Quick Look: Madden NFL 25

Racist term for a person from Pakistan.

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I already knew this but never would have make this connection if Jeff didn't call attention to it.

I would be worried more about the football melding with that Green Bay player's right hand than the price of french fries at the stadium. That looks painful.

Your right Jeff about the Packers.

It's always interesting to watch you guys, and others, who don't know a lot about football play these games. Seeing you guys not know what certain options and plays and settings to do gives me another perspective since I take my knowledge for granted.
It's good to realize, from a game design standpoint, how difficult it is to create a game that makes the hardcore fans happy, and yet make it easier for casual fans to be able to jump in and play.
And I never would have realized it, but yes, Jeff had a good point, Madden NFL 25 does seem flat and lifeless. Oh man, and those instant replay camera angles, just awful.

"Of course the players are not thinking about the fact that, hey, a alot of people are watching this here today in this game. But when you win, and then you sit back and think, 'everybody was watchin' ya... you played well,' boy, that is some great experience." --Phil Simms, 2025

3 minutes in and this is already everything i want it to be.

If I ever play Madden again, I'm going to make sure to find a team with a receiver named Jason and only choose plays which put him on the X button. Then, I will set the weather to Heavy Rain.

Vinny: It's a shitty time travel, we've only got back to 2012

Jeff: Oh jeez, I've got people to warn.

Haha, this time travel skit is fun-....wait....oh :(

Madden menus remind me of Gran Turismo 5 menus.

In 2025 Vinny will look exactly like his dad does now. But cyborg. ;p

So little knowledge of football...... For all of the american culture they know, I cannot believe this is the one area they are clueless on.

@benmo316: Sporty game QLs are essentially the only time I experience what it's like to feel the abject NERD RAGE I see some people express when Brad's doing it wrong, UGGGGH" and whatnot in other genres.

It's kind of hilarious how utterly inscrutable sports sims are to non-fans. Sports games are only rivaled by hardcore flight and driving sims when it comes to sheer inaccessibility and roughness in the hopeless yet endlessly alluring pursuit of ~realism~.

Oh my...they still haven't fixed the quarterback stances so they naturally walk into their stance instead of awkwardly adjust their feet afterwards?

cool another QL to prove madden still sucks!

I recently got back in the PS2 game for SSX Tricky with a friend, and it also came with Madden 07. Turns out I still had a Franchise save on an old memory card so I decided to boot it up just to see where I was (05-07 was the height of video game football addiction; I was 8 seasons deep in this season which included a full Huskers Dynasty in NCAA as well, playing every game at 8min quarters) and my jaw kind of dropped when I heard the familiar sounds of the Tony Bruno Radio Show. That aspect of the game, along with all the local newspapers and random trivia they'd lace throughout both forms of media is still totally amazing to me. I believe NCAA had the Sports Illustrated covers around this time as well which were also great. Way better than fake Twitter feeds and futuristic looking menus.

@spankmealotus no, I've always felt in my heart of hearts this was true and now that I've spent a few weeks getting back into my old Madden 07 franchise I can say with absolute certainty that Madden 07 on PS2 was a smoother, more enjoyable experience on the field in every single way. The menus are sluggish as hell (one major flaw with the newspapers is the extreme load times, which I can't believe I had the patience for seven years ago) and it's weird going back to stuff formatted for 480p 4:3 in the true HD era, but otherwise it's a much better game in just about every regard. The Radio Show stuff alone turns the Franchise mode from a somewhat stale set of numbers moving up and down into a campaign with storylines.

One of my least favorite things about the game is the Guess Play feature Jeff got so baffled by for a brief moment. I'm sure it's just a dice roll that amps up or nerfs your defense's attributes for that play, but having three types of run and a single pass option feels really unbalanced and it just feels so shitty to guess wrong so I never do it unless I know it's a pass play.

Also, the way these games shrug off injuries these days. The game used to highlight a player was injured immediately with graphic overlays and cutscenes but now all of that happens in the background and sometimes you never get the realistic, delayed prompt describing the injury (as an aside, NCAA's option to bench an injured player has been broken two years in a row) so you have no idea what happens. I don't blame Vinny for being unaware he was suddenly on his 3rd string QB.

"Things are not going great for the Jets right now." Truer words have not been spoken.

As a non-American, I have absolutely no idea what is going on at all.

Words to live by.

My favorite Aggie!

"They're still called the Redskins, thank God!"
Ahahahahaha! Jeff, this was one of the best lines ever.

I enjoy these Quick Looks, but as a huge fan of football, their obliviousness runs nigh here.

For example, the B button said BACK on the GameFlow playcall menu, and that's how you select different plays from a menu. You don't need to go back to that conventional playcalling setup, which takes time away from the actual game.

@cloneslayer: Thank god for that. Where is the fun otherwise? :P

I like how Vinny honestly didn't know what a "Packer" was.Overwhelming clue that Wisconsin is lame: Even our sports teams are just named for producing products for places that actually matter.

Meat Packers... mostly to feed Chicago.

Beer Brewers... mostly to quench Chicago.

Deer Bucks... mostly for Chicagoans to take hunting trips.

Admirals and Waves came later... because sometimes we put products on boats.

Edit: And I got a bigger chuckle out of "It's-a-me, I own-a your team" is Shahid Khan, born in... Pakistan.

As an American, I have a very loose grasp on what is going on at all.

Oh my god, is the commentary really that bad?

"It is a touchdown."

@kmg90:

Call me when the players all handle like the main character from Shadow of the Colossus.

This QL wasn't as funny as the college football game.

Vinny talking about the snow on the lens was really bringing out my inner film graduate. Yes, they'd shoot with hoods, no it wouldn't be that big on an issue, also, the goddamn snow on the lens STAYS RIGHT THERE after switching to another camera! Ugh!

It was kind of funny at first, but now it's just kind of depressing that Vinny never score any points on these things.

At least he came really, really close this time.

@fungiefips: Lol no, no he will not.

GO PACK GO!!!

That owner sim looks.... kinda fun? Oh god, who am I? That's not me at all! Damn you, John Madden and Snickers!

These NFL Quick Looks Jeff and Vinny do are my only way of being educated on the sport.

"I bet he doesn't get real hurt, he just sucks"

Truer words have not been spoken about Mark Sanchez lol.

OH MY GOD VINNY

So.... it's the Packers vs. the JETpackers?

Maybe it's because I barely watch it, but Football's commentary seems to be the most useless commentary in all of sports.

I cried from laughter when the fart-powered time machine synced up with the EA logo.

"Where my pakis at?"

- Vincent Caravella, spokesman for CBSi.

Loved the great quote from the quick look that should be on the box 'there is always a man, a turducken & corporate advertising'. Not a great name considering that if they're still doing Madden games in 2025 they will have to rename it to something else as Madden 25 will be thought of as this one.

3rd and 24 and you call a screen pass. @vinny are you sure you arent the actual OC for the Jets?

How the hell does Vinny not yet get the concept of football? Even if you don't watch, it's a cultural staple.

31 Minutes in, and I'm gonna have to stop this. Seeing the guys miss obvious plays so handily is downright painful.

I am not a Madden fan, but it's a really mechanically sound game. So seeing people not playing the game right (which I think is a valid statement as it relates to exhibition modes in sports games) is kind of disheartening.

Gotta play that Crazy Train intro atleast 20 times.

Man, American Football formations have the dumbest/greatest names.

I love Giant Bomb. A lot. I also love football. Probably more.

I totally enjoy the chemistry that Jeff and Vinny have. When left to their own devices, they're hilarious and make a dumb game seem awesome.

However, their laissez faire attitude to this game, and to a certain extent, the college game, kind of irritates me. I wish they could have someone at least a LITTLE BIT knowledgeable about the NFL sit in with them during these QLs.

I knew coming in that J/V don't know much about it, so I lowered my expectations a bit... but I just couldn't help but get frustrated over the video.

Oh well. I'm sure I'm not saying anything new here. Just wanted to get it off my chest.

(Go Giants.)