I get all EA Sports games for free. When my buddy asked me which ones I wanted all I could come up with was FIFA and NHL. Ended up trading both in a week later b/c FIFA wasn't as good as Pro Evo Soccer and NHL has gotten too complicated for my liking.

If you want to know a simple story that basically sums up EA for you its when they started losing business to NFL2k because 2K was considered a better game so insted of making their own product better in response, they went ahead and drove 2K out of biz by buying up the NFL license. That's all you need to knowa bout EA's biz model. Ive boycotted Madden ever since and don't regret that decision.

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I agree.

How good would Madden be (and NFL2k) if they hadn't been able to monopolize the market?

Not sure if you were trying to be funny, but I'd say 8 years...2005 was the last good one to me...pretty sure it was the following year they eliminated custom playbooks from franchise mode (that killed it for me).

RPB, your logic is incredibly fucked up. For one, you are fucking biased as shit because your brother-in-law works for EA and apparently has his hands in the Madden franchise. You're getting offended by a majority's comments on the franchise - sorry, a lot of gamers feel this way. You get the game for free. You are incredibly partisan on this.

I play Madden every year in hopes of it getting better. It just really doesn't. Dewskie didn't buy the god damn game so he could attempt to take back an opened game for credit at Target or wherever the hell he bought it that day. I don't think the plan was "Oh, How can I find an incredibly way to inconvenience myself so I can tell everyone Madden sucked."

The NBA Live franchise was a fine series, as was Madden. NBA2k series took it to new heights. I still am planning to get my hands on Madden to see if I will enjoy the game myself. I haven't even made a decision on the game yet. Its bullshit you discredit Dewskie's review as if he did this whole thing to rip on the game. Get the fuck over yourself.

In regards to $60, I actually don't blame any game makers. It is costly to develop and make these games. People don't buy the game every year because things and players dont change all that much. I understand they need a certain revenue stream.

I was kind of upset they got rid of the fantasy draft... a few friends at work were going to do an online franchise thing w/ a fantasy draft, but I guess we'll just do it with assigned teams.

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"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

Have not played it yet but the one thing I wish they would have done is make it possible to put the all time greats up against each other..not in a season or franchise mode..the all time bears vs the all time niners.

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Just got the game a couple hours ago. I'm not happy about the franchise more being replaced. We'll see how it goes.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I read those before I bought it. It's not unheard of for EA or major publishers to front them some $ to ensure a great review. Just saying.



I pored through the OperationSports madden forum before I took the game back. Numerous others had tried in vain. If EA patches this, which I doubt, then that's fine, but it should've been available at launch.



It's time to play "re-read Dewskie's posts!"



TL;DR: I quite realize that Franchise has been replaced by CCM, but it's not what I wanted. In fact, it quite sucks.

If you can show me where I can play a game mode that allows me use custom rosters and edit players equipment, jersey number, position, then I'll happily look like a jackass. It's not exactly anything new for me.

If you want to call removing user customization options "innovations," then I feel sorry for future games that hype themselves as groundbreaking.





Hot shit.


Telling it like it is. I really didn't want to take the game back. I didn't. But this isn't some shit where I can hang onto it and risk the disk getting fucked and not getting my money back.

I didn't pay for a game at launch so I could wait for 3 or 4 "coming soon" patches to fix what should've been done at launch.

New physics engine be FUCKED - 80% of the game is in the can year in and year out. Has been for years now. Each year they try to flog some new big deal: this year it's some new engine that still sucks, but hey - at least it means you don't have to watch the same canned tackling animations, you get to see new innovative things like this instead:



Also EA finally fixed commentary (sort of). Only took them almost a decade, but hey kudos, right? New Nike Uniforms, guys (please ignore that almost all of them are wrong in one way or another. There's a 17-page thread at operationsports that's stockpiling them as we speak).

Remember last year when EA re-invented franchise mode!? Man that was so fun! They were so proud of it; so proud of it in fact they completely dismantled it for Madden 13 and replaced it with shiny new shit that shows you twitter feeds and makes simulating a regular season take over an hour.



Summary: Your brother-in-law took a re-hashed game that was sort of fun that I'm already willing to pay for and did a bang-up job making it suck somehow more for a long-time fan. EVEN though it's basically a roster update with a few pixels adjusted here and there, and EVEN though I'm required to pay for an XBOX live account just to get updates for rosters they prematurely stocked back in June, and EVEN though I'll probably be sick of it within a couple weeks because despite all those "innovations" the commentary, game introductions, and new flashy menus don't change the fact that it's more or less the same game I've irrationally bought over the last 8 years, I still hand over my $60 year after year, hoping it'll make me forget how awesome Madden 2004 was.

EA, him and the team of devs that make Madden piss on all of our shoes and tell us it's rain.

So blow it out your ass.

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Well done sir.

Dewskie is right. Madden 13 sucks. Unlike others, I haven't said this before. But yeah, Madden 13 sucks.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I like the game.

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Wow.

Dewskie with a A-Bomb of a post.

You're invited to the dinner party as well.

It's a good point. For the past five years or so the only games I've played consistently is Madden and NBA2k, mainly because of your first point. Madden probably just dropped off the list unless they fix the franchise thing also, which speaks to your 2nd point. I really don't know what makes a video game good or not. I just know what I enjoy. I never play online and got the game solely for franchise play. I bought it despite Dewskie's warning because I figured the career mode probably is the exact same. It's not.

The trading sucks too, or maybe it's just too small of a sample size so far. I tried tirelessly to trade for Ben Tate and they weren't budging. Just to see how far it went, I offered Rodgers for him and the Texans still declined. It's basically been impossible for me to trade for an RB.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Dewskie said that it's missing the ability to edit rosters and names and numbers, which it might be because I don't have any desire to look for that. That's something that I have never done, and I don't really see the point of. The franchise mode is really a lot deeper this year then it has been it years past. The fact that the better you preform during the season with your players and goals they would hit along with goals along with goals the team hits during games has a direct correlation with how your offseason goes is exciting. I want to be able to have a better chance at signing a free agent left tackle because I kicked ass during the regular season and the playoffs(you gain XP points which you can then use to possibly help you sign that big free agent in the offseason). I have played through probably about 5 games so far and I might have only seen the tripping scene that Dewskie posted once maybe twice. I know that 2 times is too much but it's not something that's going to lead me not to play a football game this season. I think the graphics this year are quite a bit better then they have been in years past and I do think the tackling is something they worked on and made great strides with. The jersey thing I don't understand at all though. I saw red pants for the Bears and I'm pretty sure they have never worn red pants. Other then that I see no issues with the jerseys.

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Bought it last night. Career mode as a coach is similar to career mode on FIFA. Game is fun to play. Didn't really care about old franchise mode.

Chris: check the color setting on your tv. They're orange.

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I have heard the trading sucks this year as well. I was willing to give up Hester and a 3 rd pick for a 1st round pick like Jurko told me the Bears should do and I got zero takers.

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I was hoping their connected careers mode, player version would be along the line of RTTS but it fails greatly in comparison. It's so bland and vanilla that I gave that about 10 minutes and I don't think I would ever go back to that feature again.

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Wonder if they'll re-up or if 2K will get back in the game...

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This is my signature...

No, I was being serious, it's been about 10 years for me. I've tried it intermittently in 2007 and 2011, but it's just hasn't been the same to me since the PS2... I still enjoy NCAA though.

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

Ok - how to you challenge a call? I must be doing something wrong. Did they really get rid of that too?

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

That feature was completely idiotic. It's a video game. The officiating should be perfect, and not subject to random error.

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It automatically pops up for you to challenge a questionable play. At least it did for me. A little red icon on the screen that says LT to challenge play popped up on the left hand side of the screen.

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You do know it's a videogame that is trying to emulate the real NFL right?

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I haven't seen anything like that. I'll have to look closer I guess.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I get that, but what is the point of a computerized system making purposeful mistakes? This isn't computer error. This is just the computer setup to make an incorrect ruling at random times. It pointless and dumb. I see why you think it's a good idea.

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Yeah, sometimes realism isn't fun. In MLB I turn off the umpires random strike zone because if I throw a strike I want it to be called a strike. Sure, it's realistic if sometimes they call it a ball, but I'd rather they don't add features that piss me off.

No, its not. Its incredibly sound. You are completely biased. You havent even gotten the game and you already hate it.



Not in the least. I rip EA to him more than anyone has done here. His work at EA is of no concern to me other than I get a freebie once a year. EA could fold tomorrow and he and that part of my famiily would still be set for life. I have 0 interest in EA success. 100% wrong there.



As, I just explained, Im not biased or offended. I was just stating my opinions. You are getting all worked up because that's who you are. Thats not me. I dont get offended.



That's super. Great opinion. I dont share it.



No one has suggested that. I said he went in with pre concieved notions which he pretty much EXPLICITLY STATES.




Is this a joke? Why are you so upset that I didnt care for Dewskie's review.

Get the fuck over myself? Really? Coming from the guy who deemed this board dead like 4 years ago because the conversations werent serious enough?

You not being able to get over YOURself is a running joke here. Dont even try and put that on me.



No, that's wrong.

I hope your blood pressure has returned to normal levels after this post.

I get that, but what is the point of a computerized system making purposeful mistakes? This isn't computer error. This is just the computer setup to make an incorrect ruling at random times. It pointless and dumb. I see why you think it's a good idea.[/quote]
The only thing that would have ever made challenges good was if they included a cutscene of Andy Reid or Lovie looking confused on a bad challenge.

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And they had the AI replicate Lovie challenging 5 yard completions on 4th and 15th and shit.

So because you cant EDIT players, which is dumb, or use customized rosters (also dumb) you now HATE the renamed Franchise mode.

That's fine. Thats your prerogative. But to say they got rid of Franchise mode is incorrect.



Your first post indicated otherwise. That's why you were corrected by others. It was misleading, but again, thats your opinion and its all good.




Im not sure why that would be important to anyone. Im skeptical about the custom rosters thing, but that wouldnt bother me anyway.




I did no such thing. Seems it was you who didnt read or comprehend my post.





Well, I exaggerated for effect but my main point was that you went in with incredibly low expectations and ready to be underwhelmed by the game, is that not true?




Ok, that has nothing to do with what I said. Good to know.



All of that is great and does nothing to disprove the point that you went in with a pre concieved notion.




Actually he only worked on the Facebook version this year. That's what they are pushing real hard I guess.


So basically, this whole post was bitching about how bad the game has been for years and you are attempting to use it to prove that you ARENT juding it based on previous years?





Thats a douchey and very dated insult.


Again, Dewskie obviously went in with a pre concieved notion and carrying years of Madden has sucked since 04 baggage.

That much is obvious and on display in this post.

I dont know why me stating this obvious facts upsets people.

You guys take this shit a little too seriously for me. Im not a "gamer" I play two games a year MLB The Show and Madden and Im happy with both of them.

You have way higher expectations for the video gaming experience. Diff'rent strokes for Diff'rent folks.

Peace