Madden NFL 13

[TCrouch]

Finished my download in 38 minutes

Off to mess around.

[Diablo25]

I'm downloading but Phils and Eagles are both on so I'll be playing later.

[Danimal]

Sold.

CCM is a blast.

IE engine tuned much better. Still hate the replays

[sportdan30]

Played a quick game of fivd minute quarters. Here are my quick hits:

- It truly feels like a Sunday footbal game. The atmosphere is leaps and bounds better than in year's past. Could it better? Definitely. Over the course of the game, you'll wonder why they didn't add a specific presentation to make it that much more immersive. Still, it's so much better than I can remember. I was bored out of my mind playing the nex-gen Madden games. There's life to this game.

- The crowd really sounds great. They booed big time after a long Romo pass was called back for holding. I've gotta get surround sound soon! Commentary is a signifcant step up, but it's disappointing that they don't call out the player names. They do but it's quite rare. I'm quite certain we'll grow tired of Nantz and Sims quickly, but at least you can turn them down and feel as though a game is really going on. Unlike the horrid announcing of Gus Johnson.

- I really like the infinity engine. The times it rears its ugly head is after plays have ended. I've seen some laugh out loud falls and trips. That said, each tackle and animation looks different.

- Back to presentation for a sec. At the end of each quarter, it'd be great to see it fade to black, but it's a little "going to commercial"music and it's right back to the game.

- I tried all four camera settings and I'm sticking with Standard (default). How anyone can play on Broadcast is beyond me. Zoomed obviously brings you down to the field moreso, but it's not very playable IMO.

- Graphics are above average in my opinion. I'm amazed at all the different player models and their arm wraps or lack thereof, helmets, etc. Jerseys look great and over the course of the game, you'll see scuff marks appear.

- The hits in this game are violent. Not in an over the top way, but more realistic. Part of that of course is due to the IE. Hearing the smack of the tackle along with the player chatter gives it that much more immersion.

- I played on Pro, and running obviously is a bit too easy perhaps. Holes open up more than I can ever recall. It's fun to have some daylight.

- Passing was a challeng for me, even on Pro. Bradford threw 3 picks, 2 of which were in to coverage. But what I like is the yards after catch. It always seemed in the past, I'd either run a straight route for a TD or I'd be hit immediately after a catch. It's exciting to be able to have a little room to gain a few or more additional yards.

- The head coaches do not wear head sets. It shouldn't bother me, but it looks kind of strange. Fisher looks ok, but I don't reacall him wearing a hat often. Maybe he does. Nit picking here.

- I'll have to play more but on three punt returns and kick offs, I had different return men each time.

- There's an roster and online roster to download before playing.

- Replays are dreadful. What's wrong with giving us broadcast style replays EA?

- The game is a ton of fun to play, and it's due to the new IE, commentary, presentation, crowd, and improved gameplay. Very solid effort.

[sportdan30]

A few more things to add:

- With the Cowboys leading 21-10 in the 4th with under 30 seconds and I having no timeouts, they ran two run plays instead of kneeling down.

- With that said, they did a hurry up offense at the end of the first half so clock management was in question then.

- Running pursuit angles are a little suspect. On an interception by Dallas, my teamates took pretty weak angles to try and catch up with the ball carrier who took it back for 6.

Off to play another game here shortly....

[10spro]

Anyone else having problems in trying to connect with game face?

[Danimal]

This is a silly bug but during the game when I switch to a camera it doesn't take or it takes for one play and goes back to standard. So I get one played in zoomed and it's back to standard. Like I said sometimes it doesn't even take.

Anyone else having this issue?

[10spro]

I think the introduction of the IE is definitely worth the price of admission in 13. So nice to see your back making juke moves, getting flattened, or simply struggling to get his balance to earn that last of an inch for a TD. There's still some laughable stuff, after the whistle moments with the new physics but in general it's such a nice breath of fresh air for the franchise. I enjoy running a lot and although the run blocking still falls short, it's fun to play the ground game.

Had a thriller going into the 4th quarter where I was trailing by 2 to the Ravens and A. Rodgers decided to go for a TD instead of playing it safe with a run play and kick the potential winning FG with only 12 seconds left when he was intercepted.

In 2 games, I've thrown definitely more INT's in this early SP than the demo alone.

[sportdan30]

Lighting is an issue. Playing at Chicago in a 1 pm game. Hard to decipher as both teams player models are dark. Not as bad as the demo but reason for concern.

After I said that, the next play was fine. Weird. Maybe has to do where you are on the field.

[sportdan30]

Tied at 7 with the Bears with 6 seconds left. Bears are in range for a 47 yard field goal to win it and they run the ball to go to overtime.

[XXXIV]

Tied at 7 with the Bears with 6 seconds left. Bears are in range for a 47 yard field goal to win it and they run the ball to go to overtime.

That sounds pretty realistic to me. You have obviously never listened to Bears fans on the radio. Talk about broken game play. woah!

[sportdan30]

Have now experienced three instances in which the game seems to freeze and then plays out normally. It's happened each time right when I was going to pass the ball.

I've also noticed on a couple ocassions in which my ball carrier has morphed anywhere from 3-5 yards after the play. It doesn't spot the ball where he morphs but it looks a little strange.

[Gangrel]

I had one play where the freezing stutter happened, and then a few plays later, it's just frozen on me 12 seconds from the half.

[dbdynsty25]

Lighting is an issue. Playing at Chicago in a 1 pm game. Hard to decipher as both teams player models are dark. Not as bad as the demo but reason for concern.

After I said that, the next play was fine. Weird. Maybe has to do where you are on the field.

Ever thought about adjusting the brightness on your TV? I normally keep mine pretty bright and I didn't have a problem with the demo that some of you guys had.

[sportdan30]

Lighting is an issue. Playing at Chicago in a 1 pm game. Hard to decipher as both teams player models are dark. Not as bad as the demo but reason for concern.

After I said that, the next play was fine. Weird. Maybe has to do where you are on the field.

Ever thought about adjusting the brightness on your TV? I normally keep mine pretty bright and I didn't have a problem with the demo that some of you guys had.

I took "energy savings" off and that helped a little bit. There's some oddities with the lighting. One play will be shady and the next will look like the sun is shining bright.

[Danimal]

Yeah I am hoping my ST download is just f***ed up.

When I pause a CCM game and go in sometimes I can adjust things other times I can't. For example game I am in now I can't change the penalty sliders but the last game I could. Anyone else having this issue?

Also it appears my DL Edge Rush and crash middle audibles are reversed.

Maybe I should of deleted the demo before downloading the ST version

[sportdan30]

Alright, just played an exciting game versus the Broncos in Denver. No lighting issues as I played a night game.

With that said, there is one major issue I noticed that I hadn't noticed in my previous games I played this evening. There's some kind of glitch
or bug with the visual prior to snap. Perhaps it's only PS3 related. It doesn't happen every play thank goodness. On pass plays with the camera
zoomed out, the game will briefly go in to "standard def" mode. Everything will look poor visually, but once the ball is snapped, it clears
up right away. It also happened multiple times on extra point attempts. Maybe it happens during night games, or in Denver, etc. I hadn't noticed
it before.

This is more humorous than annoying because it rarely happens nor does it affect gameplay. On replays, they sometimes focus in on the ball spiraling. On this one replay tonight, the ball spiraled through the air, and just before the player caught it, the ball reversed and spiraled in the opposite direction. To make matters worse, they showed the replay again from a different angle.

Lastly, I messed with the penalty sliders because I was seeing far too few holding, offsides, pass interference, etc. Well, I bumped the "roughing the passer" slider from 50 to 65, and because of the infinity engine, this slider was effected big time. Three times I was called for roughing the passer and all three times, it was called because Manning was in the viscinity of one of my players, but tripped over a lineman or whatever. I never actually got a good hit on him late. Thus, that penalty needs to be carefully tweaked.

Some of the A.I. play calling, especially late will leave you scratching your head.

Overall, great game but polished it is not. The positives definitely far outweigh the negatives, but there are some things that need to be cleaned up in my opinion before it can be heralded the best football video game.

[sportdan30]

Yeah I am hoping my ST download is just f***ed up.

When I pause a CCM game and go in sometimes I can adjust things other times I can't. For example game I am in now I can't change the penalty sliders but the last game I could. Anyone else having this issue?

Also it appears my DL Edge Rush and crash middle audibles are reversed.

Maybe I should of deleted the demo before downloading the ST version

Honestly, I just think the game has quite a few bugs and issues. At this point, as much as I really enjoy the game, I might go ahead and wait for the first patch that's coming in the next couple weeks before starting a season. My belief is that they discovered within the past few weeks (after the game went gold) all these little issues, and they immediately went to work on a patch. Hopefully, a majority of them will be addressed. I'm seeing too many and reading too many for these to be rare occurences.

[vader29]

Had an really good game against Terry's Raiders, ended up losing by 2 points with the difference being a safety at the end of the first half. After a few hours of play I am loving everything about the game this year.

I agree there. I wish the people that I read here would post their reviews and comments in video form.

Here is your video review:

[XXXIV]

[Aristo]

I'd say that my impression of the ST version is similar to the demo. It's far better than I expected the game to be, but the IE needs more time to more time to cook.

And who is responsible for creating the look of the coaches? They look ridiculously stupid. It's odd how good that they have gotten at modeling players, and even the refs look good. But their Gamma infused head coaches should cost someone their job. That can't be on purpose, can it?

[AJColossal]

Hearing more and more about weak CPU offenses not putting up much of a fight against you.

You guys getting a challenge from the CPU?

[sportdan30]

I'm getting a good challenge on Pro, however I've adjusted the sliders quite a bit in the CPU's direction. What I am noticing is that the CPU running game is rather anemic, and the overall offenses are fairly conservative. They throw long every once in a while, but they don't to stretch the field as often as they should. The NFL game today is more of a passing game, and I'm not seeing it relate to this game necessarily. I played against the Jets and not once did I see Tebow come out in the Wild Cat. This game has been out less than 24 hours, so I'm certainly giving it a fair shake. There's tons of room for potential with sliders.

[vader29]

Played through and completed all 5 Madden Moments in the game, toughest one for me was playing as Tebow in OT against the Steelers, was in a hurry on every play with their pass rush, took 4 attempts before finally getting through it.

Played a game with the Steelers against the Redskins on all pro with 10 minute quarters and while I had trouble rushing until the final drive of the game (Mendenhall had 19 carried for 75 yards), the Redskins kept me on my toes with RG3 running 10 times for 50 yards, ended up winning 20-6 thanks to a couple of timely interceptions in the red zone. Loving it!

[Wilk5280]

Outside of the ai clock management I'm really liking it a lot. A really fun football game IMO.