Madden NFL 13 Review

It's early September and you know what that means.  Millions of college students across the Nation are falling behind in their studies because of one game.  Madden's popularity is immense and every year its release date becomes a pseudo holiday for sports gamers.  For the past several years, Madden has dominated the football world in terms of gaming, simply because it has no competition.  In 2004, the same year 2K Sports released the highly acclaimed ESPN NFL 2K5, EA Sports nabbed the exclusive NFL rights for video games.  Just like that, EA Sports had a monopoly for America's favorite sport.  Ask any sensible fan of video game football and they'll tell you that this event was awful for the world of gaming.  EA Sports became lazy and gave into the stereotype most sports games fall victim to.  They pumped out basically the same game year after year with updated rosters and a few new animations here and there.

While the Madden games were never truly considered to be bad games at heart, none of them made any sort of splash.  Outside of being able to grab the joysticks with your bros to prove who is the real king of simulation football with the updated rosters, it didn't provide much to the consumer.  Integrations of Madden Ultimate Team and deeper Franchise modes trickled in, but fans were still clamoring for more.  Show us something that makes us say "Wow!" make us want to go out at midnight on the release date to go and get this game.  It may have taken them a bit longer than we'd hoped, but here in 2012, Madden has finally done that with Madden NFL 13.

So, what makes Madden 13 so special?  Why all the hubbub for a game that comes out every year?  Well, the creators of Madden finally seem like they care again.  They stepped out of their comfort zone and completely revamped a series that was already pulling in huge dollars.  Make no mistake, Madden could have done nothing and they'd still be able to pump out a successful game.  I can appreciate the balls it takes and trust in their developers to come out with a game that is unlike any other before it.

Let's start with the game engine.  All other Maddens preceding 13 featured the same old animations that you saw over and over.  Trust me, if you were someone who's logged in as many Madden hours as I have since 2001, you can grow very tired of them fairly quickly.  EA Sports introduced a brand new Infinity Engine for this year's game and an audible "Hallelujah!" could be heard all around the world from the die-hard fans.  The Infinity Engine promises to the players that no two play will look the same.  In the old installments, if a ball carrier was hit while running, some sort of animation would form with the defender being sunk into him while the two of them formed an impenetrable shield.  Now, a player will absorb a hit as their two bodies sync together and bend in realistic fashion.  If an extra player joins the play then he will affect the way the contact finishes.  It sounds subtle, but in the grand scheme of things and while you watch the game in front of you, it makes a world of difference.

Another major complaint players had about the Madden series was the complete and utter lack of presentation.  There's a multitude of fresh cut scenes in between plays and different styles of replays to try and keep the game feeling dynamic.  The crowd seems to have life and intelligence for once.  If there's a big play happening on the field, you'll hear the crowd begin to erupt.  It gives that feeling of exciting realism a simulation football game strives for.  For years we heard Al Michaels and John Madden provide commentary and then we had to sit through the insufferable Cris Collinsworth.  From Madden telling me about stick-em on player's gloves to Collinsworth chastising any play that wasn't a pass - it was enough to make any fan of the franchise hit the mute button.  This year introduced the CBS themed presentation with the duo of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms and it's so refreshing.  Just like with any sports game, the commentary gets tired and some of the things said make no sense.  It's just the fact that it isn't Collinsworth, which makes such a difference and an improvement.  Hell, there are even models of both announcers that introduce you to the game.

The gameplay itself has improved dramatically, to me at least, this year.  While playing Madden 12, I often found myself cursing John Madden's fat ass for every improbable leaping interception a linebacker made in the middle of the field.  It was a pain in the ass to pass across the field because you know the suddenly high jumping extraordinaire defensive player would get his paws on the ball.  When playing quarterback, you have control now.  You can use the left analogue stick to perfectly tilt the throw in a way to keep it out of the hands of the defender.  They've really improved upon this for Madden 13 and it doesn't go unnoticed.  The running game takes a lot of control and precision due to the infinity engine.  You can't try and bounce off a defender because the game physics are going to suck you up.  You gotta make sure you cut through the hole your line provides for you at the correct time or else you're down for a short run.  Playing a receiver is a blast in this game.  Once you see that ball flying through the air, you gotta take control of the man and get him in the air for the miraculous catch.  With Calvin Johnson on the cover, it was about time they gave a little love to the receiving game.  The animations added around the out of bounds lines are a God send and makes clutch late-game drives all that much more thrilling.

Last but certainly not least are the two major game modes.  One is an old favorite, Madden Ultimate Team.  The point of this mode is to acquire packs of cards in the game and create your very own fantasy team from the ground up.  Introduced in this year's game is a team captain, someone to make your squad competitive.  You have a slew of NFL stars to choose from, but make sure you pick wisely, for they will be your most important player in your first couple games.  Those first few games, provided you don't want to shell out big bucks to simply buy packs of cards with studs, are pivotal to you earning points needed to buy new players. As time goes on, your player's contracts will expire, make sure you have garnered enough contract extension cards if you wanna hold on to them.  Better yet, check out the auction area where all of those Madden fanatics around the world have posted their cards.  Some are up for auction and you can bid on them, while others are on the trading block and you can go ahead and offer a deal.  It's so in depth, you almost become obsessed with completing collections and creating the most overpowered team in the world.

Connected Careers was the big splash for Madden this year.  It replaced the Franchise mode the fans had grown to love and blew it out of the water.  Fans who complained about this year's game simply bitched about it before ever giving it a chance.  Connected Career is so insanely detailed and addictive, I find it personally difficult to stop playing.  You can choose to either start an offline or online career, the difference being in online, you can play with your friends.  More on that later.  You have to make a decision as to whether you want to play as a coach for your favorite team, where you either create your own rookie coach or take over a current/legendary one and control the entire team.  You make all the same decisions you did in the old Franchise modes, but with more goals and requirements you have to meet, which makes for a much fuller and rewarding gaming experience.  If coaching isn't your thing, you can always take control of one player, whether they be a rookie you create or even a legendary player such as Barry Sanders.  Build them up with the team, determine if they were a high draft pick, middle rounds, or undrafted and you choose your adventure as an NFL player.  You can also go to EA Sports GameFace website and upload a picture of yourself, they will then create a 3D model of your face that you can easily download into your game.  Now you're really in the game.

I mentioned online Connected Career and I saved it for last because it deserves to be the lasting impression you get from this article.  It's still a baby, this being its first year in the game, but EA already has something golden to build upon.  It's much like the My Player mode in NBA 2K, which is a very good thing.  Complete with its own fictitious (but with real sports personalities) Twitter feed (also featured in offline mode as well), the game literally creates its own little world for you and your friends.  You and up to 31 of your friends can each take control of an NFL team, either as a coach or individual player and attempt to really prove who is the best of the best.  You don't even have to brag to your friends after having a monster game, the game mode will for you.  The Twitter feed in the game will blow up with the personalities raving about your abilities and the top story will certainly talk of your potentially record breaking performances.  All of your friends in the CC with you will see it.  Once you finish your game for that week, go ahead and relax, because you could be waiting for the slower players in your league.  You cannot advance a week, unless you manually force it, until everyone in your Connected Career as finished their game for that week.  I adore this aspect, it really gives you the sense of a Franchise mode that is 100% compatible with your friends.

There's plenty of things about this game that will make you scratch your head and yell in anger, but I decided not to harp on them in this review.  They aren't critical enough to the point where it will cause you to dislike the game.  Overall, Madden NFL 13 is spectacular.  I really wasn't expecting this out of EA Sports, they seemed to be very set in their ways.  Maybe it's the danger of their exclusive rights coming to an end or they just finally got the message.  Whichever it is, I appreciate it immensely.  This is the best Madden game I have ever played and I implore you, whether you're on the fence as a former supporter of the series or someone looking to get into for the first time, go out and get this!  Ask your friends to create a Connect Career with you, message me and ask to join the one I've created with people I've grown close to on Twitch.TV.  Delve deep into this game, you won't be disappointed.