Great graphics are not enough; the many glitches in this game take a lot of enjoyment out of playing.
There are a few very good aspects of NCAA 12. First of all, the graphics are excellent. Players look better than ever. You can see textures on the player's jerseys and the field. Stadiums are also more detailed. The developers at EA have also added team-specific entrances for a few of the more popular teams. There are also small improvements that have been added to the Dynasty and Road to Glory modes. In the Road to Glory mode, there are now stat bonuses that you can purchase to make your RTG player better. Some of the bonuses are for one game while others are permanent. You also have to opportunity to play through your entire senior year of high school in RTG mode. In your senior year, you can play on both sides of the ball, so you can earn offensive and defensive scholarships. For Dynasty mode, EA has now added the option to be either Offensive or Defensive Coordinator, instead of just a Head Coach. When you are hired, for any coaching position, you have goals that you need to reach. If you accomplish most of your goals, you are offered a contract extension or a better coaching job. At the end of each season, there is a Coaching Carousel that keeps track of open jobs and shows what other coaches have changed jobs. Since many teams in real life have been changing conferences lately, EA has also added the ability to change conferences in Dynasty mode. These new improvements help make Dynasty mode deeper than ever before.
While EA did many things right, it did get quite a few things wrong. In a game that has been developed every year, I am surprised by how many glitches there are in this game. When playing a game, if you hold the Triangle button (I'm playing on PS3) after a play to go to No-Huddle, there is a pause, sometimes as long as 4 or 5 seconds, where the game freezes. There are also many glitches in the Online Dynasty mode. Many times, in an Online Dynasty game, the game will freeze at inopportune times. The online dynasty server will often times be down, and the player has to exit and enter again, many times losing the work done. One time, I won a bowl game against Purdue, but the server didn't save the results. Instead it said that I lost, and I couldn't go back and change the results. It's a little dis-heartening to work hard to make it to a bowl game, only for the game to give you a loss you didn't deserve. I hope that EA will fix many of these glitches in future updates, but for now, these mistakes are holding a good game back.
While I love the NCAA Football series, I am disappointed by all of the small things that EA didn't get right. I have enjoyed many of the improvements to this game, and the core gameplay is still quite good. However, for a game that is made every year, I wish they would anticipate these mistakes. All of the glitches in this game have me hoping it'll be better next year.
Graphics - 9.0
Sound - 8.0
Gameplay - 5.0
Value - 6.0
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Overall - 7.0