Reviews July 20, 2011
NCAA Football 12
Review by: Bryant Crawley
System: Xbox 360
Genre: Sports
Rated: E
Players: 1-4 (On or offline)
Cost: $59.99
Release Date: 07/12/2011
Publisher: EA
Developer: EA Tiburon
It’s really tough to be a sports fan in America these days. Between lockouts in the NFL and NBA, the still constant accusations of steroid abuse in Major League Baseball, and the rumored lockout soon in the NHL, it seems the pros can do “no right” in the eyes of sports fans everywhere. Unfortunately, NCAA Football, despite being a non-professional league, cannot escape this trend. Left and right, big name schools like USC, Ohio State, and now LSU are all getting caught with recruiting violations, forcing the schools and their players to not only forfeit wins, but also awards that were won during their tenure at the university. EA Sports, however, invites you to escape the controversy while bringing back the tagline “If it’s in the Game, It’s in the game” with NCAA Football 12. Ohio State doesn’t display their record as having zero wins in 2010, USC doesn’t have any bowl restrictions, and because of it, you are able to focus fully on the football operations and gameplay itself.
Jumping right in, the gameplay is incredibly solid (building off of what EA has accomplished year after year with the franchise). The AI of the defenders is much more intelligent than last year’s game and, as a result, they are much more difficult to pick apart. EA Sports has also upgraded the catching and blocking elements of the game and enabled diving catches to occur within gameplay. The presentation has been greatly upgraded from years past as well, adding a ton of new elements being introduced this year. The elements range from subtle, such as the addition of new, three-dimensional grass, which can even poke through snow when it starts to fall, to the drastic, such as the addition of uniform and field degradation as the game goes on. These elements don’t just help the way the game looks but also help how it plays. Tiburon has implemented a new tackling system, which makes the take-downs look and feel more authentic than ever before. Perhaps the greatest addition in terms of presentation is in regards to the overall atmosphere, which has been lacking in previous versions of the game. Traditional opening sequences occur at big home games, such as the Sooner Schooner raging onto the field prior to an Oklahoma home game or the players touching an iconic statue as they walk to the field. In Michigan, the players jumping and hitting the banner once they get on the field is a huge addition to any U of M fan!
The audio has also been significantly upgraded, as Tiburon actually recorded a stadium of 100,000 people to represent stadiums housing the same number of fans in the game. This means that instead of getting a smaller crowd sound multiplied several times over, the crowd sound you hear is authentic. A more robust list of stadium sounds, which actually quadruples the amount from last year, makes its way to NCAA 12 as well, diversifying the audible experience offered in the game.
If you buy NCAA Football titles year after year, NCAA 12 might just surprise you with the impressive list of new features that positively affect the way you experience the game. Most of them are off-field upgrades, but if you’re a fan of the series’ Dynasty or Road to Glory modes, you will be in heaven with this year’s game. Not only has EA made the experiences offered up by these modes much more immersive, but they have increased the customization and depth to ridiculous heights. Dynasty mode, which is NCAA Football‘s equivalent to Madden NFL‘s Franchise mode, adds the Coaching Carousel sub-mode to allow players to go through the trials and tribulations of being a coach in the NCAA. Players can start off as a coordinator (either offensive or defensive) and work their way up to a head coaching role. If the team suffers, however, players can be fired and forced to find a new job. Throughout the mode, players will be presented with a list of goals for each season based on what position they are in with the school, making the experience more focused than ever before.
The biggest change is in the depth of Road to Glory, the mode which allows you to create a football player and make your mark in the college football ranks. In previous years, Road to Glory saw players start off as a high school star leading his team through the playoffs in his senior year against generic high schools with random cities from the state you selected. This time, however, not only will you be able to customize your high school further, but you’ll be able to customize the teams you’ll be playing against. Road to Glory has also enabled players to take on an Iron-man role, meaning they play from both sides of the ball, choosing two positions from the get-go. This eliminates the gripe many have had in older versions that you are only on the field for half of the game. Also, in a successful attempt to expand the length of Road to Glory mode, since, by college football’s nature, a player can only be active on a roster for four years, NCAA 12 actually allows the player to experience the entire senior year of high school. Through the year, players can make their list of top colleges and then earn scholarship offers from those schools, as well as others. Of course, as the five year period that the mode spans comes to a close, the created player is fully exportable to Madden NFL 12‘s Superstar Mode, so his legacy can be carried on to the NFL.
NCAA 12 also rewards players for good play on the field, as Road to Glory implements a new Coach Trust system. Every play that involves your character will positively or negatively affect how the coach perceives you. As you earn your coach’s trust more and more, you’ll work your way up the depth charts. Once you make it to the top of the depth charts and claim the starting role, there’s no relaxing, as you can be dropped down just as easily as you claimed the role. The game’s reward system doesn’t stop once you reach the starting role either. As you earn the coach’s trust more and more, he’ll allow you more liberties, such as calling audibles or even overriding his play call as a quarterback.
Another addition to the franchise is the Coach mode, which actually uses a broadcast style of camera instead of any other angle we’ve seen in past games. Coach mode allows players to make all of the calls without actually having to play the game. The strategy of a football game is on full display, as players cannot win by simply being good at the game, as in other modes. Outsmarting your opponent and applying solid football knowledge are the keys to winning in Coach mode, which serves as a solid addition to the already stellar list of game modes offered in NCAA Football 12.
The only real issue encountered was in the sudden drops in frame rate during plays that usually involved the ball being in the air. For some reason, directly after the quarterback throws the ball, then again, right when the receiver catches and turns to run, the game has a tendency to hiccup for about a full second. It doesn’t happen every play, or even most plays, and could probably be easily fixed with a post-launch patch, but with EA Sports doing so much work to immerse the player into the experience, it’s a shame to have such an avoidable issue take the player right out of the experience. There are also several minor visual glitches, but none are too catastrophic to really detriment the overall experience. Sideline reporters and photographers will sometimes be standing in such a way that they go through objects, fans look absolutely atrocious in the background if the player chooses to focus on them, and, at times, player movement can look slightly off when being shown in a slow-motion replay. Other than that, the visuals of NCAA 12 do a good job of going beyond what we saw last year with NCAA Football 11.
Chances are, before you even opened this article, you knew whether or not you were going to buy NCAA Football 12. If you had any doubts, however, rest assured that fans of the series, and of college football, will not feel cheated by the new presentation and career mode features. Sure, the game play is the same to the naked eye but once you dig a little deeper you see a more fleshed out and more polished overall product. If you’re a fan of EA Sports’ football titles, in particular, the NCAA Football titles, know that NCAA Football 12 is the definitive college football title and is a worthy addition to any college fan’s game library.
Gameplay: 8
With the naked eye, it seems like the same game as NCAA 11 but taking a further look you get a chance to see the new tackling animations, new cut scenes, etc. Heck, it has much improved turf!
Graphics: 8
Simply sharper and also more defined then NCAA 11.
Sound: 9
The best part of NCAA Football is always the atmosphere which NCAA 12 expands ten folds with the crowd, the bands, and the announcers.
What’s New: 8
The newest additions of Coaching Carousel and then the redone Road to Glory modes are fresh takes on old ideas.
Replay Value: 9
The sheer amount of content that can be had in NCAA 12 will make the gamer keep playing until NCAA 13 hits stores!
Final Score:
8.4