NCAA Football 12 News Post

Staff Roundtable: NCAA Football 12 Demo Impressions

12:49 PM - June 29, 2011 by ChaseB

Since the beginning of this current-gen console era, the NCAA Football demo has signified the start of the "summer of football" here at Operation Sports. In many ways it is the most loved and hated time here for many folks, including myself. This time of year spawns excitement, anger and rampant discussion about all things related to video game football, but the NCAA Football demo acts as the catalyst that makes all of it happen.

With that in mind, it only seemed right to dedicate this week's roundtable to talking about the NCAA Football 12 demo. Read on to find out what some of our writers think about the demo at this point.

Read More - Staff Roundtable: NCAA Football 12 Demo Impressions

Game: NCAA Football 12Reader Score: 7/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 104 - View All

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Member Comments

# 41 poopoop @ 06/29/11 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by khaliib


	This is not the best Sports Game out, period. Interesting how the ESPN presentation was done good in their College Basketball, but is just simply absent in their Football version. I've come to the conclusion that EA bought the ESPN rights only to prevent any other Developer from using, because they surely have not purchased it to enhance the "ONLY" College Sports game out, which of course is only produced by them. This is the 2nd year that leaves you to question, why own it, if your not going to use it? In it's current form, it's simply an "Imbarassment" to the ESPN Product!

You mean you don't like listening to day old ESPN radio segments while you recruit?

You don't like ESPN tickers with REAL sports scores?

I agree with you though, also agree with Jayson.

# 42 G da Lionheart @ 06/29/11 09:01 PM

After playing the demo I have to agree with Jayson Young 100%. While I'm disappointed with the demo I'm actually not to bummed because it was unlikely I was going to buy it any way even though I'm a huge sports gamer. I have been alternating between madden and ncaa on a yearly basis. After you skip a year the other title sure seems a lot fresher. I guess it's been a little luck involved also because I bought madden 10 and it was a great game in it's day. Skipped madden 11 (which sucked) and got ncaa 11 which was a pretty good game. Now it's time for me to skip ncaa 12 and from the demo I see I won't miss much. Plus this years madden seems to be a vastly improved game how lucky am I!

# 43 BigFan77 @ 06/29/11 09:03 PM

OS,

While our PS3 game does support displaying 1080i/p, it does this by scaling from an intermediate resolution that does not preserve as much detail.* It was built this way to support old HD sets that only had 480/1080 options.

If you want the game to look it�s very best, use PS3 720p only because we render in that directly.

I hope that clears things up for everyone.

# 44 NJG-11 @ 06/29/11 09:33 PM

1080p looks good to me on my ps3 but imma try it out on 720p

# 45 Jessep07 @ 06/29/11 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigFan77


	OS, While our PS3 game does support displaying 1080i/p, it does this by scaling from an intermediate resolution that does not preserve as much detail.* It was built this way to support old HD sets that only had 480/1080 options. If you want the game to look it�s very best, use PS3 720p only because we render in that directly. I hope that clears things up for everyone.

So does this mean that we can expect the PS3 version to look identical to the demo (graphically)?

# 46 Super Glock @ 06/29/11 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeld1


	For everyone that says the game is great, I would like to know what they are comparing it to. NCAA 06? Compared to the other sports games like NBA 2k11 or NFL 2k5, This game suck!! ........ people are out of their mind or don't know football. I can't believe what i am reading. No wonder people like Sarah Palin has a voice.

Its posts like this that have me looking for a dislike button.

# 47 Big2055 @ 06/29/11 09:58 PM

This my first time posting here and I just wanted to share my game play experience with the demo. As some have mentioned the first thing I noticed was the floating feel of the game. For some reason it made me feel a little disconnected from the game but nothing big. Also, let me not forget to mention I was playing as Oregon against Texas
The first memorable moment of the game came on my second drive as my outside receiver ran a deep inside slant and had a step on the corner. There was a safety over the top so I waited for the receiver to get perfect inside position to shield the ball. Everything went to plan and I let it rip, the corner had no shot at the play and the most the safety could do was bang the ball out of my hands, or so I thought. The ball arrived quickly and the receiver reached out his hands only to have the ball go through him without any obstruction and into the hands of the safety. The safety with his hands now positioned through the body of the receiver made the easiest pick in the world, truly as if nothing stood in his way.
The second jaw dropper came a few drives later when after a 5 step drop I see a wide open receiver 25 yards down the field. I stepped up and made the throw thinking of all the open field ahead of me. Sadly a Texas d-lineman playing 5 yards off the line had different plans as he leapt to pluck the ball form the heavens displaying some of the greatest vertical and ball skills since Larry Fitzgerald.
Now I have got to say after 5 demo play troughs this game is not all bad but after repeated "come on man" moments the frustration which would build over the course of a year just does not seem worth it.

# 48 kingsofthevalley @ 06/29/11 10:11 PM

Its ok. Not too much different to me. Players still have zero weight to them, or atleast the illusion of weight is not present. Slipping and sliding all over the place as usual.

The running animations are still jacked up also. Players still run with that slight hunchback. Check live football footage or fire up NCAA11 for the PS2 and you'll see what running is supposed to look like and feel like.

Still a first day buy for me as usual but come on guys. Please fix the running animations and get rid of that float feel thats been present in the current generation of your titles. Thanks.

# 49 BaylorBearBryant @ 06/29/11 10:22 PM

Yep, Mr. Young said it best.

# 50 sparkdawg777 @ 06/29/11 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingsofthevalley


	Its ok. Not too much different to me. Players still have zero weight to them, or atleast the illusion of weight is not present. Slipping and sliding all over the place as usual. The running animations are still jacked up also. Players still run with that slight hunchback. Check live football footage or fire up NCAA11 for the PS2 and you'll see what running is supposed to look like and feel like. Still a first day buy for me as usual but come on guys. Please fix the running animations and get rid of that float feel thats been present in the current generation of your titles. Thanks.

Yeh you're right on that. Do they not see these things? And are they that hard to fix in a year? This along with some other bugs have been in the game all of this gen. It kind of makes me mad, it's not that big of a deal but it seems like if something isn't a "gamebreaker" then they aren't going to change it. It's one of three things, EA is using "screw you, you're gonna buy it anyway" approach, they are just too lazy, or they don't see it (ignorant of their own game and real life football). This isn't just about the animations either, its the gameplay, the presentations, and other things like the dreads. I'm sorry I just feel like if you're going to do something you do it 110%, not half-assed.

I sound like I hate the game but I don't, I still like the game but it is mainly because I love football. I am still having fun with this game but the devs really need to rethink these things.

# 51 noda11 @ 06/29/11 11:11 PM

I'd be fine if they even had an apf 2k8 feel to the game. To me that's still the best game on this gen. But aside from that I really dont have a problem with NCAA 12's demo gameplay. Sure a few things need to be fixed, but it's still a lot crisper than '11.

# 52 sinc79 @ 06/29/11 11:50 PM

they just keep adding a new layer of wallpaper on top of last years wallpaper. when really they need to take down the wall.

# 53 sparkdawg777 @ 06/29/11 11:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sinc79


	they just keep adding a new layer of wallpaper on top of last years wallpaper. when really they need to take down the wall.

Yep and soon it's going to be too late because they'll have to move to next gen.

# 54 FroznYogurt @ 06/30/11 12:06 AM

I agree with Jayson and Caley on this one.

# 55 JoeyCrawfordIsAScrub @ 06/30/11 01:32 AM

There's a bug in the demo. I went for a two pt conversion and I barely got in but it was ruled incomplete. Then, they reviewed it and said it was complete. However, they gave me 6 pts and a FG. So in all I got 13 pts on one possesion.

# 56 misterbroom12 @ 06/30/11 01:34 AM

Don't think it was mentioned here unless i missed it, but has anyone run into instances where a lot of contact was made between a ball carrier and a defender but no tackle was made? I'm all for how they did away with the whole "warping" tackles and made it all based on contact, but this game will get old quick if I do make contact with the ball carrier on huge plays and they kinda just bounce off one another and no tackle or even attempted tackle is made.

# 57 statum71 @ 06/30/11 02:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingsofthevalley


	Its ok. Not too much different to me. Players still have zero weight to them, or atleast the illusion of weight is not present. Slipping and sliding all over the place as usual. The running animations are still jacked up also. Players still run with that slight hunchback. Check live football footage or fire up NCAA11 for the PS2 and you'll see what running is supposed to look like and feel like. Still a first day buy for me as usual but come on guys. Please fix the running animations and get rid of that float feel thats been present in the current generation of your titles. Thanks.

Respectfully disagree.

Players having no "weight" to them is far from what I've experienced. This is the first EA football game that I can see the differnce between a DB and a Linebacker running full steam. The impact is a lot greater.

JMO

# 58 Harrison_UNC_Barnes* @ 06/30/11 02:16 AM

Has anyone noticed that the All-State is embedded in the Field goal net?

# 59 PRAY IV M3RCY @ 06/30/11 04:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by statum71


	Respectfully disagree. Players having no "weight" to them is far from what I've experienced. This is the first EA football game that I can see the differnce between a DB and a Linebacker running full steam. The impact is a lot greater. JMO

well ea has gotten better with adding more weight to the players i have to agree..but it doesnt seem to matter when ur playing against the cpu because the cpu doesnt react to your movements..they mirror them and thats what really makes something that is bad enough with the sliding and speed of the players even worse...top that off with an awful running animation and u have a game that looks just plain arcadish to me...tell me please has a wide reciever reverse are any type of reverse running play ever turned out positive for u?

# 60 kingsofthevalley @ 06/30/11 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by statum71


	Respectfully disagree. Players having no "weight" to them is far from what I've experienced. This is the first EA football game that I can see the differnce between a DB and a Linebacker running full steam. The impact is a lot greater. JMO

Same here man. I can see the difference between different types of players also. Thats not the problem. The problem is none of the players feel grounded. If you're not seeing what I'm talking about its going to be extremely difficult to explain. I'm hoping the devs aren't seeing this situation the same as you are seeing it because if so thats probably why this hasn't been fixed since the current gen has been upon us.

The staff round table gentlemen, Caley Roark (I think thats his name) spells out the same thing in pretty much the same words. Its like everything is floating a few inches off of the field. It feels like the field is a hologram or something, like its not really under the players feet.

I understand that they're not adding a full fleshed out physics engine at the moment. I've read and understand that. Thing is, the PS2 versions or those "other games" didn't have physics engines either, but you still were immersed because the players seemed more alive because of the animation sets and general movement. The players we have now move more like androids than human beings.

All of that being said. I'm not ignoring the things that the devs have worked on. Elimination of suction being the biggest thing for me, but the root of the problems are the player feel and movement. Dont the let the cutback animation fool you. Yes if I cut the stick at a sharp angle going from one extreme direction to the next there IS an animation for it. You can see it, but you just cant feel it.

As for the running animation (hmm how can I say it). When a person is sprinting full speed, the body tends to straighten up and lean back slightly. There's really no debate there, it just happens. The EA football avatars all seem to have a pole starting from their butt that runs up through their spine. At full speed, the players still lean forward. It really looks off.

The only thing that moves are their arms and legs. The torso area is devoid of any type of "roll" which gives off the android feel. Its already been done. I have NCAA11/Madden11 for PS2. Once players hit full stride, they lean back and you absolutely cannot change direction so easy. Its more of a rooooll to the left or roooolll to the right. Kinda feels like a big boat, feels like the players are heavy. Players now are like feathers just moving with the wind ya know.

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