Get Defensive with Madden NFL 15

It’s been a decade since a defensive player took the cover spot (Ray Lewis on “Madden 2005”), and with this year’s Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawk showcasing the devastating force of a great defensive line and secondary, it’s no wonder EA Sports is bringing defense back strong. This year, “Madden 15” is making defense fun again.

Borrowing a page from “NCAA Football 14’s” playbook, “Madden 15” features an all-new way to play defense. Now the camera swings around behind your defense, giving you the same control and vision you that you get when you’re on offense. A tackling reticule and vision cone give defensive players more information and control, to help them go for those big hits.

The skill trainer featured in previous games also returns to show you how to recognize plays, and what moves are most effective. Essentially, “Madden 15” is getting so authentic that it’s teaching you how to play actual football.

It’s not all under-the-hood changes this year, either. Football is getting a graphical overhaul with new presentation cameras, and some amazing visuals on the Xbox One. EA showed off the gorgeous Levi’s Stadium, the new home of the San Francisco 49ers. The lighting, the textures, and the grass were so realistic that it’s getting increasingly harder to tell it’s not actually real.

And EA Sports is committed to making that the case when “Madden 15” is in action, too: Character models have been completely rebuilt, and they look more authentic than ever. Uniforms and padding shift and move, changing the shape and movement of the players. Even their faces are incredibly well-modeled, sometimes tricking our brain into thinking we’re looking at the real Colin Kaepernick.

The new defense options really change how “Madden” plays, and are sure to make for some interesting match-ups in online play. We’re definitely excited for “Madden 15’s” August 26 release date.