NCAA 13 demo impresssions - ODogg's Blog

ODogg's Blog

NCAA 13 demo impresssions

Posted on June 7, 2012 at 10:07 AM.

(1)

Here are my thoughts on the NCAA 13 demo in a nice and easy pros and cons list with summary for each:

PROS:
Crowd noise on my 7.2 Surround Sound system is finally multi-layered, 1000x better reactive to what's happening on the field and much, much improved in just the overall depth of sound!!
I like the new camera angle ala Madden that turns left and right based on where you are at on the field
Game plays more smoothly overall, animations seemed smoother
QB play seems more natural in how they move and I like the speeded up throwing animations
Absolutely love the catch-over-the-shoulder animation although I've only seen it a couple of times in about 8 games
The new buttons lighting up when WR is ready to catch seems well implemented, I thought this would be a hassle but it's been fine IMO
I don't care what anyone says, I *LIKE* the new Heisman mode, just wish they had Troy Smith in there is all
Graphics seem more colorful and overall better looking than NCAA 12, although can't put my finger on any specific graphic improvements
Commentary seems to have quite a bit of new lines
Studio updates are nice but I love the ESPN ticker at the bottom more which leads me to...

PROS SUMMARY: When you combine the new animations, new commentary, the ESPN ticker, studio updates and improved crowd reaction the game FINALLY feels alive and dynamic, not sterile, stale and sedate!

CONS
Crowd noise still isn't entirely spot-on and could have more dynamic sound (i.e. bigger difference from silent to outrageously loud)
For night games the lighting is a bit dark, hope they can correct that for full retail.
Hate the new controls but I'll get used to them I suppose, the hardest one to get used to is the new throw the ball out of bounds button
Still hate how the QB gets 99% through his throwing animation and gets sacked and doesn't throw it, fumble the ball sometimes damnit!! That situation is where you see 99% of real life QB fumbles, NOT on QB scrambles
Jukes while running the ball don't always seem responsive -- I understand that a bit more online against someone but offline versus the computer I don't expect any lag when I try to juke
That "bullet time" in Heisman mode seems completely worthless to me, unlike many folks I don't have a problem with it in the game but it just doesn't seem to help any at all
Some commentary that is new is already repeating much too often
The studio updates happen much too often, perhaps this is just due to demo/short quarters??

CONS SUMMARY: Evolution not revolution means that I'm excited to get NCAA 13 but nothing really WOWs the heck out of me and makes it a "OMG can't wait" like some games do

Overall I think EA is definitely heading in the right direction but not quickly enough for my, or most folks taste. NCAA 14 better implement the physics model from Madden and do a lot more than be evolutionary to keep fans involved.

Comments

# 1 rudyjuly2 @ Jun 7

The demo was solid but it didn't wow me either. I disagree about the crowd though. It's still poor and the entire audio experience needs to be a lot better imo.