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He's back. Yet again. That icon of American Football makes another splashdown on the PS3 and Xbox 360 in Madden NFL 13. Question is - is he still up to it?

The Madden series has been popping up on our shelves since 1988, and older gamers will remember John Madden's noggin grinning back at them from the game's packaging in the Mega Drive days. In recent years though, that gung-ho grin has proverbially dropped into a more tired and cynical half-smile as the game series' innovation has fallen short - a problem surely compounded by the complete lack of rival titles from other publishers. Well, apart from Backbreaker in 2010 but we're still waiting on a sequel to that...

Thankfully though, Madden's publisher Electronic Arts has been listening to its critics and has launched an all-out charm offensive with Madden 13. Out goes the canned animations of the past and income cutting-edge physics that sees truly chaotic, unpredictable action out there on the playing field; such fancy moves are all down to the game's new Infinity Engine. Said engine also introduces an overhauled passing system that makes you feel like you're in total control of your players.

The backbone to all this scintillating onscreen action is chest-bumpingly good too thanks to the in-depth Connected Career options - from joining online leagues and coaching an entire team through to driving the career of a single player, every permutation of the sport is covered. Then there's the enticing frontend that feels like a US TV broadcast with all its flashy graphics, plus there's even new ad-libbing commentary from Jim Nantz and Phil Simms (Wiki them, non-NFL fans).

It all adds up to a bona fide upgrade to the series then, and one that restores Madden's reputation. The only question is whether there is a publisher out there still mad (den) enough to take on this legend in the market place. After playing Madden 13, we suspect not.