Pros
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1.) I find overall defensive control being much better now, and it's the best I've seen in a Madden so far. I feel like the past couple years have been very offensive-focused (especially passing), and offensive players would somehow always trump defensive ones. Now I feel very confident that if I set up my defense right and do my part in reading the routes correctly, I'll walk away with a pick or batted ball.

2.) Great improvements to the running game. Defense + ground game are my bread and butter, and that reflects the strategies of many teams, so I like the fact that I know I have a legitimate shot at winning a game even if my QB has less than 10 passing attempts.

3.) The improvements to the offline Franchise mode are very nice, and I think the mode still continues to provide more options than anyone could possibly need (which is a good thing). I will say that the new free agent bidding system, while a cool improvement, could use some tweaking. Namely, it would be nice if you could set aside players beforehand that you know you want to bid on. Trying to navigate up and down the list to look for new players while also monitoring the ones I bid on was cumbersome and ineffective.

Cons
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1.) Magnet blocking. This has irked me since Madden debuted on the current generation of consoles. You know what I'm talking about--when you get a good jump at the snap and blow right by a lineman, but he follows you. Then right when you're about to make the sack, your player turns 90 degrees (or more) for no good reason and gets engaged by the blocker.

2.) Special teams:

• Is a new kicking mechanic necessary every single year? Just stick with one already.


• Speaking of kicking, make it more difficult to make field goals, especially at long distances. Nobody should constantly have 100% field goal percentage.


• I can see how kick returning was too easy last year, but now it's gone back to being useless, just like punt returns. Big returns happen fairly often in the NFL, but rarely in Madden. Someone like Devin Hester, perhaps the biggest single-play threat in the NFL, should have consistent shots at breaking a big one rather than being stuck on returns less than 20 yards.


• Blocking of field goals and punts has also returned to being useless. I know, they're rare in real life too, but if I'm in a punt block formation and the offensive side doesn't have any extra blockers, that punter should be on the ground before his foot touches the ball.

3.) Superstar Mode. This is the offline game mode I favor the most, but the version in this year's game is horribly, horribly stripped down even worse than before.

• I remember back when you actually had to do the stuff at the combine, get an agent, do interviews, get a place to live, work your way up to a starting spot, etc. What the heck happened to all of that? This year it's more like an extended Create-A-Player feature with a special camera.


• There's zero incentive to go in the draft instead of just signing on with my favorite team.


• Regardless of how much I initially suck, I automatically have the starting spot.


• Asking for a trade immediately grants it without any sort of interaction, rendering the draft even more irrelevant.


• Who the heck designed the arbitrary point award system? I get points for things I didn't even do. Now, I understand maybe being awarded points because I was an influence on the field and the whole "succeed or fail as a team" mentality, but then I can make a spectacular play and get fewer points than I do for some insignificant tackle.


• There's no playoff bracket (same in Franchise).


• The rest of the league simulates games with 15-minute quarters, regardless of how long mine are set to. Then if I play on 15-minute quarters, I get an absurd amount of points per game (got over 1,000 in my last one).


• Even on 5-minute quarters, it's too easy to rank up. I started training camp at a 67 overall and 13 games into the season I'm at a 98.

There's my list...god I hope that exclusivity contract expires so we can get some healthy competition for this game. Nothing sparks innovation like the threat of losing money.

I have a PS3 and finally played my first game in the snow - what a dissapointment....
Has foot steps but nothing else. The promotion showed players kicking up the snow when catching pass. Is this a PS3 defect? When players hit the ground there are NO impressions in the snow - this is a BIG let down. I thought the PS3 turf problem was fixed....

Some quick notes Urlacher = god. Db's should just be left off the roster. Speed should be 0 for everyone. Kickers that cant make 50 yard fgs left off the roster. Lb's take over for db's. Smoke some more up there at EA, do u guys watch football i know i have asked before but no replies, wonder why. Listen u guys need to stop appointing ur own gods in this gm. Urlacher is 33 and nowhere near a 84 speed, but in this gm he covers percy harvin and jacoby ford like darrell revis halarious, iam not laughing. the lbs are not named clark kent and they cant fly, still not laughing. the only thing i laugh at is the EA developer whos getting a 6 digit pay check to make this filth. Watch the games this weekend nerds and tell me how many lb get dogged by wr and rb compared to how many actually make a pass def or int.

First: Commentating has to change because Chris Collinsworth does not know what he is talking about 90% of the time. It sounds like he isn't even watching the game when he starts talking.

Second: Improve the graphics seriously, you can not keep it the same year after year and keep expecting us to come back. Upgrade them please..

Third: Seattle is not a terrible team, Richard Sherman is not a 71, I am not asking for riduclous upgrades to their stats I am just saying be fair. WATCH A GAME THAT SEATTLE PLAYS IN!!!

Fourth: Test your game and remove the glitches, errors and things people can exploit to win games.

5th: You should not be able to run the same formation over and over again and in the no huddle no less and gain yards or make defensive plays. That's bs and you know it. Stop favoring one team over the other.

Sixth: If you are playing a ranked game Onside kicks, and little kicks should not be allowed until the 4th quarter when you are loosing. none of this beginning of the game stuff that isn't right. Football is a game of skill, talent and decisions.

Seventh: instead of having the nerds you have who you think are doing their job and testing the games bring in some real fans of the franchise and let them tell you what they think of the game.. none of this "in house testing"

Eight: If you are going to have roster updates watch the games, I can point out at least 10 players every week that are either lighting it up or stinking up the joint and you either leave them alone, bring them up 1 or bring them down 1. Vick is having a crap year and Travis Jackson has better stats than he does there is something wrong with those ratings.

Nine: Do not allow people to play online with bad connections. They ruin the game for those of us who pay good money for our internet and keep it that way. Those people should be put into another server

Lastly: There is no way I mean no way that there are tons of new profiles on xbox live every year madden comes out it's like you don't even look at who is playing or the people at the top of the list. Did you know that there were 5 leaders this year with either less than 1k gamer score 0 friends or never once sent messages back to people including the current best player right now. Pretty fishy look into EA. Your skill point system is bogus it needs to go by win and loss record only. If you have people who rattle off 300 wins in a row you need to check the accounts.

I just want to start out by saying that I've been a fan of Madden for years and feel that 2005 was the last good year of madden. So this is my somewhat harsh, but honest list of impressions.

1) Commentary has been the same canned dialogue for years. Nothing they talk about is current with on-field action. They should continue to talk between each other, too many times in the game where it's quite. I would like to hear them discuss plays that happened in past games or past drives if it's relevant to the play or player at hand. EA should take a page from MLB2K. Their commentary is fresh and discusses the play and past plays. It draws you in to the point that you can forget it's a game.

2) Suction! Tackles and catches are still all about suction. It's time for a new engine. Ian Cummings was constantly saying that EA Sports didn't have the time to fix the game, but MLB the Show, NHL 12 and other games and companies seem to find time to fix and improve their games. Stop being lazy by nickle and diming customers just because EA owns the NFL license.

3) Collision detection. I'm tired of seeing the ball go through my receivers hands and suck to the defenders hands behind him or seeing my player actually go through the other teams player all together like if he was a ghost. Also the goal post seems to ghost too because I've kicked a couple of field goals that should have bounced off the crossbar, but instead it just went through it. These are game breaking glitches.

4) Fix penalties. The refs never call pass interference. It's become so bad that I've played people online who just exploit this glitch by pushing my receivers around right when they go for the catch and it breaks the play. Also horsecollaring is illegal in football, but in madden it's acceptable.

5) Unintelligent A.I.: I'm sick of being in position to make a play on defense, but when I press the button to bat the ball down or pick it off instead my defender will make a delayed maneuver and either just throw his hands up or nothing at all, when he should be jumping up to break the play up. Also when its a run up the gut, countless times I've watched the defenders just give the RB an open lane for easy yardage instead of engaging him, or they will get sucked into a block from a lineman who's behind them. I've seen CB's make a play on a ball while the whole time their back was turned to the QB, so how do they know where the ball is? Finally Players follow me perfectly on kickoffs and pretty much any other play as well. Example: Kickoff, I get the ball and start to run left, all of the defending players cut left in sync with me. I cut right and they mimic me perfectly again. No one in real life could ever do that. Another game breaker.

6) Unresponsive controls. I press triangle to catch the ball, literally 1.7 seconds later he actually raises his hands to catch, which at this point the ball has already passed him and is headed the other way down field just because of a delay in his reaction to my button pressing. On defense I press hit stick and 2.3 seconds later hes stumbling out of the play because the player already ran by him and hes lost his footing instead of cracking him for a potential fumble.

7) Is this PS3 and 360 or PS2 and XBOX? Why is it that the players on-field look great, but everything else in the game looks like it was ripped from PS2. I've even seen 10 players with the same # on their jersey together. They also all stand around and mimic each other like robots. Time for a new engine if yours can't handle better graphics. You should be embarrassed with how bad everything looks in the game, it's about to be 2012 and a new generation of consoles on the way in a few yrs. Don't you want to catch up with everyone else and be apart of Next Gen Graphics?

It's aggravating to deal with these same problems every year in madden since 2005. It's painfully obvious that your taking everyone of your customers for a ride. I want to become a game designer and I believe in excellence. Once that NFL license is open again 2K will give you a run for your money and force you to produce a solid gaming experience. Please stop angering your customers by ruining their experiences with broken gameplay and glitches that have plagued the series ever since it's made the switch to nxt gen consoles.

Things I like.

1. The gameplay is always nice. I posted once already but I wanted to post again now that we are deep into the season.

2. Franchise mode is nice as far as I'm concerned, it could have some more trade action or waiver action to mirror real life roster changes depending on how a particular season may unravel.

Things I don't like.

1. SuperStar mode is my favorite but it's been watered down. Why? Give me commentary geared toward my player, give me camera options, please!!!!! I appreciate practice mode but give me a memorable draft experience, give me a combine, and offseason. Give me trophies. NBA2k12 killed it with with My Player mode. Admit it, 2k Sports owned you in basketball. Football is my favorite sport so do it justice.

2. Commentary, it's repetitive, you didnt work on this at all did you? At least get somebody who will have the time to put in alot of time in the booth. You guys give Jon Beason praise but the dude is on IR so he is nowhere on the field. Yes Adrian Wilson is underated but you dont need to say that every game, T.O. is a future Hall of Famer but I dont need to hear that every game.

Question: Can EA tell me why I should buy Madden 2013? I'm really having some doubts as to whether you deserve another 60 dallars based on the product you have put out the last couple of years. Now drop and give me 20, your effort is embarrising.

Another gm another loss do to how bad madden 12 i. Someone tell me how come every 3rd down and 7 or farther the qb cant make a 5 yard throw to a wide open man. i had my rb in the flat with 55 seconds left down by 4 on my 45 threw it to him on the run only about 5 to 8 yards away and he throws it directley into the ground come on, and he had plenty of running room. So thank you EA for putting out a piece of s**t gm, 11 wasnt great but it was so much better then 12. And please do something with the speed threshold dt and lb cant catch desean jackson or mike vick watch the games.

Please Reinvigorate my Love for Madden!

1) Styles: You have QB styles, but why not add some created "Generic" styles to pick from also ie: MLB the Show has over 100 pitcher styles plus the real ones. Also why not have RB styles since there are so many unique runners in the league now like Lesean McCoy, Adrian Peterson, and Ray Rice. Lesean carries the ball like a loaf of bread because he believes that it helps him balance. Ray Rice runs naturally low to the ground and keeps his body moving forward no matter what. You need to add a cut move like how players like Mike Vick and Lesean McCoy do ankle breaking stutter steps that actually work at confusing and losing defenders. In Madden to many times the defense will still just continue towards you and you get sucked into a tackle when you try this.

2) Using the Blockers: In real football and in old 2K football games RB's can push the blockers into oncoming defenders and could put them to better use. Lead blocking seems to be removed from madden this year or it's really difficult to use.

3) Traits: Traits are great. I love how you can make your players even more realistic and unique with this new feature. Now add some more like... Will or Heart possibly call it Courage. I think you see where I'm going with this because of guys like Tim Tebow. Guys like Tim, Ray Lewis and Drew Brees can just draw out the best in the rest of the team in key moments and I don't just mean a plus 1 to awareness for the whole team. You should fix the weapons ratings. I like weapons but when you read what each one of them does, they just don't sound natural or fit well to the mold.

4) Broken plays: Please fix the part where you have no control over your QB in goal line QB sneaks. I hate how there is a wide open lane, I'm Vick and instead the computer controls him and opts to just fall to the ground which I guess is supposed to be a lazy dive: this ends with me actually losing a yard.

5) WR's and TE's that don't pay attention: Why is it that when I throw the ball to my WR's and TE's and they are wide open, the ball will go by them in arms reach distance but the receiver doesn't even bother to raise his hands and make a catch? Their awareness is just sad, but the CB's and LB's have "Godly" vision and a sick nose for the ball. Receivers don't even fight for the ball, CB's just bully them all day and only speedy or tall 6'3 and up receivers have even a remote chance of catching the ball.

6) Am I a Ghost?: I feel like a ghost because... A) Players can go through anyone on the sideline without any impact which happens alot in real football. B) I can go through the walls and disappear into the crowd and so can the football. C) The goal post doesn't seem to really be there because players can walk through it and footballs can go through it on fieldgoals, instead of deflecting off of it and changing direction. D) I can go through the referee's instead of them running out of the way or getting involved in the play.

7) Highlights: Please add the ability to control the camera on highlights so that I can make my own amazing videos of plays. You could easily improve the highlights by making it a mode all in it self. You could cut and add your videos together to make one long highlight reel. You can then upload them and people could rate and comment on them. Also allow the ability to slow down and speed up the video while recording to show hot rotating camera slowmo diving catches in endzone. : )

Weather that you can feel: Why is light snow and heavy snow exactly the same? There should be a difference when it's heavy like a serious down pour with low visibility and a lot of slipping. You should see the snow powder flying when players are tackled and falling all over the place. It's very still in the snow conditions. The only thing that lets me know that it's snowing is the amount of fumbles that happen.

I don't mean to sound so harsh, it's just that I've been a fan of yours since SNES and I feel that the game stopped progressing when it made the change to next gen consoles. I feel like your still playing catchup with everyone else programming wise. Also I hate feeling cheated when I wait every year for that new Madden and it feels like a mix and match of things that work and don't work with a lil sprinkle of the same glitches that have plagued it for years that you continue to ignore. Please read this and make some changes, I don't want to continue to feel like my voice is not being heard and that you will ignore this writing. Please reinvigorate my love for the Madden Franchise.

I'm very happy that the changes you made to the on and off the field. but hell, every mode i play fell different. its like sloppy programming guys. I'm glad franchises mode is good but superstar the running back suck. i was 91 overall and went in the fourth round, a two time heisman winner out of the ohio state, took home 3 maxwell, 4 doak walker, and i was a four round pick up by the jets. total *b*S. and practice, hello if my qb does bad i lose points. where the training camp before draft, the work out before i get drafted, the RPG interview the game the teams an understanding of who you are as the controller. I love the unknown rookie part in franchise but come one i was imported from NCAA i should be at lead a top 5 if i'm going to start every game.

What needs improved
1. AI consistency. They are either dumb or all-pro players. They have eyes on the back of their heads for some reason but can't manage a proper 2 minute drill. WTF?

2. franchise sucked. It needs a better menu, better interaction, better details

3. QB sprint. If I want to run let me run.

4. Attributes need to mean something. If a player is 60 overall, he better suck. If MV is 97 speed, he better outrun a lineman when he scrambles

5. More diversity. I hear the same thing everytime. I could quote the whole game after a week.

6. Get rid of the in game replays. I cant manage the clock because i don't know if it is still running

7. Cuts and transitions are late or bad.


What I liked
1. Future draft picks
2. player roles
3. presentation

NEED TO BE IMPROVED:

SUPERSTAR MODE!! Its Pathetic how basic and boring it is! Its supposed to give you the feeling of what its like to go through the process of getting into the nfl and becoming a big time player or bust! they need to go back to what it used to be with the combine and everything leading up to the draft, interviews and all that detailed stuff and then add things like a computer logic system where the team that drafts you offers you a contract and you can hold out or accept the deals and if 2 years into your deal you dont live up to expectations they trade you away or maybe offer you an extention or at the end of your contract you can test free agency. IT NEEDS DETAIL MAJOR DETAIL EA! COME ON GET IT TOGETHER!

first i will start with superstar because it has been terrible since i have been buying madden.

1. superstar sucks
2. need to change the view
3. need to actually battle for your position, no 73 rated anything is gonna start over a 75 rated anything let alone an 80 or 90 thats just dumb it makes the game pointless.
4. bring back workouts, or better yet put actual combine workout on it, and pro days and things like that, things that the NFL actually does.
5. the draft is a joke if you a running back odds are a team that needs one is going to draft one,. ex. the eagles safetys and linebackers are terrible so they are going to want a linebacker or safety yet in the game they take runningbacks, qbs etc. things they dont need its stupid.
6.make the draft where you can actually see your guy getting drafted like in nba 2k you see your guy get drafted.
7. again like nba 2k make interviews and *. make the superstar mode fun.
8. last spend as much time as you do with improving franchise into superstar spend the same amount of time one both make them both great, and fun to play.

now for franchise and gameplay
1. you guys pride yourself on the franchise you probably should start improving it then cause its pretty bad.
2. since when does ray lewis or any other linebacker or safety and corners have 50 ft damn verticals? obviously i am exaggerating but im sure you get the point. they jump way to damn high when im trying to pass. this only happens when i play all-pro or all-madden i get they are suppose to be harder but still thats no excuse for them to know where im throwing before i throw the ball.
3. the blocking is retarded not once have i seen a lineman give up on a block before the running back got the ball. i cant get more then 5 yards a carry because my blockers dont stay on blocks for more than a yard. that is * cause real nfl players might get cut from there team for doing that * a lot and it happens a lot in this game.
4. the menu is terrible in franchise why does it have to go all the way back when i hit back then i hav to wait for it to pop up again and try to find where i was at.
5. running the ball sucks in this game, because you cant CUT with the back just juke. make a CUT button where he go east and west not north and south. and have you ever watched backs that are good at that like Lesean McCoy he is really good. you watch videos of him and you will see what im talking about.
6. there is no word to describe how bad the catching is in this game. there is seriously no effort from the wrs in this game when i pass it to them. all they do is quick arm movements there is no trying for the ball hardly i cant ever turn my guy towards the ball and make him jump and go up high and get the ball. watch Calvin Johnson videos and fix it.
7. last take that freakin pencil neck collinsworth off of the commentary plus theres 16 to 20 games in a season depending on how good you are. get real commentators in a booth and record there voices as your play games. not have them saying the same thing over and over everygame its ridiculous.

Things I'd like to see improved

1. It doesnt feel like im playing madden at all. When I played madden on the first xbox it felt like I was playing madden, when I play it now it doesnt feel like im playing madden.

2. Better graphics. Make it run in 1080p, i know you can do that

Things i liked

1. Player traits

Need to improve

1.less player atribbutes such as play recognition (awarness) zone coverage (awarness) juke and spin move (elusiveness)
Catch in traffic (catching) pass and runblock strength (strength) these attributtes are not the same thing but they are too similar to split them apart and make a 30ft line of atrributes.

2. Injury a trait not attribute. Injury: often, normal, rarely

3. Impact of Weights and heights are key. If you have a 5'5 340 lb DT in madden and a 6'10 340 lbb DT who have the same exact attributtes they will play exactly the same and will be as easy as each other to push back. We know in real life the 5'5 guy would be hard to push back even with 70 strength.

3. Stop with the trying to be original and just give us what we want. CBS, Fox espn nbc and nfl netwok sheesh.

4. I have tried to like maddens animation tackling system but i give up you got money use it grab Euphoria.

I'm just going to name a few things that irratate me in this madden game ...

The little things : the dreads in the game don't even look like dreads, they look like a thick lined ponytail. another.. you can't create a Clay Matthews, I'm getting tired of not being able to create a linebacker with long hair, another is commentary.. Chris Collinsworth has been saying the same stuff in these games for years. and one more little thing that erks me is no more extra point..

The big things: The imported draft classes, why do they come out of college looking like the road warriors and it's usually the WR's and QB's. their pads come out huge and pointy And its annoying, it ruins the game. another big thing is no training camps or mini camps, they should do player rating off of the season and how well they do in training camp. added on I hate how you can't increase your players by doing mini camp drills throughout the season like you could on Madden 09. And one more big thing that irrates me is how when the QB scrambles out the pocket and you wanna throw it away, he wants to all of the sudden choose to plant and throw it away (who does that).

But anyway I know they're not gonna fix a lot of these this year but does anyone know if they are going to fix the draft class shoulder pad problem or when the next tuner update is going to be?