Madden 13 is one of the most anticipated sports video games of this generation partly because of two significant new features added this year to the franchise. Connected Careers mode and the new physics engine are a bold attempt to inject life into a consistent yet somewhat stale game. Those topics have been covered repeatedly already so we don’t want to spend too much time on them. Instead, we’ll focus on some of the minor yet important improvements to Madden NFL 13.
One of the most significant improvements to defensive gameplay this year is, “Man Lock.” Man lock is a fairly difficult concept to explain unless you are a seasoned veteran so if we lose any of you in this explanation please just leave a comment below and we’ll respond to the best of our ability. Man lock is a feature that allows you to disguise whether you are in man-to-man defense or in zone defense. In previous Madden games, there was a very easy way for the offensive player to know which type of defense you are in simply by motioning a wide receiver from one side to the other. If the cornerback followed him to the other side that meant the defense was in man-to-man coverage. If he didn’t, you could tell the defense was in some sort of zone coverage. The most popular Madden 12 video of the year, which had over 200,000 views, explained exactly how you could tell what your opponent was doing on defense.
This year it will be much easier to disguise your defense because of man lock. That isn’t to say there still won’t be a way to read the defense, it just means it will take a little extra work. Madden-School.com will have Madden tips again for Madden 13 to help you out with that.
A second addition to Madden 13 is the brand new hot routes. Ever since Madden NFL came to the Xbox 360 and PS3, running backs and tight ends have had the same hot routes as wide receivers. Anyone who follows football knows that is completely ridiculous. No running back is going to run a fade route out of the backfield. Thankfully, this year we can look forward to new hot routes for running backs including the wheel route, the swing route, and the block and release route (blue route). The dreaded slant out route which has been abused for the last three years has also been removed and replaced with a whip route. For those of you unfamiliar with football terminology, the whip route is where the receiver runs a few steps in then makes a sharp turn out towards the sideline (think Wes Welker).
This year’s Madden 13 game will also be making an appearance on the PlayStation Vita and the Wii U which comes out later this year. Although the game will be way behind in terms of features and gameplay, you may want to give both of those versions a look. If you plan on playing Madden 13 competitively, your best bet is still to get the game on either the PlayStation 3 or the Xbox 360.
Madden 13 comes out on August 28, 2012. Do you plan on buying the game? If so, what features are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments section or if you really enjoyed the post, feel free to come join the Madden School forum and participate in free Madden 13 tournaments, leagues, and general discussion.