EA's NCAA Football 14 Catch-All

How could they not be? That alone is massive marketing for EA!

So, Leroy – are you joining us again in the world of video game college football?

I got one quick game in with the demo. I played Oregon against A&M (I had to be different and try Oregon). The game feels very familiar if you've played NCAA 13, but it feels a lot more polished. I played on All American difficulty and lost 10-7, mostly because I eschewed a very late FG, opting to throw a goal-line INT instead with about 5 sec left on the clock. See? I told you it was like NCAA13!

A few thoughts: The defensive pass coverage is very good and mostly feels more realistic than last year's iteration. I saw no leaping LBs. I saw good zone coverage. I saw tight man-to-man. There was a lot less separation than last year (I think the A&M CBs were largely more highly rated than my WRs). However, I also saw my TE appropriately break a Cover 2 in which the safeties bit on the outside and the LB got outrun over the middle of the field. However, that was one of the only times I saw someone quite so wide open. I also scored a TD going into the half, slipping the ball between two defenders to a outside post WR.

Overall I felt like the defense was very fair. I felt like I had enough control over the ball and was able to really put some balls into tough positions. But, I also had a bunch of those attempts batted down. Good stuff.

I was a little worried about how they were going to handle the option info, but it's well done. They put a red and white 'R' flag over the player you're supposed to read. It's not too obtrusive, and will help folks who aren't used to the option.

I haven't thrown enough passes or really done enough inside running to make a judgement on the line play yet.

The NCAA games have been my most-played games of the generation, and I don't think I'm going to be disappointed by this game. I'm not sure it quite makes the leap I was expecting, but it does feel very polished. Here's hoping some of the cheesy glitchy stuff is gone compared with last year's edition. It certainly felt good in my very limited experience this afternoon.

Also, that last second score before the half was very cool. It was so slick as I dove for the pylon that my son and his friend both leapt up and yelled when I scored. I don't want to come off as overly glowing about the game, because I've had only a bit of time with it, but boy that was fun.

I've now played 3 games. Well, nearly 4 since I used Michigan against OSU and needed a 4th OT to win the game.

My enthusiasm is tempered a bit, but still pretty strong. There are some funny things happening in this game on occasion. Notably, the press coverage on outside receivers is really goofy at times. The receivers make a move around the CBs, then get a phantom bump that they often can't escape in any reasonable amount of time. It completely takes them out of the play on many occasions. And while I like that occasionally one will see a player fall on a defender and not be whistled down, I saw one play in OT that took that to new heights with "Maxton Briller" falling onto about 3 Michigan defenders before finally getting up and scrambling about (and eventually getting his head knocked off...).

Still, there's a lot that's enjoyable about it. Even the instant replay of the play of the game, which involved an overhead view of a ball moving down the field intermittently with absolutely no players on the field. It followed the right track of the game-winning TD and even cast appropriate shadows!