NCAA Football 14 Demo Impressions

The date to mark on your calendars first is July 9^th. NCAA Football 14 is about to do more than impress all of you college football fans and gamers alike. The demo has officially release on Xbox Live and PlayStation 3. So without further ado lets dab into the teaser we now have possession of.

NCAA Football starts you on the right foot in preparing you for its full release by immediately awarding you an exclusive Nissan® Heisman® winner Ultimate team item. Less than two weeks from demo launch, the exclusivity will come to light.

Separating the demo from its previous years is the option to demo more than one faceoff. In NCAA Football 14’s demo you can play as Alabama v. VA Tech, Ohio State v Michigan or Oregon v. Texas A&M. But before we talk about the gameplay, lets preview the Nike Skills Trainer mode.

Nike Skills Trainer will help you develop yourself with offense, defense, pre-play and running. Think of it as the old virtual trainings that used to be offered in madden to help the game discover the ideal A.I. skillset. If you know how to play or feel comfortable enough with controls, it’s honestly a feature you can skip right over.

The opening for each game was strong. The home team received a huge boost of adrenaline for the upcoming game, and the gamer gets a true sense of a live broadcast on the way. Graphics for the most part are the same from NCAA Football 13.

Animations indeed receive quite the improvement. An NCAA highlight on offense was the juke combos that work in your favor if you can find the perfect timing. Right alongside this feature is the new stumble recovery QTE. You can’t always stay afloat as sometimes you just might stumble or fall. Using your right thumbstick will help you regain your balance when it matters the most.

Infinity engine 2 WORKS! Players weren’t stumbling over each other, the tackling system is much more fluid, generally the perfect patch from Madden NFL 25.

NCAA football players did however at times glitch into the benches, players ran through other players, the engine locked up a few times during and after interactions.  I mention these simplicities based on the fact that it’s rare to see hiccups this much in EA’s demoes.

Halftime shows from  Reece Davis and David Pollack are also left out of the demo, but the commentary is there. Conversations are rich, though at moment’s notice, voices cut off in the middle of sentences as if I was skipping ahead of scenes.

Gameplay was pretty solid, but some of the issues stood out like sore thumbs, a rare event for NCAA. July 9^th is right around the corner. Will this be the year of Madden? Or will little brother showcase in a big way? Only time will tell.