Christian McLeod finishes off his NCAA Football 12 coverage with a review of the game. Hit the link below to read his final thoughts and get his score for the title.
Agree with the review except for one thing ... this game is a lot of things, but polished it is not.
Also failed to mention the awful looking field, jersey staining being broken for one team every game, OL play art being buggy, deep ball issues online (stemming from poor player control on D), and coaching carousel being bugged in the sense that after a couple years there at 50-60+ (yes I said +) "A" to "A+" head coaches.
The game is a solid 8 but a long ways from MLB the show and NBA 2k11. Needs much better presentation, smoother animations, player movement is unnatural. Better AI as opposed to bugs/glitches and just dumb player outcomes to even out the playing field.
It's getting there but EA is only capable of putting out a really good product as they can profit with that as opposed to a masterpiece as the show and NBA 2k11.
I disagree to a certain extent. Preentation. yes a long way from the masterpieces that are The Show and NBA 2K11. Totally with you there. Gameplay. Yeah, visually not on par.....but I am about fun and replay value first before graphics and I can say with confidence I will be playing NCAA 12 for years. When I can say that about a game.....then it is great for me. The series has come a long way and the game is a total blast.
I wish the audio and atmosphere was better. Because that would have put this game over the top and in the same breath as the other two I mentioned. It is all about what your looking for.
Video game football for me has always been about fun first and foremost. Unlike basbeall which is a serious sport for me (total baseball junkie) as well as B-Ball I am not crazy about football having total realisim in every aspect. The reason is I hate 3 yards and cloud of dust, numerous yellow flags everywhere. Football can really be a drag. Think about it, (especially in the NFL) out of a 12 games you maybe get 2-3 great ones played a week. The rest are a snore fest with some big plays sprinkled in.
College is a little different. Upsets, crazy comebacks etc.
Every game I play on NCAA has excitment, suspense, big plays, huge comebacks etc etc. Very unpredictable. Hence that is what keeps me playing.
As long as the game really gives me a fun game of football with strategy involved, great stats, good graphics...I am a satisfied customer.
I understand the fooball junkies (and I am one as I love football and watch it every Saturday and Sunday) who played the game tearing down these video representations. But IMO it is the hardest game to make on the virtual field. 22 guys all moving and doing everything the right way. It can't be easy.
My age is showing as I come from the Atari 2600 generation. So I am in sports video game heaven this gen. I really am.
I haven't played the series since 07 or 08 and I have to say that I feel WAY behind after picking this game up. While the game has it's flaws, it's still a great game. Especially for someone who hasn't played the series in several years. I think the NCAA game is still catching up to other sports games, as JerseySuave4 pointed out, but at the same time, it's improved in big steps. Great read and I believe 8.5 is a fitting rating for this game. OS did a great job of convincing me to pick this one up.
I really haven't seen the psychic db's or super jumping linemen or linebackers. What I have seen though is the cpu still a little bit suspect against the four wide vertical because they depend a little too much from what I've seen on the cover 2. I don't know if EA can tune or patch it but if the cpu used more cover three or cover four and had corners play off coverage on wideouts a little more often than pretty much solves the problem.
Great writeup! I'm glad I'm not the only one who has to unlearn the bad habits I've developed over the past few years. I love the fact that playing the CPU is a challenge again. Might make me actually stick with an online dynasty, which I usually avoid because I hated how it became a contest of who ran up the largest score against the CPU.
Someone please answer my question. How do I put apostrophes, periods and hyphens in players' names that I create? I can do it for coaches, but it doesn't seem to work for players.