A Preview of Madden NFL 13

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If you haven’t heard it yet, Madden NFL 13 is coming this August, and armchair quarterbacks will once again have a new toy to play with as they relive their dreams of football glory on the virtual gridiron. Past players of the franchise already know what they can expect from a new Madden installment: updated rosters, a few new graphical gimmicks, and nothing more.

For the die-hard fans of the game, these are more than enough to keep them happy and buying. For the more casual gamers, however, EA Sports will need to step it up in a lot of ways, and this time around, it seems as if the developers have listened to their fan base.

Would I be going out on a limb if I said that the audio on Madden 12 last year pretty much sucked? The gameplay was satisfyingly good, if not great, but what most of the critics focused upon was the horrible presentation and shockingly terrible audio. From the chants of the crowd to the commentary, I will have to say that everything just plain sucked.

EA Sports is making major changes to the audio in Madden 13, which should really be a no-brainer. For starters, they brought out real-life broadcast team Jim Nantz and Phil Simms of CBS. The duo is expected to give new life to the awfully dull commentary that has beleaguered the franchise for several years now.

Here’s a video that showcases a little of what I’m talking about:

The developers also made sure to raid the NFL Films archives to add some authentic quarterback cadences to the game, as well as including brand-new 24-track crowd recordings to really immerse you in the game. It’s obvious that EA Sports is making Madden NFL 13 a showcase of sound to make up for its blundering mistake last year.

Aside from the audio, the game promises a lot of improved gameplay elements, like passing trajectories and throwing angles that make much more sense. The animations have also been tweaked so that calling for play-action plays is now a lot more viable than it used to be.

Last year was not a banner year for the football game franchise, but it seems like the developers have learned from their mistakes and are now looking to make Madden NFL 13 their best NFL game ever.