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The day that college football fanatics who also play video games have circled on their calendars has arrived! EA Sports NCAA Football ’13 is now available to download for people that have purchased the Season Pass feature and will officially launch to stores on Tuesday 7/10. While the NCAA Football series did show improvement last year versus the previous year (other than the major OD issues), there was some disappointment in the gaming community that NCAA Football ’13 did not get the new “Infinity” engine update that was announced for Madden ‘13 at E3. With that in mind, EA has promised many new features to help keep the game fresh for collegiate football fans. Thanks to the review copy provided by EA earlier this week, we can now share our thoughts on how the game has delivered.
Presentation
This is an area where the NCAA series has shined in the past. While it doesn’t really have an impact on the actual gameplay, having your team’s stadium, mascots and cheerleaders accurately represented in the game does provide an additional layer of realism that makes you feel more in “in the game”. EA has delivered 80 new updates in this area for NCAA Football ’13. Some of these include:
New Florida Atlantic University Stadium
New North Texas University Stadium
Purdue run-out featuring the Purdue Boilermaker Special
Military parachutists for the Service Academies (Army, Navy, Air Force)
Oklahoma State Paddle Fans
Texas Cheerleaders
USC Song Girls
Rievelle, Texas A&M University Collie Mascot
Big Red, Western Kentucky University Mascot
Conference Championship Trophy Presentations
Rivalry Game Trophy Presentations
Gameplay
While the previously mentioned lack of the “Infinity” engine was a legitimate area of concern for most college football gamers, EA chose to focus heavily on revamping the passing game as it becomes an even bigger part of its real life collegiate counterpart each year. Here are the new features included with the intent of having a more realistic but user-friendly experience:
New QB Dropbacks and Pump Fakes
20 new QB dropback animations
1, 3, 5 and 7 step drops included
Dropbacks are automatic, there is no need to manually drop the QB back
New screen pass dropbacks allowing the QB to throw over rushing linemen
Pump fakes are automatically included in dropbacks where a fake is part of the play
Receiver specific pump fakes, utilized by holding LB or L1 and pressing receiver icon
New Throwing Animations
On-the-move passes (rollout, scramble, etc) with faster release but diminished power and accuracy
Shovel passes for receivers close to the QB
Throwing animations have been sped up, resulting in quicker releases
Total Control Passing
Players can now use the left analog stick to direct the placement of their passes and throw the ball away from defenders and into open space. A great example of this feature would be throwing the back shoulder fade into the end zone where only the receiver can catch the ball.
New Pass Trajectories
There are now 20 different pass trajectories in the game versus the 3 (lob, medium, bullet) in past versions. Bullet passes over the deep middle have been tuned in an effort to tone down the “Super LB” interceptions that have caused many of us to toss a controller in anger when playing the game.
Timing and Receiver Awareness
In prior releases, NCAA Football gamers could throw a pass at any moment and the CPU controlled receiver would attempt to make a play on the ball. This year, that has been changed and the receiver will only attempt to make a play on the ball if the play has progressed to the point they would be looking for the pass. To help facilitate this new feature, the icons for each receiver are now dimmed when the receiver is not looking for the ball and they light up when they are looking for the ball. This should not be confused with the player actually being open so be forewarned not to just toss the ball at a receiver when his icon lights up. Players can also manually switch to their receiver at any point and attempt a user catch if they want to throw before the receiver would be ready otherwise.
Other Offensive Improvements
Play action abort – Pressing RT/R2 will immediately break the play action animation and restore control to the QB. Very useful for countering a blitzing LB.
Over 430 new catch animations
Reduced speed of the QB in the pocket
Eight new sack avoidance moves mapped to the right analog stick
Improved user catch controls help keep the receiver on his route when switching to manual control
Read and React Defensive AI
EA has enhanced the defensive AI in NCAA Football ’13 so that linebackers and defensive backs will no longer be able to make a play on a ball that they cannot see. Hopefully this will be the end of the “Super LB” and “Psychic DB” that have frustrated gamers for some time.
Dynasty
This is where most hardcore NCAA Football gamers really like to spend their time once the game launches each year. There is something very satisfying about playing with your favorite team and/or alma mater and delivering them to the national championship game! Unfortunately, it was all but useless for many Online Dynasty players last year as they played more than one season. But hope springs eternal and the gaming community is optimistic that all of the issues from last year have been resolved. Here are some of the updated features:
Scouting
Users will not have a specific bank of time in both the preseason and regular season for scouting prospects, which allows you to discover their true attribute ratings. This allows you uncover both hidden gems and busts.
Recruiting Enhancements
New triple threat athletes can be recruited and assigned to various positions
Random topic option has been removed in phone calls, replaced with player’s choice
Users can work their way into an uninterested players top 10 by early and often recruiting
Dynamic Pitches
This feature allows pitch grades to change each week based on numerous factors like Championship contention, coach prestige, coach stability, conference prestige and a host of others. This should provide a marked improvement over years past when it was calculated off of strictly static formulas.
Studio Updates and ESPN Bottom Line Ticker
EA leverages their ESPN license by including the ESPN Bottom Line ticker and live studio updates with Rece Davis. The studio updates are worked into the game at natural breaks in the action for an added layer of realism. Hopefully this will not prove to be too distracting if you are on a last minute drive to win a game and a studio update is triggered.
Heisman Challenge
This is admittedly a favorite new feature of mine as it will allow you to use some of the best college football players of all time on your favorite team. Players are provided with a list of goals to achieve in order to hoist the Heisman Trophy over their heads at the end of each season. If you achieve the goals, it is a lock that you will win the trophy but even if you fall a bit short you might still impress the voters enough to take the trophy home. With the Heisman Challenge mode also comes another new feature, Reaction Time. This allows players to literally slow down the action for a brief amount of time allowing them to hit the open hole or find that receiver breaking away from coverage.
Road To Glory
This mode also receives the new Reaction Time feature but it is a little different than the Heisman Challenge implementation. In RTG, the amount of Reaction Time a player has initially is directly tied to their awareness rating. This can be increased by spending experience points as the player progresses in the game. Difficulty options are also included in RTG this year allowing players to make the experience as difficult or easy as they choose. The amount of experience points and coaches trust earned however is directly tied to the level of difficulty you choose.
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Final Thoughts
With all of the focus on how NCAA Football ’13 could deliver a fresh college football experience minus the “Infinity” engine, it certainly delivers an improved experience over last year. Some areas of concern from last year such as how the CPU QB runs an option offense seemed to be consistently improved though there were still a few head scratching moments. Route running seems very crisp and the new highlighted icons for receivers seemed to work very well. The new passing trajectories seemed to be delivered as promised with very few defensive players batting down a ball thrown to a player 10 yards behind them.
On the defensive side of the ball, the read and react AI is most welcome to see in action. Too long have our video football game goals been crushed by the “Super LB” or “Psychic DB” intercepting or batting down a pass to what would have been a wide open receiver in real life. We won’t say that this is perfectly implemented but it is certainly several steps in the right direction.
The graphics in NCAA Football ’13 are not greatly improved over last year but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. All of the time and effort spent on presentation more than makes up for it. The presentation area of the game delivers a solid touchdown.
The limited time for review did not allow us to adequately dive into the Dynasty, Heisman Challenge and Road to Glory modes but each certainly appeared to very impressive in their own right as we played through a partial season to get a feel for how each performed. We will have a much more in depth review on the Dynasty mode in the near future. As for the others, adding additional Heisman Trophy winners in coming years will certainly bolster the Heisman Challenge feature and the new user selectable difficulty in Road To Glory helps make it more fun for gamers regardless of their stick skills. The Reaction Time feature worked well though some will obviously like it more than others.
Based on what we have seen thus far, VSN rates NCAA Football ’13 as a solid addition to the franchise.
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