Madden fans are used to seeing their game accompanied by the year -- from Madden '94 to Madden '12 - but is this year's "Madden 25" anniversary edition setting the bar too high?

The anniversary label can be deceiving to gamers, as they might expect something revolutionary about the game, but that hasn't necessarily been the case. Besides the fact that gamers will be able to play Madden on the new Xbox One and Playstation 4 later this year, it is likely that this year's edition is just another Madden update with a few improvements and changes.

GameSpot's Brett Todd only gave this year's Madden a 6/10 because he expected there to be some bigger changes after EA Sports slapped the anniversary label on the game.

"It's a shame that EA Sports decided to make such a big deal out of the Madden anniversary this year," he said. "Putting that big '25' on the box cover ramps up expectations and may well make a standard baby-steps Madden sequel seem more disappointing. The heart of how the game plays on the field has been transplanted from its predecessor, making this a small shuffle forward that settles for subtle enhancements while leaving a lot of long-standing flaws intact for another year."

The flaws of the new game, which was released last week, have already been highlighted in the EA Sports message boards. Fans were flooding the forums with complaints as users experienced freezing issues with online gameplay.

"We are aware some users are experiencing intermittent freezing issues while playing Madden NFL 25," EA Sports said in a statement. "Our team is investigating the cause and is working on a resolution so that we can get everyone back into the game. Thank you for your patience, and for supporting EA Sports!"

The game is listed at $59.99 for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and gamers can pre-order copies for the upcoming PS4 and Xbox One for the same price.