Review by: William Abner

When reviewing sports games, it’s always a good idea to look back at the review you wrote from the previous year and check to see if the issues you had then have been addressed with the new $60 version of what is essentially the same game.

I enjoyed much of NCAA 11, although there were clear areas where it needed improvement, Dynasty Mode in particular. Such is the case with NCAA 12. To EA’s credit, the company has added some new features this year, tweaked some gameplay elements for the better, and yet still needs someone to dive in and once and for all fix the game’s Dynasty Mode.

So what were my main beef’s last year? In the gameplay department I struggled accepting the terrible pursuit angles that CPU players took which resulted in artificially huge gains by human controlled teams. This certainly made for a more wide open game but it also looked ridiculous. NCAA 12 fixes this issue and while big gains are possible (as they should be) you won’t see a defender running side by side a player with the ball or stop running all together to take a silly angle. This may seem like a “this feels more like a patch” issue than a big time gameplay feature but it certainly makes playing games against the AI a hell of a lot more fun.

The crossing route is no longer akin to a money play as defenders play defense, particularly zone defense, more effectively than before. However, you don’t see nearly as much unfair reaction times from defenders than in the past. A mediocre player won’t react like a programmed robot when the ball is released which allows you to read defenses without the fear of a safety flying across the field to make an unrealistic deflection or interception. The only issue here is that the super leaping linebackers are back; you’ll see far too many linebackers leaping into the air and swatting down passes over the middle and lobbing it over them is terribly difficult.

NCAA 12 builds upon the foundation that was laid with NCAA 10 and then strengthened by NCAA 11. This version plays a damn good game of football both offline against the AI and online against friends. You may need to tweak the difficulty level and go into the slider settings to adjust the gameplay to your liking but I have found it possible to mold the game to play how you want it. The CPU can run the ball effectively and more importantly – especially for a college game – the AI quarterbacks will take off and run. The day I gave up 100 yards rushing to an AI controlled quarterback, I knew NCAA had made major strides in how it reflects the college game. This is something that simply was not possible in previous versions. The downside is that the option is still a problem for the CPU to effectively run.

The new tackling system is a significant improvement. The gang tackling and the lack of a five yard dive make for a much more realistic experience. The graphics and animation remain stuck in the past (this isn’t Backbreaker…) and the series is long overdue for a facelift both in how it looks and in how it sounds (the play by play is old, tired, and stale) but fans will appreciate the feel of the new tackling system and the lack of significant suction blocking.