Difficulty:

Very Hard

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Disastrous"

This was a disaster. Franchise mode has been replaced with an interesting career concept. You get to be the coach or player. If you're the coach, you get next to nothing for it. That created playbook you wasted time on? You can't use it. Trades? Good luck with this year's AI. EA tried to make trades more realistic, but in doing so made it so that it is nearly impossible. Youtube will show you. Someone posted some of the bad trades this year's AI makes. The game added some great player animations, but it still has the same feel otherwise. The entire user interface to menus has been screwed up. Information you would like in one window requires getting out of that window, going to another, exiting again, and then going back into the other window. If you want to edit your team, let's say move Dwight Freeney back to a defensive end spot... you can't do that once you reach the career mode. Same thing if you want Mayo back at a MLB spot. They have limited you to editing which side a player lines up at, and that's as far as it goes. 2013 tried to move one step forward, but instead moved two steps back. Look up the roster for this year and buy 2012 if you really like the franchise mode feature. If you're just looking to play for fun, then buy 2013. I have regretted this purchase from the first day I played.