Ed. note: for the rest of the week, Chat Sports will be reviewing the hot new video game NCAA 14. Be sure to check back for more in depth reviews on different aspects of the game. Up first: Gameplay.
Of the four "main" sports video games (Madden, NCAA football, NBA 2K and FIFA), the breakdown of gameplay generally goes something like this: NBA has the best graphics, but the fluidity and game engine are sub par. FIFA is the most fluid of all of them, looking most like the real sport on your screen. Madden has the best combination of them all, and NCAA is just sort of it's younger cousin.
EA Sports has made major attempts in recent years to make NCAA seem less like Madden, just with different players. However, that has had extremely mixed results. The college "atmosphere" that everyone craves has seen substantial upgrades, making it drastically better than Madden in the off-field aspects. But Madden's gameplay is nearly flawless, and why EA ever attempted to move NCAA away from that model is baffling.
This year, they've gone back, and the result is a drastically improved game on the field, which is ultimately most important. The movements and gestures of the players are significantly more natural; ball carriers cut with more fluidity, quarterback pump fakes aren't so jagged, the collision engine has been tweaked and improved. All-in-all, the gameplay is significantly more enjoyable and less frustrating than in years past.
That's not to say it's flawless, of course. The most frustrating aspect has to be on defense: runners seem to have a remarkable tendency to bounce off even the hardest of tackles. Granted, tackling in the college game is not as sound or crisp as it is in the NFL. But we're not talking about missed tackles here. These are full-on (animated) wrap-up tackles that players are simply breaking free from.
On offense, players still seem to be unable to think for themselves, so to speak. When a passing play breaks down, players just sort of stop and stand at the end of their assigned routes instead of coming to help you out, and it is still damn near impossible to run a draw play.
One more particularly irritating note is that when running the no-huddle, the game still shows replays and between-play animations, then rushes your players to the line. While it has no effect against the computer, it is nonetheless very annoying and unnecessary. Against a human opponent it would also give them a three-second mental breather. Small, but significant.
However, it's the improvements that jump out more. The AI, especially defensively, is tremendous. It will bait you into bad throws, show blitz at the line and drop into cover 4, target the weaker side of your line. On offense, it will run the hurry-up on you with the alarming regularity currently seen in the college game, and the same goes for the read-option.
And speaking of the option, running it as a user has become significantly easier as well. Guessing which player a defender is targeting has always been rather unfair in a video game, so now an icon appears showing who is about to get crushed, allowing you to pitch the ball or keep it more wisely. The timing is as sensitive as ever though, so don't think it's easy by any stretch.
All told, a back-to-the-basics approach paid off nicely for NCAA 14. Instead of wondering why the gameplay was so much worse than Madden, it is pleasantly similar - and therefore better.
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