Eurogamer Top Picks

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

As any man-child with a blunt refusal to grow up, I have always wanted to be a pirate, and on my own adventure to exotic Earl’s Court, London I was able to get damn close. 

Trying out Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag on the PlayStation 4, I was immediately put on my ship, The Jackdaw. Being the rebellious scallywag I am, I completely ignored the advice of Ubisoft staff and set sail towards the nearest Spanish Galleon (I have had my fill of killing my countrymen). What ensued was me ramming the ship full speed in its port side. The splinter of wood and roar of cannon fire brought the ship to a halt. Heroically I leapt from my ship swinging on the rigging before air assassinating the enemy captain. Then, being the gentleman I am, I released the crew and used their ship to repair mine. After that I engaged in an intense fort battle, but the highlight was definitely the freedom I experienced of being able to roam the high seas, plundering and singing. 

Even if it was only 15 minutes of living a childhood fantasy. Yarrr. 

Alex Phelps

Titanfall

For ten minutes of gameplay to be worth a whopping two hour queue, a game needs to be of a certain class.Titanfall, when it releases early 2014, may well find itself top of that class, after that ten minute demo turned out to be one of the best online matches I’ve ever had.

Titanfall is played in two distinct and exciting ways – as a hyper-nimble Pilot, or a massive mech known as a Titan. Pilots take the FPS rulebook and throw it out the window. Yes, you’re a soldier running around with a gun, but you can double jump (a la Crash Bandicoot) and wall run. Respawn Entertainment – the devs formerly at the head of Infinity Ward – are particularly proud of the fact that you can get from one side of most maps to the other without touching the ground.

Given the extremes of these two styles it’s remarkable the gameplay remains so balanced. The controls are as refined as you could wish for from the veterans of FPS-making, with the promise of oodles of customisation for both your Pilot and your Titan. If Xbox owners weren’t already excited about 2014, they should be now.

Jon Jenner, Editor

Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z 

I like games that surprise me. The huge blockbuster gaming franchises like AC4 and Arkham Origins were out in force at Eurogamer, and I don’t doubt they will be incredible, but I know what they do already. One game that I don’t know anything about is Yaiba. I happened across its blood splattered screens by accident, but was instantly drawn in. Not since God of War III have I enjoyed a hack and slash so much. The combat is simple but glorious, exactly the right combination when ploughing through hordes of zombies with a katana. Its art style is reminiscient of Okami, with a change-up of colour palate to really bring out the gore.

Yaiba also retains a sense of fun, allowing you to pick up the severed arms of your foes to beat up more undead. I don’t know anything about the story, I don’t know if the gameplay will be consistently good, but I do know that of all the games I played at Eurogamer this game left an impression. Oh, scratch that part about franchises; apparently the full name is Yaiba: Ninja Garden Z. But still, it’s fun. 

Jon Jones, Online Games Editor

Batman: Arkham Origins

The bonus of Batman is that he really needs no introduction. Open your demo with him hanging a criminal upside down off a building, and no-one really needs to know how they got there. In Arkham Origins, bad stuff is going down in Gotham, and Batman’s there to save the day. It’s a prequel to the other Arkham games, although just from the demo, it’d be tricky to  tell until the very end.

Warner Bros are staying pretty close to Rocksteady’s style, as gameplay remains pretty much the same as ever, even with new gadgets. Detective mode has been slightly refined, as Batman reconstructs a video of a helicopter crash in order to find out how it happened.  It was a little too easy to get lost or lose track of your objective, but these are only problems for the timed demo, not regular gameplay.

As one of the more structured demos at Eurogamer, it really stood out among the rest. It felt like you were actually playing part of the game, rather than just a random slice of action. For great atmosphere, being easy to pick up, and actually making me want to play the rest of the game – Arkham Origins gets my pick of the con!

Becky Mullen, Games Editor

Exeposé Games Does Eurogamer

Image Credit: Niklas Rahmel

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you first step onto the con floor at Eurogamer.

Game booths sprawl all over the place with no understandable order, flyers are shoved at your face, and you can barely move for black novelty t-shirts. It’s sort of like the Freshers’ squash, but somehow less of a fire hazard.

The queue to get in is always long, but moves surprisingly quickly. This does not last.

While it’s tempting to head straight for the brightly neon-lit mega displays of Sony and Microsoft, you’ve got to think tactically. It might take hours to queue for the main booths and new consoles, and there’s no guarantee you’ll get a game you want to play anyway. The newer games are always looking to show off on the next-gen though, so it pays off to be inventive.

Look out for the smaller stands that still have the new kit and beat two birds with one stone, like this year’s Surgeon Simulator. You’ll still be standing around for a while though, so make sure you bring something to do.

When you finally get your hands on the controller, time passes all too quickly. In order for the booths to deal with the queues, you often only get to play a single match, fifteen minutes, or sometimes even less.

Image Credit: Niklas Rahmel

It’s not really long enough to totally grasp a new game, or get a real sense of story or character, but you need to get the most out of it that you can. If it’s open-world then make sure you do something ridiculous, because you’re not going to get very far with anything else.

It’s a shame, but the booths are more likely to be crewed by a bunch of unenthusiastic part-timers than any of the real developers. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about the game, but don’t be offended if you get blank faces in return. At the same time, don’t get too keen when you find a real developer. They might be looking a bit bored, but they’ve been stood there for several days now and are one spilled coffee away from a meltdown.

Eurogamer may be smaller than some of the international cons, but that’s not such a bad thing.

You can rock up to a developer’s session barely five minutes before it starts, for example, and still get in. But the flip-side to this is that it’s obvious some developers don’t make an effort. The Sims 4 had a shockingly useless stand that only let you play a stripped down version of Create-A-Sim, and no actual gameplay at all.

Image Credit: Niklas Rahmel

It’s a shame when big franchises waste an opportunity like this, especially when there aren’t even any decent freebies.

Even though the free stuff can be a bit disappointing, you can still pick up the odd key-ring, poster, or t-shirt. It’s pretty unlikely you’ll ever use them, or even look at them again after shoving them into your wardrobe the day after, but nothing can stop the overpowering urge to hoard as much as possible.

The power of free shit is strong, but it’s still shit. So avoid elbowing kids in the face, even if they do sound like the sort that insults your mother on Halo.

Even though Eurogamer forces you into queues with hundreds of teenagers, the atmosphere still buzzes. After all, you’re surrounded by hundreds of people who share your interests, who are just as excited to be there as you are. Some of them are even wearing costumes, and some of them you might even recognise. So be happy, bring snacks, and above all else, try to avoid anyone dressed as a zombie clown.

Becky Mullen, Games Editor

Best Games I Never Finished: Mirror's Edge

I have to admit that I completely forgot about this game until really recently.

It was one of the first games I owned for the PS3, and it wasn’t until I saw a play through appear on YouTube that I remembered what a gem it is.

For those who have never heard of it, Mirror’s Edge released in 2007 and received wide critical acclaim for its ingenuity and originality. Set in a eerily blank dystopian world, you play from a first person perspective as the protagonist Faith . Within this world you are a Runner, your job is to deliver messages throughout the city to revolutionary groups who oppose the current totalitarian system.

The plot soon thickens when Faith gets entangled in the political conflict, but in all honesty the narrative of this game isn’t that crucial. What is crucial to the enjoyment of this game is the gameplay itself.

To progress you have to complete missions successfully without dying, so essentially moving as swiftly as possible from A to B whilst occasionally getting shot at.

The game is centred on free running, a way of moving freely and swiftly across the rooftops of the city, and as you play from Faith’s perspective, it soon gets incredibly exhilarating. The game includes ‘Runner Vision’, where everything  in the city is muted except the objects that can be used to navigate your way across the city which stand out in bright primary colours. Whilst the effect is useful for gameplay, it is also visual striking and adds to the atmosphere the developers were trying to create.

To play the game well, you have to focus on momentum. The smoother you can negotiate obstacles and jump gaps, the more speed you gain, hence the more effectively you travel through the environment.

Though it does take a lot of practice and patience, when you get it right it’s pretty impressive. This, combined with the first person perspective, makes for some really exhilarating gameplay. The free running, while the games finest feature, was also the reason I had to take a break. You need to get to the point where you can instinctively control Faith without stopping and thinking “what is the button to go under a pole, rather then try and climb it? Where is the guy who keeps at shooting at me? Where am I supposed to go now!?”.

When you do finally work out the route after the sixth time of dying, the game does get much easier and you become completely absorbed. The better you get, the more exhilarating the gameplay becomes, also meaning it becomes incredibly intense incredibly quickly. Particularly as later on in the game you have access to a gun.

The effect of the first person camera ultimately means you can only see where you are travelling to, and I found this did make the whole game feel so extreme that after a while I was forced to take a break.

Since seeing bits of this game again though, I definitely want to replay it. The visuals and artistry are fantastic, and the stylised environment is sensitively and carefully constructed to be harmonious with the gameplay.

If you can get good at this game then it is stunning, so I would recommend putting in the practice.

 

Rosie Howard

Alternate Review: Fifa 14

So another year goes by and we have another Fifa to religiously play, and this years does not disappoint.

Fifa 14 promised to be big and it fires on all cylinders with excellent graphics, beautiful game play, and of course up-to-date teams. It’s not an exaggeration to say Fifa has come on leaps and bounds since 2013.

Now you’re probably wondering what position am I in to say this, and how I can afford to play this game on a student budget? Better still, how I can afford the time to play?

Luckily for me I have had a free week to play as I had appendicitis and, according to the doctor, had to ‘spend a week sat still’. Which I interpreted as being able to create an excellent ‘ultimate team’.

So this week has been spent scrutinising the game and trying out all of the new features.

The game, for me, has become a lot more realistic in its game play, which makes for more competitive matches. The players have a far heavier touch and less close control in comparison to Fifa’s predecessor. This realism is both great…and also a pain, as you can often find yourself scrapping in the midfield, constantly turning into tackles due to bad touches.

The new gameplay has made Fifa much harder to play as you have to use the skill moves to get around players, rather than the close control that was heavily relied on in previous years. This problem however is easily overcome as they have created some excellent skill moves which allow you to quickly embarrass your opponent.

I know and have felt the affect of this embarrassment the new skills can create as I found myself being destroyed regularly online. The new skill also allows you to really utilise the likes of Ronaldo, Hazard, or Messi and recreate their unique style.

Though the celebrations are still as unrealistic as ever, allowing every player the ability to front flip. There are, however, a lot of new celebrations which vary from the classic ‘school boy teaching’ style to the ‘dolphin jump’, which provide great entertainment.

In addition to this another benefit is that the wavering pace of players has become a lot less visible, which means people can no longer easily ‘pace abuse’ on Ultimate team, which makes it far more about skill rather than holding down the R2 button.  In this sense ‘ultimate team’ has become much harder as you have to fork out a lot more for the top players, as the top speeds often lead to lost control, making sprinting for long distances much harder.

However a review is only fair if we compare it to its competitor, Pro Evolution Soccer. I haven’t played pro evolution soccer, but I did play the demo, and it’s fair to say that Fifa has the blown the competition out of the water. Pro evolution’s graphics are still lagging way behind and it still feels as if you’re playing with robots as they stagger with the ball.

Overall I feel Fifa 14 is a great improvement on the previous game as it has become a lot more realistic whilst also maintaining its excellent graphics.

It is fair to say it if you are going to buy Fifa your degree may suffer, as you can easily spend hours on each of the modes, so do think carefully about your decision.

3/5 Stars

 

Luke Taylor

Procrastination Gaming: The Sims

Image Credit: EA

People differ hugely when it comes to addictive gaming.

Many people find it impossible to put Angry Birds, or any of it subsequent forms, down and are playing it anywhere and any time.

I’ve personally never been a fan, mostly because I’m really bad at it. The same goes for Temple Run, Fruit Ninja and many other mobile app games.

So when I’m on campus, away from my computer, I can be relatively focused. But my downfall comes when I am back in my room, in front of my laptop, and the Sims disc is already in the disc drive. The Sims, more specifically the Sims 3, is my weakness.

The one major issue is that I can play it for hours and hours on end.

The Sims seems to be a game that you have either played since the early days of the original game, without aging and toddlers, or you have never played it before.  Some people I am sure find it incredibly boring. What could be fun about making computer-generated people brush their teeth, wash their clothes, and go to work?

But there is something about it that makes it completely and utterly addictive.

Just creating the Sims to begin with can end up taking hours. And with each expansion pack (of which there are many), there is more choice of clothes and hair, meaning that you don’t end up with an entire town with identically dressed Sims.

For many the joy of the Sims is starting from nothing and building up your Sims funds through work. Allowing you to dabble in more interesting architecture and interior design once you have the funds.

As you keep playing you keep gaining promotions and skills, raising the next generation; fulfilling your Sims every desire until they reach their lifetime goal.

There are other ways to play. Primarily, cheating. Starting off with a lot of money is a classic way of ensuring you can instantly get a big house and nice stuff. I can’t remember the last time I played without entering the cheat ‘motherlode’ for a 50,000 simoleon headstart. Other classic cheats include ‘testingcheats enabled’, with the very useful ‘make all happy’, meaning you can make a Sim work to gain skill points over the space of a few days and nights without them ever being hungry or needing to sleep.

It can also be a very social game. A good way to play is to get together with a group of friends and make yourselves into sims. Then you can control each other, or put freewill on high and then see what they get up to by themselves. It can be absolutely hilarious, especially if you leave them to it.

So if you are trying to work, stay away from a computer. But with the Sims 4 on the horizon, and being behind on quite a few expansion packs, I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to resist!

 

Rosie Howard

 

Opinion: EA-Star Wars

EA have acquired a deal with LucasFilm and Disney enabling the publishing giant to develop core Star Wars titles in a multi-year, multi-title agreement.

This follows the earlier announcement that LucasArts was to be closed down, which had cast doubt over the future of the Star Wars franchise in the gaming market. Now, EA have the power of BioWare, DICE, and Visceral Games to carry the brand into the next generation of gaming.

But what could each studio bring to the table?

BioWare

With the massive success of the Mass Effect franchise, it’s clear that the Canadian studio could handle the task of creating a huge sci-fi universe to enjoy. The studio isn’t unfamiliar with licensed franchises, either, with Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights being born from the Dungeons & Dragons universe, as well as having developed Star Wars: The Old Republic.

The developer’s most recent franchises, Mass Effect and Dragon Age, are very similar in several respects, such as character development, romances, and dialogue options. While these components give each title that recognisable BioWare flair, incorporating these elements into another franchise could give the impression that the studio is running out of ideas.

It’s a risk that the developer might have to take if they choose this direction with their SW title: stick with their well-established styles, or try something new.

Creating a Star Wars title with a large cast of characters, epic scope and an immersive world could lead to the birth of a highly successful licensed series of games – something that the industry has arguably lacked for a rather long time.

DICE

Best-known for developing the Battlefield series, they will probably be the first asked to create a title similar to their flagship franchise. Given that Star Wars: First Assault was an FPS already in development before the LucasArts closure, DICE seem like the best fit to either continue the development on the title.

They could even give fans the shooter they’ve been waiting for since 2005 – Battlefront III. Imagine Battlefield, but with tie-fighters, AT-ATs, and epic sci-fi battlegrounds, and you’re on-course for a potentially awesome game. A Star Wars FPS seems inevitable, and EA would arguably be foolish to let another studio take the reins on that potential.

Visceral Games

Also tipped for developing a Star Wars title in the future, though the direction they might take is entirely unclear. The developer most recently became recognisable for the Dead Space series, though the studio’s previous titles almost entirely stem from already-established franchises, including games based on The Lord of the Rings and Ian Fleming’s 007.

From their history, it seems like Visceral could take a more traditional ‘action’ route with the Star Wars name, possibly somewhat akin to Star Wars: 1313, which (unfortunately) went down with LucasArts. One thing that would really make a Star Wars title stand out from the crowd is something that I wish was present in the original films: grit.

The lost ‘StarWars: 1313’

For me, the Star Wars universe lacked a dark heart that could have made it more interesting and engaging. The narratives were too epic sci-fi cliché, the Sith too typically ‘evil’. Visceral could flesh this out to a more mature audience by expanding on the backgrounds of potential villains as well as the Sith allure, perhaps in a similar style to ‘unitology’ found within Dead Space.

Expanding character alignment beyond simple ‘black and white’ and into the more complex and engaging ‘morally grey’ could create an interesting character-driven action title that would depart from the typical Disney formula that the casual titles are likely to take.

What next?

The future of Star Wars in the core market sits entirely in EA’s hands, then, and its studios certainly have the credentials to create a potentially stellar game if given the creative freedom to do so. However, with EA’s clear focus on action and shooter titles, innovation may be low on the list of priorities, likely resulting in each studio sticking to what they do best.

With the Star Wars franchise starting a new chapter under Disney’s reign, now might be the best time to break free and give the core fans what they’ve been waiting for.

 

Jack Merrell

Comment: EA's 'Women in Gaming Campaign'

EA recently released a promotional video for their ‘Women in Gaming Campaign’ on YouTube, alongside the Twitter hashtag #PlayAs1. At the time of writing, roughly a day after the video was released, it has only gained 301 views. For a powerhouse like EA, that’s really not very impressive, at all, and therein lies the problem. The industry doesn’t want to forcefully address the issue as it lacks support, yet it lacks support because the industry won’t address it.

We are stuck in a cycle of male developers, producing male characters for a male audience. Aside from the lack of creativity this cycle inevitably produces, it is also alienating literally over half of the population. The ‘Women in Gaming Campaign’ is a positive step, but one that is far too tenderly placed.

Developers fear revolutionising the industry as it may alienate their audience, but forget that in doing so they will draw a far greater audience. Does this mean male characters should die off? Of course not, but it does mean we need to see more original female characters. Only by doing this can we encourage a female audience, and by extension encourage female involvement in the industry.

Image credit: wikimedia.org

Would a difference in gender really affect the experience of a game? As seen by the huge sales of Portal and Portal 2, it would seem not. In fact most gamers probably easily forgot the fact that they were playing as a woman due to the first person perspective of the game. The novelty was not lost on female gamers.

Recently, more positive steps have been made in games. Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Liberation was a major action blockbuster which, for the first time in the series, had a female protagonist. A few months later, Square Enix’s rebooted Lara Croft actually portrayed a three dimensional protagonist, instead of the glorified sex-doll of past games. Both titles received positive reviews and strong sales, despite the fact that the action genre is traditionally aimed at a male audience.

Perhaps the point I’m getting at is that, as a gamer, I don’t care if I’m playing as a male or a female character. I just care if the gameplay’s fun, the story strong, or hell even if the graphics just look good. I’m sure the majority of gamers would agree, and for those that don’t… they’d get used to it. Even if developers see a slight dip in profits initially, eventually gamers will stop caring about wanting to be a man and start playing games based on their merits. Ultimately, this is all we want from games, for them to be fun.

I guess this is the part where I make bold claims for the future and what I want it to be. Really, I just want the games industry to be open to everyone. Regardless of gender, or race, or age, we need to be encouraging and supporting anyone who wants to make games. Only by doing this can we keep the market from getting stale and keep producing creative and innovative ideas.

The best way to do this is to set a clear example in the games themselves. Children should have female characters they grow up with and look up to. Characters who capture their imagination and passion. We need the biggest most diverse pool of gamers so that the future can be full of the biggest most diverse range of games. Developers need to try harder.

So apparently I’m some kind of Video Games Hippie now… but hopefully I’ve made a point.

Jon Jones, Online Games Editor

Kickstarting a Dead Horse

Picture Courtesy of Wikipedia

After the collapse of the relatively popular Haunts project on the crowd-funding entertainment website Kickstarter in the middle of October, interest in the new and wholly exciting field of independent speculative publishing has ballooned. Projects like Ouya, the “beautiful, inexpensive package” that promises a console experience on your television (so inventive!), Eternity, Obsidian’s first foray into the Infinity Engine retro scene since the dissolution of Black Isle Studios, and even the Homestuck adventure game, what’s sure to be a treat for fans of what some call the Odyssey of online entertainment, promise big, spectacular developments, for low-risk, high-reward investments from a trusting and hopeful public.

My big question is, why all these big promises, and why so few returns?

The answer to the first question is simple enough: no one is willing to make the leap unless they have faith they’re not going to fall, and these Kickstarter runners are masters of contemporary PR. With what is ostensibly vapourware and a few spin doctors, millions have bought into a bevy of ‘possibilities’ that are so vast, so inspiring, so absolutely ludicrous, that the entire affair practically circles around again. It’s so stupid, it’s foolproof!

Ouya is the quintessential example of how, without a publisher mediating the public-developer relationship with an ounce of common business sense, inflated egos and big words can sell a product before it even hits the shelves. A glorified Android device that does a few things that your PC can do so much better, and nicks its design from countless other sources while it’s at it? Let people believe it can run Skyrim and you have your sale! Whether it can actually run Skyrim is irrelevant; what matters is your “investors” believe it can, specificationsbe damned. And hey, playing Canabalt, a free Flash game, on your TV screen that supports the same HDMI or DVI device your PC outputs, that’s worth the price of admission, right?

The problem here is that Kickstarter tends to inflate the expectations of its users because it is primarily a tool for bypassing the bloated and ponderous publisher-developer slavery of yesteryear. It’s about making a sale, not creating a product, and all sales pitches are hyperbolic and self-congratulatory to the point of nausea. Tim Schafer’s Double Fine Adventure talks at length about the challenges of producing games, and the creative freedom provided by circumventing publishers, but he, and the countless other Kickstarter revolutionaries that are sweeping the collective entertainment industries conveniently forgo mentioning the high costs, lack of support, and unreasonable demands of the selfsame crowds that do the financing. They want to be able to get their product quickly, and they want it to be of the highest possible standard, in an even more demanding way than publishers. Ouya fans want to play Skyrim, Wasteland 2 hopefuls want a Wasteland that lives up to the original, and Anita Sarkeesian’s investors want to see her rip a stagnant medium a new one. If they fail, they’ll be disappointed, and disappointment begets terrible, all-consuming, Star Wars prequel trilogy tier anger. This bubble, as we can see with Haunts and the horrific backlash from its failure, is about to have an aneurysm and burst. All we can do is watch, and when Kickstarter itself admits that it has no way of enforcing its suspiciously sparse terms of use and making developers deliver, it’s very easy to see how a failing pledgee could pocket his earnings and run.

Swill? (Courtesy of Wikipedia)

I’m probably coming across as intensely critical, but this is only because I so desperately want to see successes that just aren’t happening yet with the big figurehead projects. Minor projects are succeeding – FTL, an unsung hero of the crowd-sourcing bubble, came to completion without a hitch, and delivered a quality experience to its fans, just as they wanted. There’s even a bright side for Haunts, which isn’t entirely dead: Blue Mammoth Games have expressed an interest in picking up the nearly-complete project and carrying it to the finish line. There’s always a reason to hope, especially when that hope is for a world without gigantic AAA cartels like EA and Actiblizz churning out stale product after stale product for their casual fans, so endeared to the taste of all that swill.

In the end, what Kickstarter users have to be prepared for is that they’re less investors and more bettors. Each product is a racehorse, and sometimes, racehorses get turned into glue without ever finishing a race. It’s very sad, but it’s the way the world works, and before, publishers were the ones who took the losses, not the consumer. When GREE folded, Square Enix lost Fortress, but they shouldered the burden and moved on. Cavia did the same years later, to everyone’s deep sorrow, and still Square Enix soldiered on. Now we have to prepare to be the ones who get shafted, and for those of us who part with what little cash we have to support an idea we love, that’s a hard taste, but one we’ll have to acquire eventually.

Right now, it’s too early to really make a call, and all we can do is wait and see, with hope in our hearts and wallets in our hands, ready to make the same mistake over and over again. I’ve invested in some Kickstarters myself, and am praying to Eldath that they succeed. I’m just waiting for them, and crowd-funding, to fail, so I can pat myself on the back, heart full of remorse.

Azad Nalbandian

Madden 13: The greatest NFL game yet?

It is easily the best time of the year. Football is home, both American and proper, and with it comes the wave of sports games coming our way! Madden 13 is always the first to make an appearance and is steadily becoming more and more popular in the UK as does the actual popularity of American Football. Madden 13 easily proves itself to be the greatestNFL simulator to ever be released. Madden 13 has made some huge changes that not only affect the NFL gaming franchise but could also have ripples across all EA Sports games. So, to get all you guys as hyped and inspired as I am, check out the intro video below.

 

 

Now that you are suitably hyped, I can continue with the review. The presentation is the best I have seen yet from this series. The model detail is fantastic as every player looks like his real life counter-part.  Thousands of different passing and tackling animations have been introduced giving the player seemingly endless unique visual experiences during play. You will never make the same tackle twice. These animations vary due to all sorts of factors ranging from position, speed and even the play style of individual players. It is a genuine delight to watch. As it stands the presentation is as close to the real life experience you will get.

The gameplay is faster than previous titles. The new animations combined with a new physics engine make passing and running plays more realistic. Games can be quick and easy or they can be long and realistic. It is completely adaptable for the most new gamers and it is satisfying enough for the Madden 13 veterans. The best part of Madden 13, however, lies in its new formatting and new features to both career and online modes. The most revolutionary change has to be connected careers. Connected careers allows a player to enage online with up to 32 other players in their very own league. Basically you can do a career mode with your friends. Everyone choses a team and any teams that are not chosen are given to the computer. Such an idea has never been done before and it works so well. Playing a career with your friends ups the stakes and competition and invests you even more into your own managerial career.

Photo credits to brett_mac

For those of us who have played previous titles we all know how impossible Ultimate Team was. I am pleased to say it’s easy now. There is even an achievment named “We promise it’s easy now”. It takes the best parts from the FIFA Ultimate Team and adapts them to American Football. As always EA lack a certain something with the servers and with the online play it can really mess with your games, especially considering the connected careers and Ultimate Team are so reliant on decent servers. There is nothing worse than being costed a contract because of unreliable servers. The crack in my controller is a testement to that. For those of us who lack online play, fear not the offline mode is just as good. A neat little feature I love in the new career mode is the Twitter system. When you perform actions in the career a whole host of sports casters will send fake tweets about your progress. Its a small feature but one of many that just add to the experience.

Overall I would say there has never been a better time to get Madden 13. If you are a veteran you will love how improved it is, if you are new you will find it incredibly easy to get into. NFL is one of the fastest rising sports in the UK increasing in popularity year after year. If you want to get involved in watching a new sport, Madden much like FIFA helps you to get into it. You get a good grasp on the players and rules in a fun and interactive way. I would love to see connected careers be applicable in FIFA. Imagine playing thePremier League with your friends, it would be incredible. My advice is just try it and it will open up a whole new world of sports to you!

Rated 3+

Developer: EA Sports

Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3

Photography by Brett_mac