OS Fact or Fiction: Is Madden for Real This Time?

[SamoanSteelerFromAus]

Fiction without a shadow of a doubt. I'm going to keep saying this, until they can find a way to get down or even address the core fundamental aspects of football, I will never consider this game. Good things here and there ain't gonna cut it. Line-play, player movement, overall animations, and AI take priority over any other aspect of the game. All in all, I'm just frustrated with the game I grew up playing and actually liked it.

I look at the NBA2K vs. NBA Live series and can honestly say Madden probably would have had the same fate or a drastic reduction in sales, if they had not acquired the exclusive license. Let's be real folks!

Well said.

[k_mac]

I'd have to say it's a fact. For the first time in years I am having fun playing Madden. I was very hesitant to pick the game up, but I ended up buying it anyways. I am very pleased so far. Sure, I'll have to get used to the Connected Careers, but I think Madden is definitely on the right track. Love the infinity engine.

[onac22]

It's the little things EA is still missing that make this game tough to handle. I know a new engine and some AI aspects are going to have bugs attached to them so I decided to wait for the patch to release and then start my new coach ccm. In the meantime I decided to be John Elway.

My concern is that after all of these years of superstar mode and now CCM. Why can the QB still not send his receivers into motion? It's the little errors in the game that make it the same old thing and really it's an error that shouldn't even be there.

Am I missing something? Is this a trait I have to unlock? If so that is dumb because part of the QB job description is pre-play adjustments.

Oh and one more thing it's time to do away with the plays with the pre-snap motion routes, any run the cpu jumps all over, and any pass the route gets jumped by the cpu. Especially when it's AI running. I've seen those guys run back over a first down line before.

[graygriff78]

I agree with Jayson Young (Fiction). Although Madden 13 has taken a step in the right direction, it's a step that's long over due and something that should have taken place in Madden 08 or 09. Madden 13 is still a long ways away from being a great game of virtual football. I think many gamers have forgotten how good video game football used to be and they have been subjected to the only mediocre brand of football available for too long. I remember a time when the thing that kept me playing video game football was the gameplay and franchise mode itself, and not the ability to rack up rpg like xp as in CCM. Another thing too, why does the QB's wind up and release take so damn long in Madden, I could never figure out why a QB can't ever get rid of the ball when he is under pressure, it happens all the time in the NFL, why not in Madden. I guess it really isn't in the game.

[PVarck31]

Just wanted to point out something I noticed here. The last site poll asked how we felt about Madden 13. And the vast majority voted great, or good. Yet in this article the vast majority pretty much hate it.

Not trying to be a "smart guy." I just find it interesting.

[roadman]

Re: OS Fact or Fiction: Is Madden for Real This Time?

Just wanted to point out something I noticed here. The last site poll asked how we felt about Madden 13. And the vast majority voted great, or good. Yet in this article the vast majority pretty much hate it.

Not trying to be a "smart guy." I just find it interesting.

Honeymoon period over with or others are playing the game.

[SteelerSpartan]

Re: OS Fact or Fiction: Is Madden for Real This Time?

Fiction.....

Especially for the type of Football Gamer I am

To me this game feels like its made for a bunch of Online League Managers. And everything else outside of that realm was an afterthought/rush job...

If your not playing in an Online League then I don't know how you could stomach all the craziness that ensues with

The CPU AI Clock Management
CPU Team Management Logic(Roster Moves/Draft/Schemes)
Unrealistic Stats
Sliders that are broken in CC
Broken Auto-Subs
Limited/Scripted nature of an Offline/SP CC....You can't even select the CPU's Uniform(Among Many others)

+plus

still deal with all the Legacy Issues messing up the works in the gameplay.

Infinity is in its infancy....It brings some needed variety to the tackling but doesn't extend much beyond that

The Revamped passing game was an admirable effort but Im starting to wonder how much mileage we'll get out of that....Are they just going to say "whelp we don't have to add much to that for another half decade now"

Adding 430 new animations to that area of the game was good....but Every year it should be getting attention and additional 100-300 new ones....Same goes for the rest of the areas of the game

The Penalties/Fatigue systems woefully misrepresent what goes on in the real NFL

And we could talk for ages about what the Player Movement system lacks and how awful the running animations look...+How the CPU AI still pursues Tecmo Style.....And even with this GameChanger program, we don't know how EA views this area of their game

Do they even want to develop a realistic momentum system and take away the ability of Zig-Zagging in the name of their "Fun Factor"

Im just not even going to talk about OL/DL and Pocket Formation/Pass Rush.

And to top it all off...They went all Bizarro with the Presentation again....How the hell did do you do that Tiburon.....You spent all that money to have the pros come in and show you the proper Replay angles.....and then just say "F** It" the next year??????
Even after everybody loved that in 12

[leathrneck34]

Re: OS Fact or Fiction: Is Madden for Real This Time?

They need to simply incorporate a arcade or sim slider lol like need for speed used to have and other racing games have. So those who love zig zagging and poor juke animations and bricks for OLinemen can have em and rack up their 75-55 games all day long. Meanwhile the sim gamers can have their authentic football simulation 13-7 games. Not to say even playing sim you can't have a 45-39 game here and there but not every game.

[GiantBlue76]

Re: OS Fact or Fiction: Is Madden for Real This Time?

Fact: We were led to believe this would be the best Madden yet this gen. And I think it is.

Fiction: We were led to believe this would be a huge leap over previous Maddens. I don't think it is.

I think we understood that M13 was starting over. We were told that features wouldn't be added back until they were "perfect." And I think we were able to (begrudgingly) accept a stripped-down version as long as what was actually in the game was highly refined and polished. And it's not.

If a patch is able to add back some of things removed (hello editing) and/or fine tune and polish some things (I'm looking at you CCM) then I think we'll move closer to Fact.

The fact is though, this IS the best Madden yet (this gen) but it's still not where it needs to be, and it's still lagging behind other sports games.

This post right here is 100% spot on. For every 3 or 4 good things you see on the field, you will see 5 or 6 bad things that nullify it. The gameplay still feels arcadey and silly at times. Like when you see the ENTIRE defense running after a receiver or RB in the open field. Or when players still move in unison, or when a tipped pass is caught by a receiver in as he warped back towards the line, or when... eh. The running animations, overall player movement and line play is still terrible. There are some significant improvements that make the game much more enjoyable, especially against another person (the only way I play), but it still feels like this game should be Madden 08. They need to hire REAL NFL players for motion capture (just like 2k did for their title), incorporate real presentation (not their own - use the NFL network and ESPN personalities), they need MAJOR refinement in player movement and overall gameplay. This includes AI.

Long way to go.

[assclown25]

my vote is INCOMPLETE- im a offline user and im going to give EA one shot to try to correct there offline issues- the 1st patch is due next Tues and if they dont fix most of the Offline issues i will be trading it in for NHL13-and if they dont fix most issues than this game def gets a FICTION- they blew up Franchise for stupid Twitter crap? very poor decision EA! We have waited 7yrs for a great Madden and it just hasnt happened! 2K hoops and The Show is where its at!!!!!!!! I hope on Tues i can and will change my mind!

[SamoanSteelerFromAus]

Fiction.....

Especially for the type of Football Gamer I am

To me this game feels like its made for a bunch of Online League Managers. And everything else outside of that realm was an afterthought/rush job...

If your not playing in an Online League then I don't know how you could stomach all the craziness that ensues with

The CPU AI Clock Management
CPU Team Management Logic(Roster Moves/Draft/Schemes)
Unrealistic Stats
Sliders that are broken in CC
Broken Auto-Subs
Limited/Scripted nature of an Offline/SP CC....You can't even select the CPU's Uniform(Among Many others)

+plus

still deal with all the Legacy Issues messing up the works in the gameplay.

Infinity is in its infancy....It brings some needed variety to the tackling but doesn't extend much beyond that

The Revamped passing game was an admirable effort but Im starting to wonder how much mileage we'll get out of that....Are they just going to say "whelp we don't have to add much to that for another half decade now"

Adding 430 new animations to that area of the game was good....but Every year it should be getting attention and additional 100-300 new ones....Same goes for the rest of the areas of the game

The Penalties/Fatigue systems woefully misrepresent what goes on in the real NFL

And we could talk for ages about what the Player Movement system lacks and how awful the running animations look...+How the CPU AI still pursues Tecmo Style.....And even with this GameChanger program, we don't know how EA views this area of their game

Do they even want to develop a realistic momentum system and take away the ability of Zig-Zagging in the name of their "Fun Factor"

Im just not even going to talk about OL/DL and Pocket Formation/Pass Rush.

And to top it all off...They went all Bizarro with the Presentation again....How the hell did do you do that Tiburon.....You spent all that money to have the pros come in and show you the proper Replay angles.....and then just say "F** It" the next year??????
Even after everybody loved that in 12

Adding 430 new animations to that area of the game was good....but Every year it should be getting attention and additional 100-300 new ones....Same goes for the rest of the areas of the game

^Yes. Every year hundreds of animations should be added. How about 100-200 new tackle/break tackle animations? If they did that every year imagine the replay value of this game on the sheer experience of seeing new tackles after playing it for months on end.
Instead they touch up presentation and features (that still leave so much to be desired) and only sprinkle in a few animations here and there. I'm sick of seeing the same one on one tackle animations especially the slow drawn out ones that are just an eyesore.

Im strictly a gameplay guy and i'm not fond of bringing up the 2k series but I was seeing new animations in APF 2k8 three years after I purchased the game which astounded me. I'm baffled that so much hype is around presentation for this years game and then i play my first game and get sick of the replays after the first few plays.

I just don't understand how people can say this game is the real deal when the Oline and Dline interactions are as simple and predictable as an nfl game on N64 or PS1. Oline and Dline is the most important aspect of football, ask any coach, yet this is below mediocre in M13 - a next gen game.

Check out a vid from that Ryan Moody fella if you can't see the huge discrepancies with it. APF mopped the floor with madden in that area which is sad for a game made years ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUUevrKCm_8&feature=relmfu

[Theylie]

Re: OS Fact or Fiction: Is Madden for Real This Time?

I say FACT - I think this new dev leader is making good on trying to make this game better and more realistic. Remember, the team, what, doubled in size for Madden 12 while there was still hangover from what the Ian team had done setting up 12 and this team has now had 13 to build on all by themselves and they've done a good job.

Now, the one thing that bothers me, and makes me mad, is what they will possibly need to alter, drastically or otherwise, for 14. EA usually has to taper, cut and move things around to be able to implement new additions and changes on with these current systems.

The, uhh, maddening part is how much better this game could have possibly been LOOONG AGO, even with a smaller Madden dev team, if MS just went with effin Blu-ray. Bigger disc space increases the data capacity of what devs can do on one disc. DVDs hold this game back and causes all that tapering, cutting and moving around. Anybody want to take this personally and argue this, again, go educate urself. Not trying to start some debate. It's FACT and there ARE games on PS3 that only needed one Blu-ray disc when that very same game had to be released on multiple DVDs for the 360. MS messed that up for all of us.
If EA still had wanted to double up on the team with having Blu-ray copacity for both systems, sheesh, Madden would probably be approaching if not already at legendary status with 13.

Sooooo, NBA2K works only with blu ray now. Its seems 2k can deliever a top notch product year after year. They not limited with disk size... Your point makes no sense.

[DJ]

Faction (see what I did there?)

Yes, Madden's developers should be applauded for not just updating Madden 12. Introducing the Infinity Engine was a bold step forward, especially considering it was added so late in the Madden 13 development cycle. Is it perfect? No. But, I like the fact that EA actually made a step outside of its comfort zone.

The commentary is much improved and the crowd feels more alive, although both still have work ahead.

Connected Careers is another sign of EA trying something new. Again, not perfect and I understand the push-back from those that want to play the game the way they see fit. I don't agree with CC being the ONLY way to play Madden, and would like to see EA bring back other modes of play going forward. With that said, CC does freshen up a beyond-stale Franchise Mode, even in its limited state. The potential for this mode is great, and I hope EA continues to build upon it.

With all that said, Madden still feels well behind MLB The Show, NBA 2K and FIFA in terms of a complete sports title. Madden still doesn't have the life and excitement you find in NBA and FIFA, and lacks the simulation excellence of MLB The Show. In many ways, Madden feels incomplete compared to the games I've mentioned above. Modes, animations, you name it, never seem fully fleshed out. The overall immersion is still lacking.

Madden 13 is an improvement over what we have been presented with on this generation of consoles, but let's be clear: much work is left to be done. I do think with the current people in place that Madden will get there, I just don't know if it will be as quick as everyone would like.

I'm enjoying Madden 13 for what it is. I could nit-pick the game over and over and convince myself to trade it in tomorrow morning, but I refuse to do that. I bought this game for entertainment and so far, Madden 13 has proven to be a good purchase.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: OS Fact or Fiction: Is Madden for Real This Time?

It is a made for tv movie. It has it's good parts and it's bad parts. But being it is made for tv they weren't allowed to push the boundaries of creativity and had to keep everything PG.

Game is fun.....

Connected Career Mode, didn't live up to the hype, IMO they should have saved that for next gen when they had everything working and included in it already. Good idea in theory to have one centralized mode. however it was missing too many things that people were use to doing. It was way too catered towards online league play and that was it's ultimate down fall.

Feel bad for them in a way because they been working 2 years on it. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it gets totally scrapped come next year.

[roadman]

Re: OS Fact or Fiction: Is Madden for Real This Time?

Feel bad for them in a way because they been working 2 years on it. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it gets totally scrapped come next year.

I'm not so sure on that.

It's been in the planning stages since 4 yrs ago and worked on for two. I doubt if it becomes protak 2.0, especially since Josh Looman has stated this will be a stable (CCM) for the next decade.