Beefed Up Skills Trainer
This little scenario between the Panthers and the Seahawks took place while the game was still installing on my PlayStation 4. After my thrilling defeat, Madden NFL 15 fired up a few videos that highlighted the game's new modes and features—and took me into the revamped Skills Trainer.
In addition to the typical tutorials, Skills Trainer now includes football concepts (like how to read a zone defense), strategy (like when to call a zone defense), and a new Gauntlet mode. Gauntlet, the ultimate test of Madden NFL skills, pits you against 40 increasingly difficult challenges on offense, defense, and special teams. Early challenges may be as simple as using turbo (a speed boost for running) to gain a first down, while more difficult challenges involve preventing the opposing team from getting a first down. There's a boss stage every five levels that tasks you with completing an extremely difficult challenge such as kicking a 110-yard field goal in hurricane-force winds or dodging defenders to run 100 yards for a touchdown. Taking on each challenge is surprisingly exciting. You get five chances to see how far you can progress through the 40 levels. Each level is worth points, so you can compare your Gauntlet results directly to your friends'.
Defense Wins Championships
Vastly improved defensive gameplay is on display in Madden NFL 15. You can jump the snap by pressing R2 at precisely the moment when the ball is snapped. This gives you an upper hand when pass rushing, so you can try out the new power and finesse moves that help you shed blocks and make tackles in the backfield. You'll see a prompt over a player's head when power or finesse moves are available; you can turn prompts off after you master the timing. Two new and welcome features aid defensive players. First is the ability to steer an offensive lineman to clog a running lane or knock him off balance while playing defensive line. Second, you can push down on the left thumb stick to rotate the camera for a better view. The latter really helps you size up an offense.
Tackling is also updated in Madden NFL 15. When the ball carrier is within range of a tackle, a cone appears that shows you the effective range of a conservative tackle or an aggressive tackle. This helps you know whether to go all out or simply try to make contact. The right thumb stick still functions as the hit stick for a directed tackle, while the Square button makes an aggressive move. I found the tackling cone helpful as I got used to the new game. After a while, I started nailing ball carriers without even noticing the cone.
View all Offensive Changes
There aren't as many improvements on offensive as there are on defense, but they are as readily apparent. Most of them are in the area of play calling. In addition to previous ways of organizing plays, there are Coach's Suggestions and Strategy. These play calling menus now tell you why the play is an appropriate choice. This is a fantastic addition to the game because it teaches you actual football strategies.
Coach Stick, accessed by clicking down on the right thumb stick before the ball is snapped, shows offensive mismatches to help you prioritize receivers. Madden NFL 15 has far more realistic passing than previous versions of the game had; a scrambling quarterback now has an extremely low chance of throwing a completion. However, I did still see the occasional wildly inaccurate throw that you just wouldn't see in the NFL.
Next-Gen Graphics
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.
Player introductions have received a NFL Films-style video packaging. Camera angles switch from offense to defense, for example during a kickoff or an interception, much more fluidly.
Madden NFL 15 Gets the Big Data Treatment
The influence of the big data revolution is apparent throughout Madden NFL 15. Statistics are displayed in an attractive dashboard view of charts and graphs, and the A.I. helps narrow the focus to the plays most likely to succeed in a given situation. Suggested plays are designed with the current down and distance in mind and are tuned to your opponent's tendencies. I was surprised to see suggestions like "this play works 63 percent of the time on 2nd and long" and "the Jaguars call Zone Blitz 72 percent of the time on 3rd and long" next to my play choices.
Another new big data-related play calling feature is Community Picks. EA Sports samples Madden NFL 15 games that are played online and suggests what is effective in the Madden NFL community in a given situation. It was hard to really get a feel for how valuable this feature is in my testing, as I was playing the game pre-release. I can, however, see how when there really are millions of games to be sampled there could be a lot of value in this. After running a play you can also see how you compare to the community. For example, I ran curl flats for 10 yards, whereas the community averages 8 yards on the play.
Magnificent Madden
Simply put, Madden NFL 15 is a near-flawless football title. My one gripe is that the game has some insipid commentary at times. But other than that? Madden NFL 15 is an All-Pro. The new features and the retuned physics engine make this year's version a must-have game for any football lover. While last year was about making a football game that ran on next-gen consoles, this year is about making an excellent football game that exploits the power of next-gen consoles. Improvements to offensive and defensive gameplay, better player models, better (and more adjustable) camera angles, a fun and challenging Gauntlet mode, and tutorials that teach beginners about the game of football breathe new life into a series that had, honestly, started to get stale. Madden NFL 15 was fun and engaging from the minute I started it up. I didn't want to stop playing, but I had to, at least for as long as it took to write this review.
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