If you haven’t heard, EA Sports released Madden 13 today, and wow the world has gone crazy. I felt like I needed to give a non-fans perspective of the insanity that Madden 13 bring to NFL fans and video game fans alike. But in the immortal words of Chuck D., don’t believe the hype.
First off, let me qualify my statement of being a non-fan like this. I will probably purchase the game at some point, probably used. I buy it for franchise mode: fantasy draft and all. I like to work the offseason, scouting rookies, signing picks, upgrading my stadium, setting depth charts, setting up my coaching philosophy and then finally…simulating the season. Yep, I’m that guy.
I have played every incarnation of Madden football since the series launched back in 1993. At this point in my life, I’ve just grown bored with the gameplay. I’ve tried playing online, against the computer, all difficulty levels, you name it. But it’s been probably 5 years since I’ve picked up Madden and felt like I was really playing a new game. It just kept feeling like the old game all polished up. They put a lot of bells and whistles on it, like these fake tweets from “experts” and being able to play as NFL legends, but none of that makes actually playing the games more original or entertaining. Am I hopeful that this current version will change my mind? I suppose. Give me something that’s fun to play and not just a sim. Is that too much to ask?
But even if it is the best Madden yet, the entire notion that people, particularly adults are going to log dozens and dozens of hours on this boggles my mind. I suppose I am showing my age, but my Twitter feed was blowing up with adult men telling me how they were waiting in line last night, taking off work today and couldn’t wait to get their hands on a copy first so they could go home and get started. This might be a sign of the end of the world. Not sure.
The wheels fell off for me when EA swooped in and bought up the rights to NFL players names and likenesses and the stage of competition was taken away. I think most Madden fanboys refuse to see any shortcomings in the game, but for me, I think the real progress began to slow significantly once EA Sports knew they had no one to compete against. Up until that point, I much preferred the NFL 2k line that was ahead of what Madden was doing every year. Just imagine how much better Madden would be today if they’d have NFL 2k to push them the past 7 years?
Once I get the game, I am going to do a full review here on Rant Sports, but I just want everyone to understand I won’t go into this with any fanboy glasses on. I am a critical and pragmatic guy and if this game wants to impress me, it’s got it’s work cut out for it. Oh, and if anyone out there wants to send me a free copy to review, email me, and please make sure it’s xbox 360. 
I’d love to ramble more about this, but I am off to grab my copy of Tecmo Super Bowl and put Bo Jackson to work.
