The #1 football sim just got better.
Background on me because I think that always helps people determine if they should care about my review.
> Middle aged, family man, that loves football, but always strapped for time.
> I don't get into the online play, coaching, superstar mode, road to glory
> I get the game, set it on All-American, maybe tweek the sliders a bit
> Fire up a dynasty, usually w/ Wisconsin or a "create-a-team" UW-Milw.
> Love the recrutiing and play season after season.
So with that said, here is my review
DYNASTY MODE
Not too much broke, so they didn't try to fix something that was working well.
This game gets a bump in my overall rating if they can figure out a way for 1-star prospects or even walk-ons to potentially become studs (read up on JJ Watt and Gabe Carimi and see how many "stars" they had coming out of H.S.) and for 5-stars athletes to be duds...along with a way to look for red flags (or intangibles) in a H.S. kid. -0.5 pts for recruiting
GAMEPLAY
Offense: This is excellent and continues to be excellent. Audibles are fun and easy, throwing is outstanding in beating the zone vs. man to man, audible your protection keeping TEs and Backs in....running with the ball. Excellent. Blocking may have taken a step backwards with pulling and 2nd level assignments...maybe awareness means more, will have to play a bit more.
Defense: Easily largest area of improvement from last season. My gripe, year after year...WHY NO TACKLE BUTTON!?. Finally, it's in...and it works. I always felt like a liability on defense and just played a DT all game or a blitzing LB/DB. Not anymore. And as with offense, if you're quick and good with audibles, you can pretty much call your defense at the LOS and just select personnel and selecting a play
Special Teams: Returning kicks/punts still a bit borning. You cut right, and 11 defenders cut with you...it's almost as if your controls are controlling both your return man and the defenders. Needs improvement. FG kicking, kickoffs, and punting are all kind off weak. Never had anyone get a big return on me, or block a kick and visa versa. -0.5 pts
CREATE A PLAYBOOK
Create a playbook is outstanding. Like I said on the defense, I use so few defensive plays and then just adjust on the fly, so I can slim down my playbook, make it easier to find plays, and make playcalling go quicker
Same with offense. Here I can remove plays and entire formations I'll never use and make play calling go much quicker.
OVERALL:
Love NCAA games. Adding a tackle button, improved graphics, improved tackle animations, and create-a-playbook makes my $60 (actually $40, was able to trade in my 2011 game for $20 @ Target) well worth it.