VSN's Madden NFL 13 Review

[Steel Mamba]

I'm still playing 2k8. which is still interesting to me considering the game's age.

How many years do you think you could continue to play Madden 13? 12? 11? 10? etc.

This is the make or break year for me, if Madden doesn't give me a better experience than a Generic football game with piss poor player models that's 5 years old, I've promised myself not to throw any more $ at EA.

Well put. The fact that 2k8 is still alive and active says a lot. It's been awhile since I jumped online with it, but I know there are still active leagues for it out there, and when I was playing there was always someone in the MP lobby. That's good proof that Madden still hasn't surpassed 2k, for some at least.

Personally, with all the talk of physics and the new engine I thought this would finally be the year that I get back into Madden. But, after a few minutes on the demo I'm already bored with it. The core mechanics still feel exactly the same, and while the game definitely looks amazing, and may even look realistic as well, I'm still not convinced that it plays very realistically. It still seems to be missing the core X's and O's and strategy aspect of the game. With EA football titles I never really find myself having to put much thought into what I do or how I approach another opponent. Maybe I need more time on it though, idk. I'm gonna keep an open mind and look for some gameplay vids of the retail version.

Overall, I'm sure it's a solid game I don't want to knock it in general. I just don't know if it's a game for everyone, sim fans included. What I care about is gameplay, all the franchise, superstar, and connected careers stuff I never play with anyway. Cool features, but I'm not interested in any of it. For sports games all I play is online ranked (which also means I can't fix the game with sliders) so the gameplay has to be superb and sim. With that said, I'm not going to throw my money at it if it doesn't deliver on that. They'll continue to go towards the casual gameplay if it continues to sell well, and once you buy it, that's it, you've given them your vote of approval. Even from a casual perspective though, it does seem odd that places like Gamespot are rating it low, when usually they give Madden high ratings even when the game was atrocious. Not sure what that's saying, even the more casual players are fed up with the same old same old from Madden?

 

[Sven Draconian]

Well put. The fact that 2k8 is still alive and active says a lot. It's been awhile since I jumped online with it, but I know there are still active leagues for it out there, and when I was playing there was always someone in the MP lobby. That's good proof that Madden still hasn't surpassed 2k, for some at least.

Personally, with all the talk of physics and the new engine I thought this would finally be the year that I get back into Madden. But, after a few minutes on the demo I'm already bored with it. The core mechanics still feel exactly the same, and while the game definitely looks amazing, and may even look realistic as well, I'm still not convinced that it plays very realistically. It still seems to be missing the core X's and O's and strategy aspect of the game. With EA football titles I never really find myself having to put much thought into what I do or how I approach another opponent. Maybe I need more time on it though, idk. I'm gonna keep an open mind and look for some gameplay vids of the retail version.

Overall, I'm sure it's a solid game I don't want to knock it in general. I just don't know if it's a game for everyone, sim fans included. What I care about is gameplay, all the franchise, superstar, and connected careers stuff I never play with anyway. Cool features, but I'm not interested in any of it. For sports games all I play is online ranked (which also means I can't fix the game with sliders) so the gameplay has to be superb and sim. With that said, I'm not going to throw my money at it if it doesn't deliver on that. They'll continue to go towards the casual gameplay if it continues to sell well, and once you buy it, that's it, you've given them your vote of approval. Even from a casual perspective though, it does seem odd that places like Gamespot are rating it low, when usually they give Madden high ratings even when the game was atrocious. Not sure what that's saying, even the more casual players are fed up with the same old same old from Madden?

Lets be realistic about IGN et al when it comes to ratings. They are rating it as a video; animations, menus and a general fun factor. Is the game enjoyable for 15-20 hours of gameplay (which is about 1 full season of franchise mode if you play on 7 minute quarters). Of course it is.

As much as I have ripped on Madden in the past, I still log just as much time on Madden as I do any other game (except maybe The Show). I played it longer than Batman Arkham Asylum/Arkham City. I probably log 30ish hours of Call of Duty (6ish for the single player, and I normally get bored at around 24 hours or so of online).

In short, it provides just as much value as your typical video game. What it does not do is what we all wish it did; provide 100+ of gaming like it did when we were younger.

I bought NCAA this year. I played a couple exhibitions, created my own playbooks and played a full season in dynasty and a few games into my 2nd year. All in all I probably played 20ish hours so far (14 in games, a couple hours in playbook and a few more recruiting). I feel like I might have another 10-15 in me; probably hit a few online game and maybe finish off that 2nd season. I've already gotten bored/frustrated with the AI (like I always do), but I got pretty decent value out of it.

 

[JimLeavy59]

Just picked this game up can't wait to play.

 

[JimLeavy59]

No matter what guys will not go up for a user catch.

Oh and Chris Johnson is fucking useless gotta work on trading that fuck.

 

[JimLeavy59]

You can't edit your sliders mid game? :smh:

 

[JimLeavy59]

Just noticed on my receipt that I get a free New Era hat after entering in some code.

 

[Realist]

You can't edit your sliders mid game? :smh:

Yes you can. (unless you are talking about online)

 

[JimLeavy59]

Yes you can. (unless you are talking about online)

Hmmm must just be on online and CC, Which is odd because I am playing an offline CC.

 

[Realist]

Hmmm must just be on online and CC, Which is odd because I am playing an offline CC.

oh, not sure about that. I haven't touched it. Thought you mean a offline exhibition game vs the cpu/human

 

[RyanLeaf16]

I have read that online CC works just fine. I am usually an offline only player, but, I may put my CC online. My understanding is that you can have a one-man CC league online. Online CC does not appear to have the issues that offline does - so I may just go that route. Someone on OS had the theory that they intentionally fucked up offline so that more people would use the CC feature online to boost "online numbers." Who the fuck knows...all I know is that I can still play a one-man CC online and I don't have to wait for patches on that, they can just tune the shit directly.

 

[Loco]

Just had a 0:59 second TD run against me to end the game in Career Mode. :/

59 second 78 yard run, fucking bullshit. I had just took the lead prior.



Dante Hall when he reversed field against the Broncos on that crazy kickoff return took only 20 seconds.

Marshawn Lynch's 67yard Beast Mode run was 16 seconds and that with him trucking, pushing, juking people.

'82 Cal-Stanford took less than 30 seconds.

 

[spiker]

How in the hell is that even possible?

 

[MrBill]

Is it possible that somehow the accelerated clock kicked in when it shouldn't have? That's the only thing I could think of that would cause a play to go 59 seconds.

 

[Loco]

Yeah I dunno I had just scored about 1:17 kickoff took it down to 1:03 which seems weird cause it was a TB THEN a 2 yard run brought it down to 0:59 then game over.

 

[jms493]

Where is the Atlas video review?

 

[bucky]

Better experience? Surely. Legacy issues still exist (line play still is crap, turnovers and points still happen to easy) and it's largely still the same Madden you would expect, but the physics engine is what makes it this year. Variety always exists where it never did, unexpected happens on many plays and the new passing is pretty tight. Having the ability to use sliders online might allow us to tone down some things we don't like as well. One downfall of the physics is that it can get a bit messy in the trenches making the run game over play the outside, but if you spread out to defend that space does open in the middle so I'm still finding my opinion on it.

Offline, not so much. The AI is worse than ever..truly it's really bad, terrible play calling and clock management. Total waste of time IMO. When you're up a score, under 2 to go, and the CPU almost always comes out in some base 2/2/1 set...runs the ball for a yard, then hurries up to spike it. You just want to turn the shit off. Complete retardation.

CC is looking good, but isn't as amazing as hyped up to be. Things are not as well done (practice is stupid as hell, XP rewards make no sense and for superstar it makes less than no sense) and some things are still lacking (depth charts need to be deeper, preseason needs better options to bring on players without constant pausing, no special teams setup)...but I'm still happy with it. Draft and the Classes, scouting, FA, News Center are all nice. Hard to say if XP is a boom or bust yet until we do a couple seasons in our OF's.

Overall I think CC was designed for Online play, not Offline.

Why didn't you write the review. Your view of Madden 13 seems pretty fair to me (plus mentioning all the removed features).

 

[Steel Mamba]

Lets be realistic about IGN et al when it comes to ratings. They are rating it as a video; animations, menus and a general fun factor. Is the game enjoyable for 15-20 hours of gameplay (which is about 1 full season of franchise mode if you play on 7 minute quarters). Of course it is.

As much as I have ripped on Madden in the past, I still log just as much time on Madden as I do any other game (except maybe The Show). I played it longer than Batman Arkham Asylum/Arkham City. I probably log 30ish hours of Call of Duty (6ish for the single player, and I normally get bored at around 24 hours or so of online).

In short, it provides just as much value as your typical video game. What it does not do is what we all wish it did; provide 100+ of gaming like it did when we were younger.

I bought NCAA this year. I played a couple exhibitions, created my own playbooks and played a full season in dynasty and a few games into my 2nd year. All in all I probably played 20ish hours so far (14 in games, a couple hours in playbook and a few more recruiting). I feel like I might have another 10-15 in me; probably hit a few online game and maybe finish off that 2nd season. I've already gotten bored/frustrated with the AI (like I always do), but I got pretty decent value out of it.

I think they look at all aspects, including gameplay, just as anyone else would. The only difference is they do it from a casual perspective. The rest of your post just seems like the standards for videogames have dropped and people are accepting that. Which is fine, they're only games and 24 hours on a single game is a lot. Still, there should be some interest there to potentially have a lifespan longer than 24 hours, if a game gets boring after that period (for MP games) then it's a bad game. Shit I'm still playing games from 1999 online (UT), still playing APF, and played NBA 2k8 all the way up to around 2010-2011. I don't even want to know how many hours I have on those games.

 

[JimLeavy59]

:facepalm: My god I can't get any pressure at all my linemen just play patty cakes all fucking day and the cpu can do whatever the fuck it whats on offense.

Also why did they get rid of the ability to hot route slants to the sideline?

 

[JimLeavy59]

I'm almost certain that pass rushing is bugged in this game.

 

[Loco]

Whats up with Rob Ninkovich's rated 92 overall making him the 2nd highest rated player on the Pats defense.

I mean I love Nink but he is an 85 at best.