CHANGE IS GOOD - as long as it's the right change. There are many changes to this year's annual edition of the stalwart Madden football franchise - and not all of them are good.


Madden 13, the newest edition of the top-selling, longrunning video game football franchise, has been released for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii.

I have been buying this game since the original days of the Sega Genesis, back in 1990.

There has been ebb and flow to the quality of the game from year to year, and sometimes I preferred other football games (such as NFL 2K), but last year was the first time that I had chosen not to buy Madden at all.

I was simply tired of the new game being little more than a roster update with some new features thrown in that were usually more show than substance.

But this year, I was back on the bandwagon - thanks to a revamped play engine, better physics for the players, improved computer opponent intelligence and a better passing system.

For the most part, all of those things deliver, and I am happy with Madden 13, but some changes are not for the better.

The biggest change is one of omission. The fantasy draft, where you could build your own team from the current NFL talent pool, is gone this time out ,and many fans are not happy.

They have been lighting up Twitter with their complaints.

While not one of my favorite modes in the game, it was fun to jumble the rosters and end up with Tom Brady throwing passes to Calvin Johnson (this year's Madden cover player).

Another complaint is the alteration of franchise mode. I couldn't even find it when I first popped the game in, and I was not amused. Franchise mode, where you take a team through an entire season (or more), is my favorite part of the game.

It is now in the 'connected career' mode, where you can start as a player or coach and move through your career. Not a big change, but some of the smaller wrinkles of being a general manager are now gone.

So enough about the negatives. What's good? Well, the game looks and sounds better now. A new broadcasting team (Phil Simms and Jim Nantz) are fresh voices and sound natural (though as in any game such as this, they do repeat themselves). The new physics for the players are also nice. No more glitches where players pass through each other like ghosts when they get up from a tackle.

Now, players interact and sometimes even have to untangle themselves or get up from on top of another player. It's a cool touch, though sometimes it leads to comical animations, as well.The improved physics also mean that player collisions are much more realistic, and big hits actually look painful.

The overall game play is smoother and the playbooks (always a strong point) really feel different from team to team. You can also use the Kinect on Xbox to actually call time-outs verbally, which works well in those last-second situations.

Another addition is one pulled from role-playing games. Players and coaches can now earn 'XP' (experience points), which can be used to upgrade statistics. It's a nice perk and works well.

So while the Madden franchise has yet to achieve ultimate perfection, this year's version is worth the time and money ($60) for fans of the franchise.

That is, as long as you can forgive the exclusion of the fantasy draft.

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Ian Clark's Pop Culture Club appears weekly in the New Hampshire Sunday News. He is the author of two fantasy novels: 'Prophecy of Shadows' and 'Plains of the Past.' Check out his 'Nerdherders' podcast on iTunes and nerdherderspodcast. com. His email address is iclark@unionleader.com.