Question about Madden Franchise Modes

[berad]

First, I'll start by saying I haven't purchased a new Madden since Madden 10 (which I liked) and I have an XBOX 360.

 

My question is, if I want to play Franchise Mode (or something similar) what would be the best Madden to buy post-10 that would also leave Raven players with decent ratings?

 

Madden 12 was for the 2011 season which I figured would give some of our guys decent ratings after a strong playoff run - it also still has the 'classic franchise mode',

 

Madden 13 was 2012 and has our SB team so that would probably give the best ratings but lo-and-behold Madden totally changed their franchise mode into some strange mutation. Reading reviews, people were not thrilled and there was no fantasy draft which I enjoy.

 

Haven't researched enough into Madden 25 to see if that franchise mode is better because it followed the 2013 season when we sucked - figured rankings would be horrid.

 

Madden 15 got good reviews overall, franchise mode had some of it's features restored, and we were good again. However, I'm sticking with the 'old gen' XBOX 360 and I read the new, good gameplay features only show up on next gen.

 

Was wondering if some of you gamers and/or Madden historians could help me come to a conclusion? What were your favorite recent Maddens?

 

 

[The Raven]

As someone who has played Madden 15 on Xbox 360 and Xbox One, the only significant difference is the quality of the graphics. A lot of the stuff in the next gen version is sort of superfluous. I would definitely recommend it for 360; it's really not that bad.

[berad]

Didn't realize that was it, the top Amazon reviews lied!

I've been watching YouTube videos of interfaces and gameplay and 15 looks the best, being the newest. I might just go for it.

Thanks!

[redrum52]

As someone who has played Madden 15 on Xbox 360 and Xbox One, the only significant difference is the quality of the graphics. A lot of the stuff in the next gen version is sort of superfluous. I would definitely recommend it for 360; it's really not that bad.

the AI and game play to me us significantly different on next gen systems. Also, isn't the defensive play more in depth?

[EdTheMythicalOne]

I can only speak about Madden 25 which I have for the Play Station 3. The only comparison I have for it would be the previous Madden I bought which was 11 for PS3 (which was horrible for franchise mode)

I don't know if anybody has played NFL Head Coach 09 for the PS3, but the head of development for that game (which is awesome mind you) was the head honcho for Madden 25 and they stressed getting the Franchise Mode back up to par. While it isn't on the level of Head Coach, they did get a lot right.

1) The progression system. You know earn experience points for everything you do on the field. You play, you get points. Obviously the better you do the more points you earn. You even get 1000 points if you try a practice session (mini game) and lose it. You get 2000 if you win. You can use those points to power up ANY stat for any player or purchase special position specific moves. This one thing alone is a huge improvement over the random maybe you progress or maybe you don't in a couple of stats like previous Maddens.

2) Draft classes are still pre-determined and it is easy to cheese your way through them by looking up all the draft classes and finding out who the gems and sleepers are.

3) There are no mini camp training drills inside of the franchise mode. I used to enjoy that on the older Madden games because it made me feel a bit more connected to the players I drafted.

4) Your relocation team options are very limited. There are only several places you can move to which are pre determined. You only get a choice of 2-3 logos and some of them look pretty stupid, you have a choice of about 2-3 team names and some of them are pretty lame, and then you get to chose from 3 pre selected uniform color and jersey combinations and some of them look awful. Purple and Gold might look good for the Lakers, but for a football team and the way they made those colors...ugly! You don't get to custom build your own stadium, you choose from one of about 12, but really there are about 3 versions of about 4 different stadium designs. They look pretty good, but....

5) If you like to do "watch mode" which is have your team play as the CPU against a CPU opponent, you can't really do that. You have to manually call the plays and hike the ball for your team. The CPU will takeover after you do that. Kind of surprises me this is the case since it was developed by Josh Looman, the guy from NFL Head Coach 09...which you NEVER could play your team. It was CPU handled and all you did was call plays.