Franchise Mode Madden 13 - Review of Madden 13

How many of you are out there with your brand new copy of Madden 13 loaded up and looking for Franchise Mode? Well, you can stop looking...it's gone. In a recent interview with Josh Looman, who made the latest changes to Madden, VentureBeat asked about the fan favorite Franchise Mode and what happened to it. Josh replied  "The primary motivation was to create a new, innovative career mode that allowed you to play as any coach or player in the same universe." Yeah, IF YOU ONLY PLAY BY YOURSELF. The new so called "Franchise Mode" in Madden 13 is created for play by only one person at a time, at home, by themselves. Do the powers that be at EA sports think that the only people who play their games are loner losers with no friends? Essentially, Madden 13 has taken away some of the features that fans have enjoyed for years (since 1992 for us) and basically turned this game into a first person shooter.

What makes this even more frustrating is the fact that EA Sports HAD TO HAVE KNOWN the mistake they were making because there is a giant menu item on the front screen that says "Looking for Franchise Mode?" and then it goes on to tell you to go create a coach or something incredibly lame like that - oh, and by the way, the coach has NO control over the roster, and who the hell wants to be a coach anyway? There are many things missing in Madden 13 and the fans are NOT happy. Here is the short list of items that are no longer available:

There is no NFL Draft, fantasy or otherwise. Gone.

You may create ONE player, or at least you can only utilize one created player at a time. What about your friend that comes over to play? He's screwed.

You cannot play the game with friends and save your progress (there is no more Season mode).

You may only play a so called "season" online, all by yourself - as only one person can play in the league per sign on name. LAME. So basically, if you wanted to have a few friends over to play a multi-player season where you could save your progress, you would EACH have to bring your own PS3, you would all have to have SEPARATE IP addresses, and each of you sign on with your unique EA Sports user name. Sounds like a set up that most of us have right? Multiple IP addresses at your house and four or five PS3's laying around? Absolutely, why not. Idiots.

You can no longer edit your own abilities as a created player. You must take the little points that they give you and improve one grueling point at a time. Although this seems fair, as you shouldn't be able to just blast your abilities through the roof, but the point is that sometimes we adjust OTHER players on the rosters because Madden gave them a crap rating and they deserve a few more points in their catching ability, etc. This ability is GONE.

You can no longer import your NCAA players.

In the end, looking back at last year, it's true, everyone was on the message boards complaining about the new passing / throwing motion, etc when Madden 12 first came out, but we got used to it, dealt with it and resumed play as usual. But this year, they have damaged the game beyond repair as many of the modes that players used are just GONE. The Franchise Mode has been in place since the very beginning (it used to be called "Season Mode") and judging from the overwhelming comments around the net right now, EA Sports is going to be forced to put Franchise Mode back in the game in 2014 or lose a LOT of customers. EA needs to understand that even though the new programming director might sit at home alone playing by himself online and he is just thrilled with the new game, but hey dork boy! Some of us have friends, and we like to get together and drink beer and join forces as our favorite teams and take them from the Preseason all the way to the big game over the course of several weeks and months. To us, that was the point of Madden. If we wanted to sit at home alone and play by ourselves online with a little dorky microphone on our heads, arguing with other dorks with microphones on their heads, we would just play Call of Duty. EA Sports has killed the multiplayer element of Madden that has held true for 20 years, great job guys.

On a closing note, if anyone out there can figure out a way (on Madden 13) for multiple players, playing at the same house, on the same team, with players that they have created, on the same PS3, and play an entire season together with all data saved we will personally pay you $100.00 via PayPal - just email us at kansascitynews@gmail.com - good luck!

Franchise Mode Madden 13 Review by KCMB Kansas City News, official kc news site with breaking stories on The Kansas City Royals, Chiefs, charity events, the 2012 MLB All Star Game, weather, sports, MU, KU, ufo sightings, dui checkpoints, Kansas City neighborhoods, nightlife, concerts, the Sprint Center, the Power and Light District and current Kansas City news articles.