Christian McLeod: Fiction. Give me a break, NCAA 11 was the strongest entry in the series since it made the leap to this generation of consoles. The development team seems to have chosen to polish a solid NCAA 11 foundation up by removing warping, enhancing CPU AI and adding a bevy of new animations. However, the game gets knocked for being NCAA 11.5?

Newsflash, EA did not plan on completely overhauling its football engine or incorporating real-time physics this year -- time to accept that. I may not be happy with certain aspects of the demo, but I am not going to crucify EA for not innovating the title enough from year to year. It's strange that we rarely hear this kind of talk regarding the NBA 2K franchise, even though in the past it has shown moderate year-to-year gameplay improvements -- NBA 2K11 not withstanding. Even stranger is that we didn't hear these sentiments when NCAA 05 and NCAA 06 were released and were eerily similar in the gameplay department to NCAA 04.

As someone who dumped almost 11 months into NCAA 11, the gameplay improvements in the NCAA 12 demo were apparent within minutes of picking up the controller. Don't believe me? Play the demo for a few hours and then pop in NCAA 11. It's almost unplayable. You are free to believe that the game has not innovated as much as you expected, but to claim this game has not had enough gameplay refinements to differentiate itself from NCAA Football 11 is ridiculous.


Dustin Toms: Fiction. It's people like this that frustrate me the most. Like Christian said, NCAA 11 was a really good game, and in my opinion, the best current-gen football game to date. Yes, even better than All-Pro Football.

Of course there are similarities when comparing the demo to last year's game, but the demo is an old build. Regardless, the game is noticeably more fluid than last year's. In addition, the CPU AI was also changed up a bit in a good way. If anything, the developers may have just added in a little too much good with the AI in the demo. What I mean is that the quarterbacks are now throwing away passes, and I love that they are actually getting rid of the ball now, but throwing the ball away four or five times per drive is a little insane -- I have to assume this is an easy fix.

Point being, this is one of the first times I've ever seen a significant improvement when comparing the previous season's retail version to the new season's demo.


Christian McLeod: Fact. It took five titles this console generation to right the ship, but I am confident that the NCAA Football series is well on its way to reclaiming the glory of its PS2/Xbox counterparts. What makes me feel even better is that those I have talked to at Tiburon know the stripped-down approach that was taken when the series debuted on the Xbox 360 cost them this generation. I think the series will be solid for the rest of this console generation before hitting the next-gen consoles with a bang.


Dustin Toms: Fact. When you also take into consideration NCAA 11, I think it's fair to say the development team is back on the right track. Last year, the developers made a great game, and this year it's already better. I don't believe that any of EA's developers, for any game, are not devoted to making a better game. These guys just happened to get there quicker than some others.



Christian McLeod: Fiction. I probably would have agreed with this comment before NCAA Football 11 was released, but I don't know how anyone can say this is a mediocre franchise after the effort that went into NCAA 11. One perfect example deals with the presentation that was added to the game. We consistently knock sports games for not having realistic presentation, as well as the "little things" that keep the experience fresh months later. The NCAA team adds in several team-specific rituals and entrances that go above and beyond what we saw in the PS2/Xbox versions to appease fans, and then the NCAA team gets knocked by the same people they are attempting to please -- being accused of not spending enough time on gameplay and too much time on presentation.

The best part is that if the NCAA team were to go ahead and implement a full-on physics engine, which might cause them to overlook team entrances, Online Dynasty mode or some special facemask design, then folks in the vocal minority would be back screaming and complaining about how they can not comprehend why these little details are constantly overlooked. It's a complete no-win situation for the team at Tiburon. You want to talk about what next-gen feels like? How about an Online Dynasty mode that revolutionized online interaction in sports games, complete with Dynasty Anywhere and StoryBuilder. Yeah, mediocre games typically have those types of features.

There is a group of people that are just never happy no matter what a game contains. I get it, NFL 2K5 does not exist anymore -- and Jayson hearts 2K football -- so EA is the big bad wolf out to screw gamers. I'm not saying that the on-field gameplay of NCAA is perfect, and by no means am I here to be an EA apologist, but I will give credit where credit is due. NCAA 11 played an enjoyable and fun game of college football (with the right slider tweaks), and calling it mediocre is a farce. Every game mentioned by Jayson has its own flaws that are simply overlooked by the grass-is-always-greener crowd. NCAA Football gets knocked for something as small as the lack of eye black, yet a blind eye is turned when the mighty MLB 11: The Show can't seem to implement a much more important auto-save and load into their game out of the box, or even a dedicated playoff mode.

I love the passion Jayson showed in his response, I really do. But at the end of the day, we are still playing a video game, and I prefer to look at the glass as half full. So I will choose to look at the good that NCAA gave me last year rather than get bogged down by the negatives. Trust me, one thing I've learned at this job is that people, myself included, will always have high expectations in regards to football games. And no matter what, as a hardcore football fan and gamer I realize no football game will ever be perfect. Nevertheless, the NCAA series being considered mediocre, especially after NCAA 11? Get real.


Dustin Toms: Fiction.

Jayson, I love you, but I could not disagree with you more on this. First of all, MLB: The Show has some horrid commentary. It makes me want to barf at times. I'm not saying NCAA is any better, but in no way should it be considered that much worse than what's found in The Show.

As for calling NCAA Football a second-tier franchise, just shake me please. NCAA Football is one of few sports franchises that are worth your $60 when taking into consideration the entire package. Dynasty mode has been solid for years, and it keeps improving with more and more recruiting options. Online Dynasty mode is a huge success, and I can only see the mode getting better because it seems like the popularity of it seems to be skyrocketing.

Lastly, I just disagree with anyone who says Backbreaker is better than NCAA, or even Madden. It was a decent game with some great physics, but there were way too many improvements that needed to be made -- not to mention it was a relatively bare bones game -- before putting it on some sort of pedestal.


Christian McLeod: Fiction. This is kind of a silly question for me since I played the game at E3. After I played the build at E3 a few weeks back, I was left wanting more. The demo feels like an older build than what I had played, so I can't wait for my review copy to arrive in a couple days.


Dustin Toms: Fact. It didn't necessarily excite me only because of the way it played, rather it also simply served as a fresh reminder that the retail version is coming out soon.


You've heard from our staff, but feel free to answer the fact or fictions questions in the comments -- we want to hear from all of you.