End of Year Community Awards: Best Franchise Mode of 2013
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The year-in-review process continues with another category to vote for in the Community Awards. Best Franchise Mode has been won by the Madden series for the past two years. It’ll face a challenge from NCAA Football 14 and NHL 14. Continue on for the summaries of each, to vote in the poll, and leave any thoughts in the comments!
Connected Franchise (Madden NFL 25)
EA Sports took the foundation from the previous year having revolutionized the Franchise mode and added a new path other than coach or player – controlling operations as the owner. That includes setting prices on concessions items and merchandise, hiring and firing staff, renovating stadiums, building new stadiums, or relocating teams to other markets. Even Levi’s Stadium, which opens for the 49ers next season, appears in the second year. Online Franchises can still include up to 32 owners and all features were present on both console generations.
GM Connected (NHL 14)
After a promising first attempt at the massively multiplayer (can house up to 750 people in the various roles!) mode in NHL 13, which was harmed by constant server connections that slowed navigation enough to turn some people away from it completely, NHL 14 ironed out the kinks and delivered with the compelling Franchise mode. Improvements were also made to GM progression, player development, and trade AI.
Dynasty (NCAA Football 14)
Dynasty mode took a more streamlined and straight-forward approach by making the recruiting process simpler and far less tedious. Skill Trees for coaches was a strong addition allowing for a more personalized experience by focusing on a choice between gaining advantages on the field or in recruiting. Presentation touches like the ESPN Ticker and new halftime show did a good job of connecting with events taking place around the nation and neutral site games were long overdue. Online Dynasty remained reliable and lots of fun.
Make sure to vote in other categories: Best New Feature – Best Gameplay – Best Mobile Game – Best Career Mode