NCAA Football 13

[Danimal]

Thought I would start a thread.

I'm pretty pleasantly surprised with the demo. The passing is great, the returns on special teams work and the interaction and momentum is nicely tuned. The only thing that sounds horrific is the cut in's. I don't think that audio could sound anymore generic.

[MizzouRah]

I feels like NCAA 12.5 to me.. which isn't a bad thing. Passing is much improved, crowd still sounds like crap and I guess it's a demo thing, but they kept showing the same game update, which also might get a bit tiresome to keep cutting into a game like that showing scores. I do love the ticker at the bottom. They don't have a halftime show in the demo.

Some players still stand around when they should be attempting to make a play.. very early demo impressions though.

The CPU seems to play smarter though...

[dbdynsty25]

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15254

And I was bored with the game. Yawn. Might just cancel my pre-order but I know I never will.

[10spro]

Liked the new animations on fumbles. Enjoyed the running game.

[TCrouch]

If you can change the difficulty, I'd love to see where. Playing on Varsity doesn't tell me much at all, but I will say this--I could hit receivers in stride much better than in past games. Deep throws, drag routes, outs and crosses--I could lead receivers where I wanted to much better.

The CPU seems to be able to, as well. I only had one interception in a few games last night, which was a late throw to the sideline. Several times they tossed one into a perfect window where I couldn't reach it, and I was really digging the "throw when the receiver is looking" stuff. I zipped one right by my receiver's head when I threw one on a hot read and he wasn't ready for it.

Overall, it plays very well, but wow those studio cut-ins are horrendous. They sound so similar to Gus Johnson's stuff, with the audio all spliced together with different intonations and whatnot. However, they DID get me involved to see what was going on with a game they continually went back to. Texas at Texas Tech was pretty cool to see the score progress the first time, and I love the ticker at the bottom. It could be very cool for keeping tabs with conference rivals and other ranked schools in a dynasty, so that could be very cool.

I also think the jukes and movements in the running game were tweaked very well--the shifty little USC back could make some serious changes of direction when picking a lane to run through, and jukes felt like actual jukes instead of just a canned wiggle animation.

Overall, I was very impressed. Odd that they'd only give us one difficulty (that I could find), and that we'd be stuck with it for a month before the full game released. That's pretty messed up!

[Danimal]

I was just happy as heck with the passing game. No physic interceptions in the 6 games I played. I hit a TE in the end zone that got wide open because he got lost in coverage on play action. I hit a guy in ta zone seam because the defenders weren't looking at the ball. I had the Oregon QB shake a sack as he was rolling out and my WR broke to get open and hit him in stride for a TD.

I also got burned by throwing deep with a safety over the top and looking. I don't know the whole passing game felt different, I wasn't worried about people warping into coverage and that was a big thing for me.

I also loved the running game and momentum seems to play a bigger role. There are still some odd things going on, a guy getting tackled in mid-air and going backwards instead of forward but I liked it.

I just kept thinking Madden is going to be better then this.

[MizzouRah]

I just kept thinking Madden is going to be better then this.

That was my thought last night as well. I just love the college game so much. I wonder if you can turn off those in game updates? I sort of like them, but they seem to pop up a bit too much and might extended an already long game, much longer.

Passing seems tough to stop playing defense, I can't use my normal D plays this year I don't think. It should be that way though.. passing yardage can go through the roof in the college game.

[pk500]

I haven't played an EA NCAA game in probably 10 years, so I have no recent perspective from which to draw. But I'm having a hell of a lot of fun with this demo.

As I've seen you guys describe, the NCAA series is so much more alive than Madden. Plus I like leading receivers, as Terry mentioned, and the ability to shake out of sacks and other little gameplay tweaks are nice, too. None of my drives or plays felt cheap or scripted, and every drive or big play by the CPU felt legit or due to my mistakes.

If Madden 13 ends up as Madden 12.5, then I might get NCAA 13 this year for a change of pace. I'm not a college football fan, but this demo is fun as hell. Fun always prevails, my brothers.

[bdunn13]

Fun always prevails, my brothers.

Yes sir,

Nothing else matters.

BD

[Aristo]

NCAA has trumped Madden for the last few years in terms of fun.

[MizzouRah]

NCAA has trumped Madden for the last few years in terms of fun.

Easily..

[dbdynsty25]

NCAA has been fun to a point. Ultimately it gets a little stale when you have over 100 teams and outside of a few crazy offenses like Clemson and Air Force run, it's all about the same. Couple that with horrendous late game AI that has plagued the series forever and I think Madden probably offers a better overall complete package. Sure, it's bland as hell, but the football on the field is usually a bit better.

Sure, that could be because they are usually using the most recent engine, while relegating NCAA to a tweaked previous year's engine, but I still think they put a lot more resources into Madden and it usually shows when it comes to the gameplay on the field which is ultimately what matters to me the most.

[Aristo]

I've completed several seasons in various dynasties of both NCAA 11 and 12, and I just don't see the end game AI being that bad. Definitely not bad enough to warrant playing Madden, another game with atrocious game management AI.

And I find that there are big differences between spread, pro, single-back, option, air raid, and multiple. Start plugging those into the various teams, from the big boys in big conferences, to the small schools from weak conferences, and there is a ton of variation. We ran a 2 star dynasty just to get a chance to enjoy a different feel of a game.

I wish Madden was fun, and I really enjoyed Madden 11. But man, it is just a bland game full of bland teams with bland presentation. And for whatever reason, the gameplay in NCAA just has a better feel, and is more realistic.

[Brando70]

NCAA has been fun to a point. Ultimately it gets a little stale when you have over 100 teams and outside of a few crazy offenses like Clemson and Air Force run, it's all about the same.

That's always been my biggest problem with the series. I played NCAA 11 and had fun with it, but after a couple of seasons of a dynasty, there didn't seem to be much difference in the teams unless you played a team that was pigeonholed with one of the more unique offenses.

Madden has a similar issue (especially defensively), but I feel it's made more improvements in this area, especially the way they tweaked QB scrambling and beefed up run blocking in 12.

[Danimal]

It's been hard to go back and play my Madden franchise games after playing this demo over and over. The passing and more importantly the DB reactions are a game changer. The fact I can slip passes in without the warping, jumping LB's and DB's because they are not looking is that big of a change for me.

[toonarmy]

EA football game demos usually leave me unimpressed, then I buy the full game and like it. There are some AI issues with the NCAA 13 demo but I think they are things that will be taken care of with a higher difficulty and maybe some tweaks by the time of the final build. I really got into NCAA 12 and thought it was a lot of fun even with some of its flaws. I expect NCAA 13 to be even better with the improvements to the gameplay and presentation. Road to Glory alone should be worth the price to me.

[Rodster]

I never play the demos. I always wait for the full release as well. Based on the OS chatter, is there anything that says don't buy this game? I preordered this as well as Madden 13 on Amazon. I can always cancel.

[MizzouRah]

I'm off for 10 days starting July 13th, should give me some time to delve into NCAA 13. I won't start anything serious until the named rosters come out though.

[Naples39]

Oh I didn't even realize--is this up on EA Sports season pass today?

[TCrouch]

Yes, it unlocks at 3PT/6ET.

[Naples39]

Yes, it unlocks at 3PT/6ET.

Exxxx-cellent. I already have this pre-ordered, but looking forward to getting my hands on it.

[Teal]

I'm not buying it this year, until closer to the actual season. Every year, by the time the season rolls around, I've sort of gotten ambivalent about it. I'm also going to change my approach, and stop focusing on my favorite team (and conference), and play the field a little. I'm sure this thing is gonna be nice, because last year's game was very good, too, but the game's always seemed to have shorter legs than I would expect, given how much I love college football.

[pk500]

This will be the first football game I purchase on release day in a LONG time.

I LOVE the demo, and so do my boys. There's just something about NCAA 13 that screams "FUN!" every time I play it.

We're Madden zealots in this household. And maybe we'll get Madden 13, too. But the NCAA 13 demo has spiked our fun meter.

[Aristo]

My favorite way to play NCAA 13 is through Online Dynasties. It's such a nice balance of head-to-head and offline play. Whether folks are spread across conferences, or hole up in one conference, it's just fun way to play.

I'm curious about the changes to recruiting. I actually liked it the last few years, especially in an OD when competing for the same players with other guys.

Hopefully we will get on going around here.

[tjung0831]

Downloading my 3 day full game free trial right now! I don't care what anybody says, that $25 I sent last year on EA's season pass was the best $25 I spent all year. I've been jonesing for a football game and almost purchased NFL Blitz but having access to the full game of NCAA 13 will scratch that itch for now.