Sports games may be the hardest genre to review. With your average title you can critique story, characters, art design, and a host of other facets that the medium lends itself to. But a realistic sports sim, by its very nature, must observe a strict adherence to one design, one aesthetic, and the singularly goal of gradual iteration towards some hypothetical future perfection. As a reviewer, all you can really do is play the game and do your best to communicate its relative value in a heavily monopolized market.

The first and most interesting addition to the game should be evident the moment you look at the front of the box. Standing alongside last year’s Heisman Trophy Winner Robert Griffin III (or RG3, as the cool kids say) is Barry Sanders, who graduated from college almost a quarter of a century ago. His spot on the game’s cover is well-earned though. The highlight of NCAA 13 is the Heisman Challenge, a new mode which tasks you with recreating the greatest years of famous college players. Greats like Doug Flutie and Herschel Walker appear next to a few more questionable inclusions (*coughTebowcough*), but with about a dozen to choose from and even more as DLC, there should be at least something for every football fan.

What makes Heisman Challenge so satisfying is that it is a complete power trip. The realism of the core experience is nice, and it’s even great to see some of the interviews with the men themselves at certain points during Heisman mode, but nothing is as much sheer fun as tearing through defenses as some of the greatest players of all time. In my first game as Barry Sanders I wracked up over 100 points by myself. Think of this mode as “Score Attack,” as opposed to Dynasty Mode’s role as a sort of main campaign. Add “Road to Glory,” “Mascot Mash-Up,” and your average everyday exhibition match into the mix and you have a surprisingly content-rich piece of software.

RG3 has the coolest football nickname outside of "Megatron" and "The fridge."

An interesting new mechanic in both Heisman Challenge and Road to Glory is “Reaction Time.” Simply put, it’s Matrix Bullet-Tme. For a few seconds you can slow down the action in order to make a more precise juke, get more time to read blocks, or look over your receivers. These precious few seconds regenerate over time, so that spacing out your usage of the power becomes another facet of your gameplan. It’s wholly silly and unrealistic, but a lot of fun anyway. Of course, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to use it. Just like the option to skip forward until your next offensive possession, Reaction Time is just another tool for players looking for a more arcade-influenced kind of fun.

In the realism department, there are a couple of noticeable improvements to the core gameplay. The touted “Read and React” defense is a definite improvement, significantly cutting down on legacy issues like linebackers with unrealistic vertical jumps and cornerbacks making plays on passes they shouldn’t have known were coming. Perhaps more importantly, Play Action is finally a reasonable option, as A.I. defenses will actually bite on the fake, allowing you a few seconds to go through your progressions before being brutally gang-sacked. There is still the occasional case of defensive backs dropping surefire interceptions, but it doesn’t seem as egregious as years past.

He's approaching ludicrous speed!

The air game has seen some significant tweaks as well, dubbed “Total Control Passing.” It may take a while for you to notice, but it does feel as though quarterbacks more reliably drop the ball where it should go, as long as you put the appropriate amount of power into the throw. These improvements are more iterative than the defensive ones though, so don’t go in expecting any major reworking of the offense. Honestly, I would trade the next couple years of running and passing tinkering for a solid overhaul (or replacement) of the physics engine. Madden 13 is promising something similar though, so hopefully we’ll see it in next year’s collegiate offering.

The last real relevant improvement is the scouting system for Dynasty Mode. I’ve always considered NCAA 13‘s approach to be a necessary evil to the realism of the college football experience, but this year Tiburon has actually managed to make it fun. With new ways to view stats, players, and your team’s weak points, the user interface is staggeringly more friendly than previous editions. Every option and icon is clearly labeled, and you never feel overwhelmed by all of the choices. Of course, it’s still a shame that the human element of the game is completely randomly generated, but I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Uh, that doesn't look like jim kelly to me….

Technically speaking, there aren’t many noticeable upgrades on display. Character models and animations both have their awkward moments, as it seems they’ve more or less given up on the graphical capabilities of this generation of consoles. Of particular note was a between-play cutscene of a player stretching that seemed to play every other down. I also ran into a couple of glitches, most often involving sound cutting out at the end of a play. Load times were noticeably long as well, especially when moving from menu to menu, where it feels like the unnecessary visual excess of the transitions was dragging down the processing speed.

If I have any other major complaint it is the announcer commentary. Kirk Herbstreit and Brad Nessler are still bland and rarely insightful, and Lee Corso’s bizarre antics are sorely missed. It’s such a shame too, as I noted in my The Show review that some sports video games were almost as fun to watch as their TV counterparts. It may not be a big deal to some players, but I would really appreciate some more intelligence, humor, and contextual relevance in the commentary next time. Even accuracy would be appreciated; I was quite baffled when a sack resulted in the two chuckleheads berating me for throwing into double-coverage.

wut.

The way I see it, there are two kinds of people who would use a review to influence their sports game purchasing decision. The first kind is the hardcore fan, who just wants to make sure there isn’t anything terribly wrong with the new installment. Those people can rest assured that this is a solid and competent product. The second, and arguably more important, group is made up of casual fans who only buy a sports game every once in a while. Recommending NCAA Football 13 to them is a bit harder, since there aren’t any real paradigm shifts this year that make it a must-own. Therefore, I’d say that you can probably wait a little bit to pick this up, but you’ll be perfectly happy once the price goes down a tad.

A copy of the game was purchased from a retailer for review purposes and played for about 15 hours in every mode. The title was played on PS3, but is also available for Xbox 360.

Also, follow me on Twitter @austinyorski (please).

NCAA Football 13 Review

By Austin Yorski

Calm yourselves! I know gamers love sports, but you must be patient with this review. It is like a fine wine.