E3: Hellisan is On-Site for TSO’s Coverage of NCAA 12

Final E3 notes and thoughts on NCAA

One thing that made it into the game that I didn’t know about - but which has reportedly been released already - is Coach Mode. From the main menu, there is the option to coach a game. What some have wondered is if this mode is accessible in dynasty mode and how it works. From dynasty mode you CAN coach games. When you hit A to select your team the option to coach is there with regular play and 1-button play. There is a large segment of the “hardcore” community that will love this feature, even if that isn’t a big deal to most of us. Within coach mode you can set the play style settings, call timeouts, etc. Before a play you can adjust the lines or the linebackers and secondary, as well as motion players, hot route, etc. You can also fake hike. The camera view for this mode is from the press box. I looked around but I didn’t see any alternative camera options. Hopefully they are in there. In addition to coach mode, those that truly prefer the hands-off approach can put the controller in the middle and just watch a cpu vs. cpu game.

A nice change that I noticed today included play challenges (which are once again offline only). When a play is challenged, a referee will now announce that the play is being challenged prior to the replays, which appeared to have superior camera angles compared to last year. When the replays are over, the referee will then announce the outcome.

As the developers have indicated the zones have received a major overhaul. Now that I have played against them for a couple days I can say confidently that you have to attack them much differently. The idea that you can run a slant, drag, or vert (from the slot) and that at some point he will come open really is a thing of the past. Depending upon the coverage any of those MIGHT work however they anticipate the trajectory of the opposing players much better so the less movement is on the route, the more likely it is that it will be covered.

I was able to occasionally run a drag that went past the last defender but other times they kept going with him. Additionally the cpu disguises its coverages much better than before. A lot of times I really didn’t know what the coverage was even if I had trips to one side. If the corner is in zone and his man goes in motion he will shade inside as well, so you can’t just read off the auto motion. I think these changes are a major improvement. You will have to really flood a zone and use the routes that are designed to beat zones such as the drag/stop route (which worked very well because the defender is aligning himself to stay in FRONT of the player’s trajectory). Basically, routes can “beat” zone coverages when you get a guy matched up one-on-one in a zone. An example I have is playing against a cover 3 where one corner was on an island with the other two shading to the left, so as my wide receiver pressed him deep he was essentially in man coverage. When my guy did a double move it fooled him and I got a beautiful touchdown throw out of it. Overall, I struggled much more on offense today on All American. In the running game I had a lot more of guys getting stopped in their tracks instead of plowing for more yards.

My concern remains with the cpu offense. I think we’re going to have to help them out with sliders, or you might see a lot of leagues running Heisman sliders this year. I just never gave up much in the way of points, and especially against teams that run the spread offense, you just don’t see a lot of successful strategy out of them.

Random Notes

• Kickoffs and punt returns are more varied, and I think you’ll see some touchdowns out of the special teams this year even in user games. You see some get blown up but the holes could open up in a bigger variety of ways and locations.
• When a player gets injured there is now a very clear “re-injury risk” note and you can see the OVR of the guy behind him to determine if you want to put him in. At first I thought you could scroll through a few guys behind him on the depth chart but it’s just the guy directly behind him.
• If a defender is not facing the ball carrier, he cannot initiate a tackle attempt. This will lead to the occasional Barry Sanders style run where a defensive guy gets turned around. I think the great run highlights will be a lot cooler this year.
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• Playing NCAA and watching Madden I noticed that people that were constantly floating outside the pocket weren’t having any success. I stumbled upon one Madden game that was in the 3rd quarter and scoreless. Both guys had the typical Madden offense going and were not able to get anything going. I’m not saying that this problem is solved for sure because I don’t know but it doesn’t seem that the D breaks down when you bring a QB outside the pocket, and the line can generally break free much more quickly around the edge than on the interior.
• The game manual is now available right in the game menus. Does this mean there will be no manual with the game? I don’t know. But it’s a nice little feature.
• The indoor practice area still is not accessible when practicing from dynasty mode.

NCAA Report #2

Well… Again, with only 2 machines in the entire place it’s difficult to get time playing the game. I took a lot of photos but most of them didn’t turn out right; I have some different setups to try tomorrow that will work better with my camera to get some decent screens.

I got one full quarter of 5 minutes on default All American… with LSU I was up 21-0 against Auburn and the game wasn’t remotely difficult. Part of that is obviously accountable to the fact that we play this game all year and that the game isn’t much different this year; however I am worried about a couple things. For one thing, the cpu pass rush has been non-existent in the little time I have had with the game. Secondly, due to the fact that tacklers no longer warp to the ball… You can through very small holes and they just watch you go by sometimes. I want to STRESS that my time with the game has been very limited but I’ve seen a couple runs where it appeared as if the defender should have just reached out, but didn’t.

And not to make this a post full of complaints because I like some things but the read option / newfangled shotgun option offense was just bad. Obviously Auburn no longer has Newton, but ugly things like an intercepted pitch and bad tackles for loss were rearing their ugly heads.

On the positive side, I saw some good things from the cpu running back making realistic moves and almost breaking one on me. I have rarely seen the cpu juke in a position that would be deemed a good position to do so and I saw it a couple of times today. I expect that I might be able to spend a little more time with the game play tomorrow.

I did take a few minutes and look at create a coach and recruiting. The create-a-coach interface seems relatively robust and you can have your coach wearing sweats, a suit, sweater vest, or t-shirt along with a few other custom touches.

I expected that I would dig into recruiting and find some new information, however everything within online dynasty (even down to the menus) looked identical to me. Even the points that you gain from various pitches and finds were identical to what I’m used to seeing. They say they’ve tweaked the “sway” and I will try to check that tomorrow. Alabama still seems absolutely unbeatable on the recruiting trail.