[OBinKC]

I want to preface this by saying that I absolutely love NCAA ‘14. The gameplay and the feel of the college game and strategy is unmatched by any other version IMO.

So with that being said, the challenge in NCAA ‘14 for me is gone. Once you play it enough, no amount of slider adjustment can take away the ability of winning every game if you really want to. Of course you can set house rules and ban plays, but what’s the fun in banning the entire spread option game when that’s what really makes the game fun, at least for me? Also, it’s kinda hard to hold back from doing what I know I can do to win if I’m losing in a game. The whole point in playing is the spirit of competing. And finally, NCAA ‘14 dropped the ball when it comes to the effectiveness of team ratings. Not only can you beat any team regardless of the ratings disparity, but the CPU controlled teams can never seem to take care of their business. Top rated Alabama and Clemson rarely escape the season without 2 or 3 losses. So it was time for me to try something different.

I’ll give Deegeezy credit for this idea since I follow his dynasty report in that section (check it out if you haven’t). He uses NCAA ‘11 for his dynasty reports. But what I’ve noticed is that it’s really a challenge to build a team and compete with the big dogs. He can feel it when he bags a blue chip recruit, and he can really feel it when his top seniors leave. He has only won two National Championships in approximately 20 years, and it has really been an ebb and flow of success.

So it occurred to me that I still have NCAA ‘12 and it’s really just a slightly updated version of ‘11. The idea of trying to build a team rather than being able to compete from jump street intrigues me. So I put in ‘12 and could feel the difference immediately. There will be no shocking Cinderella seasons out of me until my team is strong enough to compete, and I’m loving it. But as with anything, there is always bad with the good. Here are the pros and cons I’ve encountered so far.

Pros:

- You can change the recruiting difficulty up to Heisman so that it’s not as easy to build a team. You really have to utilize the pipeline to your advantage and every commit feels like a relief.

- As I mentioned, the the disparity in teams feels genuine. I started a Dynasty with San Jose State because they were one of the lowest rated teams in the game, and after playing some superior competition, I started wondering if I should’ve picked a better team, lol! Some of my best schemes simply don’t work with my inferior players, and that’s how it should be. Teams like Alabama are rated 99 overall and they play invincible. I consider this a good thing because I should never be able to hang with Bama using any team in the game, let alone beat them. I have to earn it on the recruiting trail as well as on the field.

- Before the implementation of the Infinity Engine in the later versions, the previous engine had lots of the bugs worked out in its final years, at least as far as gameplay goes. So adjusting the sliders to give the players more realistic animations and physical contact is unnecessary.

- This is personal preference, but I like the pre-game introductions in NCAA ‘12 a lot more than ‘14 (I never understood why they showed the two teams actually playing each other before the game even starts, lol!). There is more of a presentation that showcases the schools’ personalities in a better way in ‘12, IMO.

Cons:

- It’s an older version and the overall presentation of ‘14 feels newer and fresher. That’s just how it’s going to be, though. It’s part of the give-and-take. There are outdated logos and such, and you kinda have to ignore that aspect of it, lol! So if you’re thinking ‘14 is getting outdated, imagine two years earlier.

- The feel of the college offense just isn’t there. I’m a huge spread option guy, but it actually puts you at a disadvantage if you want to implement it in ‘12. Shotgun runs were still barely effective back then and unfortunately, to have a really good ground attack, you’re much better served running under center. Couple this with the fact that the game rewards a well-balanced offense, and you find yourself in a league where a pro style offense is disproportionately effective.

- Custom playbook glitch. ‘12 was the year that they brought back custom playbooks, and you weren’t able to erase everything and start from scratch without it glitching and becoming unusable. I know there was a workaround that was discovered, but I haven’t found it again in my recent google travels.

I’m sure there are other pros and cons, but these are the main ones that made me decide to go back to ‘12. Maybe I’ll get tired of it eventually, but I will enjoy taking the time to build a team and succeed in this game.