Official NCAA 12! Thread

[BrntO4Life]

Firing it up now! Nice looking menus.

[BrntO4Life]

Starting my first game - Controlling Texas vs. Oregon on AA.

First Impressions:
- Opening looks nicer, but commentary feels as unnatural as ever.
- Definitely improved the entrance animation. Looks cool and very similar to real life.
- These dreads just suck. Not sure why they couldn't start with smaller ones.Small potatoes, though.
- Coverage is definitely improved. I got three coverage sacks on the first drive.
- Threw a bomb. Got it picked off.
- New collision system feels VERY natural. Having a tackle button is odd, but I'll adjust.
- Blocking on punt returns is greatly improved. Special teams exist now!
- The end-of-quarter highlights are a nice touch.
- AI Defense still does Engage Eight, leading to insta-TDs. Why is this play even in the game?
- Goal line feels more fun with the new momentum system. Actually "tough" yards.
- AI coverage is much improved. Passing windows are very tight against a good D.
- Some really great new pass-breakup animations. Much improved.
- I defeated Oregon, 14-7. Their O-line couldn't stop my pass rush.
- 3D grass was noticeable in post-game. Textures look better in-game, but barely.
- Post-game presentation is still as awkward and disjointed feeling as ever.

[OnlyOneBeerLeft]

OOBL spending his car insurance money on NCAA...

[Ravin]

I just played my first demo game as Oregon and won 7-6 with last minute TD. Defence seems solid, and over what I saw from the last demo, a lot of new animations. I really hope at the end they allow you to download those snapshots of the game because I think they would be cool to have for franchises.

I think this is a buy for me. Though I have no idea what school to pick yet.

[Point Blank]

Downloading now.

[Ravin]

Does anyone have info on what the offences mean, like spread and such? Trying to learn all this stuff to make a good school pick.

[SHOGUN]

Does anyone have info on what the offences mean, like spread and such? Trying to learn all this stuff to make a good school pick.

Spread - It's such a generic term. It basically means they have a shit load of shotgun and probably some option plays.

Multiple - Has a little bit of everything.

Pro - NFL-style offense.

One Back - No use of a fullback. Very similar or the same as the other two above honestly.

Pistol - A mixed breed between a one-back and spread offense.

Air Raid - A spread variant based on short passing. Think WCO on steroids.

Run-N-Shoot - Four receiver attack that's more aggressive and vertical-orientated.

Flexbone - Good old fashion triple option. Run heavy, but also has Run-N-Shoot passing concepts.

[Ravin]

Thanks for the info. College seems to be a lot more air raiding then anything. Throwing seems to be the biggest part of the game.

[Swarley]

Finally home from work. Booting up the Xbox now to play the demo.

[NAHSTE]

Thanks for the info. College seems to be a lot more air raiding then anything. Throwing seems to be the biggest part of the game.

The beauty of college is the wide spectrum of playing styles. You have teams like Air Force and Navy that average 300 yards per game on the ground then you have the other extreme where Texas Tech and Baylor average 450 per game in the air. Then you have the hybrids and the various other systems that pop up over time like the power spread or the read option.

Makes for some great contrast and some really unique schemes.

[KNUBB]

Zone blitzing actually works. I'm in love

[OnlyOneBeerLeft]

Hmmm... I'm feeling a bit of dejavu here from past Madden.... Cover 3 seems very effective, Too much zone will be used this year IMO.

Animations where the WR actually turns around to get position for a ball (Possibly deemed "Rocket Catch" by some people here, although it really isn't anything glitchy, it's added into the game for realism and it's not a super jump or anything, defenders have the upper hand in these situations from what I've seen so far) look pretty good, kinda hard to trigger them tho, and I found sometimes my WR would turn to try and make one of these catches and see the ball sail 5 yards past him. Would like to see these kinda catches and jump balls where both the defender and receiver react equally as well be tweaked a little bit.

Read option cheese is back... Knubb is officially on my shitlist before we even play a game.

Defense swarms like crazy on outside options.

Defensive line actually works... somewhat. Seeing coverage sacks and more realistic pressure, this is a huge plus.

Tackle animations are nice... tho a couple times it seemed like the RB ran directly thru my defender.

Defensive line play is fine, a good timed jump and you can knock an offensive lineman down and allow a man blitzing behind you to get good pressure.

Dreads look fucking retarded.

Lots of batted balls and some real WTF passes... seemed almost random.

[SHOGUN]

The read option from Pistol doesn't work. The QB always keeps it.

[Saluki]

I know some guys who have a reviewers build, apparently the demo is a super old build, the guys with the review build say the demo is near unplayable after playing the near complete game.

[KNUBB]

Read option cheese is back... Knubb is officially on my shitlist before we even play a game.