02-20-2012, 02:15 PM
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#1
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No Place Better
OVR: 27
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 2,765
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Why NCAA '13 Should Be The Best Yet
We've all had our frustrations with NCAA '12. Heck, this is the first year that I didn't play the game past December, and I haven't even been remotely tempted to pick it back up and play. There are reasons why (which I'll get into in a minute) NCAA '12 was a huge disappointment, but there are also a ton of reasons why NCAA '12 has the potential to be a huge building block for the future of the series. I'd like for this thread not to be a "EA sucks" kind of deal, as we all know there are a lot of people here who hate getting hyped up when ultimately, you'll just feel disappointed in the end. But for those of you like me, who love looking forward to the next installment, hopefully you'll find some reasons to believe in EA in this thread. Also, know that I understand some of the issues with the game (ratings, psychic db's, etc), I'm just choosing not to get into them because this forum has already done such a great job of making these issues known. So without further adieu, here we go.
Reasons why NCAA '12 was a disappointment:
- The Gameplay has officially gotten stale. One of the reasons why I believe NCAA '12 didn't get a whole lot of upgrades on the gameplay front was because a lot of us (including myself) thought '11 was a huge upgrade from '10 in terms of gameplay. They balanced it, and gave reasons to recruit skills other than speed. But along came NCAA '12, and we all know how that story goes. Part of it has to be the fact that NBA 2K, FIFA, and MLB The Show have created such lifelike recreations of their respective sports, and its annoying to a lot of us Football fans that EA is a little late to the party. Is the gameplay terrible? Not at all, just look at what we were playing ten years ago. Is it outdated comapared to the mentioned games above? Absolutely.
- The presentation is boring and again, stale. After I've watched the same generic entrance more than 10 times, I feel like the game loses some luster. The great thing about college football, is that no two games are ever the same. NCAA needs to do a better job of giving off the feel of a huge home game against a rival, and playing in a nearly empty stadium with two last place teams. Here on the forums, people have done a good job of getting into the reasons presentation lacks, so I won't get too into it myself here. NCAA '12 almost never provided a sense of College Football atmosphere, and thats something they really need to focus on this year.
- The Bugs. Now, I've had less of an issue with this than most people, but that doesn't mean I can't recognize their presence. When a game takes chances (look at games like Skyrim, LA Noir, etc), there are bound to be an assortment of bugs. But the fact remains, they were there, and they often made playing the game unpleasant and sometimes unplayable all together. I'll get further into this in a second however.
- Recruiting. Why does EA's coaching carousel feel so different from College Hoops? Because recruiting is virtually the same no matter what school you're coaching at. I used to love being a lowly mid-major who had to live of JUCO's and 3*'s, and then signing with a Kansas team and instantly being able to go after 5* prospects. Not only was that awesome, but recruiting actually mattered because the ratings made a difference. I could recruit a kicker as an O-Lineman and still win games. This cannot continue, and its my #1 reason NCAA '12 was a disappointment.
Reasons why NCAA '13 could be awesome:
- Last year, EA enhanced a lot of things, and added a lot of new features. I have no doubt that newly implemented features like Coaching Carousel will be 2x as good as they were in their first year with the series. The great thing about sites like Operation Sports, is that EA gets to hear our opinions on the matter. What do we like about Coaching Carousel, what don't we like, etc. They didn't get to here stuff like that last year, because the feature hadn't made itself known yet. I'd be very surprised if the Carousel hasn't recieved some massive improvements next year.
- It has been hammered into EA's brain that the gameplay is stale, out of date, and nearly unplayable at times. With pressure coming from other sports series, who continue to put out great products, EA might finally arrive to the party with their football series.
- Another good example of why NCAA '13 might be the best of the series, is NCAA '06. What does '06 have to do with anything you might ask? '06 was the last NCAA of the generation cycle for the Xbox, and PS2, and also (I would argue) the best. The further into a console lifespan we get, the more time EA has to hammer out the issues. It's about time we start seeing that progress.
- This year, perhaps more than ever, NCAA's gameplay issues have been exposed, and made known to the general public. Youtube and forums have made it abundantly clear just what the issues are with gameplay, and there is no excuse for EA to not know about it at this point. I'd also assume that they can't risk having these issues in the next installment considering the uproar from its fans about '12.
So there you have it. Four reasons why NCAA '13 should be the best installment of NCAA Football yet. What about you guys? Will you be avoiding the hype this year, or will you keep up hope that EA can develop a solid college football game just like it used to?
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Writer for Operation Sports
Gamertag (Xbox One): Bengerman 1031
PSN Name: BadNewsBen
Twitter: @BadNewsBenV
Twitch: www.Twitch.TV/Bengerman10
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