The Gaming Tailgate Video Podcast
I say all of that because if you don't know me, I want to at least give you some insight as to where I come from so you can see where my focus is while I'm down at EA Tiburon during community events. Along those lines, they bring in guys from all over, with all kinds of different perspectives, and all kinds of different focuses on the same game we all play so that in the end, we can help influence the game as much as possible to improve upon it from year to year. In this write-up, I'll cover my impressions from my time with the game last week. This will only include information that EA has already released but largely focus on the Gameplay side of things.
Before I get into my impressions, I want to make sure everyone is aware that this is certainly not the final version of the game that will be released. They timed this event purposefully so that they would be able to take our feedback and make adjustments to the game based on that feedback. Obviously it's far too late for any new features or complete overhauls to happen, however they certainly can use our feedback to tune and improve various areas of the game.
I first want to start with the new features that everyone will immediately see... the passing game. With as close to a complete overhaul as one could get without actually stripping everything out, the passing game is most certainly different this year. Obviously the basic mechanics are the same as we've always had, but with the added trajectories, Total Control Passing, the receiver route awareness, and new quarterback drop-back animations, passing will certainly feel different than it has before. Add in the new receiver animations (430 is a lot!), playaction abort, and the defenders having to read and then react to passes, it changes things drastically.
The biggest change there is indeed the trajectories. Most people don't understand... we literally only had one trajectory in previous years. If you threw a bullet or threw a lob, it would play out the same trajectory, just at different speeds and stretched out heights. Now, with 25 different trajectories, the ball will travel in varying paths, heights, speeds, etc. based on where you're throwing to. Essentially, if you're throwing to a 5 yard curl, you no longer have to balloon a lob. Added as well, there is now a new middle ground between bullets and lobs that you can trigger based on how long you hold down the receiver's icon. All of this will let you, as a Quarterback, have much more control on how you want to get your receiver the ball.
The new Total Control Passing mechanic that is in the game is also a huge change. While in the past we were able to lead a receiver, this was always just simply used to make small adjustments to where the ball would be targeted while still relating to the route the receiver is running. However this year, with the same controls on the left stick, you can completely change where you want to target the ball. If your receiver is running a streak, you can choose which shoulder you want to lead him on. If the receiver is running an in route, you can now lead him further down field so that you can dump the ball over the linebacker's head. This will make passing in NCAA Football 13 completely new territory. Those that are able to master this new mechanic will be able to place the ball all over the field like never before. Obviously the down-side to that is that since you're now placing the ball in spots outside of the receiver's route, if your Quarterback isn't as accurate or if the receiver doesn't see the ball, you'll be seeing more balls hit the dirt.
Speaking of receivers not seeing the ball, that is based on the new receiver route awareness. I believe this has largely been explained but for anyone that still doesn't quite understand it, at the start of the snap, all receivers icons will be dimmed. They will remain dimmed until a receiver in real life would be looking for the ball. So, on a slant, a receiver is going to begin looking for the ball right around the time they make their cut whereas on a streak route, the receiver won't begin looking for the ball until they're 15-20 yards down field. You'll still be able to throw the ball whenever you like but if the receiver isn't looking for the ball, he won't make a play for it. This will eliminate the guys who rock & fire right at the snap to the TE that's running a streak... he won't be looking for the ball so it will either hit him the back of the helmet, hit the dirt, or worse get picked. That said, you'll still be able to throw routes based on timing; so long as the receiver is looking for the ball by the time it gets there, he'll still be able to catch it. On top of that, while it hasn't been stated out-right, I definitely feel that true route-based passing is finally in the NCAA Football series. That is, you can throw the ball before the receiver is actually cutting and it will throw to where he should be going and not just lead him in the direction he's currently running. This has been a complaint for years and feels as though as it has been addressed.
To coincide with the receivers having to look for the ball, so do the defenders. No longer are they mirroring or running a receiver's route before him; they have to play the receiver's route by reacting to what he does. The perfect example of this is on curls and comeback routes. If as a QB, you throw the ball before the WR actually makes his cut to get there when he turns around, he'll be able to turn and catch it while the defender might continue running 2-3 steps further down field. It all comes down to timing because if you get your timing wrong and throw the pass too late, that DB will have time to recover only to be able to catch that ball on the run as he returns it for the pick-six.
Along with that, the new 430 catch animations not only apply to receivers but also apply to defensive backs. These new animations are not only nice to see from a variety stand-point but they're also much more fluid, especially the relationship between the WR and the DB. While none of the developers ever said so specifically, these new animations seem to include some that have the WR and DB conjoined in the animation so that they will essentially play the ball together, separately. These present a more realistic representation of what happens in real life... the two players shouldn't jump independently from each other but rather jump differently based on what the other does. On top of that, I know there is concern that based on the dive animations we got last year, that the CPU won't be able to perform these new catches but as someone who does a mix of CPU & user catches, I saw the CPU able to make the same types of catches that I could manually.
Sticking with the offensive side of the ball, I want to touch on what will definitely be a welcome addition and that is the Shotgun Spread Option attack. Over the past 10 years, these offenses have evolved into much of what we see today with a large portion of schools at least mixing in these principles to their running game to the point that they can take them to the national title game (see Oregon vs Auburn in 2011). In the past, these were never represented very well as the threat to run from the QB was never as strong as it could be but looking at teams, the QB can often be the team's leading rusher (see Arkansas State in 2011). This year though, simple changes to how the QB will take off faster after an option read (no longer is he stuck in mud) and the fact that CPU defenders do not instantly react to an option choice, will make those option offenses much more deadly. In games against users and the CPU alike, in the right situation I would be able to break off 60+ yard runs with a QB keeper. Certainly a welcome change.
To go along with that, the option pitch has been changed so that the pitch man/QB relationship is much better. No longer will the man waiting to receive the pitch run parallel to the QB but instead stay one or so yards behind the QB. As well, it at least seems as though the pitch button is more responsive. Speaking of the pitch button, it has been moved to the L1/LS button. The fake pitch button has been moved to the right stick by pressing down/back on the stick.
Speaking of the option attack, I do want to mention that a mix on an old favorite, the Army Wingbone offense, is represented in the game. For those unfamiliar with this offense, see a video from keontez for a look at it. This offense essentially meshes the Flexbone offense with the Wishbone offense, featuring two backs in the backfield (FB & HB) along with a wingback. This creates a unique look that defenses have to prepare for. However I must mention that the wide offensive line splits that are shown in the video are not included in the game... it will use the same splits that the Flexbone used in the past.
Staying with the run game, while no major improvements or overhauls were made in this area, there are two important changes to note. The first being the return of momentum, particularly on defense and the second being a change to trucking and stiff-arming animations that return the control back to the user sooner. Last year, with NCAA12, the majority of the changes to momentum we saw in NCAA11 were seemingly lost. I believe this mostly had to do with the changes that the team made to loss of suction in tackling and in the end things weren't tuned back to where they were previously. This year though, you certainly can't get out of position on defense or you won't be able to recover in time to make a play.
Then on top of that, with users now being able to control players that break tackles much sooner, you'll certainly feel like you have more control with the ball carrier. Now if you get to the outside and perform a stiff-arm, you're not stuck as long in that break tackle animation so that you can expect to pick up more yards after successfully breaking a tackle. There are still scenarios where you don't regain control as fast as you might like but in those cases, it's just a matter of the animation playing out to where you're trying to recover your balance or a similar scenario. I always hate losing control of a player that I'm controlling but obviously in real life you have to regain your balance before you can make that next step in the direction you want to go.
Additionally, along the lines of running animations, obviously a large amount of people saw the juke animation during the Sights & Sounds sizzle video. While that animation was indeed there, we made sure to tell them that we don't like it being there. Their feeling was that the juke animation was underpowered last year and that was their attempt to sort of answer that. The problem though was that not only is it unrealistic in most cases, but as well the "cut" animation that would take one step to change direction was no longer there. This made it even more difficult to find your hole when running the ball up the middle. All that said, the gameplay developers were certainly open to our discussions about it and I'm hopeful that we'll see a slightly toned down juke in addition to the cut animation making a return.
If I stopped there, it would sound like the defense saw very little improvement this year but certainly the biggest change on defense, one that I have been a strong advocate for years is that they have now made changes to where defenses will use proper alignments. The essential philosophy behind this is that the best positional defender will cover the best receiver. CBs will have priority over WRs and then safeties, and then linebackers. This means that now if you call 4-3 Man Cover 2, you don't have to worry about whether a linebacker will be covering the slot receiver in Ace Big Twins. The CB will always move across the formation to cover the slot WR. The biggest help to this will be to those that use the 3-3-5 or 4-2-5 defense. In the past, bugs would prevent the safeties from covering the proper receivers, particularly in Cover 1 against a Y-Trips look. While looking through this last week, I still saw some issues where this wasn't exactly correctly but I noted as many as I could find and also suggested another pass to review various scenarios was needed. Hopefully they'll be able to correct as many as possible so that users are no longer scared off from running the 3-3-5 or 4-2-5.
In addition, they have also implemented a system to help disguise what play the defense is using. In the past, it was easy to tell whether the defense was in man or zone simply by seeing whether a defender always stayed over the top of the receiver. This year though, even when in zone coverage, best on best rules will still apply. If you call a 4-3 Cover 2 Zone defense against that Ace Big Twins, not only will the CB move across the formation to line up over the top of the slot WR. From there, the rest of the defense's assignments will flow over so that the same coverage is spread across the formation, just with different personnel filling the assignments. This results in the user-controlled QB no longer knowing what play the defense is running and instead having to make a true read once the ball is snapped.
Obviously that's not completely everything that has changed in the game but those are the areas that I believe will make the largest impact in the gameplay areas. I'm sure most are reading through my opinions and instantly assuming we'll see a return to NCAA 09's Wide-Open Gameplay. However, I certainly don't believe that will be the case as the defense will still be there to make plays. However, a user that learns how to use the new offensive tools will certainly have an advantage. The telling part will be two to three months after the launch of the game and see who has mastered these new techniques.
One final note, I do want to make mention that Custom Playbooks did receive a fair amount of attention this year. The large focus was ensuring that everything that didn't work last year, now does. You can now create a playbook that includes only one play if you so desire, including if you want to remove all goalline plays, you can do so. That also includes plays that are assigned as Audibles... if you remove them, it will automatically assign a new audible for you down to the point that you have one play remaining so it is now your only audible. As well, you will now have access to add any and all Wildcat formations to your playbook. They achieved both of these by removing the unique named formations that were named for team specific mascots, etc. No longer will there be the Wild "Insert Mascot Name Here" but instead they'll share names across every playbook... certainly a welcome change in my opinion. As well, you can now manipulate what order the various sets appear in each formation listing by simply removing all sets in that formation and then the order that you add them is the order that they'll appear. If you want the Ace Big to appear after the Ace Slot, you can now remove both, add the Ace Slot and then add the Ace Big. Unfortunately there weren't any changes to choosing your own formation audibles or the like but I think most will agree that the focus should be ensuring that the playbooks work correctly without any issues.
To close, while this year wasn't the revolutionary changes to gameplay that many are hoping to see such as overhauls to Offensive and Defensive Line interactions, overhauls to Special Teams, major changes to the Running game, and so on, this certainly is a year that includes significant changes to gameplay. The passing changes alone are significant but the alignment changes alone will make for a more competitive game since you can no longer predict the defense. Both of these areas are things that have had essentially no attention since even NCAA 03 so it's certainly refreshing to play with these new changes. Some may call this NCAA 12.5 but there really is a lot going on in the background that end up making significant changes to the game. While it may seem like a slow progression the past few years, these changes are making a major impact while causing small waves.
While I tried to cover pretty much everything, the whole experience down in Orlando can be a whirlwind as there is so much to look at in so little time. If I missed something particular, be sure to look at our Question and Answer thread or just simply reply to this article to ask your question. I and the others that have attended the community events this year can answer anything for Sights, Sounds, or Gameplay. Anything to do with Dynasty, Heisman Challenge, or Road to Glory are off-limits until EA themselves have touched on the topic.
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