Madden 13: Glowing Reviews of Latest Installment Are Well-Deserved

The verdict is in: The newest installment of Madden is pretty awesome. The majority of the experts can't all be wrong.

The game—which will be released for PlayStation, Wii and Xbox 360 on August 28—has received resoundingly positive endorsements from virtually everyone in the gaming community, from ESPN.com's Jon Robinson to the Bleacher Report's own gaming expert, Brian Mazique.

The biggest reason everyone is amped about the release of Madden 13: The reality factor. Like any other game, the more realistic it looks, the more fun it is to play. The more you can imagine you're actually on the sideline, calling the plays, the more fun you have. The easier it is to imagine that Jim Nantz and Phil Simms are actually talking about you, the better.

ESPN.com's Robinson adds that real-time collisions have been added into the mix, which truly gives the video game the feel of a real game—as does the new and innovative Connected Careers mode that essentially allows you to build the career of a coach—and, subsequently, the entire team—or a player in the hopes of creating a dynasty or a legend.

But if your coach proves to be incompetent or your player is terrible, you can retire and start over. If only it were that easy for the Pete Carrolls of the world.

In fact, this is really the first time the Madden franchise has taken full advantage of technological capabilities and applied them to the game in a way that is truly beneficial. As Gieson Cacho of the Contra Costa Times writes:

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The biggest update comes with the Infinity Engine. … For the first time, speed and mass have an effect on collisions. … It brings a new level of unpredictability to football games. Running backs hitting a hole can trip over their own linemen. Heavy tight ends can bounce off tackles from lightweight defensive backs. Safeties will punish receivers going over the middle.

"

You may not love it when your players absorb lethal hits, but neither did Bill Belichick when Tom Brady went down in '08. Surely, Belichick would've liked to hit the "retire" button and start over with a new team and a new quarterback, but that's not the way the NFL works. Reality hurts sometimes.

In fact, IGN's Greg Miller enjoys the challenges that accompany the latest version of the game, even if it means success is harder to come by. The upgraded physics mean players can get knocked out of bounds by hits, and defenses are tougher against weak offenses. But doesn't adversity make you a better player in the end? 

The NFL would be no fun to watch if everything was easy. Would the Giants' two Super Bowl victories over the Patriots have been so exciting if they had been easy to come by?

One of the only voices of dissent in the Madden 13 debate is that of The Wall Street Journal's Adam Najberg, who isn't as big a fan of this version as he was of Madden 12. He finds all of the new upgrades, the bells and the whistles, cumbersome.

The new format, agreed Robinson, has its positives and negatives. In some ways, it's more of a fantasy football-type template in which you're required to control every aspect of the team—from practices to trades—and all of that proves to be a bit more intensive than some gamers are looking for.

But hey, keeping an NFL team afloat isn't easy. It's not all fun and games; it's work, too, so at least in that respect, Madden 13 is realistic.

And realism is all anyone asks for in terms of games, so in that respect, this one has been a resounding success for Madden.