The new NCAA Football 13 demo was released for the XBOX360 today. After what felt like a long wait (1.98GB), the game was finally ready to be played.
Here are some thoughts in bullet point style. (“The Major likes bullet points…”)
- The demo didn’t include the opening cutscene. I was mildly disappointed by that. I usually watch the cutscene once in the beginning and there-after mash on the X button as if my life depended on it. I’m hoping they go in a different direction this year. Petrino crashing his hog. Miami booster getting a quickie abortion for a pregnant stripper. Sigh. Aim for the stars EA Sports. Aim for the stars.
- I played the initial Heisman mode – which lets you play as RGIII – as either a QB for Baylor or K-State. (HUH?) I played as Baylor. My first two passes were picked off. Sigh. However, I was able to recover using one of the new features in Heisman Challenge mode – Bullet-time.
What is bullet time? First of all, it’s called “Reaction Time”. Probably because bullets aren’t involved and they’d probably get sued by the makers of Max Payne. Essentially, you go into a Neo (Matrix) or Wesley (Wanted) mode where the whole world slows down. Some superstar QBs claim that games does indeed slow down during crunch time and when they’re under pressure. I can’t related from personal experience. I go into “WTF WHY IS THE DT BULLRUSHING INTO MY FACE!” panic mode.
In my panic, I activated “Reaction Time” by holding onto the LT button after the snap. HOLY CRAP. It’s so much easier going through your progressions when everything is in slow motion. Also, if you activate it right before getting sacked, RGIII (i don’t know if this applies to all QBs) ducks out of the sack and then runs for 40 yards. You seem to start off with 15 seconds of this bullshit reaction time, which then deducts the number of seconds you used it for after the play is completed. However, you seem to accumulate more time for “good plays” and TDs. Bullet time usually leads to good plays. Good play leads to more time. So it seems to be a self-fulfilling prophecy of some sort. Obviously, I won. 52-51 over K-State. Whew. For my troubles, they unlocked Jim Plunkett for me when I purchase the actual game.
The Heisman mode, with unlocked former Heisman winners (with video interviews!) will allow you to attempt to re-create their Heisman careers – or re-write history. Sure, put Desmond Howard on the Buckeyes. And then watch as an entire fan base in Ann Arbor light themselves on fire. Apparently, this idea was suggested by Heisman award winning RB, Eddie George. …. Fuck Eddie George. But it might still be fun to try out.
Other things I noticed:
- The camera view appears to have a wider shot of the field. You see all of your players more and seemed to be more zoomed out – hence the players are a lot smaller than NCAA 12.
- There were in-game studio updates with Rece Davis to re-create the feeling of watching a real game on Saturdays in the fall. As an added touch, the progress of games are updated in a bar below your screen throughout the games. Rece would update me on the final results of games, including an upset of ranked Texas at the hands of Texas Tech, and display typical post-game stats. It’s a nice touch, which I’m sure I’ll get sick of after week two. It will be nice to know however, if e.g. Bama loses in the SEC championship game, allowing my team to jump them into the BCS National Championship game. That would be sweet as hell. (Ok. St fans nod their head nervously.)
- I played as LSU v Bama in Week 10 of the 2012 season. Pro tip #1, don’t run at Bama. Though draws seemed to work well against them. It was nice however to see the Superman linebackers of last year that could leap over buildings in a single bound are gone. I was able to actually drop some medium touch passes over the head of the MLB before the safeties had a chance to make a play. I think I’m going to be utilizing multiple TE sets along the seams. There are now medium passes as I mentioned to go along with the bullet and lob passes of old. I think it adds a nice touch. Pun intended. Pro tip #2, the Honey Badger takes whatever he wants. Including 2 passes intended for a Bama WR.
- I still can’t return a punt more than 8 yards. Though, maybe that’s more a reflection of my skills than anything else. If only I had bullet time…
- Also, I don’t know if it was a result of playing as a 6 Star caliber program such as LSU, but my players seemed to be more responsive than last year. Their movement seemed less . . . clunky? I don’t know how to describe it. I’d like to see if others feel the same way.
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Jahlan