NCAA Football 13 : A TSO Wish List

Written by PAGamer

Although NCAA Football 12 had it’s problems (transfer failed errors, custom playbooks, etc) it was still a damn fine game. There were a lot of solid additions to the game this year that were great (coaching carousel, custom conferences, new tackling system). But the problems seemed to turn a lot of people off from what is and should be a Sports Game of the Year title Contender every season. So what does NCAA Football 13 need to push it over the top?

Presentation

Let’s face it… The commentary and the on field presentation is pretty stale. Outside of the team entrances (which were a great addition) , once the action on the field starts, outside of the game itself there is no immersion.

One game that truely gets it right is the NBA 2K series. The atmosphere in the arena is electric for every game. And then in the playoffs, it just increases to a whole new level. Add in the replays, the player close ups and the stat overlays and you have one of the most immersive and energy filled sports titles ever.

Why can’t we carry this presentation over to NCAA? I think it can be done, and if it is, I really think this game will move into the elite of all sports titles. Here are my suggestions as a year long player to increase the excitement and presentation level in NCAA Football 13:

• More Crowd atmosphere. Yes homefield does matter in NCAA, especially toughest places to play. But can we please add excitement and more animations to the crowd? Team chants, action shots of the band, more variety in band songs, Waving banners/towels/flags. Anything to spruce up a pretty generic feel to every single game.

• Varied Commentary. Let’s have two announcing crews. One for national broadcasts, the other for local games. Let’s stop with the recycled commentary every year and freshen it up. A great start would be to talk about what is actually happening outside of the play by play. For instance, “Player X is having a fantastic season, his XXXX yards are tops in NCAA.” Or “Team X is looking to rebound from last season’s loss to Team X” Or “If Team X wins today, they can clinch the Big 12″. Dynamic commentary. Commentary that changes from game to game, performance to performance, and season to season. Make each game a living, breathing game. Not recycled crap for every single game, all season long, for 15 straight seasons.

• Stat overlays. The NBA 2K series nails this. Every. single. year. There are so many stats in the game that interest people, and that is one reason we are sports fans. This can be implemented in any way EA desires, but give us cool statistical tidbits and overlays not just to start the game, or to end the game, but during the game. Let’s show comparisons of the two QB’s to start the game comparing their Year to Date stats. Let’s show comparisons of the Running Backs during the game. Let’s take this one step farther and compare the stats versus previous seasons (NBA 2K does this). And then team stats. Let’s compare Offensive, defensive or even special teams stats between the teams. Or let’s show in conference standings. Something to spice things up. there are so many options here, that would just add variety to each game that it makes them far more interesting to see what stat overlays EA will come up with as you progress through the season.

These are just three suggestions that would add so much more to the excitement and immersion of a game of NCAA Football 13.

Fix CPU Defense

On the field, the CPU defense needs a lot of work. If you are like me and play dozens if not hundreds of NCAA Football games, you will notice all the little things that just annoy you to no end. These things need fixed.

• Cheating AI. Seriously. It’s early in a ball game, and I have yet to establish the pass. It’s a first and 10 and I call a pass play out of a 2 TE set. What does the AI do? They come out in a 3-3-5 pass defense. There has to be better playcalling logic for the CPU defense, so that they can handle situations like this instead of blatantly reading my plays.
• Pass Defense. I love the way zone coverage actually works now. It’s given me plenty of fits and really taught me how to read a defense. The problem? Once again, the AI cheats. If I have a receiver running a route, and the defensive back has his back to the ball, there is no way in heck he should be able to stop on a dime, run 1/4 of the way across the field, and pick my pass off. This should not be happening, and these “Psychic DB’s” ruin the immersion in the game. And then of course you have your “Super LB’s”. We’ve all seen them, and once again, I should be able to put nice touch on a ball and lob it over a Linebacker’s head and not worry about him using his 60″ vertical jump to intercept my pass. Once again, this ruins the immersion and adds to frustration.
• Fix awareness or tackling of the defensive AI. Something is seriously wrong when I bust a play because a linebacker has his back to me and doesn’t turn around to tackle me. Or better yet, when they actually run away from me. I’ve had that happen before and it’s incredibly frustrating. It’s strange because the DB’s are “psychic” and yet on some plays, the defense acts like it doesn’t even know who has the ball.
• Stop the full out blitzes! Really? I’ve gone quarters where every defensive play is a mass blitz. Stop it already. Run a smart defense, and don’t try to overwhelm me with pressure leaving my TE or HB wide open for a massive gain.

These are just a couple of things that I really hope and wish we will see for NCAA 13. There are a few more but to read hundreds of other suggestions, check out this thread and hear what the players have to say:
http://forums.traditionsportsonline.com/threads/ncaa-football-13-lets-start-now.54474/