NCAA Football 12

[greggsand]

So does this have online leagues like Madden? Last year, i set-up a league of 3 teams (and the rest cpu). It was a blast & would consider picking this up if you can the same on ncaa.

[Inuyasha]

That was an absolute blast, Teal.

Gamespot review is up-- 7.0.

I can't even comment on all of the issues with the guy's review. But let me sum it up by saying somebody with a clue really needs to review a game like NCAA 12. My favorite quote of the entire thing is "there's a persistent bug where it turns all of the receiver's routes into wavy lines with question marks for their button assignments". So the guy has zero clue about the home field advantage effects, and thinks it's a bug? And that's who's reviewing it for Gamespot?

Saying it's a "disappointing entry to the franchise" while complaining that the hits aren't big enough and that the on field action "is as good as ever", without even really getting into details just blows my mind. It's like Operation Sports would have assigned me to review FIFA or something. It makes absolutely no sense to me for a site that big to hand the review to somebody who complains about how recruiting is dull (a lot of people like it), and then also say that he played so horribly with his RTG QB that NOBODY wanted him--yet he still walked on at Texas and started day 1. The only way that's possible is with the cheesy player upgrade DLC. Since you're a 5-star recruit, you start anywhere that you sign. So having some uber-upgrade downloaded and installed, yet complaining that it's not realistic is the biggest contradiction I've heard.

I'm just flabbergasted in how somebody like this is reviewing it. I think the game is head and shoulders above previous versions. I've logged about 30 games at this point and I'm still seeing new animations and strategies in every session. Teal and I were cracking up last night at some of the chain-reaction hits and tiny things like a LB properly leaving the tailback near the sideline when the QB scrambled free. The CPU defender intelligently made the call on which was a bigger threat. He drifted from his man a bit and stood in the passing lane that the QB wanted to hit--and eventually 1-hand-swatted the ball down when the pass was thrown.

Every tackle looks different--which is pretty amazing, considering the animations seem to start and stop instantly when the next guy hits you, triggering a different animation altogether. The fact that they can accomplish this without strange hitches and choppiness to the animations blows me away.

I've tried not to spout a bunch of crap about this game in the first couple days, but my session last night with Teal had me absolutely giddy. I had to go grab multiple beers at a time between games or halves. By the end of the night I was delirious, loud, and obnoxious, but having a ridiculously good time.

This game is legit.

I've been so busy playing NCAA since I got it that I had not been reading the reviews of it. GameSpot's sports reviews have been pretty much junk for the past several years, but this one surely takes the cake. After reading the review what ticks me off the most is the reviewer's dishonesty in trying to portray himself as a person who has played the previous NCAA games. While reading the review it is quite apparent that he knows next to nothing about this series whatsoever. I was actually laughing to myself throughout the review at some of the BS this guy says. In particular, why in the hell does he b*tch about QBs in practice mode in RTG being able to be hit and not wearing a red jersey that lets people know not to hit them? He says this takes away from the realism. Well, golly gee, there's hundreds of things in the game that are not perfectly realistic. It's absurd to pick out that one aspect and act like it's a flaw. I could go on and on about the incompetence of this review, but anyone who reads it will be able to see what a joke of a review it is. GameSpot literally should eliminate that review and find someone more able to review the game. I'm not saying this just because NCAA 12 is easily one of the most compelling sports games I have ever played and certainly the best football game, but because the review does a disservice to GameSpot readers, EA, and any shred of respectability that GameSpot still has. People here know that I am not one to nut over an EA sports game, but I have to give them all the credit in the world for this gem of a game. BTW, if anyone is pissed about this review, you might want to stay away from the GamePro review (6/10) that states, "So why does it feel like I'm playing a game that should have come out in 2008?" I looked at the Metacritic rating after Terry posted the link to the GameSpot review and found the ridiculous review at GamePro.

The day GameSpot let Brian Ekberg go as Sports Editor (BBReBozo for the old SR crew here) is the day their sports reviews went in the sh1tter.

[Teal]

I know that presentation doesn't mean a whole helluva lot to some of you, but I just geeked out a little. You can add pregame sounds to the custom sounds mix now, and Auburn's tunnel exit music and video is "All I Do is Win". They also fly a golden eagle around the stadium right before the players come out. They've got the eagle there, and I put in the 'waaaaaaaaaar EAGLE!' crowd chant as the eagle flies, then the players come running out to the song. I've watched it about 4 times now; it's just so damned COOL!

I'm a geek...

[XXXIV]

I'm a geek...

Arent we all?

War eagle baby!

[Aristo]

Gamespot review is up-- 7.0.
I can't even comment on all of the issues with the guy's review. But let me sum it up by saying somebody with a clue really needs to review a game like NCAA 12. My favorite quote of the entire thing is "there's a persistent bug where it turns all of the receiver's routes into wavy lines with question marks for their button assignments". So the guy has zero clue about the home field advantage effects, and thinks it's a bug? And that's who's reviewing it for Gamespot?

Gamespot handing over NCAA to someone like this, would be like Road & Track magazine paying an elder Amish man to test drive and review the 2012 Ferrari California.



_

The review now ends with:

Editor's Note: This review previously contained incorrect information about receivers' routes appearing as squiggly lines. What we believed to be a glitch is, in fact, a feature to show how nervous a quarterback is. GameSpot regrets the error.

I think they meant:

"We assigned the review to f***in moron, so you can ignore the 7/10, too."

[vinny-b]

Editor's Note: This review previously contained incorrect information about receivers' routes appearing as squiggly lines. What we believed to be a glitch is, in fact, a feature to show how nervous a quarterback is. GameSpot regrets the error.

I think they meant:

"We assigned the review to f***in moron, so you can ignore the 7/10, too."[/quote]



LMAO : )

[toonarmy]

Someone on Gamefaqs emailed the reviewer and this is the response he got back:

Sorry, I looked through the manual and in-game menus and couldn't find an explanation for the squiggly lines. It looks ridiculous and had no impact on the gameplay, so I could only assume it was a bug. It's even stranger now that I know it's a design decision. Either way, I'll correct my mistake when I get in the office tomorrow.

I did talk about the "overhaul" of the two modes in my text review. Glory lets you play both sides of the ball now and Dynasty has coaching carousel. So, yeah, minor additions, while the rest of the features are unrealistic and illogical.

Thanks for the feedback.

Haha. He needs to quit while he is still ahead. I think his email response makes him look like a bigger moron than before. I sure am loving the "minor additions" and the "unrealistic and illogical" features.

BTW, if the CPU misses another XP in RTG mode for me I am going to break something. Just lost to LSU because of a missed XP, the 4th missed one this season so far. I wish I could go for two every time.

[TCrouch]

That's actually kind of cool...you should have signed with a team that had a better kicker

My kicker's drilling 45 to 50 yard field goals with regularity.

But how the guy could not know about the squiggly lines if he's played the game AT ALL for the past 4 years is beyond me. The entire review is just like throwing darts at a board and picking out random stuff to talk about. His assertion that he's played the game a lot is a load of crap if he didn't even know what the 'squiggly lines' were.

A guy can like it or hate it, that doesn't bother me. But being criminally stupid does. Even the female writer's opinion on Gamepro bugged me less. She's comparing the graphics and features to other sports entirely. Putting it up against The Show or the graphics in NBA2K would be a very different process. I can AT LEAST see where she's coming from. She doesn't know the X's and O's enough to really see the changes they made in the engine, but I can see her perspective on some of the complaints.

That yahoo from Gamespot is just in a different galaxy.

[GTHobbes]

Sounds like EA stepped it up this year for you guys who like their game, and I'm glad for you. But I'm also glad for the gamespot and gamepro reviews -- EA/Tiburon has gotten too many free passes from gaming media reviewers for way too long. Now you know what it's like to be a Backbreaker fan, where just about every review was written by people who had no clue.

[Teal]

Sounds like EA stepped it up this year for you guys who like their game, and I'm glad for you. But I'm also glad for the gamespot and gamepro reviews -- EA/Tiburon has gotten too many free passes from gaming media reviewers for way too long. Now you know what it's like to be a Backbreaker fan, where just about every review was written by people who had no clue.

You're glad for a gamespot review that isn't critical...just ignorant? How does a 'review' that is dumber than a bag of hammers put the screws to EA? I'm confused...

[vinny-b]

Editor's Note: This review previously contained incorrect information about receivers' routes appearing as squiggly lines. What we believed to be a glitch is, in fact, a feature to show how nervous a quarterback is. GameSpot regrets the error.

I think they meant:

"We assigned the review to f***in moron, so you can ignore the 7/10, too."

LMAO : )

[XXXIV]

Editor's Note: This review previously contained incorrect information about receivers' routes appearing as squiggly lines. What we believed to be a glitch is, in fact, a feature to show how nervous a quarterback is. GameSpot regrets the error.

I think they meant:

"We assigned the review to f***in moron, so you can ignore the 7/10, too."

LMAO : )

Sounds like EA stepped it up this year for you guys who like their game, and I'm glad for you. But I'm also glad for the gamespot and gamepro reviews -- EA/Tiburon has gotten too many free passes from gaming media reviewers for way too long. Now you know what it's like to be a Backbreaker fan, where just about every review was written by people who had no clue.

You're glad for a gamespot review that isn't critical...just ignorant? How does a 'review' that is dumber than a bag of hammers put the screws to EA? I'm confused...

He no like the EA and doesnt care how they get hit.

[toonarmy]

Sounds like EA stepped it up this year for you guys who like their game, and I'm glad for you. But I'm also glad for the gamespot and gamepro reviews -- EA/Tiburon has gotten too many free passes from gaming media reviewers for way too long. Now you know what it's like to be a Backbreaker fan, where just about every review was written by people who had no clue.

You're glad for a gamespot review that isn't critical...just ignorant? How does a 'review' that is dumber than a bag of hammers put the screws to EA? I'm confused...

Yeah I don't get that logic. EA makes a great game and a couple reviewers look foolish in their review and that is somehow a good thing? If a game is good I want to see it rewarded with appropriate reviews. I do agree that Backbreaker was judged too harshly by reviewers (54 metascore, 8.1 user score at metacritic), whereas EA sports games typically have a higher metascore than user score. However, that does not make it ok for reviewers to write poor reviews.

[MizzouRah]

I didn't even know Gamespot was still around.

I go to IGN and Gametrailers and take a mix of both.

[XXXIV]

I didn't even know Gamespot was still around.

Great point.

Its been a while since I have visited. I am more worried about targets for our lil Sam .

[GTHobbes]

Sounds like EA stepped it up this year for you guys who like their game, and I'm glad for you. But I'm also glad for the gamespot and gamepro reviews -- EA/Tiburon has gotten too many free passes from gaming media reviewers for way too long. Now you know what it's like to be a Backbreaker fan, where just about every review was written by people who had no clue.

You're glad for a gamespot review that isn't critical...just ignorant? How does a 'review' that is dumber than a bag of hammers put the screws to EA? I'm confused...

I could probably count on one hand the number of sports game reviews I've read that weren't ignorant in some manner or another. I could very well be wrong about this, but I'd think that the ignorant 7s from the gamespots and gamepros of the world would push Tiburon to work harder than the ignorant 8.5s and 9s that the IGNs and OSs of the world have given Tiburon football games in the very recent past.

[Danimal]

Review is comical, seems like clueless people just don't inhabit message boards anymore.

[Brando70]

Review is comical, seems like clueless people just don't inhabit message boards anymore.

No, they apparently get paid to write now.

I don't understand how anyone who's played sports games wouldn't figure out the crowd messing with the play art. "Hey, the crowd is going apeshit and now I'm having trouble concentrating on the play because of these wavy lines. Must be a bug." Bad when a GameFaqs poster has to step up and be the mature, factual one.

[Aristo]

Sounds like EA stepped it up this year for you guys who like their game, and I'm glad for you. But I'm also glad for the gamespot and gamepro reviews -- EA/Tiburon has gotten too many free passes from gaming media reviewers for way too long. Now you know what it's like to be a Backbreaker fan, where just about every review was written by people who had no clue.

You're glad for a gamespot review that isn't critical...just ignorant? How does a 'review' that is dumber than a bag of hammers put the screws to EA? I'm confused...

I could probably count on one hand the number of sports game reviews I've read that weren't ignorant in some manner or another. I could very well be wrong about this, but I'd think that the ignorant 7s from the gamespots and gamepros of the world would push Tiburon to work harder than the ignorant 8.5s and 9s that the IGNs and OSs of the world have given Tiburon football games in the very recent past.

Tell you what. Since you aren't playing this game, and your sole reason to be here is to love the misinformed review, maybe you should take the high road out of the thread. Otherwise it looks like you are being awfully trollish. At least spend some cash on the game to earn your right to b*tch and moan about it.

Or maybe this a good thread to talk about Gears of Pigskin and how ugly and unfun it was to play.

[Danimal]

Tell you what. Since you aren't playing this game, and your sole reason to be here is to love the misinformed review, maybe you should take the high road out of the thread. Otherwise it looks like you are being awfully trollish. At least spend some cash on the game to earn your right to b*tch and moan about it.

Or maybe this a good thread to talk about Gears of Pigskin and how ugly and unfun it was to play.

Piece of advice use the block list. I've been on this site at least 5 years and he is doing today what he did back on my first day. What usually results is you get warned for a personal attack. I know it's exhausting to read it over and over but there isn't anyone on this site who takes him seriously so why bother feeding into it.

[vinny-b]

Review is comical, seems like clueless people just don't inhabit message boards anymore.

No, they apparently get paid to write now.

I don't understand how anyone who's played sports games wouldn't figure out the crowd messing with the play art. "Hey, the crowd is going apeshit and now I'm having trouble concentrating on the play because of these wavy lines. Must be a bug." Bad when a GameFaqs poster has to step up and be the mature, factual one.

exactly, Brando.

I was new to NCAA last year (hadn't owned it since the PS1 days) and it didn't take long to make the connection/parallel between the fans and the 'wavy' lines. Put 2 + 2 together, yo

the peep is a f#cking idiot.

[vinny-b]

Tell you what. Since you aren't playing this game, and your sole reason to be here is to love the misinformed review, maybe you should take the high road out of the thread. Otherwise it looks like you are being awfully trollish. At least spend some cash on the game to earn your right to b*tch and moan about it.

that was over-the-top. GTHobbes was bein tactful/civil in his above post.

back in the days of SR, persons views towards a particular franchise (positive or negative) were fair game. And apologists weren't needed.

anyway, i don't take exception to his words. For myself, am happy to read everyone's accounts of much improved gameplay. At the same time, am wondering why EA/Triburon didn't make one single improvement to 'Team Builder' mode. Not one. From what i gather, very little (if any) improvements made to in-game presentation as well. No new camera angles (which fans have been begging for) in normal gameplay. When considering their budget/# of employees, is this really the best EA/Triburon can do?

I did purchase NCAA 12 (scheduled for delivery) yet zero improvement to the fore mentioned elements are a disappointment/letdown.


_

[dbdynsty25]

Tell you what. Since you aren't playing this game, and your sole reason to be here is to love the misinformed review, maybe you should take the high road out of the thread. Otherwise it looks like you are being awfully trollish. At least spend some cash on the game to earn your right to b*tch and moan about it.

that was over-the-top. GTHobbes was bein tactful/civil in his above post.

Nah...Aristo is right. He was being a troll. He's got no intention in even trying the game, yet comes in to compliment the reviews from the misinformed to get a rise out of us who are enjoying the game. Pretty much epitome of troll.

[bkrich83]

Tell you what. Since you aren't playing this game, and your sole reason to be here is to love the misinformed review, maybe you should take the high road out of the thread. Otherwise it looks like you are being awfully trollish. At least spend some cash on the game to earn your right to b*tch and moan about it.

that was over-the-top. GTHobbes was bein tactful/civil in his above post.

Nah...Aristo is right. He was being a troll. He's got no intention in even trying the game, yet comes in to compliment the reviews from the misinformed to get a rise out of us who are enjoying the game. Pretty much epitome of troll.

That's what he does and has always done. His posts serve no purpose other than to troll the EA football threads. Been that way for years. I will never understand the blind brand loyalty/hate.

Of course he will find a way to make it seem like he was the victim after he gets called on it.

When it comes to these threads he doesn't post anything worth reading. Ignore him and move on.

[bkrich83]

Tell you what. Since you aren't playing this game, and your sole reason to be here is to love the misinformed review, maybe you should take the high road out of the thread. Otherwise it looks like you are being awfully trollish. At least spend some cash on the game to earn your right to b*tch and moan about it.

that was over-the-top. GTHobbes was bein tactful/civil in his above post.

back in the days of SR, persons views towards a particular franchise (positive or negative) were fair game. And apologists weren't needed.

anyway, i don't take exception to his words. For myself, am happy to read everyone's accounts of much improved gameplay. At the same time, am wondering why EA/Triburon didn't make one single improvement to 'Team Builder' mode. Not one. From what i gather, very little (if any) improvements made to in-game presentation as well. No new camera angles (which fans have been begging for) in normal gameplay. When considering their budget/# of employees, is this really the best EA/Triburon can do?

I did purchase NCAA 12 (scheduled for delivery) yet zero improvement to the fore mentioned elements are a disappointment/letdown.


_

I would say the presentation is indeed improved. Still not super but the have added to it.