Madden NFL 13: How Much Realism Do fans Really Want?
Realism. That’s a deep word when it comes to sports simulation games. All the bells and whistles and all the extra polish and features all aim at achieving that holy grail. Don’t believe me? Just look at racing simulation games to see the extent developers will go to deliver on the “R” word. Well, when it comes to pursuing realism, the football game simulation Madden NFL series does a pretty good job.
I say “pretty good” because its attempts at bringing the latest and greatest to NFL simulated reality to the small screen does not always get greeted with warm open arms. Take the case of the telecast element and commentary features in Madden NFL 12. Both these elements got roundly thrashed by critics last year but what the critics missed was Madden NFL 12 brought better game play to the series than with any previous version released in the past six years. Missing the forest for the trees? Still, you can’t blame EA Sports plans to pack on more realism come Madden NFL 13. What do they have cooking? If you play the game on dynasty mode, you will be treated to updates of games that are taking place all over the country. This is very similar to watching a game on ESPN and seeing the results of other games still in session or concluded.
Screenshot from Madden NFL 13 (Credit: EA)
Knowing this information can either pump you up in your own game so you can make it to the brackets or provide fluffy pieces of trivia since they don’t affect you. Still, the inclusion of this little detail adds even more realism to Madden NFL. The real question is, would fans really respond to this in a way that enriches their game? Or would it just be another shiny little doodad in a game genre becoming overly fixated on doodads and possibly missing core game play issues?
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