PlayStation 3
Released in 2012 by EA Sports
Grade: B
This Madden is all screwed up. The new physics engine looks and feels awkward, and there are bugs all over the place.
Where it falls in the series
It’s the seventh of 11 editions on PS3, and it’s the last one that’s exclusive to this generation. The next year’s game, titled Madden NFL 25 to commemorate the series’ 25th anniversary, is the first Madden on PS4 and Xbox One.
Praises and gripes
EA’s fancy new “Infinity engine” is supposed to make every tackle look unique, but it makes most of them look like total crap! Players collide awkwardly. Their limbs flail like they’ve got minds of their own. Sometimes a runner gets taken down and appears to have a seizure in a pile of players before his butt touches the turf to end the play.
It doesn’t only look funky — it feels funky. You might try to drill a receiver right when he catches the ball, and … Whoops! Your guy suddenly looks clueless, circling the receiver as he snags the catch. Tackles can come out of nowhere because your blocker magically snaps out of his blocking animation into a “getting beat” animation.
There are moments when the game looks stunning, with detailed players and cool lighting effects. But more often than not, something weird is happening. The engine just wasn’t ready to be unveiled yet.
The action is pretty familiar otherwise. It plays like Madden 12, but with some difficulties smoothed out. On pass plays, the O-line gives you more time, and passes are more accurate. Defenders still swarm ballcarriers and make aggressive interceptions, but they’re also bad at playing zone coverage, which makes certain passes too reliable.
Like last year, fumbles and penalties are unrealistically rare. The speed, controls, and pre-snap calls are all the same too.
The playbooks are filled with tactical goodness, and most plays work how they should. Receivers are aware of the sidelines and can make some nice toe-drag catches. There are new dropbacks and a re-tuned calibration on steering your passes. The kick meter is changed back to an analog system.
Unfortunately, there are also a ton of new bugs. At certain times before the snap, you’ll lose the ability to make an adjustment or see your play design. Receivers can lose sight of the ball and it hits them right in the head. I once ran a sneak and my QB was frozen in place. I also saw my fullback run through a defender instead of blocking him.
Sometimes a player gets injured, but you don’t see who it is. The challenge system is glitchy. The wind gauge is backwards. I read online that the franchise mode has a ton of bugs itself. Did they even test this game before they released it? The frequency of mistakes will make you appreciate video games that don’t have these issues.
In the sound department, the orchestra music is a welcome change, but the new announcers, Jim Nantz and Phil Simms, constantly spout lines that don’t match what’s happening on the field. One nifty addition is that certain QBs have their actual voice in the game when they make pre-snap calls.
Overall, this is a clear step down from Madden 11 and Madden 12, so there’s not much value in going back to it today.