Review: Why deciding on ‘Madden NFL 25’ is like figuring out whether to buy an iPhone

Electronic Arts was ahead of the game when it comes to creating the “Madden NFL” series. The venerable football series launches each year, and there’s a handful of improvements along with a roster update. Every once in a while, the developers push the genre forward in terms of graphics or gameplay, but otherwise, the series is all about incremental upgrades.

The video game’s production cycle is comparable to the iPhone. Apple’s flagship product generally stays the same with refinements...