I pre-ordered this title and picked it up on midnight launch from my local store. I'd read a ton of reviews saying this years Madden is more than a roster update, that they had done some major overhauls on Franchise mode, the defensive AI and the running game. Now that I've logged a good 40+ hours into the games various modes, for anyone on the fence I thought I'd give you some honest feedback. a. Running Game - Yes it's been changed quite a bit, unfortunately if you've played past games, it's going to be a major learning curve for you. You first must unlearn most of your running tactics (when to juke, what to do to break a tackle) thanks to the new mini game when contact is made. Clicking the correct button on the screen can result in your player breaking a tackle. If you are like me, used to clicking X to stiff arm, or trying to juke out of a tackle, you'll have to retrain yourself never to do this, otherwise you will find you just lose every minigame. 2. Defensive AI - This is the big issue, hopefully it gets fixed in subsequent patches, but at launch there are 2 major problems. A. In multiplayer games, there is a glitch that allows you and your opponent to see whether the offense is running or passing. Makes multiplayer games basically pointless at this time. B. In Franchise mode games, All Madden difficulty results in every QB throwing at least 90% accuracy, and there is a bug in the code that EA has acknowledged that results in huge amounts of fumbles. Check Youtube for multiple vids of 10+ fumbles in a game. C. Franchise Overhaul - Yea... No. It looks almost exactly like last years did. This year there is more emphasis on weekly training drills, but in reality, you just need to get a Gold Medal on a drill, then sim it for each week to get the full bonus. Secondly, they added a Practice Squad system, but it's really just a waste of time. Your practice squad players get almost no development points, any good ones will get poached by opposing teams immediately, and you'll find that you wasted your time moving them there, only to cut them the following year. All in all, if you like Madden, you'll probably buy this game. I bought this title using Best Buy's trade in, and honestly I wish I'd just kept last years Madden. The running game was more uniform to the series as a whole, there were far less glitches (fumbling, any QB>90% completion ratings, Multiplayer play reveal). Good luck.