Madden NFL 13 Review

You might expect such a performance to win young Nick a chance at the starting job. Or at least a role as a plow-share or changeup back, considering Best's injury history, and the Lions' playoff irrelevance. But no, Best returned to the lineup the following week, and Nick, the handsome and highly-touted first-rounder returned to punt return and equipment-fetching duties. For his efforts, he earned a handful of experience points, which were used to bump up his pass-catching abilities by a point. But the one point lead that Best has in his overall ability number seems insurmountable. Nick won't be starting any time soon, unless he games the system or resorts to Nancy Kerrigan-esque methods.

Things are even worse if you opt to play as a lesser prospect. I didn't find it realistically possible to create a lowly, undrafted player and move him up the ranks, even though the game poses it as an option. Sure, you can simulate through the games where you're riding the pine, but in order to improve, you're still going to have to practice. Yet practicing isn't as fun as it's been in previous entries, largely due to how closely it resembles the experience of Madden's regular gameplay.

Weekly practice presents an opportunity for Madden to break up the wearying incessancy of the march to the playoffs. Sadly, by closely following the game formula, it feels redundant, to the point that playing a few consecutive weeks of career mode can feel like a chore. No doubt the intent was to have practices double as both a roleplaying feature and a training mode for users, but the execution is pedestrian. Earlier entries did a better job of drilling nuanced techniques for those holding the controller, and this year's iteration could do more to injecting interest into the feature. There's certainly potential here, but Madden still hasn't seized upon it. As far as roleplaying in practice goes, I'll grant Madden this: much like a real player, you'll be tempted to skip it. Doing so means missing out on experience points, however. Points can be applied to any of your player's many esoteric stat categories (toughness, accuracy, clutch rating, etc.), or used to gain special skills like getting both feet inbounds after a catch. They're your best shot at taking over a starting role outside of the injury bug, and if you're not getting them in at gametime, then practice is the only place to earn them.

For a player with a mediocre skill set, that can mean season after season of running through rote drills and waiting idly through games. It's realistically mind numbing, I suppose, but Madden 13 needs to make the option more interesting to warrant its inclusion. I'd love to see EA go further with its RPG flirtations here. Really, the NFL's most compelling drama isn't in the predictable successes of its elite players; it's in the day-to-day struggles of those trying to break in to the league, or hold down a job against stiff competition. It's why HBO's Hard Knocks makes for such great viewing. I'm not asking for Madden to replicate that experience (not quite yet, at least), but the game should at least step out of the way of players who want to create their own such narratives. A little effort here could go a long way, as demonstrated by the efficacy of similar and well-executed features like the new simulated twitter feed or live draft.

As things are, Madden still has an uncomfortable relationship with such roleplay. It’s an odd hangup for a game focused on myriad personal stats, with 24 different arm equipment options, and a card collecting mode. That's a strange sort of cognitive dissonance, like a jock who can't reconcile his appreciation of twelve-sided dice.