It's an EA sports game. That's really enough by itself.
1. exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market, or a control that makes possible the manipulation of prices.
You can substitute price control with a complete and total lack of innovation from year to year and actually a degradation of functionality. That's the best way to sum up EA sports games.
I only bought this title because there is a Red Raider on the cover. I said 7 years ago that is the only way EA will get anymore of my money and I am sticking to it. I might buy a resale copy of something from them at $5 or $10 dollars but that's because their garbage sports games are worth about that much.
To throw a little meat your way as to why this game isn't worth the DVD its written too lets look at Texas Tech. We went 11-2 last year tying for 1st in the Big XII South with OU and Texas. Yeah we lost Crabtree, Harell, and Amendola on offense and some losses on defense as well. Texas A&M didn't have anyone worth a crap last year. They tied for last with Baylor for crying out loud. They suck and have for years. Tech has statistically dominated aTm since 93' so how on Earth did the fighting Aggies garner a better rating than Texas Tech?
Did I mention that there are black players on our team that are white on the game and vice versa? That our 4.2 40 speedster is slower than a UT lineman? It's widely accepted that the published rosters are complete and total crap but that should be a reason for EA to improve not degrade their service.
Is it just me or are they removing features as well? I am sure I can put a guy in motion but for the life of me I can't figure out how. The play calling is just horrid because of the preconditions they use for calling them. It's better than it used to be in that there are now a lot more audibles and options for hot routes and runs but those all happen after you call a formation. There isn't a no huddle mode and a hell of a lot of schools run a no huddle offense. Worse is because I can't get my guys to go into motion I can't get a read on the defense. Even if I could get them in motion the disparity between a defense like UT's and the feeble offense of Tech means they can run pretty much anything and have great pass coverage and a fantastic pass rush. The wide splits that Leach made famous and have been proven to provide an advantage to pass coverage are not an option and in fact our big guys are horrible at pass blocking despite statistically being one of the best in the nation.
Aside from fan rant let's look at bugs. I got a holding call running the ball in for a touchdown from the one yard line against Houston. The result you ask? A safety and I had to kick the ball to the Cougars. Seriously?
What happened to designing your own plays? I would love to have players running patterns we actually run or more option routes but guess what? That feature doesn't exist anymore.
EA makes horrible sports games. They are growing more and more like Blitz and less and less like games that actual sports enthusiasts want to play. They don't get my money and they don't get good reviews from me either.
Really EA's sports games just are not worth my time to even review.
To check out why my reviews are the way they are check out my blog.