NCAA Football 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

[Oraeon1224]

I will actually test later but I found many of the flaws with NCAA 11 last year in my statistics in sliders thread, and none of the AI issues seem fixed:

1)Can't run inside/can't PA/able to pass for 500 deep yards: The reason this occurs in NCAA last year is simple. EA didn't program their AI on defense to playcall correctly. The AI calls blitzes (defined by NFL terms as sending 6 or more men...not 5) as frequently with its supposedly low blitzing college teams as do most high blitzing NFL teams. In fact it isn't unusual for them to send 7 or 8 blitzers (Madden has the same issue). This kills PA since it overwhelms the line and these players don't react to the fake run. It also kills inside runs as usually the blitze comes up the middle. Finally because there are so few defenders in pass coverage due to the blitze the deep pass is almost always open as there is little or no safety help. This is the number one reason for NCAA and Maddens defensive woes. Hopefully just like last year this is fixable with sliders (I game tested to show it was). Unfortunately last year if you fixed this the AI then called more zones and then the coverage was so bad that the recievers were frequently open. Hopefully with fixed zone coverage this will now work. Incidentally without the 7 man blitzes the pass blocking is way too good.

2) Prescient AI defensive calling: I tested this last year too and it doesn't exist. The AI calls a lot of blitzes which makes it seem like they figured out your run and stuffed it or blitzed your pass. They also reset their formation any time you audible but will resume formation in a few seconds for a read (that is really crappy programming last year). You can read the AI defense and make the correct call if you learn how to interpret coverages, they are all authentic and not based on your play call.

[Lavar]

Re: NCAA Football 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

Tied 7-7 with Bama at FSU with about 45 seconds left. I'm on their 35 and they cut to the sideline to see the kicker warming up. The kicker is Dont'a Hightower.

I was in a close game as Texas , cut scene showed the WR#1 warming up his kicks.

[Redacted01]

Re: NCAA Football 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

I played 2 games last night on PS3 and slept on it to think about things I noticed. I played the first on varsity just to get a feel for it again... way too easy. Played as Bama, lost to FSU in overtime 10-7.

Put it on all-american for the second game. Lost to Texas 17-14.

Tackling is hit or miss. Yes yes, I know there is a tackle button. But I can be right on top of the guy and press the tackle button, and he'll keep on trucking before finally actually getting tackled, or the cpu will come in and make the tackle for me.

Severe lack of penalties. I saw one holding on the computer called. I would think in 16+ minutes of gameplay, I would have seen more than that.

I'm hoping it is because of 2 minute quarters, but the cpu picks their offensive play automatically. 11 seconds is not enough to find the defense I want all the time. Same with field goals. They call field goal and their already lined up when the screen goes away. Again, I hope it is a demo thing. I don't have 11 around to look at it.

Running I feel happy with. For years, it seems like I've always struggled establishing the run on NCAA and passing was my method. Might finally get away from that this year. I need to set up the buttons the way I like, but after that, I should be golden.

NO CPU SCRAMBLES. Now maybe if I was Texas, I would have seen it by Oregon. Computer did throw the ball away at least.

Sacks were too easy. Varsity seemed better at controlling it, or maybe I was just calling all the right plays with Oregon, but I had 5 or 6 sacks against Texas and most of them, I was just getting there way too fast. Against FSU, they were more because QB was holding on to the ball too long.

Hoping it was just the demo, but I had a fumble blown dead. It was not the last 2 minutes of the game; it was in the first half, so I don't see why it was blown dead.

Punt returns are successful! I got about 10 yards a return.

[Lavar]

Re: NCAA Football 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

Played as Texas and had a 5 sack game all by my cpu team mates, 4 of which were by a DT. What's wrong with that ?
In a 8 minute game that is way to high. Hope sliders fix this.

[Jerzey Devilz]

Re: NCAA Football 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

I'm one of the few people that actually enjoyed the demo. I'm sure that the final product on the 12th is going to be much better than the demo. Due to the fact that it'll have the final touches and some minor issues addressed.

[dennis580]

Re: NCAA Football 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

WOW the Heisman pass defense just totally blew a coverage on a simple fly route when I was at about thier 15 yardline with 6 seconds before half. The CB got beat by at least 5 yards, and I threw for a easy TD to a wide open receiver. I had been throwing a lot short passes before that. So the defense was trying to play me tight, and jamp me, and the corner got beat bad on the fly route leading to a easy TD before half.

Really love the realism of the Heisman pass defense. They will play tight, and jam recievers hard, but they will also totally blow coverages, and get beat. It feels very realistic as they make good plays, and bad plays, and it doesnt feel cheap at all. It feels fair, and realistic.

I am really impressed just how realistic the Passing game/Pass defense is. Its just something I have never felt before in a football game. I have been way off on some throws, and on other thorows I have made some pin point throws on the sideline to beat the defense. The Passing game/Pass defense just feels fair, and realistic, and works like it is suppose to work.

[PaperBoyx703]

Re: NCAA Football 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

On account of my internet being crappy I will not be waiting 2 weeks to download 2gb on my ps3...I would be better off waiting till July 12th or getting it early.

One question though are you all sending feedback to EA for their live tuners updates? Like for instance I've seen some talk about QB's not taking off when danger is present, just thinking if people are just venting on here or are they actually remembering to send EA gameplay feedback for the the tuner sets

[Aggies7]

Biggest thing I noticed in my first game is playing as Texas the crowd was dead silent when I was on defense I hope this gets fixed.

[Phobia]

Re: NCAA Football 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

My feelings on the demo (In Video Info) and quick highlight video of first game. (demo bug included)

<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GYVX1ez2TPs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Positives
1) Tackling is excellent with no suctions
2) Zone coverage is much improved
3) Gameplay is finally looking positive for EA football franchise
4) All American feels much tougher BUT fair
5) Run game feels harder, which is good thing
6) Inaccurate throws by QBs on run
7) AMAZING graphics, beautiful grass in close ups
8) Presentation looks good which means Maddens should be off charts
9) Strategy seems like it should favor X & O's more which is big positive
10) D-line vs O-line seem more ratings driven that in past

Negatives
1) Running animations are still HORRIBLE
2) Twitch based running needs to go and makes game look very arcade
3) Several presentation issues with missing players (demo bug)
4) Grass looks funky from standard view
5) Physic defenders still exist with eyes behind head!!
6) 300+ pound lineman making cornerback swats on passes in secondary
7) Commentary is old, dated, boring, and needs serious face lift.
8) D-line vs O-line is still bad
9) Instant D-lineman getting by O-lineman still exist
10) Sliding does seem like a issue, but needs to be reviewed more with replays

Overall - Demo looks to improve on the Ea franchise by a decent margin. It makes playing the game feel more legit and just having tackles and blocking without suctions make a huge difference in the general gameplay. I think Madden should be even better than NCAA with a longer dev cycle and more time to refine the general gameplay. But just based on NCAA gameplay the EA football games this year should at the very least be enjoyable to play FINALLY!!!!

[CatMan72]

Re: NCAA Football 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

Am I the only one who hates the sound that is made when a tackle occurs? It sounds really fake.

[DorianDonP]

Re: NCAA Football 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

I thought that people may have been exaggerating or using hyperbole to describe the grass but I just got through playing 2 games and the grass is atrocious. It looks like grass for early 2001 EA video games. I'm going to just assume this will not be in the retail because my, my, my. Everytime I looked at it before a play I just shook my head at how bad it looked.

I feel it's kind of obnoxious for there to be so many low angled camera shots on replays to show off the 3d grass. I already hated the unrealistic camera angles because it's not broadcast, and that hate has grown even more with NCAA 12.

Can we please get broadcast style replay angles in NCAA 13, like in NBA2k11?

The crowd is dead and they do not react like a crowd should. This along with the bad camera angles, and dated commentary almost kills the presentation aspect of the game. I'd venture to say that crowd audio and broadcast presentation are the two biggest things when it comes to simulating a college football game and NCAA 12 has failed in both areas.

On the good side of things, the new tackling engine is great. It really makes a big difference in the action on the field. I did at one point think that the players slid too much on tackles, but it's still an upgrade to the animations and suction of past NCAA games.

While the game looks virtually the same graphics wise (aside from the grass, smh), I did think the crowd looked much better, especially on kickoffs. Actually felt like I was in Doak Campbell.

I was happy that the Oregon QB took off running from the pocket one time for a 15 yard scramble. The CPU running game seemed pretty potent, although Bama seemed to completely annihilate my DL on every play. I'll mess around with the sliders when I get the retail.

I really like the return game better in 12. Seems like I have a legit chance to take it back to the house now. I don't know if it's better blocking or the lack of suction, but it feels much more natural returning kicks than it has in the past.

I wasn't really trying to win the games, just testing things out, but I lost both games on All American by 3 points.

Colors still look dull. But I need to test out a few more teams to see how bad it is.

The demo pretty much met my expectations, aside from the terrible looking grass. I can already guess that this will be a 7.5 to 8 out of 10 type of game. Not bad. Still a fun game of football. But it does feel more like NCAA 11.5 on the field, with CC and conference expansion added to it. I still have it pre-ordered and will play the heck out of it though. I love college football that much and I need my fix.

But I really hope that NCAA overhauls the presentation next year. Add broadcast style camera angles, replays, and dynamic commentary. I think we've seen the gameplay improve about as much as it will with this engine on this gen, but they still have yet to really address how dead the game sounds. Bring back the atmosphere, EA. It's the one eye/ear sore still left on the product.

Oh yeah, I played my games on All American for the PS3.

[abutler289]

My biggest problems in recent years of the franchise has been the arcade feel the passing game has had in the past. I can't entirely fault EA, as a balance between too easy and too hard in pass defense AI must be a pain in the nether regions, but I am very impressed with the balance they struck this year. Passes in the flats aren't guaranteed 7-8 yards, my main receivers have had more receiving yards than my third and fourth receivers in the slots because they were actually getting open, qb pressure actually exists and zone defense has improved by leaps and bounds. That, combined with more realistic run blocking, has made the game the most balanced football game I can remember.

Still a few minor problems - in 5 demo games, there have been 3 kickoffs returned for tds (2 by me, 1 for teh cpu, all of which came along the left sideline) and, in a complete 180 from years past, TOO many sacks in my opinion - but the improvements like defensive AI, graphics, the revamped Road to Glory and the tackling system have me excited for the full game to drop.

Anyone who says this is simply NCAA 11.5...I really don't see how you get that. The gameplay - typically EA's biggest fault - is just too different.

[dennis580]

Re: NCAA Football 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

Well I spoke too soon. After playing some more I am no longer impressed. I had planned to play as a QB in RGT, but now I am just going to go ahead, and play in Coach Mode as a OC. Coach Mode is what I am most excited(its the #1 reason I am buying NCAA 12. To bad its Coach Mode not in the demo.

Anyway I started using Oregon's 5 WR Shotgun quad formation. Its a formation that is overloaded with 4 wrs to one side.

I called the 4 verticles out of this formation CPU played it horrible at first. Left a guy wide open, and I threw to him, and he caught it, and he was running in for a easy TD, but then all of the sudden tripped in the open field with nobody around him, and the defense caught up with him. I thought wow that is BS, but that wasnt the end of it.

After picking apart the CPU apart on some underneath passes with this formation. I decide to go back to the vertciles one again. Once again the CPU is not able to handle it, and I see a guy get open, but this a time a defender that is 15 yards in front him makes a impossible leaping interception(the first true Heisman cheapness that I had saw.) On my next possession I run the EXCATE play, and the PLAY happens EXCATELY the same as before. I throw to the same EXCATE guy who gets open on the same EXCATE way only to have the same EXCATE defender who was in the EXCATE same position make the same EXCATE impossible leaping interception.

I wish Coach Mode was in the demo. Anyway if I play the demo anymore it will probably just watch the computer run plays(something you can do by choosing sim). Sadly for some reason it doesn't give you the option to sime some plays, and you have to run the play yourself.

[sniperhare]

Re: NCAA Football 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

i'm download ps3 demo and try it. to see if it really is horrible than xbox version

i am playing on hdtv with 1080p also with some pretty good hdmi cords. the best monster hdmi cables you can find for around 100-120.

It's not analog, the cables don't matter. You got hosed by whoever sold you those.


Played two games last night as Oregon and Alabama, I threw 3 or 4 picks as Oregon. One had a DT leaping up to catch right as I threw that didn't look that bad, and the others were on deep throws when the ball was under thrown and landed in the CB's hands instead of the WR's.

It does seem floaty at times and I still noticed the LB's jumping around to swat balls. The Texas QB did not know what to do against the zone, but missed a 20 yard scramble to stand in the pocket for 6 seconds and take a coverage sack.

[buckeye02]

Re: NCAA Football 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

Anyone notice how large and spread out the names are when you chose a defensive player? I love that.

Also the QB #10 seem to be spread further across the back jersey. Names will prbably show up a little bigger across the back.