Destructroid: "When one thinks of buying the latest installment of John Madden football, one typically goes the route of either the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 version, instantly shrugging off even the thought of playing a year of pigskin on a Nintendo platform.
If Madden NFL 13 on the Wii U is any indication, the aforementioned way of thinking may change, as EA is providing a serious effort to Nintendo consumers this time around."
It used to have some significant upgrades every couple of years, and you saw measurable improvement every years.
Sadly over the last decade, innovation has slowed big time. Them getting rid of the PC version had the obvious effect of slowing down upgrades as they gave themselves an excuse that the hardware was the same and thus they 'couldn't' make a better one. Of course they bought that excuse by gaining the monopoly on NFL licensing by paying the NFL.
During this last decade the only real improvement besides the slight upgrades is that they add a feature like QB vision, or truck stick, etc....before usually abandoning alot of these a year or two later. That's your 'different' experience. A new gimmick every couple of years.
Now I'm not entirely against Madden, I just think it's something you should buy every FEW years. If your team sucks and suddenly gets good, that's a good time to purchase it as well.
While the Wii U version will be hands down the best NEXT YEAR, when it arrives in August, this year's version is severely rushed to get it out the door.
It sports improved visuals, but still nothing groundbreaking. Stuff that should have been in a PC version 5 years ago.
The play diagramming is a great feature. When two gamepads are available people will be able to pick plays and not give any hint to those they are playing against. So yeah there's some good uses for the gamepad.
But the physics system WAS the big reason to supposedly buy Madden, so without it's inclusion, well, it's like an older version of madden with better visuals.
Worse yet (and the author didn't mention this) there is no online multiplayer. So yeah, you can't play against anyone unless they are sitting next to you. That's a pretty big drawback.
Not sure about franchise mode. The other version didn't have them, but have patched them in I believe, so the Wii U version should get them too.
But still...no infinity engine, no online multiplayer is two big striking points, and even then I'd like confirmation that the Wii U version will have franchise mode, otherwise that's three big things missing.
Wait until next year's, which should finally be worth getting, if you have a Wii U.