NFL Madden 2k13

 2.5 Stars                                                         

What were the game raters thinking when they gave Madden 2K13 a 5 star rating? This game went backwards and it's the most confusing game ever.

When a person buys this game at their local store and sees the label that says, "Better with Kinetic Sensor" they are forced to wonder, "What if I don't have a Kinect? Will it play the same without the sensor?" Other Madden games from EA Sports have never had a label like this before, and if the game requires the sensor in order for the game to work, the buyer could be deterred from making the purchase.

Some of the new game mechanics are pretty confusing. Right away on the game menu, the trigger is what moves the cursor, as well as the joystick. This doesn't make any sense, and can cause the player to make incorrect selections on the game menu. Then, players can choose to "Build your own legacy" either on-line or off line, and these menus aren't clear either. Finally, after all of that, players realize they have to go back and create a coach first, and then choose the team they want to build for career mode.

It appears that EA Sports is trying to copy the same format from NCAA 13, where the gamer creates a coach and then chooses their team to want to coach. Why change the format after 20 years of successful formats in the other Madden games? Everything was fine for the five years that Madden games have sold out in stores.

There were enjoyable new things that Madden added. First among them is the announcing team of Phil Simms and Jim Nantz hosting games. They announce the two teams that are playing like a real life broadcast, and go on to discuss what they think are the keys for either team to win. Simms and Nantz would also talk about what was going on in the other NFL games and pretend that somebody ran for over 100 yards or received 10 catches and what the outcome was for the game. Additionally, they have added famous coaches like George Halas and Vince Lombardi, among others, that are available to play as.

In the end, the game earns a rank of a 2 ½ stars. It's disappointing that this is the latest game of Madden. The Madden producers might have been sleeping when they were creating this game. While previous games were on an upswing, Madden 2K13 has seriously under-delivered overall.