Electronic Arts Madden NFL 13 - Xbox 360

Everyone has already pretty much said what is wrong with this game, so I am not going to repeat any of it and just add my 1 star and my "F you EA, $60 for this piece of crap? Do you even listen to us when we take the time to give you feedback and help you improve your product? This can't be the case because it has the same problems that last years edition had with several new ones thrown in the mix", you know just the general disappointment we feel with the decline of our beloved Madden. Stick with 12, the more of us who refuse to buy subpar Madden games the more likely we will see a change in the product itself; with the feedback that so many of us take the time to give actually counting for something. I'm returning mine and I hope to see you all in the 12 (or better yet 11) lobbies. No beef with anyone who actually likes 13, I hope those who do have hours of fun with it...this rant is just my opinion.SaludEdited on 8 September 2012: I did actually return 13 and have been playing 12 since. 12 is still plenty active as far as online play goes, so I encourage anyone who does not think that 13 is worth it to join me and mine in the 12 lobbies. We can't expect EA to change a damn thing unless we refuse to use their (latest) product(s).Earth to the NFL: A lack of competition will kill a desire for your product...wait, I think that is the point of some of your most effective rules towards that every end... isn't it?!? Let there be a fair competition and let the best "team" win!!!!Edited on 6 December 2012: The commercials that are coming out recently - that claim "it's the best Madden ever!" - make me laugh so hard I can hardly breathe. We customers, and loyal Madden fans, have clearly stated here on Amazon that it is one of the worst ever; the number of 1 star reviews speaks volumes. I just hope EA's blind-insane-apathetic-denial doesn't affect the next one... I have already heard quite a few people (strangers and friends) on Live say they are not planning to buy "14". Low sales is the only thing that will effect change; so I hope they stand by that claim.

I have been a madden player since the beginning. I have won a couple REAL (side by side) tournaments as well in my time and in different countries. However, I believe this will be my last madden purchase. The new madden is confusing. Madden was about beating the guy next to you for either money or bragging rights. Now that the focus of madden is online, it's all about online this and that w/ papa johns adds. What is ultimate team and who cares?BLUF: The game has way too much in it. So much the game itself can't handle. I just got this and played it 3 times and froze twice mid-game already. Nothing is worse then almost completing a game when it freezes. It's a definite risk just to play because you don't know if your wasting your time or not. Where is the REAL franchise mode? This coach career mode is suspect because you can't do everything like in 12's franchise mode like change a players position, have a LT play RG etc. The career mode is suspect and again too much is in it. Do I really care about twitter updates or what skip bayless thinks? Also, trading and re-signing is just terrible. Submit either and the game will get back to you? Un-necessary and complicated. We used to be able to re-sign/ trade in player management IE rosters, but now you must go to a different area to do anything.The simplicity of md 12 is gone throughout 13. If newer rosters were available for previous maddens hardly anybody would buy the newer version. There would not be a need, but that is the factor that drives md players every year to buy the newer version.In summary, madden folks should have went back to the drawing board. MD 13 is too complicated and its a risk of players time. They should have used the acronym "KISS" when creating the game. Less would have been more.-Worst decision in madden history was getting rid of franchise mode and for that 1 star is being generous. Maybe EA should bring in REAL OG madden players to assist with designing the game.If you like complicated and online everything, then this is for you. They are better ways to waste time and money.

Ok gameplay aside, this Madden absolutely sucks! You cant move your custom roster to the Connected Careers mode and you have to use their outdated roster in that mode. I miss Franchise mode. That is what made me love Madden. I hate the way that Connected Careers makes it nearly impossible to make any type of trade unless its like a 5 star player being traded for a five or four star player. Or trading pick for picks. The Kinect aspect of the game is not so great either. If you have a small conversation with someone then the mic will pick it up and think you are making an audible. I think the gameplay is good, but the Connected Careers mode needs to go!! EA either make an update to the roster system and make it easier to make a trade or I am simply returning this game. This is the worse Football game I have ever played. I miss ESPN NFL 2k5 which was the gold standard of how to make a good football game. I avoided buying last years Madden because it got bad reviews as well. I hoped that EA would learn from their mistakes but thats just not the case. Send a patch EA or this will be the final football game I will ever buy. If this were Roger Ebert giving this review, he would give this game two thumbs down. The only upside is the presentation.

(Okay, a disclaimer up front: I am new to the Madden franchise, have only played a patched version of Madden 13, and do not play online.)I have thoroughly enjoyed this product. I was initially put off by the low scores here at Amazon and the griping about the missing franchise mode. For these reasons, I almost got Madden 12. However, I'm glad that I went ahead and got this one. The game can be very absorbing. There is a good degree of realism in the gameplay, and you can set various sliders to make the game perform as you would like. There are also a good number of modes. In my view, the Connected Career mode (CCM) works like a franchise mode in which you can coach any of the 32 teams through 16-game seasons and post-season games. You can micromanage to your heart's content, from developing the skills of individual players, changing playbooks, redesigning uniforms, chasing promising free agents/draft picks, and so forth. Of course, there are various practice modes, single-player "instant action," fantasy teams, and online offerings. However, I've had a great time with (offline) CCM thus far.The presentation is well done. Lots of animations, compelling on-field mechanics, convincing sound effects, suitably epic sounding music, etc. To be sure, there are some occasional goofy post-play glitches, where players sometimes stumble over each other while trying to get up from a tackle. However, this doesn't affect actual plays or gameplay in any way. The announcers overall do a credible job, though they will eventually become repetitive once you hear all of their dialogue. On rare occasion, they will also get something wrong, such as saying that you are on 4th down even though you actually just made a first down (again, this uncommon glitch does not affect gameplay--that is, you'll actually have the first down). In sum, I really like how the game gives you a sense that you are playing in the NFL and that your team matters. There are post-game "news" and Twitter messages that keep up with how things are going around the league, and stats screens are available on nearly every aspect of the league.The controls are fairly easy to learn, but a lot has to do with your timing and ability to make quick judgments based on visual on-field conditions. The game is faithful to the real sport, so expect penalties, audibles, onside kicks, draw plays, Hail Mary passes, etc. On the All-Pro difficulty with most sliders set near zero (which makes the game more based on the actual stats of the players and less arcadey), I have found the game to be a good challenge. My Falcons are now 8-6-1, so this last game is going to be a nail-biter (we probably won't make the playoffs this time)! The average player will have to experiment and come up with slider settings that fit their gameplay style, and there are many suggestions on the internet.I am really at a loss why this game is getting such poor ratings from some reviewers. Either previous Maddens were so much better (which I doubt), the so-called missing franchise mode is just a deal-breaker (which it shouldn't be), or there is a lot of EA hating out there (very likely, though I understand it). Anyhow, I'm impressed by the game, especially as a first-time Madden customer. I haven't experienced any performance issues such as freezes, crashes, slow-downs, etc. The in-game manual (man, I really wish that these things still came in printed form inside of the retail box) could do a better job at explaining a few things--I had to go online to find out how to kick the ball! Otherwise, my complaints about this game are few and minor. I highly recommend it.

I haven't purchased a copy of Madden since 2003 though I spent a good chunk of my senior year in college playing the backdated Madden 06 (this being in 2007-2008) because the arrival of the nex-gen Madden series was anything but glamorous. That being said, I had fond memories of a stellar franchise mode with pro-bowl voting, weekly awards, comprehensive (though sometimes surprising) player development, an engrossing and systematic (for better or worse) draft, and negotiations with players based on a number of factors. They even had a newspaper publication to go along with weekly events (now replaced by Twitter, which I find amusing to no end). Yes, this edition had the vision cone, but it also had mini-games for player development that while challenging, also demonstrated for the player methods for going about playing the game. It also came with the one thing I miss most about games today, especially sports games -- a manual, a tangible, hold-it-in-your-hands manual that was easy to keep open for constant reference as I learned the ropes of a game I only went back to with every three to four generations.I recently ordered Madden 13 after hearing relatively glowing praise for the franchise mode, the treatment of drafted players and incoming rookies, and the general sense of growth for a team across a number of seasons (something I feel the NHL series does quite well despite many of flaws with their own progression system and methods for player stat tracking). After reading a review at IGN, one I should have known was suspicious for its overall brevity with regards to discussing season modes, I determined that the gameplay would also be my liking -- I ordered with little hesitation. Once I received Madden (after a fun battle with amazon to ensure it arrived on time, their guarantee not really being a guarantee at all -- I was to get my game on the 31st after ordering nearly a week before release), I found exhibition to be fun. The announcing was definitely an improvement over older iterations, and the presentation looks stunning. Physics still seem to be in development, as running backs can't seem to anticipate or intelligently route themselves through a hole without tripping on the feet of blockers, sometimes even crashing directly into their backs despite my futile efforts to juke or spin. The game at times looks funny in that early, nex-gen Fifa sort of way. I've spent the last week going through the connected career mode, which I find problematic and confusing. The menus aren't nearly as intuitive as they once were, and I feel a complete lack of control with regards to my roster, my playbook, my schemes, my scouting (this system seems horrendous -- every week I find out roughly 5% of the total information on a single player before running out of "scouting points"), my player growth (this system too seems flawed and doesn't seem to display progression in a meaningful across any sort of short term), or my staff (there appears to be NO staff in this game). As such, I went from inserting myself as a created coach back to the reign of Jim Harbaugh with the Niners after not being able to stomach the first week news of his firing. However, he doesn't feel at all like an established coach, making it seem likely (I haven't checked) that playing with the likes of Andy Reid or Jeff Fischer would be any better.I think the Madden franchise, and many of the other EA franchises, overlook the desires of their audience entirely. I want the simple and the detailed at once, which is difficult, but fans seem to constantly note a particular few years of the Madden franchise that came close to perfection (in a relative sense); instead of building off of this, EA seems to try new gimmicks every year to get people in. The hot/cold quality for players was one factor I had heard about from 12, and it seems to still be here in 13 but without any explanation in the manual or the game. I can glean what it means for my players, but not in any sort of statistical way, and not when my defense seems entirely hot and my 150+ yards/week RB's are always seeming to be "cold". Ultimately, I think I am going to continue through a season with this game, knowing full well how devastating the offseason will likely prove to be. I just can be thankful knowing that NHL 13 arrives next week, and even with the lockout looming for hockey, I will at least have a game that takes updates seriously enough without strip-mining the core of the game I love so much.Final gripes: 13 lacks fantasy drafting, seems to auto-update rosters with every time I resume playing (I literally shifted two QB's depth chart positions for the Eagles and Cardinals to reflect the current trends, to be asked every time I started the game up if I would like to update my rosters -- I figured EA was on the ball with updates, but apparently any tweaks I make to my rosters are detected as "out-of-date" and thus lead to my roster being reset EVERY time I accept; in other words, I'll be less likely to accept in the future and miss actual roster updates), kicking FG's still seems flawed, squib kicks lead to easy recoveries for the kicking team, connected career mode implements boring and ridiculous practices that has no impact on the weekly performance of players, stats seem static week to week and don't reflect possibilities for player boosts based on hot/cold streaks, practices, etc.