NCAA 12's Lack of Inspiration Is Its Achilles - RaychelSnr's Blog

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RaychelSnr's Blog

NCAA 12's Lack of Inspiration Is Its Achilles Stuck

Posted on July 1, 2011 at 12:03 PM.

(43)

I've harped on sports games' need to immerse us into themselves by copying the medium by which we experience sports the most (TV). The difference in the perception of each football game this season can easily be traced to one game doing this (Madden) and one game not (NCAA).

The NCAA demo felt a strange combination of stale and uninspired combined with beauty and polish. On one hand, NCAA's gameplay will undboutedly reach some rareified territory after a few tuning packs and a couple of patches. And the new lighting? Now we're talking! On the other, the game is going to be a bore to play after a couple of seasons because the total package just isn't all that great.

My first beef rests with the commentary. The commentary hasn't changed and what was once the best commentary team in video game sports has now turned into one of the most annoying and stale teams in the booth of our genre. You'd expect at least a few new and meaningful lines to be added to the core gameplay experience over the course of nearly a decade -- but all indications are that will not be the case yet again in 2011.

Then when it comes to TV style presentation, the same old boring unrealistic camera angles continue to dominate the game. There's nothing resembling broadcast viewpoints, which is to the game's detriment at this point. The best games in our genre feature rich TV-style presentations. NCAA, in this regard, feels completely uninspired and boring.

Here are a few simple ideas for the NCAA team going forward: real broadcast angles, different graphics for being on different stations (have a different one for National, Regional, etc. broadcasts...even have the scoreboard in the corner for non-televised games), get the commentary team in to add thousands of lines including some dynasty specific stuff, don't let each team entrance be the same camera angles each time. Something, anything....we beg you.

However, it's not all bad. For all of NCAA's initial faults gameplay wise within the demo, I'm seeing enough good here to actually be excited. Patches and tuning packs will fix the minor issues. I'm certain we will see what amounts to one of the finest playing football games in history yet again when the dust settles.

The problem is, it's now 2011 and great gameplay isn't enough to be considered a great game in sports simulations. Users are spoiled by efforts like NBA 2K, NHL, MLB: The Show, etc. and leaving out a pristine TV style presentation in favor of the same uninspired effort will result in NCAA feeling like it wants to be a National Championship contender going into the season, but just as with any other perrennial underachievers we're going to get an 8-5 effort instead.

Comments

# 31 Dazraz @ Jul 2

Last year many people rated NCAA above Madden. Considering Madden is EA's flagship title I believe the backroom staff wanted the big changes made to that game this year. NCAA made some big strides forward last year. This year it's more of a polish up treatment than an innovative one.
I still think there's enough good with NCAA 12 to warrant purchasing the game but if budgets dictate that you only get one football game this year then Madden is surely the way to go.

As for NCAA having the worst broadcast presentation, surely this title is owned by NHL 11.

# 32 Coach Espy @ Jul 2

Have you ever played NCAA 2K3?

That game had a true broadcast presentation and was very difficult to play.

The NCAA Football games used to have sideline views (which were cool but the players were really small) Kyle Boller was in college back then.

I would love a broadcast camera that would let me see the defensive backs. If that's possible, I'm all for it.

# 33 tril @ Jul 4

yup IMO, most sports games are unplayable if they lack tv style presentation/commentary.

stale commentary again,is a deal breaker for me. Ill most likely pass on NCAA football. Ive been barely able to get through a few seasons in NCAA11 , cause of the poor presentation.

the only way that Id be able to tolerate poor comentary and presentation is if somehow EA could get me totally immersed in the game. somehow get me to form a bond with my new recruits, and care about my players performances/growth etc. But thats nearly immposible to do because of the roster size and the number of prospects that need to be recruited every season.

anyways, EA needs to focus on commentary. a game is not complete if it cant capture all the elements of a sport.

MLB The Show- commentary and gameplay captures the ambiance of a "lazy sunday afternoon baseball game" "dog days of sumemr type of flow"

MLB 2k11- presentation is superb, comemntary, etc, makes us feel as though the commentators are really live for the most part. makes an average game compared to The SHOW feel fresh and enjoyable.

NBA 2k11- same thing as the above.

Top Spin- 100% realistic presentation, theyve capture all the nuances of a tennis broadcast.

# 34 cap032 @ Jul 4

Hopefully next year more time will be spent on commentary and less on team entrances that 90% of us will skip through anyway.

# 35 PaperBoyx703 @ Jul 5

Quote:


	There's nothing resembling broadcast viewpoints, which is to the game's detriment at this point

...In all seriousness though commentary and better presentation in terms of how Madden did this year should be the focus along with other things. NCAA cant use, well we worked on a lot of things from gameplay to presentation to dynasty because so did Madden with gameplay to presentation to franchise. Now if it takes NCAA getting a bigger team like Madden was reported to have then make it happen because I feel, IMO that Madden made a way bigger step than NCAA with overall improvements.

# 36 johnprestonevans @ Jul 5

I agree with the point being made by the OP. Presentation is critical to immersion. I really enjoyed NCAA 11 last year. But the demo for NCAA 12 did not make much of an impression on me. It feels more polished on the field for sure, which is great, but I continue to be bothered by poor commentary and presentation that does not follow true TV broadcast style. Maybe I am spoiled by Madden's new presentation videos, but to me NCAA has suddenly become an antiquated-looking sports game. It has a lot going for it. Great locomotion. Excellent lighting. Brilliant online support. It's just that after playing MLB The Show and NBA2K11, its difficult going back to a lesser quality audio/video presentation of the sport. These same issues plague nearly ALL of EA Sport's lineup (save Fifa - which does look and sound great). Madden looks to finally be taking care of business this year. But NHL and NCAA have poor broadcast cameras. Not one game in sports offers up a substantial halftime/post game highlight show either. I feel that by this point all sports games should at least give us the option to SEE the game the way we do on TV.

# 37 MRGM420 @ Jul 5

If this is the games achilles then damn, this game will be good just as I thought after the demo. Everyone has different opinion of what keeps them playing a game. I want sim football, I personally could careless about commentary, and this game seems to have at least stepped in the right direction in almost everything except commentary.

# 38 RamzaLugria @ Jul 6

Agreed. I think FIFA 12 is going to have two commentary teams so I don't see any reason why NCAA can't. I'd say a noname radio guy for regional games and Lundquist/Blackledge for national telecasts would work.
But I think I saw on a video with the producer that they really like working with Nessler so I wouldn't hold my breath.

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