Improved Gameplay

Here are some Gameplay improvements that I heard about and saw while playing the game.

1. Blocking – The blocking animations have been changed and looked great. The blockers will now turn there bodies as they block sealing off holes that are created. Makes the inside running game much better.
2. Playbooks – I know they spent some time on the playbooks. I am not sure to what extent or if it was Offense or Defense but they did work on them.
3. Controller will have three configurations. Not sure what each one is as I used the default.
4. The Option has been worked on a tremendous amount and you will notice a big difference the first time you run the option. It felt very crisp.

Presentation

Graphics – The player models have been redone and look great. They look more like college players which adds to that separation between the NCAA game and Madden. You will definitely notice the difference. I have always enjoyed the graphics on NCAA so I can’t say for people that haven’t that this year’s game will change that for you.
The stadiums looked great and there were some screen shots that showed how much the lighting has been improved.

In game Presentation – All of the what I would call “after the play scenes” have been redone. You will see some new ones. Without comparing not sure if some of the old ones are there or not but I am sure they are. The way the camera zooms and pans looks great.

There is now a score bug which stays on the screen during the game and in all the other screens also. There is no long a need to look in different places on different screens to find the information you need. Sounds simple but it’s a very nice feature.

Pre-Game Presentation – For those of you that have seen the first video you have seen the in-booth presentation with Kirk Herbstreit putting on the mascot helmet. The announcers converse and talk about the upcoming game and is a very nice addition. I saw only the booth setting and didn’t see any different settings like you see on TV where they are outside at different campuses. I think the thing about presentation is how new it feels after player ten or more games. To get that you need to have a lot of different content and something unique about each team and maybe even players. Since I only played a few games it’s to hard for me to judge if NCAA football has reached that level of great presentation. It’s definitely could be there with what I saw.

Franchise

Every year the franchise in NCAA and Madden gets better. It’s amazing how large it’s all getting. This year they have done some things with Rivals.com and the in-season recruiting. The pipeline feature has been added that will allow you to build pipelines to areas and keep them throughout the season. You will have better chances to get players out of your pipeline areas. There is also now the option to sell different things to the players. For example if you want to promote that they are going to get the best education from your school then you can pitch academics. So you can attract different types of players depending on what your school has to offer. You can invite them to a game or just to campus. You are going to get more points with the player if you invite them to the campus when there is a game and also winning or loosing the game will affect that visit. It also adjusts to how good the opposing team you are playing that week is. If you are playing a high ranked team and beat them it’s going to help recruiting that player.

The discipline system has been reworked and toned down a little. Allowing you to take a team that has problems and turn them into a good program. I’m not sure to what extent it has been toned down though.

EA has spent a lot of time on the conferences making them more accurate and to incorporate what is happening around the NCAA with changes. I didn’t spend any time going through the teams and conferences to be able to comment..