NCAA Football 13 Hands-On Preview (Kotaku)

[Steve_OS]

Kotaku has posted some hands-on impressions of NCAA Football 13. Here's some interesting tidbits:

"More than anything, Richart and his team wanted to wash out that sludge, and give you a passer who can stand tall and examine his options, or roll out and find his running back or tight end without getting driven into the turf.

This year, Richart vows, players are going to have to see the ball before they can react to it, on offense and defense. For defenders, that means the end of the so-called Psychic Defensive Back, a promise that seemingly is made every year.

For starters, there are 25 new passing trajectories in this game, covering all types of speed and distance. Weaker arms will have a higher loft on their deep balls, for example.

There's another stick behavior the game is trying to condition out—the huge dropback. Players instinctively lay on the left stick, down, after the snap to get their quarterback out of the way of the pass rush. In NCAA 13, automatic drops of 1, 3, 5 or 7-steps have now been plugged into the game, and your quarterback will proceed through them automatically—without throwing the ball, of course. "

What do you all think?

[JerseySuave4]

Re: NCAA Football 13 Hands-On Preview (Kotaku)

I liked the sound of this

Inside the pocket, flicking the right stick now controls a quarterback's sack avoidance dance steps, a more finely tuned motion that keeps a player from running completely outside of his protection.

but Kotuku, like so many of us, seemed to remain skeptical and have more of that we'll believe it when we see it attitude.

Once again, we're told that 'Psychic DBs' and 'Robo LBs' are gone from the game

For defenders, that means the end of the so-called Psychic Defensive Back, a promise that seemingly is made every year. Though I got hands-on time with NCAA in a visit to EA Sports last week, I didn't see a large enough sample of instances to say they've delivered on it yet. That'll come out in the wash of the review, and if the Psychic DB is still there, EA Sports knows it will be judged harshly.

that seems to be one of the main complaints about the NCAA team. Is that they make these claims each year and then they don't work. We have heard that Super LBs and Psychic DBs were removed for a few years now only to have it not be true. So that's why i fail to give them a lot of credit for addressing them this year, even if they get it right this time, because it's something they've been claiming for many years now that they've fixed but haven't.

It also sounds like you're going to have a lot of time to stand back there and throw the ball which has me a little concerned in terms of what that means for blocking & the pass rush.

[mwjr]

What do I think? I think I'll wait to buy it until getting feedback from people on here.

[jkra0512]

I liked the sound of this



but Kotuku, like so many of us, seemed to remain skeptical and have more of that we'll believe it when we see it attitude.




that seems to be one of the main complaints about the NCAA team. Is that they make these claims each year and then they don't work. We have heard that Super LBs and Psychic DBs were removed for a few years now only to have it not be true. So that's why i fail to give them a lot of credit for addressing them this year, even if they get it right this time, because it's something they've been claiming for many years now that they've fixed but haven't.

It also sounds like you're going to have a lot of time to stand back there and throw the ball which has me a little concerned in terms of what that means for blocking & the pass rush.

JerseySauve, we also had a reviewer and many OS members say they were gone too....

[khaliib]

I like that weaker arm QB's will have more arc on their throws.
I assume this will represent Madden's short/med/long accuracy rating, which is fine by me.

Still have the mysterious "AWR" rating and it's impact gameplay wise unanswered.

In previous releases, it dictated the pecking order of who got the ball thrown to them and how often.
Thus why TE's were some of the top receivers on most teams.

A big positive with the various arc's on throws, is the ability to edit down QB arm strength to expand "Width" of the field that is soooo smal to showcase all the Medium-to-close visuals.

For the Defensive side, I simply don't understand why they insist on using the 0-99 scale for jumping.
This isn't basketball and is the main culprit to many of the odd pass int/deflections in the game.

Because the JUMP Rating is tied into player OVR's, lowering any DB Jump rating, hits there OVR heavy.
Thus, we end up with 5'8 DB's jumping evenly with 6'3 + WR's so their OVR is elevated to boost the Team OVR's for the highly rated teams.

I bring this up because I see this causing issues with the new Arc System in that it takes away the ability for the ball to "Drop" in over the DB that is trailing (seen in clip of Alabama's DB's pass deflection)

Mark my words, the Jump Rating for DB's in it's current set-up, will be an issue against the new Arc system to were a Tuner may be needed.

Still will need to play for ourselves to see what is and what isn't.

We shall see!!!

[boritter]

Re: NCAA Football 13 Hands-On Preview (Kotaku)

that seems to be one of the main complaints about the NCAA team. Is that they make these claims each year and then they don't work. We have heard that Super LBs and Psychic DBs were removed for a few years now only to have it not be true. So that's why i fail to give them a lot of credit for addressing them this year, even if they get it right this time, because it's something they've been claiming for many years now that they've fixed but haven't.

It also sounds like you're going to have a lot of time to stand back there and throw the ball which has me a little concerned in terms of what that means for blocking & the pass rush.

For this reason I will not change my 8 month-old signature until we play the game and confirm that psychic DBs are dead.

Or should I wait until the 1st patch to make sure EA doesn't ruin something functional while attempting to patch another issue?

[eagskerfan]

I'm guessing the look and react will play the same way last year, only difference is that they will have an animation of a turning head which will make the defender look back no matter what when the ball is thrown. I guaruntee they didn't change anything. Same game play, just an animation to make people feel that they got what they wanted.

[Robby73]

I wont say that I will wait for a review or rent first because this is a title I buy every year I do think 12 made some improvments but I found myself back on 11 by mid november ,not saying that it was that much better but the game play was better. now from what they are saying they have finally did somthing bout super LBs and psychic DBs, another thing that I like is that they say now the cover man will have to see your reciever make his cut and adjust to him tthat sounds good if it works. also they say they fixed custom playbooks and I hope they did cause I myself run 27 plays on offence so i really dont care for the extra BS in my playbook. with that said i would love to see some good things on the dynasty part since that is what carries this game they should throw out the mascot mash up and put more into other things. oh and the new hiesmen challege is somthing I dont think I will care to much for but with that said I will play that mode and beat all the challenges just for the achievments.

as for now if anyone would like tp kill some time I will start a madden online franchise and a ncaa 12 dynasty just hit me up , i am on xbox my gametag is code red cards.

[ehh]

Re: NCAA Football 13 Hands-On Preview (Kotaku)

I don't care at all about the previews. EA has lost everyone's trust. I'll wait until we get the consensus from the OS community about these improvements before I consider buying the game. No way this is a launch day or even launch week purchase anymore.

[ODogg]

Re: NCAA Football 13 Hands-On Preview (Kotaku)

No way this is a launch day or even launch week purchase anymore.

I agree, its a find-it-early title!! The hunt begins soon...

[truffleshuffle]

Re: NCAA Football 13 Hands-On Preview (Kotaku)

I agree, its a find-it-early title!! The hunt begins soon...

Its a stay away from it early title.

[blklightning]

Re: NCAA Football 13 Hands-On Preview (Kotaku)

i think we're gonna see madden 04 offense all over again. that's how it reads, anyway.

[TDenverFan]

Re: NCAA Football 13 Hands-On Preview (Kotaku)

I agree it's a find it early title. Looks pretty fantastic so far! An improved CC would absolutely seal the deal.

[Bamafan3723]

Re: NCAA Football 13 Hands-On Preview (Kotaku)

I agree, its a find-it-early title!! The hunt begins soon...

It hasn't been that kind of game in a looooooooong time.

[rugbyphil111]

As long as the psychic defenders are gone, and I mean gone...and the physics engine is tuned so that my 230 pound runningback with 95 BRKTKL and 90 SPD doesn't get stopped in his tracks by a 175 lb DB I will be pretty happy. I like the drops, something I have been hoping for for a long time, I like the new ball trajectories, but it means nothing with DB's that can Jump 10 feet in the air, and I like some of the new animations. I love dynasty, and building a team, but every year it is the same. I win a lot of games on super heisman difficulty and do the same old recruiting and my "grades" go up for my team and by year 5 I am unstoppable. I don't like that. I want budgets done like fifa, I want to be able to choose my program upgrades and see them reflected when I do practice mode. I want to choose how to manage my players practices and actually have it matter. I want player discipline back. I want smaller schools to be able to recruit less because of budgets, not this 10 hour crap. I want phone calls, text messages, emails, home visits, scouts, etc and I want them all to cost different amounts. I want coaching stats to really matter. Some 2 star schools have great coaches that really improve their players and I want that reflected, not just "oh you're a 5 star school so you get good rating improvements over the year". If I don't have the budget to really recruit hard outside of state and get the best players I want to use my budgets wisely and get a really good scout to find diamonds in the rough and one really good assistant (say QB coach) so I am constantly improving a position and sending them to the pros so I keep getting better players wanting to come to my school at a position (maybe they even bring a friend along or help you recruit a school, that happens all the time). I like that they were saying in an earlier post that you will get to actually scout players and find lower level recruits with great stats but this could be sooooo deep. Anyway, looks like they are moving forward a bit, I still probably won't buy day one like I normally do (mainly because there has been no mention of my above dynasty wishes or blocking changes) but I will rent or wait for OS reviews and see what happens. The problem is that I love this game for about 3 days, play it for all hours and infuriate my wife, but then I put it on the shelf because the "new features" are just skin deep. It isn't a bad game, really it's not, it just isn't as good as it could be, so that disappoints me each time. Also, I know we won't get different running but that is always a pet peeve. I know they can fix the ball size, I know it. I played football for 15 years and the ball is NOT that big...maybe they think we won't be able to see it? Anyway, this sounds like a complaints list, but it really isn't I just know they have great programmers at EA and I think the improvements they are making are going to be great, but after so many years of being disappointed it is just tough to get excited. I guess I am just a jaded fan...to bad I was addicted to the old XBOX versions playing them non-stop until the next one came out...