NCAA 14 Demo: Early Returns & Gripes

Its taking me a while to get used to the acceleration boost but overtime I think I am really going to like it.

In reply to couple of your comments. 

Ask a Coach feature - This feature has been in the past few iterations of NCAA football. Nothing new to see here. 

Names of players - This is the first year where I can remember the players having random names at the launch of the game. In prior iterations of NCAA football, players would just have a number. However, I am sure the names are temporary and will allow for the community to post accurate rosters a few days following the launch. Watch both here and at operationsports.com for rosters to look out for in the EA locker. 

Offense seems too easy in this game compared to the last edition. I was struggling on pass defense against Ohio. Braxton Miller was able to pick apart my secondary no matter the alignment or if I threw man-to-man or zone coverage at them. This is completely not in real life with his crappy arm. 

I wish you could alter the depth chart

I thought the game didn't come out until July. I have it pre-ordered from BestBuy for July 9 I think.

They got piped in music at the Big House right.

that the super linebackers and ice skating DBs are gone. I'm impressed after one game. Full disclosure: I did beat Ohio 14-7. My positive impressions could be jaded lol

After being disappointed with the completely broken Road to Glory and lackluster gameplay of 13, I don't know why I would get this version other than for the cover.

That being said, I'm hoping the issues you guys are having with overpowered offense will be easily corrected with adjusted game sliders. The community support for rosters and sliders are a HUGE reason why I will consider this year's edition.

The names part doesn't really matter as you can download real rosters from people.

I question the gameplay difficulty. Haven't played the demo yet, so I don't know if you can change the gameplay setting. Also, I don't know if it was set on "Varsity," "All-American," or "Heisman" while you were playing it.

What I do know is the higher level of difficult it is set on, the harder it will be. Usually on Heisman you get errant throws (based off of previous game play), while when it is set on the easier setting, the QB accuracy does go through the roof. 

Either that or Gardner is a god.

[EDIT:] Also, the name issue may just be with the demo version. When they released the top ten players on each team, roster names showed up like always (i.e. QB #12)

image from BHGP

I've played NCAA 12 and 14 and on both of them it's pretty easy to pass. The game I've played forever is NCAA 05 and that game infuriates me with how hard passing is and the incesant dropsies that every single wide receiver has no matter how many stars he has. I literally have all four of my wideouts as 5*s in that game and I get 5-10 drops every single game. Makes me furious

I think this game has taken a HUGE step forward from 2013. This one, at least in terms of the demo, is much more realistic with the physics. One thing that irritates the $&@# out of me is when you have a 200 pound RB getting stuffed by a 170 pound FS/SS coming on a blitz and they truck you and you lose two yards even though you have FORWARD MOMENTUM. That continually irritated me and about 6-10 PS3 controllers.
The new Physics enhancement or whatever they call it was incredible. I think the starting RB for UM was Rawls (38??) and I was picking up an average of 4.8 YPC on my first game against osu, which I played on Heisman and won 23-14.

They made Braxton WAY TOO GOD like in this game as he connected on a lot of Hail-mary type passes always targeting Countess (which I thought was a little rediculous). Unless I'm way too biased, I didn't think osu had a complete stud that can catch anything thrown his way double/triple coverage or not.

I was HELLA impressed that linebackers could not single-handedly influence a game with one-handed picks (NCAA 2012) or extraordinary leaping ability (NCAA 2013); this alone makes it worth buying to have over 2013 [if you're not buying it soley for DENARD ON THE COVER!!!!]

I played it briefly last night, and I had mixed feelings.  I hadn't played since NCAA 12, but I didn't feel like there was any major progress (well, duh, it's EA) and there were a few things that I actually thought were worse than years before.  The graphics and colors look too cartoony now, and the animations seem even more choppy and unrealistic.  Maybe these things will be improved when the game is released, but I wasn't impressed in those areas.  The running felt more fluid and I like the hard cut.  Some new tackle animations and supposedly they added some real time physics but I'd prefer if they go all out with the physics so we don't have to see the same 10 tackle animations every time.

I can't decide if I'm going to drop the $60 bucks on this one.  I didn't last year.

The one thing I wish I could do with the coverage is find some way to make the defenders read run/pass a bit faster. I've tried playing Cover 4 with my safeties showing blitz in order to replicate the defenses that Sparty has used the past few years to try and shut down Denard with little success. I mean...it is very difficult to defend the legs of someone like Braxton Miller without weakening your pass D's responsiilities, but I would like the game to let me try it with something other than blitzing on every down.

Had a lot of fun playing with Oregon and TAMU's offenses, though! The read option is MUCH improved.

do you know if you can delete and create conferences, and adjust a team's rivalries?  In last year's game, when I adjusted the B1G, moving Nebraska back to the Big12, I hated that Iowa would still play them for the annual Heroes Game.  I'd also love to be able to condense the mid-majors into two conferenes.  Small beans stuff, but I'd still like to have more control.

It sounds like they made the recruiting process less time-consuming, very happy about that.

Playing this, a few times I would adjust a formation to have the "spell hb" in. Our back up RB is #3. Which I'm guessing is Derrick Green (EA always screw up freshman numbers), but then that puts Fitz all the way to third on our depth chart. Really think they have our roster a little messed up.

My biggest gripe is that the the Devin Gardner-esque quarterback for Michigan threw 4 interceptions in the game I played.  This clearly wasn't my fault and is proof the game is faulty as I properly and timely pushed the right doohickey on the thingamajig.  I fully expect EA sports is aware of this problem and will have these quirks worked out by the time the game is released.

if the Lbers cant out jump Lebron I'll be happy.

not blown away, I like the variety of tackling the madden physics bring but at the same time I had an awkward ankle grab loss of balance sack that sent braxton falling embarrassingly impossible. I wish with the coordinator came it would zoom more or some after the line of scrimmage is passed for offense. Played one game on varsity to get a feel, won 28-7. threw 10-11 3tds, ran for 150. I will give it a go on all American tonight, work my way up.

make sure you buy it from best buy, they give you a big ten pack for ultimate teams. also if you want madden buy the anniversary edition from amazon($99) you get the NFL Sunday ticket free for mobile, some deal otherwise. read the details, I will get the mobile and use a pc and plug it into my tv. roughly paying 39.99 for Sunday ticket with this deal and madden for $60. worth it to me.

The Ask the Coach feature makes you feel like you're in Borges' head?  So did the game call the I-Form Iso with undersized RB and terrible interior line play?

Still not over it....

Maybe varsity was a little too easy.

Gardner: 8/8 118 yards 2 TD's and 45 yards rushing

Miller: 4/7 34 yards and 22 yards rushing

The best part of the game was the last play where freshman running back #3 from virginia (Green) scooted 77 yards in clean up time. It just got me excited I guess.

SI Link: here

The author seems to think Johnny Football looks like Bill Paxson... There is a very slight resemblance, but the point is he looks nothing like the real Johnny Manziel.

Not impressed. The physics are improved, but it still is the same game. Just brighter colors now. As usual, with 20 seconds before halftime, I was able to just run Shotgun Trio Verticals and complete two 50 yard bombs for a TD before time expired.  The vertical passing game is super easy. Darboh had 4 receptions for 160 yards and 2 TDs in 3 quarters for me. I quit after that. 

There was one thing that really irked me. A few times, with a wide open gaping hole, Rawls would duck and slow down for no apparent reason and end up getting tackled for a 3-4 yard gain by a DE that had been sealed off by my RT. Should have been 15-20 yard runs. Pretty lame.

If this game cost $25-30, it would be worth purchasing. At $60, it's a waste of money. I'll wait for the price drop on Amazon.