The physics engine is really good. The game play feels much more fluid. It is not perfect but it is so much better than previous versions of Madden using this generations hardware.

That said there are some major features missing or moved. No fantasy draft. No co-op play in offline career mode. No created players in offline or online career mode. No NCAA draft import.

Rent or borrow this Madden before you buy it to make sure it has the features you want. Personally I will be selling or trading this one in. Next year Madden is no longer and automatic buy. I will wait until I read about it and rent or borrow it. EA stole my money this year.… Expand

Buyer Beware! If you're like me and play the offline franchise mode, then you are in for a enormous disappointment. The Franchise mode has been 'watered down' into something called Connected Careers. I won't need to explain further except: 1) No custom playbooks 2) No fantasy drafts 3) NO CUSTOM ROSTERS 4) No ability to upload NCAA rosters In retrospect, I should have done my research before wasting time and money. I've been playing Madden on and off for the last 8 years and this reiteration is a MONUMENTAL failure.… Expand

The new physics engine is laughably bad at times and it's the only new feature to this game, the rest is a fresh coat of paint or a reorganized menu system. I been buying madden religiously since 2003 and it's the first time I honestly feel ripped off. They took out franchise mode and fantasy draft and a lot more in favor of connected careers which is honestly my player mode with a coach/player option. In its current condition this game feels like a beta at best. Sorry EA worst madden I honestly ever played.… Expand

Madden has always seemed to lack in fluid and fun gameplay when compared to its little brother in NCAA Football. Commentary was alway repetitive, graphics were not fluid with all of the action on the field. And every season it was the same old story, better luck with next years title. In Madden 13 things are finally starting to look brighter. The gameplay is tight, the graphics and mechanics all feel the best that they've felt in a long time. The new commentary team of Jim Nantz and Phil Sims adds life to the game and when added to the beautiful presentation, it gives Madden 13 the look and sound of what football on Sunday is really like. Connected careers, the XP system, all of this adds to the depth of the game that promises to keep it on your shelf longer than for just one season. The only negative that I have on this game is there is no longer Draft Class import from NCAA Football. You now have to use computer generated draft picks. After it is all said and done I can personally say that this is my favorite Madden title in years.… Expand

no fantasy draft, no create a team, no decent create a player. user interface is TERRIBLE, customisation is limited. wanna change defensive scheme 3 years into your franchise? NOPE, tough luck, you chose at the start and are stuck with it. there are no minigames, no create a play, no create a playbook, no practice mode. this is a game with its heart ripped out, swapped for a feed of fake tweets, il take the real in game depth over that **** and an advert for papa johns any day.… Expand

I was really looking forward to this years Madden. I wish I had waited and read the reviews that Users have posted so I would NOT have bought this game. Yes the game play and new physics engn are very good but everything else is junk. No franchise mode, no co-op but in play now mode, and no fantasy draft all make me want to trade this game in the first chance I get.

The decision making that went into this game is absolutely egregious. The complete crap that they put into this game in place of franchise mode utterly destroys this entire game. I'm supposed to enjoy a franchise mode where I can't edit my roster in any way? I can't even move a corner to safety even if his position he is playing in the NFL is safety? I'm returning it now, and to be honest I'm angry I even had to waste my time driving to the store to buy this.… Expand

A solid 4 out of 10. Most of EA's efforts were in the social gaming aspects, and it shows. It's a good game to play against friends online with the pre-existing teams, the comic value is priceless (a lot of 'I didn't know a neck could bend that way, without the guy being paralyzed' moments)...Awful game if you like the old franchise mode, as they did away with it. Now you can play the career mode as the coach, and make only football decisions. The menu system is a bit clumsy. For example, rosters are under personnel, but salaries are listed under strategy menu. In short they got a lot of the little things wrong...which makes getting around unnecessarily complex. My guess is they'll fix them in Madden 14. My suggestion is burrow the game or rent it before buying it.… Expand

I have bought Madden day 1 (without reading any reviewspreviewsetc) for over 10 years straight so imagine my suprise when I get this years verison only to learn that EA in their infinite wisdom has COMPLETELY gutted the game of all the features that the real diehard Madden fans have always had and loved over the years. My main complaint is the NO FANTASY DRAFT option which has caused my online league that I played in with 15 other guys from collegehigh school to die. Who's genius idea, when fantasy football is at the all time high of it's popularity to take this option out of Madden!? EA is the worst run company in the world, they either do not get or do not care in the least what their consumers want out of their games. All they care about doing is slapping a big name on a title, put it out on the shelves and pound their checks.

I will never blindly (probably never again period) buy another one of their Madden games...and after this and Mass Effect3, Dragon Age 2, on and on I may never buy another EA Game again out of principal.… Expand

The game play and physics are quite good compared previous games.

Graphics are a slight step up.

Some odd choices were made with the gutting of the franchise mode and lack of fantasy draft.

I am not sure what all the hate is about but this is the Best Madden game I have played. Sure there are minor issues with the physics but the idea and execution for the most part is well done. The capability to play a franchise as you want is great. The presentation still needs a lot of work because it gets stale quick because they show the same intro with different people every time but they seem to be going the right way. If you want a good solid NFL then I say give this a try, if you want perfection then wait until 2k Sports gets back int o the ring. I'd probably give this an 8.5 if I could do decimal point ratings.… Expand

how do you get in shape when you are old and moving slowly ..you lose weight. a few less calories and you to will be moving like madden. i didn't follow madden to 12. loved drew brees a little to long. but madden 13 puts on a show. almost making playing defense fun. the graphics are nice rather faded. the physics engine gets things with a sliver of space. but definetely the speed in which the game flows. each madden adding another layer. this is HANDSDOWN the best football game i ever played. sorry 2k5… Expand

As a business decision taking out the ability to play franchise with upwards of 32 of your closes friends offline makes sense, it means 31 of your friends would need to purchase there own copy of the game. If even one other person who would normally play your copy buys a new one EA profits where they wouldn't have profited before. Kudos to EA for there usually slap in the face business ethics. Connected careers has some nice ideas in it. The xp system could grow into something amazing. Unfortunately for every nifty idea EA put into the mode your going to find about 3 major bugs or glitches to go with, examples would be multiple jersey numbers, stats recorded incorrectly, sim games not simming properly, same players signing with same teams over and over again etc... No editing or fantasy draft are very important loses to me and hurt my personal replay value with the game. Being these features have been a standard part of all sports games I was shocked by there absence. I'm sure they will be brought back as a new feature within a couple of years which EA is notorious for doing. The new engine is refreshing for the Madden franchise. Unfortunately it is full of bugs. It brings back memories of the football game Backbreaker with clunky and strange happenings on every play, limbs bending the wrong way, players falling down for no reason, etc... it also seems to cause more glitches then in your normal Madden game. Too many for me to believe a patch will clean up the wonky gameplay. It does make me very happy to see EA take some chances with madden unfortunately its 1 step forward, 3 steps back, which should be EA's motto by now. A couple more things I believe consumers should be aware of before purchase, EA's gameface will cause this game to freeze up, and since I purchased the game I have been disconnected from the EA servers a whooping six times. My internet connection is not the problem. If your going to force offline gamers to play online in hopes of selling more games then at least have servers that can be counted on. Nothing worse than having to start a solo connected careers(franchise) game over because you lost connectivity to the EA servers. This game itself deserves better than the zero I'm giving it. However not much better.… Expand

Don't listen to all the hate out there. If you want a solid football game this is it. It has a ton of story and the physics engine is awesome. Give it a try and just have fun with it.

Madden NFL 13 is a mixed bag meaning that a lot of favorite game modes like franchise have been stripped out and replaced by connected careers. create a character create a team is not as in depth as in past madden games. there is no trophy crib to look around , there are no pre or post match TV broadcasts. And very little in the way of highlights apart from the replay highlights. But saying all that this is still the best madden since 2010. yes the new physics engine can sometimes mess up and limbs bend wildly. but it makes the game more enjoyable and less predictable. Most other standard features are there some were but are hidden away in the new menus. also having to set up the controls you want for every different game mode can be annoying. Things like create a playbook are still available possibly only for certain game modes. Overall madden 13 has become an online game .rather than the offline franchise of old. everything is linked and pushed towards online play. and social media links and updates. i find the use of social media sites in games unnecessary and a pretty pointless thing to have in a game. i would rather watch a post match round up than have fake twitter feeds. Social media adds no enjoyment to game play. On the plus side ultimate teams is very good and there are a great amount of modes to play from solo challenges,head to head vs CPU,or human players. a new grid iron mode that adds challenges as they happen in real games is a good mode were you get a challenge to say come back to win with 2 minutes left in the 4Th quarter. There are stats for everything in madden from how much value you're cards are worth how many points you have how many games you won and so on. compare all these stats with friends. All the stats and card data are stored on the server so again you must be online to play. there is offline careers and exhibition matches offline but that's about all. Bad points are there is a delay on button presses while in menus and sometimes in play. also the disc edition match intro graphics slow down and visibly stutter frequently. And the graphics don't look as high resolution as the demo. i think the digital version will run smoother. There is no install game data for the disc version which seems a bad design choice. there no longer seem to be any madden milestone achievements either. And seeing coaches and team members speaking without audio is never a good thing. But Over-all its a damn good try. more arcade than sim this year. so try before you buy. Content wise enough to keep you playing until madden 14. UPDATE -Patch-version-2 Fixed all graphics and button press delay issues. Madden NFL13 now runs smooth with no issues . 8.5… Expand

This is the first review I have written on Metacritic, and I was compelled to do so because this is by far the best Madden game of this console generation. I myself played insane amounts of Madden the last generation, but was VERY disappointed by all versions on the current systems. I recently got Madden 13 from GameFly, as I always do...expecting another horrible game of football like every year. But I was very pleased with this game. I always preferred NCAA football over Madden the past 3 years, but the gameplay in Madden has finally caught up to NCAA. The Infinity Physics Engine, although not perfect, does add a ton of variety to the gameplay and makes even the small plays unpredictable. Size, Speed and Momentum play out very well 90% of the time, but do expect some weird limb flailing and ragdoll-ing sometimes. It's a new feature and a work in progress, but it doesn't detract from the over-all experience. This is finally a quality NFL Football game & can stand up next to NCAA. It's still not perfect and still has areas that need improved upon, but it has a solid foundation on which to build future iterations. It has taken a lot from NCAA with its Connected Career, but that's a good thing, with the XP and player progression filling the gap that Scouting does on NCAA. Truthfully one area that needs the most work is the pre-play adjustment menus. I think that NCAA is definitely more streamlined in that area and Madden would benefit from that system as well. Overall I am really pleased with the work EA and the new production lead had done with this game, it's unfortunate that it's taken this long to bring the fans a quality product, but as they say, " Better late than never" Let's hope the trend continues and EA can continue to refine Madden. But overall I think this is the best year for EA Sports games this generation. I also love NCAA Football and look forward to strong showings by NHL13 & FIFA13.… Expand

This game is a big improvement, can't stop playing online , gameplay great, everyplay diferent, huge hits, graphics nice on field n gameplay, plays fast and hard, but most it is lots of fun, 10 because people give it zero s but reality i'd say 9 out of 10

Seriously? What is wrong with most of you? This is by far the best Madden on the current gen systems. The gameplay is great. Presentation is better then any of the previous games. I have been very critical in the past of EA and the 'Roster Update' that MAdden has been, but this game is a HUGE improvement.

Madden 13 does some new things. A new engine, a new career mode, and a new presentation style that looks a lot like CBS Sports. The engine has its moments, like when you make a cool new tackle. But it also comes with some problems, mostly having to do with players getting up from being tackled or knocked over. The career mode sounds good, but it isn't as fun as you think. Madden 13 is still a good, but not great, game of football. You will probably still buy it.… Expand

For everyone giving this game a low score, you are insane and purposely looking for something to dislike. This is the first good Madden to come out this generation. I used to play Madden religiously on PS2 and have been waiting for a decent Madden to come out. Tuesday, was finally that day. For one, the players actually look as though they run normally and not as though they are gliding awkwardly all over the field. Finally, there is a weight to each individual player. The defensive line play is much improved and you can finally get to the quarterback. In addition, user control is actually a possibility. You no longer have to deal with switching to a player and that player then having no idea how to manually make a play on the ball. Defenders can easily swat the ball or intercept it. You can also finally user catch with minimal problems. In previous Maddens, your player seemed to zap around the field if you tried user catches. Another improved addition is that your defense actually seems to adapt to the offense. Opposing offenses no longer can run the same play over and over again and have success. The AI knows whats coming and evolves as the game progresses. There of course are some negatives. As others have said, no fantasy draft is a bummer. But, I'm sure with the complaints, EA likely will patch that in. And for those who say there is no franchise mode, ignore them. The franchise mode is the coaches option in connected careers. In summary, if you have been waiting, like me, for the Madden of this generation, it is here. Buy it.… Expand

Madden has served up its yearly entry and I'm happy to report it is a glorious return from the franchise that was in desperate need of a change. The game has physics for the first time and has revamped franchise mode (now called Connected Careers) that layers in depth and strategy. For those who are saying that franchise is dead - you are wrong. It has been re-named and the offline ability is still there. All of franchise's functions have been included in Connected Careers and the mode brings it all together to play either offline OR online. Be a player, a coach or a legend. The choice is yours. This is by far the best Madden on this generation of consoles and could make an easy case for Sports Game of the Year. Great job! Hoping Madden 14 is even better!!… Expand

When it comes to football video games from EA SPORTS, I have more recently been a much bigger fan of the NCAA Football franchise. Past iterations of the Madden NFL series have played it too safe at times, enjoying the success which seems to accompany almost anything related to the National Football League. With the '13 series of games, however, the momentum has shifted in favor of the Madden NFL team.

It starts with the Infinity Engine, which--while prone to some oddities, particularly in the post-play sequences--provides a level of fundamental gameplay change which sports gamers rarely encounter at this late stage of a console generation. Tuning and tweaking remain to be done with the new engine--particularly with regard to the running game, which remains hit-and-miss even with the superstars of the game--but improvements made to pass trajectories and catching have returned a lot of excitement and enjoyment to the passing game. Defensive backs have been given a new tool to help defend the pass through the introduction of the "Ball Hawk" feature to help set up interception attempts, though the game's fun factor still slants heavily towards the offensive side for most players.

Alongside this rather significant gameplay change comes a change to the fundamental career modes of the Madden NFL franchise; the mode titles of "Franchise," "Online Franchise," and "Superstar" might be nowhere to be found in Madden NFL 13, but this is because they have instead coalesced into a single mode re-branded "Connected Careers." While many longtime Madden fans have been taken aback at this fundamental change to the game… Expand

Madden 13 is an decent football game for the right crowd. I myself do not enjoy the game. But for the ones that have enjoyed it for years there are flaws but to the most part its a decent but not great game of pigskin. I myself prefer simulation style football or the simulations like MLB the Show. But I really can't bash the title. For madden fans you will get a bit more this year for your money but for us simulation gamers it will be lacking. That's why you all here a lot of others bashing the series. You madden fans have your game this year while we're sitting on the sidelines waiting for our turn for games like back breaker which came a year or two ago. I'd like to see the madden series come with a complete from the ground up overhaul but EA will stick to what has made them money for years and that's to be expected. But hopefully EA will be nice in the years to come and allow other developers to design us simulation gamers a deeper experience than an arcade style football game. Until then I hope you Madden fans enjoy this year's Madden and hopefully soon us sim gamers will get our style in the future. I gave Madden 13 an 8 overall: Graphics-9, Presentation-7.5, Gameplay-8, Commentary-7.5( Very Repetitive), New Career Modes-8. Like I said have fun madden fans.… Expand

After a 5 year hiatus from Madden, I downloaded this off PSN. I'm impressed with the improved graphics, and presentation. The commentary isn't robotic, though as with all sports games, it can be a bit repetitive. This year EA has revamped the engine, and added "physics you can feel." THE GOOD: Presentation, and graphical improvements are stellar. Play calling and the play book are the standard fare, but that works for this game. The physics adds to the realism value as well*. Kicking is far more fluid in this version of Madden, and I like this years style. Gone are the rap songs, and modern rock, the music to me never fit with the game. THE BAD: The menus are a bit cumbersome, and you have to do a lot of page flipping to move between them, this is an annoyance for me when it comes to a trade and I have to flip pages to find out the response. EA servers, if you're signed in and they're full or slow it can cause the game to freeze or take a long time to load, I personally avoid signing in for this reason. *The physics, while they have more good than bad, I find it amusing to watch after the play as professional athletes stumble over one another like a pile of drunken toddlers, it also causes some weird plays to develop. OVERALL: I stopped playing Madden because of the gimmicky "improvements" they made every year, and the poor presentation, and graphics. This has overcome those gripes, and is fitting of this generation of hardware. Though physics have good and bad points, I find they add to the overall game. I recommend this to those of you who enjoy the NFL, or, who like me left the franchise, as an opportunity to step back in and have some fun.… Expand

I've been playing Madden since '90 on the Sega Genesis and imo this is the best Madden ever. It looks the best it's ever looked, played the best it's ever played, and sounds and presents itself better than any other year as well. Finally EA has implemented a solid physics engine and I've found myself drooling over realistic replays often. What's Missing? On the good side gone are the cheap LB's that intercept passes they don't see but much to my dismay a true Franchise mode is missing as well. Like other reviewers that have given harsh reviews on this site, I love to start a season and do a fantasy draft...creating a custom league that I can customize any way I like is my bread and butter game mode and it does suck it's gone. So what's in it's place? EA opted to take a page from FIFA and implement Ultimate Team in this years Madden and thank god they did because UT is the most addictive mode Madden has ever seen. I really don't miss my fantasy draft team because I can create and build an Ultimate Team, essentially the same thing, and the ability to collect legendary players makes it all the more sweeter. The verdict is that this years Madden is a bit of a mixed bag as the game modes have changed pretty drastically--the good news is the gameplay is rock solid and Madden has never looked or played better. Throw in Ultimate Team and this Madden vet is happy. 9/10.… Expand

I gave Madden a 10 because there are too many low scores cmon guys its all new and fun as hell I wasn't too pleased at first but learn to play it it doesn't suck just because you can't throw a slant every down with no way to defend or cheap screens. Learn or know football and this game rules!! You can put some good realistic drives together unlike any Madden on PS3. I put the Detroit Lions in some ass online with good 5 minute drives and am so addicted. Get at me online on PS3 my PSN name is the same as on here. See you online to put Megatron down your throats. Good day Sirs!!… Expand

Let me take a deep breath.. "inhale""exhale". Madden 13!!! is here, and to some great hype as well. The first thing I do is upload my rosters. "Check" Then I search for a non-existent frachise mode. OH! It's under career mode. O.K. then. Oh wait, there is no season mode. Hmmmm. O.k. I will create a coach and play this supposed franchise mode. This is funny, I can't control ticket prices anymore, or purchase stadium upgrades or vending prices. O.k. I can live with that. Let me play the game then. Wow! new presentation! "fast foward 5 games" Must skip this generic presentation. Let me call a play, oh wait, it's always stuck on gameflow, uless I change it every game in the settings. Now i'm calling the shots. Run with ball for two yards. Wow, my HB just got bent completely in half, and got up. Now he just ran through a wall and disappeared while I was choosing my next play. Don't worry, he's back. My silly little gumby, can run through walls, guy. This gameplay is pretty good, improved even. This is funny, everytime I run a play, Phil Simms and Jim Nantz pull off a boring replay, which requires me to hold down the x button for 4 seconds before it lets me choos my next play. After 20 plays this 4 seconds seems like 4 minutes. Let me see, maybe I can shut this off in the settings. Nope, I can't. Gonna half to live with it I guess. Week 5 is over, my team is 5 and 0 and all I get is the same, repetetive twitter feedback from some famous broadcast jounalists. Let me see what one of these people are saying. " Tom Brady played almost perfect against the Jets on Sunday #Patriots win". No crap, he did, he threw for 475 yards with Gronk receiving 450 of'em and threw 7 touchdowns, smashing the Jets 63-0. WTF? why don't these cpu journalists recognize? Bottom line, and to be fair, I didn't play online in any mode, and haven't partaken in the ultimate madden card game where EA tries to take more of my money to buy cards. After the initial "Wow this is new", the game quickly becomes same old Madden and the flaws start to show. My biggest gripe and it hasn't changed since 2005, why can't they just present the game better. The gameplay is fine, the graphics are great, but there is something about the execution of it all that doesn't sit right with me. I don't like the new career modes. Actually, the create a superstar like mode, is most improved this year, however, they kind of painted it on the franchise mode as well, all the while removing single season mode. I feel like EA is really pushing for gamers to take this whole thing online, because you can play your franchise through other players, and your superstar as well. This bodes well for gamers that play this game online alot, and have been pushing for this sort of MMO Madden. But for those of us that arent' into getting our butts whipped every time we play one of you, it stinks. I feel like we are slowly being abandoned. Like I stated before, the game plays very good during single player, with my only gripe being that generic canned presentation that hasn't evolved since 2005. How did 2K do it with all their sports games, but EA can't do it with any of theirs? As much as 2K baseball suck,at least the presentation is great. For me, that goes a long way. For others maybe not. For all they put into the new style, it still boggles my mind why there can't be more input into the half time stats, or a sideline reporter who hocks one up to one of the coaches. Why did they get rid of the post week show where they would break down the weeks games,when all they had to do was improve it? It's a brand new Madden this year, with brand new stuff that is great ala the new animation system, but with brand new issues. Like every year, Madden 13 gets you to the Playoffs, then loses in the Super Bowl.....… Expand

If you enjoy playing online with limited customability options, and rarely play offline, this game was made for you. If you liked having more control of your rosters, drafting, Franchise and play more offline than online then EA has basically said to heck with you. Makes perfect sense when you think about it. The internet has hurt the recording industry. Nobody buys CD's anymore. The same thing is starting to happen to the Movie/DVD industry. Why buy it when you can just download it. So EA has adopted the 'join 'em before they beat us" mentality. Everybody keeps saying "where EA is going" with what they've done with Madden 13. All I can say is for us Casual/Offline gamers the writing is on the wall. I'll be returning mine this Tuesday!… Expand