The defensive view can gum up Madden NFL 15 brought to you by Tang? (make SPACE in your pantry), particularly when opponents are running the hurry up. Rather than default to your last play (on offense or defense) and requiring you audible out, the hurry up zooms in on obscuring close ups of the quarterback and offers you three other plays (like the traditional play call screen), or the option to opt out and return to your original play. You have to pick one of these four options before you can see all the players lined up proper. Occasionally this led to, when I finally got back in position, the camera view switching back 180 degrees, which is disorienting. A couple times I found myself offsides.

 

Free agency has also been retooled, at least in terms of off-season acquisitions. Players won’t simply look at how many zeroes you’ve added to their bonus, but will consider the coach’s ability, how they fit the scheme, where they’d be on the depth chart and even location before choosing what team to join. It’s a great little addition, which makes it hard to believe that we ever survived without it. That's not to say that devotees of the sport won't enjoy it too: the additional nuances found in the blocking game make it a great game for both old and new fans. In short, it's EA’s best American football effort since the PS2 days. 

 

In terms of actual move sets, many of the usual abilities still continue to make an impact. On offense, using a variety of spins, jukes, trucks, cuts, and hurdles can prove devastating. Even more so when using the ever-so-popular move modifier, which still takes regular moves and enhances them when coupled with solid timing and execution. Then there’s Madden NFL 15 Ultimate Team, Madden’s fantasy football-inspired game mode that combines card collecting with traditional Madden-style football. Same as always, you build a team by opening packs of cards that give you players, uniforms, stadiums, and the like. These players don’t last forever; they’re under contract, and you need to spend contract cards that you pick up to get more games out of them.

 

For football fans, Madden NFL 15 is a sure sell, because people who love football and love playing football will get this at some point and time in the near future, and even though the heightened Skills Trainer educates with fine detail, there really isn't much incentive for new players to jump into the game. Like I said before, Madden NFL 15 is a hefty challenge, even on the easier difficulties. Though this game really is meant for football affiliates, it doesn't do any favors for those wishing to join the ranks and jump in the trenches with the Madden NFL 15 superstars. On the other hand, any fleeting interest in football will be catered with all that Madden NFL 15 has to offer.

 

Sure I could find things to nitpick and complain about, but honestly in the new gaming world of PS4 vs. Xbox One - 1080p or die era we are in currently in, I think finding things to shout about rather than enjoying the overall experience is just a waste of time. Madden NFL 15 has made a great number of improvements that should appease even the most fickle Doubting Thomas. Just enjoy the game for what it is; which not only is the best Madden game in quite some time, but the overall most accurate and realistic football game I have ever played. Madden NFL 15's player models have faces, bodies, uniforms, and equipment that are improved and optimized for next-gen consoles-there's so much detail you can read Colin Kaepernick's tattoos. The power of next-gen consoles is also apparent in Madden NFL 15's impressive weather effects, fabrics, and textures. Past Madden NFL games featured horrifying repetitive cut-away videos of post-play celebrations. Not anymore. They've been replaced with more lifelike and more spontaneous celebrations.

 

I don’t see that happening with the same kind of consistency in Madden NFL 15. Quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers remain deadly accurate but QB’s like Geno Smith, Terrell Pryor and Johnny Football don’t have the pinpoint accuracy they perhaps would have had in last year’s game (if you played Connected Franchise last year Manziel was a draftable player). This will frustrate some but in a game that is attempting to become more true to life, the lower tier QB’s should have less accurate throwing and well studs should play like studs. Otherwise the rest of the gameplay mechanics remain unchanged. As far as the passing mechanics are concerned, I didn’t notice much of a difference. ‘Total Control Passing’ is back and you can lead your receivers in any direction. That said you can’t lead them as much as you could back in Madden 13 (two Madden’s ago). The run game isn’t exactly toned down but the improved defensive AI makes those power and stretch runs a little tougher. There is just more emphasis on following your blocks. On defence, the zone coverage is improved and players react quicker but mechanically it’s nearly identical.