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MVP
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Re: NCAA Football 13 Demo Is Out, Post Your Impressions Here
I decided I'd compile and organize all my observations from about 10 games into one post, organized by subject as well as positive/negative/neutral, unimportant, incomplete or basic observations.
Presentation/Atmosphere/Graphics
- Absolutely LOVE the new white text with black outline, makes it easier to pick out. Wish the ball indicator on passes got a similar treatment.
- The studio update for the USC-Oregon game was the exact same as from the Baylor-KSU game. Same score, same everything. The difference was that it had already gone FINAL at the start of the USC game. Guessing the studio updates are canned updates just set up for the demo but it will be interesting to see how time plays a factor, it would be really cool for things to be real time across all time zones.
- Already sick of Rece Davis. Same game got a studio update on back to back plays and somehow covered 6 minutes. I'm sure they'll be spread out more in a full game, but it was just so stale.
- Motion blur in replays and cut scenes has to stop. My QB was standing up and it was like watching Neo dodge bullets.
- Presentation is dull as ever. Could be because this is Baylor, but it is dead in here.
- Visually, looks just like NCAA 12. One difference is depth perception. For whatever reason, there seems to be a weird depth perception issue when you look down the field from one end to the other. It is almost like a fisheye lens effect. I just feel like there is distortion. I haven't played in Baylor's stadium much at all in recent years games, I'll check out the others eventually but wanted to run spread option for a while with KSU. Graphics are sub-standard all around though.
- The demo on PS3 looks worse and worse as I go. Slow down and lag is prevalent during every transition, the game seems to skip when breaking the huddle, horribly flickering in the stands and I'm still seeing a weird fisheye-like distortion looking down the field. Also notice some occasional button lag in the playbook and at the line of scrimmage.
- There are a lot of flickers in the stands as well. A little distracting, but not horrible. Probably just incomplete art.
- The ticker on the bottom of the screen looks like it gets very slightly cut off at the bottom. Then again, so does ESPN's ticker in real life for me.
- The ESPN ticker is even more cut off in the USC-Oregon game. The bottom half of everything is removed. Again, could be my TV since the real life ESPN ticker is cut off on my TV as well.
- Both Baylor and KSU's helmets seem almost mirrored in the game, they aren't like that in real life. EDIT: Noticed this for all teams, way too much mirroring in the helmets.
- Tackling animations don't seem any different. Still see a ton of two handed push attempts. EDIT: Noticed a couple interesting loss of balance type animations after a missed tackle.
- USC SPECIFIC: Half the crowd seems to be in a different shade of cardinal and gold, right about the 50 yard line and going around.
- USC SPECIFIC: The Song Girls which EA put "two and a half weeks" into look so god awful it made me have flashbacks to video games 10 years ago. They are literally the most embarrassing thing I've ever seen in a modern video game.
- Noticed some TERRIBLE sound quality at LSU. It was laggy and choppy. At first thought it was my wireless surround sound, but it was isolated to crowd noise only, nothing else. Wonder if anyone else has noticed this on the PS3.
Gameplay/Plays/Playbooks
Running/Option
- QB Blast is a LOT faster out of the shoot for the QB, unfortunately, still not very well blocked. Had a few decent gains, a few were blown up.
- QB Wrap worked well, but like Read Option, I am breaking off 15 yard runs every play.
- Read option is a lot better, but I'm more concerned about the read option out of Pistol than I am Shotgun. I'm playing as KSU right now so I'll address this later. Read in the gun almost seemed too easy, I broke off two HUGE runs with Klein and the DE never once stayed home. Still much more fluid.
- Pistol read option is improved. I gained 7 on a QB keeper and then a 17 yard TD run on a give. Although the next 3 times I ran it, the end man on the line was blocked by the play side tight end, giving me no read.
- Pulling linemen are improved. EDIT: Still had a few instances of them getting lost in no mans land like last year, but it was much less often.
- Collin Klein has God mode and it is divine. I never ran for less than 15 yards on a run with him in any game I played. I had three long TD's on QB Wrap or Read Option keep including one with a filthy spin move. I decided to do one full half of him QB'ing the wildcat and just abused Baylor's run D. Blast, Blast, Jet, Counter of the Jet for an 83 yard run. He exploded up field and was GONE. 14 runs, 190 yards and 5 TD on the ground in the most recent game. Down side of this was he was in red stamina after 3 good runs most of the time.
- Unfortunately, that Wildcat experiment yielded a glitch. When I substituted Klein in as the quarterback in Wildcat (as opposed to the default RB), home field advantage kicked in and caused the controller to rattle and play art to shake uncontrollably. I was only calling runs so it wasn't a big deal, but a problem none the less.
- One of the new animations completely screwed me out of a first down. The WR inexplicably jumped about 10 feet trying to get to the pass, and it took him out of bounds. The throw was low enough that it didn't even require a jump.
- Ran I form Slot - Triple option the final 7 plays of the LSU game. FB give on the first 3, pitch to the HB on the next 4. Covered about 70 yards before the clock ran out. Option defense is god awful. No one runs up to fill assignments.
Passing
- Passing game is much more fluid, guys catch it on the run more and it just feels better. Also feels MUCH easier.
- Human passing is insanely easy. I could throw into traffic on the run to a crossing WR and no one would attempt to make a play. Sidenote though, I love the auto-rollout on Z Spot. I used to have to do that manually. My favorite pass play in NCAA 12 was QB Sprintout in Ace Y Trips because it was just an easy boot and throw to the flat or curl because it had the auto-rollout. EDIT: While the passing game is easier for me, it feels so much better.
- CPU passing is atrocious. Again, could be ratings on the Baylor QB, could be gameplay level. But I ran straight man to man for an entire drive and they completed 1 pass before getting picked off on an out route floated into no mans land. The player who picked it off had his back to the play and was man to man on a different receiver at the time. Next drive, two drops including one on a HB screen ruined the drive.
- The CPU takes an insane amount of time to throw the football. Sit, sit, sit launch. Worse: CPU drops more passes than they complete. I have called Cover 2 Man every play in this game and USC has yet to complete a pass in the game, it's the third quarter. Barkley had a GREAT scramble one play though. EDIT: No telling how much of this is tied to game difficulty and sliders, but CPU play calling and execution was as bad as last year.
- Converted a 4th & 11 from the +39 by throwing the out route on Flood. I had space deep and threw it up and away and somehow the WR adjusted and it ended up being a corner route. That seems incredibly unrealistic to me. I can see total control passing turning into chuck n duck. If you were a good passer before, you'll be an incredible passer now.
- Curl routes are wide open. Defenders aren't even close. Been that way in every game.
Defense
- Really like how man coverage aligned/rotated against unbalanced sets. Want to see what the 425 and 335 look before I make a final judgment on that though. Unfortunately, when I went Quarters vs an unbalanced set (Y-Trips), the game didn't adjust the man coverage and actually took a defender off the man he was assigned to (the TE) and put him in a spy, leaving the TE uncovered.
- CPU pass defense is downright awful. They may be reading but they sure aren't reacting. I've noticed on broken plays when a WR in the flat works upfield, the CPU defender covering him just simply stops covering him.
- Option defense is poor if not terrible. Reminded me of the option glitch from last year. Just ran speed option three times in a row and watched as the LB ran 10 yards up field past the HB and the CB stood there and didn't attempt to make a play until the ball advanced beyond the line of scrimmage.
- CPU defenders run like they were shot out of a cannon, especially in pursuit on run plays off the edge. DT's and DE's FLEW after me and linebackers shot the gap and ran me down almost every time. Surprising given Baylor's bad defense and the game play level.
- USC finally completed their first pass, on a play after the WR released upfield after finishing his route. My defender didn't even attempt to continue his coverage. That's becoming more and more of a glaring problem. I've picked Barkley thrice though, including one to end the game.
- CPU pass coverage is bad. The fears I had from the gameplay videos and kept trying to bring up are coming true. CPU defenders in zone seem to get attached to players running through their zone and it turns into man coverage, while simultaneously leaving an entire side of the field uncovered.
- DT sacks are going to be a problem this year, just like last year. Not good, but not a huge deal to me.
Special Teams
- Kickoff return holes were HUGE.
- Some new defensive special teams plays, didn't notice much of a change in effectiveness though.
- Alabama punt coverage man ran into my returner and no flag was thrown.
Plays/Playbooks/Play-calling
- CPU defense still calls some flat out ridiculous defensive plays. I got Engage 8 on 3rd and long and completed an easy first down pass.
- First play of the game for Alabama was a 4 WR speed option, the pitch was intercepted and returned for a TD. Yikes. Their next three plays on the next drive were all out of Empty with a TE and HB. Next drive: was a read option loss of 5, followed by Quads, followed by a HB Sweep out of Trips which was blown up leading to a fumble. This is supposed to be power running Alabama?!
- Alabama has dropped 4 passes. They have completed none. Two interceptions and an INT on an option pitch. They've only run four times: Option pitch intercepted for a TD, read option loss of 5, sweep fumble turnover, draw gain of a couple.
- Didn't see any new plays. Only one playbook though. If there aren't playbook changes, I'll be sick.
- Apparently the playbooks are the same no matter who you play with in the demo. Oregon and KSU are the same and neither are like what they run in real life.
- Editing a previous observation, apparently each team has the generic playbook for their offense type. That's why the two spread teams were the same. LSU's book is very cool.
- Tying the above comments together: Since these teams have been assigned the generic playbook for their offense type rather than their team specific playbook, I'm hoping more plays will have been added to the real books.
Controls/Other Observations
- Got called for a hold on a broken play where I had to scramble. Really liked that and the ensuing cut scene of Chip Kelly and the ref talking in an animated fashion.
- They MUST re-map the buttons to the same configuration they are before. L2 not being pitch is just wrong. That is EA's "if it ain't broke, let's completely shatter it" mindset at work.
- Please God change the pitch button back to L2. I couldn't get the fake pitch to work once. Why the hell isn't this L2 pitch, L1 fake pitch?
- Been sacked a few times trying to throw to L1. Why did all these buttons get changed?!
- Motion blur in cut scenes and replays make my eyes want to bleed. Like 3D grass, this is truly pointless.
- CPU clock/game management is horrid. On 4th and 2, they ran a speed option, the QB stopped mid-play and was tackled for a loss.
- Decided to just call plays and let the CPU play defense for me and got mixed results. The CPU still makes incredibly poor decisions, but they also converted a few 3rd down pass plays, including a beautiful comeback route tip toeing the sideline. That all ended when they ran 4 verticals on 3rd and 2 and launched a hail mary, which was dropped.
- QB Fatigue is going to be a major issue in option and spread offenses. After one scramble with Bryan Bennett, he was in the red. After getting back to orange, he returned to red on a play where he simply handed the ball off.
- The CPU ran a draw and there was a weird graphics hitch right at the handoff. Don't know if this is part of the graphics problems and slow down on PS3 or intentional to create more misdirection on a draw.
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That is the full turn through each game for me. I have to say, I like the feel of the game but there are some glaring problems. Keep in mind I generally do not play a ton of games against the CPU, only the ones scheduled in my online dynasty and the ones I do play, I dominate no matter the sliders or settings and I frankly never get joy from it. These games were no different, despite some really nice things, it was very stale and the CPU was not good at all.
I know it is a demo and I know it is on Varsity (why?), but there was no atmosphere and no challenge and it just seemed like a dull and stale game. I'm sure I'll continue to love user vs user games though.
I'll stop with the Demo for now just to clear my mind and come back fresh tomorrow and play a few and see if I notice anything different.
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06-07-2012, 04:19 AM
