Madden NFL 13 Review (PS3/360)

[BlastX21]

Its interesting that the sizable majority of this forum (and others) is riddled with comments about the game being broken, highly flawed, etc, yet these "official" reviewers' scores seem to never reflect the views of those communities. The current OS board is staunchly anti-Madden.

Like, the official reviews have had Madden at 8 or more the last 4-5 years, which is in sharp contrast to how the users have ranked it.

And reviews such as this one point out almost none of the complaints I see talked about in other threads.

I really don't know why the difference is so great.

[StormJH1]

Quote: Originally Posted by sword1986

Big problem with Madden being the only Football game out, is that it must cater to all its fans. The Sim junkies are so last decade ... back in the 90s, early 2000s. Even John Madden Football, the original was regarded as Simulation Football. straight up, no nonsense game of strategy. It may be hard to watch, but this is the first ever Madden game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EbPghLpK6c "Ok sword, what does an old game have to do with today's game." Think outside the box here ... this game of John Madden Football had no gimmick. its main goal was to simulate football. over the years, you make football games but the main problem is the company develops training incapacity. this is the reason why Madden has like an arcade-cartoonish feel. Concentrating on football and less gimmicks is the way Madden should go. Look at the PS2 Madden, they were going in the right direction. Graphics were terrible, but the main aspect - the FOCUS was Football. NextGen Madden is just about having cool menus and graphics, not about gameplay. They only recently struck gold with gameplay through the Infinity Engine THIS YEAR. They had since 2005 when they decided to take over the NFL license to make moves. My guess is because the license expires, they wont be the only NFL Game in town so they need some sort of edge. if 2K Football comes back, forget about it. Madden would turn into NBA Live in a matter of years (wont say right away cause the Madden franchise is very popular but it'll eventually fade). If Madden 14 is to be successful, they need to go back and look at John Madden Football from 1988. Focus on the aspects of football, the tackling, the strategy. Make sure the A.I. is efficient then go somewhere else like Connected Careers.

The license battle is obviously a negative because we lack a competitive alternative, but I think people do tend to overhype the impact competition would have had on making EA's version of the game any better. There's a lot of revisionist history about 2k5 and Madden 2005. While 2k5 had some great elements, it was still widely considered to be graphically inferior and lacking in features compared to Madden. (The field textures in 2k5 were particularly poor). Also recall that significantly more people were on PS2 than XBox, and EA games were created for PS2 and ported over, whereas 2k5 was the opposite, IIRC. NFL 2k5 was decidedly less impressive on PS2 than it was on XBox.

I just bought this game today - haven't played yet. I was unimpressed with the demo after a month of playing NCAA, but I got it $10 off at Target and I'm willing to give it a shot because of the visuals, presentation, and the new modes.

IMO, Madden has gotten better, and it started in Madden 10 when they fixed the ratings to be more variable (NHL could sure take a lesson from this). But no current gen Madden game has been as good as Madden 2005 was. And I disagree that the visuals were poor in that game, that game looked terrific in 2004, and it played great.

[b0z1c]

changes in MADDEN are nice but 2Ks NBA has really set the bar high for other sports games..especially in presentation

[SongDog33]

You're definitely on par with this review and score, though I DO see a lot of NBA2K12 influence in the main screen layout, the Legends are in the game now, the television broadcast delivery, etc. If Madden was an 8.5, then NBA 2K13 is gonna be a 9.0+.

PSN: SongDog33

[roll2tide]

WOW....I just read this for the 1st time today....I can't believe how blatantly and blindly this is just a pro EA review. I don't how MMChris can ever claim objectivity again.

[wheelman990]

lol, looking back at this review after a few weeks with the game is interesting. This reviewer should run off and hide. A 8.5 on a hard grading OS scale huh? Remind me to never take this guys review seriously.

Trading this game in for NBA 2k13. This game was terrible. Going back to Madden 12, not that it was all that amazing itself.

[wheelman990]

Quote: Originally Posted by StormJH1

The license battle is obviously a negative because we lack a competitive alternative, but I think people do tend to overhype the impact competition would have had on making EA's version of the game any better. There's a lot of revisionist history about 2k5 and Madden 2005. While 2k5 had some great elements, it was still widely considered to be graphically inferior and lacking in features compared to Madden. (The field textures in 2k5 were particularly poor). Also recall that significantly more people were on PS2 than XBox, and EA games were created for PS2 and ported over, whereas 2k5 was the opposite, IIRC. NFL 2k5 was decidedly less impressive on PS2 than it was on XBox. I just bought this game today - haven't played yet. I was unimpressed with the demo after a month of playing NCAA, but I got it $10 off at Target and I'm willing to give it a shot because of the visuals, presentation, and the new modes. IMO, Madden has gotten better, and it started in Madden 10 when they fixed the ratings to be more variable (NHL could sure take a lesson from this). But no current gen Madden game has been as good as Madden 2005 was. And I disagree that the visuals were poor in that game, that game looked terrific in 2004, and it played great.

I wouldn't count visuals as a good thing in Madden 13. Graphics are terrible this year. Do you like a neon like colored grass, and blurry 360 graphics(& for PS3, it isn;t blurry, but is jaggy). Also, the camera is nothing like Madden 05, it is now a blimp camera compared to 2005's standard cams.

Seriously, I caution you on opening that game if you are wanting to save funds.

[TajDeni]

Quote: Originally Posted by bearschicago

However this gen, the best one is Madden 10 as that is the most complete, yet fun Madden.

now i only rented M13 for about a wk, but from the time that i spent with it plus some of the limitations with the game. i would have to agree that M10 is the best Madden this generation.

put it another way, if M10 was the exact same game but also had M13 graphics, i truly believe more ppl would find more positive things to say about M10.