Madden NFL 13

Developer: EA Tiburon

Publisher: EA Sports

Looking back at the Madden franchise over the years, you could be forgiven for thinking that EA Sports merely rebrand their cover art and plop out a roster update…wait a minute, that’s exactly what they do. Content to rest upon those hefty muscular laurels, the Madden franchise over the years has become a symbol of staleness among iterative media. While other EA franchises such as FIFA strive forward and tread new and innovative ground, Madden sits out back and chugs a couple of Steveweisers with THQ’s WWE. Somewhat shockingly though, it seems this year that Madden 13 has thrown off the old sweats and gone for a jog round the park, resulting in a game with a whole new attitude. Sure, it’s still a bit flabby round the edges, and clearly being dragged round the park by its fitter brother (FIFA), but glimmers of this once great athlete are back and boy are we glad to see them.

The best thing about Madden 13 is definitely the introduction of the physics engine. Football or ‘soccer’ fans will be familiar with it from recent FIFA releases and it really brings a new dynamic to the game that has been missing for some years. For the uninitiated, this comes in the form of an impact engine that registers the different points on the body that tackles make contact with and creates a more realistic, and at times eye-watering, tackle than we would have seen in previous games. A player jumps to make a catch catch, then hit his legs and watch him land on his head as he comes down without the ball. Not only does this make for a more aesthetically pleasing experience, but they can also be used to make the game play more realistically. If a players arms are blocked, they wont be able to lift their hands to catch a pass. Hit a player in the arms as they steamroll past, and they will be more likely to fumble the ball.

The impact engine is not the only thing that makes Madden feel like a much more modern game. The long used passing mechanic has been given a few tweaks, and Quarter backs can no longer just lob the ball in the direction of the Wide Receiver and expect them to catch it. What the player is now forced to do is be more patient in the pocket and watch for one of the receivers turning their head to look for the pass. Sounds small but it forces players to really think about their passes, and play a more tactical game.

Career mode has also been given an overhaul. Rather than force players to choose their preferred play type before they begin, they can now switch up whenever they want. Feel like playing the standard Madden experience for a while? Choose a coaching career. Get bored of that? Switch it up and be a player for a while. Bored of that? Take your career online and play in a league with some friends. Again this sounds simple, but it allows players to develop their skills within the same experience. This experience is also taken a step further with another FIFA like introduction. Depending on what players do on the practice field and on game day, the game will award you XP which can be spent on developing your player/s or coach. This creates an incentive to play career mode and achieve your place in the hall of fame.

Thankfully, all the other modes we have become familiar with have also made a return. Scenarios are back, as well as Ultimate team, a now staple addition to the Madden experience. Graphically, the game is also very similar to previous outings, except EA have made an effort to make the experience much more like watching a game on the TV. The announcers have been given more attention, and team statistics will flash across the screen just like it would on TV, which is a nice touch.

In the many ways that Madden has improved however, there are still some glaring weaknesses that slightly mar the experience. The impact engine, although welcome, brings with it the glitches and issues that have been present in previous FIFA games. Players will sometimes glitch and fly across the screen after only the slightest touches and, after a blitz play, on field players will usually spend the entire break in play tripping over one another and falling on their face.

Frustratingly and bizarrely it is nothing to do with playing the game that is by far the worst part of Madden NFL 13. The menus are quite frankly a nightmare to navigate. Players wanting to take part in a quick game will have to check if they have the extra ten minutes spare so that they can boot the game into life. Riddled with stops and starts as it downloads roster updates, the developers have also seen fit to make the intro screen extend this further as we are forced to watch the viewpoint zoom through some blue shiny tunnels. Worse still, I am asked which mode I am looking for and told that Kinect isn’t optimised for my region every time I turn on the game, despite my Kinect being unattached to the console. All the developers had to do was show us once, and then move on but instead we are forced to watch it over and over again for reasons that are completely lost on me.

As a whole, Madden 13 is a vast improvement on previous releases. The impact engine, although flawed, finally gives us a game that feels as if it was built for this generation of consoles. If you like the NFL, it appears that you now have a game well worth your money. It seems there is still a long way to go however before it has burned off the flab built up over years of laziness, but in all honesty it’s just nice to have an NFL game that isn’t just a roster update, even if its step into modernity is blatantly being forced upon it by the advancements of the FIFA team.