, share them with the community, import them into H2H or Franchise, or--if they prefer--skip all the work and just enjoy the fruits of someone else's labor by downloading some custom teams from the community downloads suite.
Six-on-six MUT Mode
Moving into Madden Ultimate Team mode changes, the biggest one is a new 6v6 mode that feels more like a backyard football game. It's not as flashy as Superstar Showdown and is instead meant to be another way for MUT players to compete with their teams, including 6v6 lineup options.
More Superstar Appearance Customization Options
The Madden Superstar customization options have been bad for a long time. This year's game thankfully addresses that, to a degree anyway, with more cosmetic options for your character's face and body, including the return of tattoos, better hair renders for beards, and new (and twice the previous amount of) starting templates to choose from.
Renewed NFL Combine experience in Superstar
For players in the game's career mode, the NFL Combine will hold more weight on your career arc, helping you climb the expected draft position charts and even improving your character's attributes with an impressive workout. New drills will also be used for specific positions, though some, like the bench press and 40-yard dash, will remain universal. 26 new minigames in total have been added to the game, though these drills are available beyond Superstar mode, too.
Better Player Grading In Superstar
The live player-grading system has also been tweaked to better account for additional considerations, such as rushers hitting the right hole on a play, or how well a receiver runs their route. Previously making a play was paramount, but now you'll want to better execute the play that was actually called, though freelancing into the end zone will still be beneficial to your grade.
More Storylines And Team Interactions In Superstar
Superstar mode is adding quests, too--essentially long-term goals for you to chase such as branding deals, team and league records, and rivalries with other players. Teammate interactions, which have been starkly absent before, will now be more of a focus, and your play on the field can lift up those around you.
College Football 25 Road To Glory compatibility
Of course, the biggest change to Superstar this year is how it integrates with College Football 25. Since your custom player is not tied up in the NIL deal that prevents wholesale roster importing from CFB to Madden, your Road To Glory player can be easily moved into Madden, giving your player more depth and history as you experience both their college career and then their journey as a pro that follows.
New Seasonal Rewards For Superstar Showdown
For players who like to take their custom athlete into the showboaty Superstar Showdown mode, a deeper seasonal rewards tree will be there to give you more things to do. Just like how MUT adds new rewards every season, Superstar Showdown will add new limited-time modes and rewards to chase as you rank up through the game's new leaderboard system.
Classic Madden Songs Returning
Fans of the classic NFL Films bangers won't be treated with the return of them, but the EA team has commissioned its own new, main theme that will greet players as soon as they open the game. It's quite reminiscent of the NFL Films classics of yesteryear. Also, classic Madden tracks from past eras will be coming back and heard in stadiums around the league.
Madden NFL 25 launches on August 16 for PS/Xbox/PC, though players with an EA Play subscription or who purchase the Deluxe edition or MVP Bundle which includes College Football 25 will be able to play the game as early as August 13.
