NCAA 13 Demo Impressions

The NCAA 13 demo was released on Tuesday June 5 on Xbox 360 and Wednesday June 6 on PS3. After playing a few games, TSO staff writer PAgamer07 and I share some of our early impressions from the demo.

Jmustang1968:

• I am loving the changes to the passing game. The trajectories help eliminate the super man linebackers. The precision of placing and aiming passes feels great too, while not being overpowered.
• The new catch animations and the receivers looking back to the QB and to the ball also really add to the realism. The ability of the receivers to catch passes in stride and turn up field is refreshing as well.
• The improved defensive coverage AI is also excellent. The plays the defenders make on the ball seem very real and plausible. Defenders look at the ball and make more intelligent plays on the ball while it is in the air or towards the offensive player.
• The defensive reaction time is also noticeably improved. Defenders seem to not over pursue as badly. Before, with a fast back, one could make a little move behind the LOS to suck the defenders in, then quickly bounce it outside and around. In the demo, the defenders reacted appropriately and stayed with the ball carrier.
• I feel switching and usering defenders is more responsive. Before, there always appeared to be some delay and unresponsiveness when switching to a defender to make a play on the ball carrier or more specifically, a pass in the air.
• On the flip side, runners seem more responsive as well. The Baylor Halfback was able to turn on a dime and didn’t lose much acceleration when making cuts. I can foresee a potential for more big plays.
• The spin move works again. In the past few years, the spin move seemed to rarely work, and usually only slowed the runner down to get caught from behind by another defender. I was actually using it effectively in my demo games.
• Line blocking feels improved as well. Offensive linemen more accurately moved their feet and it was more difficult to user a D-linemen to swat/swim/power move off the blocker.
• The crowd noise was noticeably better and reacted to the action in the game accurately
• The ticker and game breaks are a nice touch. Hopefully these wont get too old or annoying after awhile
• The AI calls screens too often. They also hold the ball too long on a screen. I would say I sacked the cpu on a screen pass 8/10 times they called one.
• The cpu QBs seemed to lob the ball too often when it wasn’t necessary. I often had the cpu QB lob short passes that were more easily defensible than if they would have put a little more zip on it.

In all, I am pleased with the demo. I am trying not to read too much into it though as the difficulty is set on Varsity. I would love to see how the AI plays on AA and Heisman difficulties. Some of the complaints I have could perhaps be mitigated. I am also a bit concerned about the passing game. I am hoping the read and react improvements on defense are able to counter the new passing system enough that good passing users won’t be unstoppable.

PAgamer07:

Likes

• The presentation is excellent. I really like the in game updates, but I LOVE the ticker at the bottom. Especially the upset alerts. Obviously if it would update you on simultaneous user games this would be even more amazing, but that’s impossible as far as I know.
• The line blocking is much better, I tried everything with a DT and could not do squat. The running game seems improved as well, and arm tackles dont seem to do a lot.
• The passing game is great and not once did I feel afraid to pass because of a psychic DB. My picks were on bad reads, not on cheating AI.
• Also love the new catch animations, and the defenders really do a great job of knocking the ball away at the last second.
• The lighting was great as was the change in the lighting as the game progressed into evening.
• The fans seemed really loud as well, although I was unable to pump them up a few times.
• Spread option works, and play action passing works like a charm.

Dislikes

• Crowds unchanged and still pretty bland same with the sideline and the coaches.
• I couldn’t hear the band at all, and I played 3 games. They were drowned out by the crowd. Are there other songs this year because I couldnt tell?

That’s about it. Overall I really like the gameplay and presentation for the most part. Just need to add a little more electricity to the band, the crowd and the sidelines.

EA Game Changer and TSO admin Drifterbub also put together a nice video with commentary pointing out a few of his demo impressions:

Comment on our impressions and contribute some of your own in the TSO NCAA 13 Demo Impressions Thread

Comment on Drifter’s video in the Drifter NCAA 13 Demo Video Thread