OS Fact or Fiction: Is Madden for Real This Time?

Feature Article

Submitted on: 09/06/2012 by Chris Sanner, Jayson Young

Chris Sanner: Fact.

Someone compared Madden NFL 13 to NBA 2K10 in a blog post of mine earlier last week. I think that's perhaps the best comparison I can come up with for the game. Yes, there are still numerous issues which crop up, and yes the new engine is with many quirks, but the foundation has been laid down now to the point where next season we could see a game that really creeps into greatness when things are polished up even more than where they are today.

The infinity engine really does make a huge difference in the game and gives it a much different feel and with some more tuning and tweaking via a couple of patches I'd suspect Madden NFL 13 ends up a very darned good game as it is. Then attention turns to Madden NFL 14 and what we should expect. If even half of the legacy issues are figured out, the missing elements from franchise are implemented into connected careers, and presentation is expanded upon -- all realistic goals -- Madden will be at the same level without a doubt as it's peers.

This year, you saw not just the Infinity engine and it's various benefits in each facet of the game -- but you also saw Madden move forward in the passing game with a new approach to icon passing which is subtle yet good. You also saw the game balance itself out a bit more than in year's past, at least to me. I've had some of the best games I've ever had in EA Football in Madden and while the game still cuts corners in realism, you can nitpick other series in the same way and arrive at the same conclusions. What matters to me at this point is that Madden is good, balanced football and it's now just a couple of real steps away from incredibly realistic football as well.

What is missing in this series now are subtle things that, if/when they are implemented will truly take this series into the Game of the Year conversation.

The Madden team made a brilliant decision to make big moves here at the end of this console generation. So long as they don't blow up the bridge and start over when the new consoles hit late next year I'm sure the franchise is set for a bright future from this point onwards.

Jayson Young: Fiction

The only areas where Madden NFL 13 performs at or near the top of sports gaming are its redone online franchise mode, spectacular dynamic lighting and highly detailed NFL stadiums. In all other aspects, Madden NFL 13 remains significantly behind the standards being set by industry leaders like FIFA, MLB The Show, NBA 2K and EA NHL.

While Madden NFL 13 looks attractive in still screenshots, its warts start appearing as soon as the ball is snapped, with weightless, exaggerated player movement, outdated blocking interactions, dumbfounding AI decision-making, outlandish Monday Night Raw collisions and inhuman limb contortions created by the new Infinity Engine. If beautifully animated franchises like NBA 2K and MLB The Show are poetry in motion, then Madden NFL 13's gameplay is a third grade spelling bee in motion -- unpolished, unsophisticated and full of glaring mistakes.

With an abundance of missing options and lost features, Madden NFL 13's offline experience is arguably worse this year than it was in Madden NFL 12. Virtual Twitter feeds are cool, but not at the expense of coach mode, NCAA roster transfers, fantasy drafts, roster editing, player editing, custom playbooks, custom gameplans, defensive camera perspective, multi-user offline franchise, etc.

Another potentially great mode, online team play, remains completely neglected, having made zero improvements since its Madden NFL 11 debut. EA's own FIFA and NHL series offer the ability to field full teams of human players and compete in online clubs or leagues, yet Madden NFL 13 remains limited to one-off 3 vs. 3 matches that don't even include fatigue or injuries. Madden NFL 13's online team play feature is actually worse now than when it debuted, due to the removal of the "behind the defense" camera.

High sales numbers don't always correlate to high product quality, and this console generation, EA Tiburon's Madden franchise has essentially become the Metallica of sports gaming -- still selling copies by the truckload at retail, but failing to satisfy hardcore fans who remember how great the brand used to be and how far it has fallen in recent years.

Madden NFL 13 Videos

Member Comments

# 81 Fist Of Kings @ 09/07/12 12:06 PM

After playing this game for the past week, ign's high review really seems questionable. There are so many problems with this game not mentioned in their review, and the missing features hit hard man.

# 82 Beeks @ 09/07/12 05:08 PM

The only thing that REALLY irritates me is EVERY YEAR since about Madden 09, they have said 'We didn't do everything we wanted to with this version, but we've laid the groundwork to improve it and get it just the way we want it next year'... then the following year, they completely revamp the damn game again, and say the same thing. When are we going to get a FINISHED game? I'm damn sure PAYING for a finished game every year, when am I going to get one? Oh you didn't have time to include things that EVERYONE wanted this year? Well what am I paying for?

That being said, Madden 13 is.... well, it's okay. I'd give it a 5/10. I like playing the game, but there are countless things about the menus, features, and gameplay that annoy me to the point where I just want to turn it off and not even look at it ever again. All things that have been brought up countless times on OS and on twitter to some of the Dev's.

I can't wait until next year when Connected Careers is in the garbage bin, replaced with some other gimmicky crap that doesn't function properly, just so I can be told that the NEW system is 'the foundation of a fantastic game'.

I'm tired of playing foundations.

# 83 trey2k198003 @ 09/07/12 05:23 PM

FACT! the last dev team did a terrible job with madden and this team decided to go in a true new direction. To do that you have to start from scratch sometimes, so the exclusion of coach mode(btw ive never even used this mode but jayson mentioned it was misiing also there are custom playbooks and gameplans), edit rosters and fantasy draft are understandable to me anyway. I want them to get the infinity engine right and jump off the new modes and there presentation at some point you have to lay a platform to build upon. If they ave you edit rosters and fantasy draft but it was sloppy and done wrong youd be more pissed about it than you are that its not in the game. so the question is the game for real? not is it on par with the best of the best.
Again i say fact the connected carerrs is great i love the xp i love the news feed and the twitter. The free agency is better and so is the draft. I like alot about this game its way better than 12. Honestly i had twelve for 3 days before i had a reasonable complaint....madden 13 i still dont have one because im realistic. NO game is perfect none and they all started somewhere, the infinity engine is great it looks like crap at times but so did 2k's animations at one time the show wasnt always the greatest and nhl had to start over at one point. This is the game people are going to look back on and say changed madden for the better!

Now the dev team can work on getting the kinks out of the infinity engine also implementing key features to offline connected careers which i miss and cant wait for....its been said time and time again its not a perfect game but its leaps and bounds over its predecessor and i dont mean just I.E. i mean connected acreers i can see myself playin a coach career to the end now thanks to the xp and the abitlity to make what players i want to progress!

# 84 TreyIM2 @ 09/07/12 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by je_2512


	Bull!!! Ea has stated on multiple occasions that disk space is NOT an issue, at least not yet!! Don't believe me? Look at Last years dev groups posts! Your putting the blame in the wrong place...I now believe it's an issue of either talent, or desire, as to why this game fell short once again.

Whatever u say, buddy...

# 85 jwtucker710 @ 09/07/12 07:51 PM

Try this: I watched the CPU play against itself in "broadcast" view. Pretty cool. Steelers and Broncos, to get a glimpse of this Sunday night's game. Bronco's were up 10-0 at the start of the 4th quarter, and then Rothlesberger started to pull the team in the red zone, but something happened: the game froze. One of the players got tackled and started twitching. Man, I was so pissed! But yeah, watching in broadcast view, you really get to see how good it looks, but also notice the glaring glitches.

# 86 je_2512 @ 09/07/12 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TreyIM2


	Whatever u say, buddy...

Seriously, that's your well thought response to the facts I posted? bwahahahahaha

# 87 eF 5ive @ 09/07/12 08:52 PM

No. There are too many glaring issues for this to be considered a top franchise.

So you revamped gameplay and have gaping flaws in every other aspect. The IE engine to me is slightly overrated. It's a step in the right direction but honestly for 60$ + tax I don't want "a step in the right direction." I think the consumer is pretty use to disappointment when "a step in the right direction" is ok for most. I don't want to hear "You can play online and your problems are solved". True? Nah because some of us don't feel like fighting the internet connection. I have a TBI from Iraq and cannot stand auto save features, and occasionally need a break from the screen in which I usually d/c. And sometimes just not reading/understanding and making a stupid mistake while navigating through the screens (autosave).

I can't stand that there's no chain gang. People say it's not a big deal and it was annoying to see them come out. Cool, so let's take refs out, the nets behind the goal post, etc. It's a part of the game.

Stats for sim, user control taken away so now we have to wait till EA is ready to release rosters to play with current teams, CPU clock management, Mass subs, formation subs, sliders, etc.

You guys can make excuses for EA and say they were rushed, or at least they're headed in the right direction but i'm sorry, all we are doing is beta testing for Madden 14. That can slide for you but in my opinion shouldn't be accepted throughout the gaming community. There are a lot more issues unlisted because it'll just sound like a broken record at this point but I encourage all of you to tweet, Facebook, or even e-mail individuals connected with EA to share your displeasure in whatever aspect of the game to make these fools recognize that these statistics of online leagues/activity doesn't mean your game was "successful" and the best, it just means you forced us into playing online to play the least broken feature.

# 88 roadman @ 09/07/12 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eF 5ive


	No. There are too many glaring issues for this to be considered a top franchise. So you revamped gameplay and have gaping flaws in every other aspect. The IE engine to me is slightly overrated. It's a step in the right direction but honestly for 60$ + tax I don't want "a step in the right direction." I think the consumer is pretty use to disappointment when "a step in the right direction" is ok for most. I don't want to hear "You can play online and your problems are solved". True? Nah because some of us don't feel like fighting the internet connection. I have a TBI from Iraq and cannot stand auto save features, and occasionally need a break from the screen in which I usually d/c. And sometimes just not reading/understanding and making a stupid mistake while navigating through the screens (autosave). I can't stand that there's no chain gang. People say it's not a big deal and it was annoying to see them come out. Cool, so let's take refs out, the nets behind the goal post, etc. It's a part of the game. Stats for sim, user control taken away so now we have to wait till EA is ready to release rosters to play with current teams, CPU clock management, Mass subs, formation subs, sliders, etc. You guys can make excuses for EA and say they were rushed, or at least they're headed in the right direction but i'm sorry, all we are doing is beta testing for Madden 14. That can slide for you but in my opinion shouldn't be accepted throughout the gaming community. There are a lot more issues unlisted because it'll just sound like a broken record at this point but I encourage all of you to tweet, Facebook, or even e-mail individuals connected with EA to share your displeasure in whatever aspect of the game to make these fools recognize that these statistics of online leagues/activity doesn't mean your game was "successful" and the best, it just means you forced us into playing online to play the least broken feature.

Your last statement is misdirecting, though. The developers are on Facebook, they are the one's that didn't come out with stats, the higher-ups did.

It's to each their own, too, not everyone's experience is the same. I know offline needs fixing up, and I know what's missing with legacy issues and what they left out from franchise mode this year, but I'm getting some great and I'm mean great games in my online CCM, and no one can take that away.

# 89 TreyIM2 @ 09/08/12 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by je_2512


	Seriously, that's your well thought response to the facts I posted? bwahahahahaha

Facts? Whatever u say, buddy...

# 90 videlsports @ 09/09/12 03:00 AM

Fact the Infinity engine and the new passing game, also with the improvments on defense, this game is a 9.3. aFTER ALL Tthe bad crap we got for years EA nailed this one IMO

# 91 SamoanSteelerFromAus @ 09/09/12 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eF 5ive


	No. There are too many glaring issues for this to be considered a top franchise. So you revamped gameplay and have gaping flaws in every other aspect. The IE engine to me is slightly overrated. It's a step in the right direction but honestly for 60$ + tax I don't want "a step in the right direction." I think the consumer is pretty use to disappointment when "a step in the right direction" is ok for most. I don't want to hear "You can play online and your problems are solved". True? Nah because some of us don't feel like fighting the internet connection. I have a TBI from Iraq and cannot stand auto save features, and occasionally need a break from the screen in which I usually d/c. And sometimes just not reading/understanding and making a stupid mistake while navigating through the screens (autosave). I can't stand that there's no chain gang. People say it's not a big deal and it was annoying to see them come out. Cool, so let's take refs out, the nets behind the goal post, etc. It's a part of the game. Stats for sim, user control taken away so now we have to wait till EA is ready to release rosters to play with current teams, CPU clock management, Mass subs, formation subs, sliders, etc. You guys can make excuses for EA and say they were rushed, or at least they're headed in the right direction but i'm sorry, all we are doing is beta testing for Madden 14. That can slide for you but in my opinion shouldn't be accepted throughout the gaming community. There are a lot more issues unlisted because it'll just sound like a broken record at this point but I encourage all of you to tweet, Facebook, or even e-mail individuals connected with EA to share your displeasure in whatever aspect of the game to make these fools recognize that these statistics of online leagues/activity doesn't mean your game was "successful" and the best, it just means you forced us into playing online to play the least broken feature.

NFL Quaterback club 2001 on N64 had refs and a chain gang you can run into and they fell over. If they could do it.....

# 92 prey2god @ 09/09/12 09:57 PM

Fiction. Wait until 2013. If people think that nobody is brainstorming ideas, planning another football game out, you got things twisted.

When said company makes another NFL game, they will take notes on where EA/Tiburon failed and will make the game that much better.

Heed my words. EA/Tiburon has been duping the customer for years. Their days are almost over.

# 93 prey2god @ 09/09/12 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big FN Deal


	While I share your belief that competition will eventually be back for NFL gaming, I don't think that can officially happen until after the Super Bowl in February 2014.

all I got to say is I can't wait regardless. I'm sick of EA doing what they want to do and not listen to the customers. They know a majority of people will still buy into the game because they're hooked like crack addicts.

I'm one of them, but I chose not to buy retail but 2nd hand. They don't like that.

# 94 Jet Sufferer @ 09/10/12 12:13 AM

Fiction, even though this is their best effort yet this gen. A game that's "for real" wouldn't ignore basic, fundamental elements of football for 8 years.

They stepped up to the plate 7 times and struck out all 7, never even making contact and looking pretty pathetic doing it. This year they hit a solid single up the middle, woo-hoo!!

Other football games and other sports games have been hitting doubles, triples, and homers for many years now. At least they got a single this year.

It's like the kid at the end of the bench and when he finally gets a hit everyone is excited for him. Except this "kid" has millions of "parents" who think their kid is the best player ever, even when he was striking out, unconditional love.

All the same congratulations on the single, it's over a week and I haven't shelved the game.

# 95 Fakename22 @ 09/10/12 03:00 AM

Fiction:

1. No ability to edit ANYTHING was an automatic game killer for me. I mean I spent hours over the years juts simply editing things to get the game as close to real life as possible and now I have to trust EA's roster? LMAO. Thats why I did my own in the first place..lol.

2. The infinity engine is a gimmick. Who cares if a LB hits a running back and he does the helicopter when the WR/DB interactions laughable, the CCM stats are a joke and BASIC things like having equipment and jerseys right are messed up.

3. The infinity engine is even more of a gimmick especially after the play when you got people falling over people like idiots. I thought I was watching The Walking Dead half the time.

4. If EA was going to take the ability to edit away then their roster should be 100% PERIOD. Anything less is unacceptable since we cant do it ourselves.

5. There is NO EXCUSE for a simple offline franchise mode to be in this game. NONE. Goodness I mean a simple offline franchise mode with no BS attached where you can edit and do whatever you want. You know like back on the PS2.

I could go on and on and on but its 2 in the morning.

FICTION!

« Previous 1 2 3 45Next »

More Links