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GDC 09: Black College Football Xperience First Look
Wave goodbye to Corso and Herbstreit, this is a different kind of collegiate pigskin.
by Nate Ahearn
March 24, 2009 - With EA Sports' NCAA Football being the lone outing for the last several years, it's unsurprising that most are skeptical when presented with Black College Football Xperience. Not only is it trying to work its way into a market with no proven tolerance for budget titles, but it's also making the bold attempt at being the first sports game to make use of Unreal Engine 3. Yes, Black College Football has many hurdles to clear, and today at the Game Developer's Conference I got my first peek at the light weight contender.
Black College Football Xperience (BCFX) isn't being developed with the intention of competing with EA Sprots' college effort; instead it's going after a different market. It's including features like interactive halftime shows and drumlines that follow along with songs like Flo-Rida's "Low" and "Coming to America." There are only 36 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) playable in BCFX, but every single one of note is here. There's Grambling State University, FAMU, and Southern University to name just a few.
The real selling point for BCFX isn't necessarily the Unreal Engine 3-powered football. Instead it's the culture that the game hopes to bring to fans. There are things like Classics Mode where you can take part in the Bayou Classic and the Labor Day Classic. While I didn't get to see the modes for myself, they will feature custom graphics and elements of pageantry that you'd expect from the real world rivalries. During every halftime in BCFX you'll engage in relatively standard rhythm-based game that can be played with the Rock Band drum attachment. They can be played on three difficulty levels: easy, experience and master. I'm not sure what winning the halftime competition will net you, but the GDC release mentioned that momentum would be on your side going in to the second-half.
Black College Football Xperience also throws in a Legends Museum that pays tribute to past great black athletes including Jerry Rice, Doug Williams, Coach Eddie Robinson, Mel Blount and several others. Again, I didn't get to look inside the Legends Museum but I'd hope for video highlights of the honorary members along with the ability to unlock the players in BCFX if you beat the Road to the Championship mode.
That mode is BCFX's best representation of the usual season mode that you find in other football titles. Pick a school, play through a season and win the Black College Football National Championship if all goes well.
The very limited gameplay that I saw looked a little rough around the edges. The animations didn't have the same level of intricacy as anything that we've seen from the last few years of EA Sports efforts, but I'll need to get my hands on a final version before I know for sure. I was told to expect a very similar control scheme featuring turbo, spin, and other types of jukes. Everything else from play calling to in-game camera angles was vintage videogame football fare. On a positive note, Unreal Engine 3 seemed to hold up pretty well with little of the texture pop-in that has tarnished games using the engine over the years.
Black College Football Xperience is really counting on the love that people have for drumlines and marching bands to be a successful videogame. The football that I saw seemed to be missing a few of the nuts and bolts of the game, but it would be unfair to pass final judgment before seeing a final build. The drumline and halftime shows looked interesting enough and the power ups that are received coming out of the gate in the second half could provide a cool innovation to standard collegiate football.
BCFX is scheduled to launch on Xbox 360 this June.
I don't even know what to make of this...
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