NCAA 14 Review

Alright, so I've played 1 full season already. Here's my take so far.


Pros:

The new physics engine is awesome. Makes the game SO much better. Is it perfect? No, but it's much much improved over previous games.

The O-line blocking is amazing. If you control the D-line, you actually have to mix up your moves. If you're a DE, you can't just do a swim move every time. Sometimes you have to bullrush, or try to get an inside move going. Pockets are realistic. There is the occasional bug (in one play my LG and C miscommunicated on a blitz and blocked no one and I got sacked before my drop back was complete.

Back to the physics part. The way the Runningbacks and Quarterbacks run is amazing. If you handoff to your RB and you run into a lineman, you may fall down for a loss or no gain, sometimes, if you'll run into the back of your lineman you'll grab his jersey as he blocks for you, which is pretty fucking cool. As for the QB, the O-line can cause sacks now. I've bullrushed with a DT several times, but instead of tackling the QB, the Guard will be pushed back into the QB causing him to fall down for a sack.

I noticed the crowd noise in the background. In the B1G championship game. When I had a lead and got a 1st down in the 4th quarter you could hear the "LET'S GO BLUE" chants in the crowd. Likewise, during a regular season game you can hear that "wooOOO" song thing.

I actually like the recruiting now. Much quicker. Haven't ventured to far into yet.

Skills trees: I wasn't to impressed when I first heard about this, but then I started leveling up my coach and unlocking skills. Some of them are pretty cool, if you unlock "Coachstradamous" you learn what your opponent ran the previous play and can sometimes predict their next play.

Realistic stats: I play on Heisman and it takes a while to get used to, but for the most part the stats are realistic. You won't get 5+ sacks every game or anything like that.


Cons:
Defense: While the physics engine really helps out. On defense it seems like you're players are always out of position. It's not uncommon for an opposing QB to complete 14-16 passes for 150 yards.
Also on defense the read option is extremely difficult to stop. No matter what you do, you're players always go for the RB fake. I've contained my DE's and spy'ed 2 LB's and the QB will still find a huge hole and break a 40+ yard gain.

Commentary: We need some new commentary

Ultimate Team: Who the fuck plays this shit?

Roster limits: I'm still pissed you only have 70 players. At least bump it up to 90. I'm tired of having to cut players every year.



So far, one season through, this game is much more fun to play than previous seasons.

Yeah i'm enjoying it

Stephen wrote:Yeah i'm enjoying it

The biggest knock right now is when you're on defense and the offense goes no huddle. You can barely get a play in, and when you do all your players are out of position. Pisses me off

MaddMatter wrote:

Stephen wrote:Yeah i'm enjoying it

The biggest knock right now is when you're on defense and the offense goes no huddle. You can barely get a play in, and when  you do all your players are out of position. Pisses me off

As you said defending the read option is probably what pisses me off the most.

Yeah play option is a total bitch. Imagine going up against a douche thats using nothing but play action...


The Recruiting is stupidly easy. I used MTSU and went from nothing to national Champs in 5 years at the helm... although that NC game victory was against SDSU... so yeah... Recruiting is pretty easy because there's no difficulty slider.


But yeah the physics engine is good and has me excited to see it in Madden (f they have it in there).


Overall i agree with all the points made in the OP and i'd give the game an 8 out of 10. Some minor issues like the read option being un-fucking-stopable and the recruiting being stupidly easy.