Madden 25: Almost Too Close to Reality for Cowboys
By Jeff Magnia
Madden 25 has come out and the game has lived up to some rather strange realities. And it also has lived up to some high expectations.
Dallas Cowboys DeMarco Murray lays injured in Madden 25
First of all, the reality of the game has been way too close to the reality of the game. My son and I played two games and as always, I play as Dallas. In the first game, the Cowboys blow a 21 point lead and lose 47-41. Of course, the game play of the player has a lot to do with it. What was incredibly ironic was the fact that DeMarco Murray was injured during the game with a game ending injury. Coincidence? Well, after playing I looked at Facebook to see how my friends fared after getting their copy. I saw a post by a friend that stated they had the same situation happen, not once but twice. Murray was injured and out for the season. Is this an omen or apart of the Madden curse? Murray shouldn’t have to worry about the course because it only affects players that were on the cover of the game for that year. It is still too crazy to see that result considering Murray’s track record.
In the second game we played, Tony Romo broke his collarbone. After that, I decided very quickly I had enough playing for the day.
The rosters are up to date and Dallas fans that are not happy with the whole “AT&T Stadium” name get one more season of Cowboys Stadium.
I did review the Madden “Canton Greats” team and some familiar names grace the roster including: Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Deion Sanders and of course, Emmitt Smith. Irvin, Smith, and Sanders play as close as to real as you can get, Aikman was never much of a scrambler and he showed flashes of such in-game. Former coaches Tom Landry and Jimmy Johnson are in Ultimate Team Mode. Ultimate Team Mode is where you can unlock the two Hall of Fame coaches. Once unlocked, you can have them as your head coach in the Connected Franchise Mode. You can also obtain the Tom Landry card by defeating the “Defensive Audible Skills Drill” as long you have a gold medal. In my book, that is cool!! When it was announced last year that Tom Landry would be a coach in the Madden 13 version, we immediately found out which store had the Ultimate Team card. Several stores have certain Ultimate Team cards for different players. This year, Best Buy had them and we ordered it from there.
In the All 25 team, there are only two Cowboys on the roster. Larry Allen and Deion Sanders are playing, representing their virtual selves.
Missing from the list of players from Cowboys history are: Roger Staubach, Drew Pearson, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Randy White, and Harvey Martin. One could argue the case that Bob Hayes, the “World’s Fastest Man” should be in the game as well but he has never graced the virtual gridiron unless he named, “WR #22” from back when the teams that were selected for certain seasons in previous Madden versions.
Fans will like the realism of the game and the high definition quality that is present. The Cowboys, as stated, have an up-to-date roster and with a few minor things such as the weirdness of how the players look at times, this is one of the best versions of Madden in their 25 year history.
One thing that would have been cool is the ability to play an earlier version even perhaps the original Madden NFL Football from 1989. They pay little homage to past versions albeit a few screen shots in the introduction and the loading screen shots.
If you are die-hard fan and love playing the games on your Xbox 360 or Playstation 3, I highly recommend this game. You not only get the chance to play as a player or a coach but you can play the role of Jerry Jones himself as he is an owner you can select in the Owner Franchise Mode. Don’t worry folks Jerry didn’t have anything to do with the programming of the game. It is just coincidence that Jones is in the game. Perhaps you can try to relive the two Super Bowls won back-to-back and play out Jimmy Johnson’s contract rather than part ways like he did after winning Super Bowl XXVIII. Only such dreams live in the heads of fans and now, it lives in the virtual world.