Lucky 13: Madden NFL Series Finally Produces a Winner

Are you ready for some Football!? It’s that time of year, pizza for dinner on Sunday nights, beer sales top the market shelves, and Sunday’s are devoted to a recliner and clicker in hand… Football season.

And with every football season (at least the last 13+) comes a tradition; a tradition started in 1999. A tradition many other young men, old men, and even some ladies follow. A trip to your local video game store and picking up the latest edition of EA Sports’ Madden NFL series. In the past, EA Sports’ was criticized for releasing another “roster update” if you will. The game played the same, the graphics remained lackluster, and no breakout features were introduced. This year’s Madden NFL 13, however, woke up the designers. Madden NFL 13 brings a blast into your living room with all new real-life animations and play calls, making it the truest in-your-face lifelike video game, that I forget is a video game.

Can Megatron beat the curse!

While some reviews may go into the new Connected Careers mode, or the other new features, I will stick with the main engine fueling this video game, the game itself. Highlighting these new features is the “Infinity Engine” which makes every play unique, every yard more intense, and player interactions more realistic. Now I will reveal some of my game play methods throughout the course of this review. But how I play the game is not a secret, it is 13 years in the making and always a developing system. I stay constant with one team (Dallas Cowboys) but never change my formula for success: ground and pound football.

New look jerseys look fantastic on the new game!

The running game was subject to controversy the last few years. Superman like abilities, running over D-lineman who are 100 lbs. heavier than your scatback, and diving 5 yards into the end zone are gimmicks of the past. This year, you earn a five-yard carry, actually fall when you run into someone, and grin every time you catch yourself rumblin’, bumblin’, stumblin’ down the sideline for a score. EA understood that not every running back is Barry Sanders or Emmitt Smith, and this installment executes a realistic, true-to-form, running back.

Now onto my other main gripe with pervious installments of Madden; defense. Defense wins championships, yes, but in Madden games, defenses play ten times better than their rating insists. This year, however, the defensive game play changed immensely. No longer does the “dive” button bring down the ball carrier. It may take two, or three, defenders to bring him down. And when the defensive players hit the ball carrier, the infinity engine actually makes the top half of the player bend one way, while the lower half bends the other depending on how they were wrapped up. Linebackers with 70 speed cannot catch-up to 90 speed wideouts anymore; defensive tackles swallow up little running backs like lunch when they come up the middle; and cornerbacks can not play seven feet tall. EA addressed all my concerns and I’m sold. Defensive plays like a defense should.

I mean common, is this a game or real life!

Some future things for EA to work on, the Xbox version introduced the Kinect way to play, but often time commands do not work. And the interface received a facelift, which does take some more time to navigate through, but you can not disagree with the opening video.. Ray Lewis’s speech represents this year’s Madden perfectly, “every moment is a new moment.” EA also did away with the fantasy draft feature, which is disappointing, especially for a particular roommate of mine, but I digress.

So, if you’re the type of Madden player who enjoys airing the ball out on every play, hoping your 6’5” wideout will catch it… go home. But if you actually enjoy a pound –for-pound gridiron battle, pick up this year’s Madden NFL 13. Well… we’re waiting…

-Brandon