NCAA Football 12

by Electronic Arts

• Enhanced Tackling Engine - Your college gameday experience rises to a whole new level with an all-new momentum-based collision and tackling system that allows you to control a player to the moment of impact.
• Conference Customization - Create new rivalries and alter the landscape of college football forever by realigning conferences throughout college football. Build new 16-team super conferences, create conference schedules, decide BCS bowl tie-ins, and more.
• Authentic Gameday Traditions - Feel the true emotion of college football as your team runs onto the field with new pre-game traditions like the Sooner Schooner and Ramblin' Wreck, and celebrate big plays alongside school icons like Chief Osceola, Uga, and Tommy Trojan.
• Coaching Carousel - Roam the sidelines as a coach in an enhanced Dynasty mode. Start off as a coordinator or take over as head coach to begin your coaching career. Stay off the Hot Seat as you climb the ranks of the coaching ladder and lead your dream school to a coveted national championship.
• Your Road to Glory - Be an Ironman and play both sides of the ball in your final season of high school while getting recruited by the top schools. In college, fight to keep your starting job and earn your coaches' trust to unlock extra abilities on the field en route to becoming a Heisman trophy winner.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B004P8GL60
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches ; 2.4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: July 12, 2011
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (147 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,083 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #7 in Video Games > Xbox 360 > Games > Sports > Football
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: Xbox 360

Amazon.com

Chart your path to collegiate gridiron glory from high school to college.
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Pick Your Path to Collegiate Gridiron Glory

NCAA Football 12 lets you experience the rise to dominance of a young, up-and-coming gridiron star hoping to make his way to a college superpower of choice and eventually a national championship. Experience the pride and pageantry of gameday Saturday like never before as you go from high school superstar, to top college player, to head coach in Road to Glory and Dynasty modes. With an enhanced in-game presentation, new traditions, and an all-new collision system, make an impact by leading your team to the National Championship with NCAA Football 12.

Key Game Features

• Dynasty Mode - Dynasty Mode in NCAA Football 12 is all about customizing your experience. Through the Coaching Carousel you can start out as a head coach and climb the coaching ladder to your dream job. With Custom Conferences you can alter the landscape of college football by editing conference membership, conference rules, and BCS bowl tie-ins to your liking.
• Conference Customization - Create new rivalries and alter the landscape of college football forever by realigning conferences throughout college football. Build new 16-team super conferences, create conference schedules, decide BCS bowl tie-ins, and more.
• Authentic Gameday Traditions - Feel the true emotion of college football as your team runs onto the field with new pre-game traditions like the Sooner Schooner and Ramblin' Wreck, and celebrate big plays alongside school icons like Chief Osceola, Uga, and Tommy Trojan.
• Enhanced Tackling Engine - Your college gameday experience rises to a whole new level with an all-new momentum-based collision and tackling system that allows you to control a player through the moment of impact.
• Road to Glory Mode - Live your journey to a national championship like never before as you explore your high school years like never before, including: games, practices, tracking colleges that you are interested in and your progress in earning a scholarship.

Additional Screenshots

All the pageantry of the game. View larger.

Authentic gameday traditions. View larger.

Dynasty mode customization. View larger.

Enhanced tackling mode. View larger.

Product Description

NCAA Football 12 takes the journey of the college athlete to the next level of depth and authenticity. Experience the pride and pageantry of gameday Saturday with all new enhanced in-game presentation, traditions and school specific crowd celebrations. Make an impact on the field as your team takes down your heated rival on the road to the National Championship.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed August 29, 2011

By Black

Platform for Display:Xbox 360

Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

I have been a fan of NCAA football since the beginning of time, and I was actually excited for this game to come out to see the new improvements made. I liked some of the improvements made such as the new coaching carousel in the dynasty mode and the fact that you can play your whole senior season in the Road to Glory mode. But The AI on the game is unrealistic and running the ball on the Dynasty mode is WAYYYYYYYYYYY to unrealistic, I play on Heisman and everytime either I run the ball or the computer runs the ball its a big play. I have never seen a real college football game where everytime a player runs the ball he breaks a 60 yard run or something of that nature. And the reason why this happens is because when they break these big plays the o-line knocks everyone to the ground thats in front of them which is also unrealistic, I had 1500 yds by game 6 and I was using Michigan and Im a past first type of player, thats RIDICULOUS. There are so many times i have over 200 yds by halftime thats so unheard of. Secondly I hate how the LBs can jump and knock everything down when the pass is supposed to go 25 yds down the fields, there is no way they jump that high to knock passes down, but wont let the manual player's LBs do the same thing. There is no defense to stop the computer from breakin a big run each possession with the ball whether its man or zone, and alot of my friends who have the game complain of the same thing its TERRIBLY unrealistic, NCAA 11 was better off with the running than this yrs copy. Wasnt worse the 60 dollars and EA sports needs to correct the problems. Plus they need to bring Lee Corso back and change up the commentary from yrs past.

188 of 223 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Review of NCAA12 from the largest NCAA specific community forum September 15, 2011

By Travis7401

Platform for Display:Xbox 360

Fun: 1.0 out of 5 stars   

In the wake of Patch #2 for NCAA 12, the moderating staff and community at Utopia (the largest NCAA specific community forum) wish to express our displeasure and frustration in an open letter to EA and the so called "Game Changers" and "Community Sites." EA's NCAA football series served as the catalyst for this site in 2003, and though the Utopia community has evolved to the point that it is no longer centered on EA's game, we still have a common wish for a quality college football video game. This franchise was once unanimously recognized as one of the most enjoyable and innovative sports games on the market, but has now fallen to such depths that virtually everywhere you look, more and more people on forums all across the internet are expressing extreme frustration and displeasure with both the game and the company that makes it. We see three obvious factors that have contributed to the environment that allows such an abject failure of a video game to be released (with good reviews, no less); exclusivity limiting competition, EA's patching methodology, and the "Game Changers" marketing scheme which helps to fracture the community and marginalize legitimate concerns about the game.

Problems caused by exclusivity:

Due to the fact that EA has purchased the exclusive rights to the NFL and NCAA football games, they have effectively pushed out all competition from football gaming. This means that they can release bug-filled games without the risk of losing customers who would buy a more polished football game if one were available. One need look no further than the recent failure of EA's basketball game to see the effect of competition on sub-par and bug filled games.... The Madden and NCAA series have been plagued with bugs similar to those that caused NBA Live to be shelved, but without competition the games will continue to be developed with as little effort as possible. The results of the lack of competition speak for themselves. The NCAA series has devolved to the point that gamers can expect even the heavily marketed new features to be completely non-functioning at launch.

For instance, NCAA '09 touted a new roster share feature that was supposed to allow people to create custom rosters and easily share them with their friends. Unfortunately, the roster editor feature of the game contained a glitch so that once a certain number of players were edited, teams started completely disappearing from the game. On top of that, "Wide Open Gameplay" (the tagline for that year) translated into "No Defense At All", and the game quickly turned into a complete joke as it was nearly impossible to stop anybody on defense. On NCAA '10, the game was released with sliders that did not work (i.e. they had no impact on gameplay at all), with rosters that were clearly flawed, and with a new "run commit" feature that was so overpowered it virtually destroyed any gameplay balance (particularly for online play). NCAA 11 touted the new "locomotion system, which effectively broke zone defense, and new web based dynasty interfaces like the "Dynasty Wire," which turned out to be incredibly buggy (frequently crashed or displayed the wrong information) and is still listed as "Beta" on the website.

This year, one of the most heavily marketed new features in NCAA12 was custom playbooks, something Utopians have been asking for since the feature was dropped with the move to next-gen systems. As many have come to expect from EA, the custom playbooks feature was completely broken at launch. It contained a glitch which would cause the playcall screen to go blank and would result in players standing around in a huddle over the football rather than lining up in the correct formation. In addition to the custom playbook glitch, the new custom conferences feature was also broken at launch, containing massive scheduling errors that rendered it unusable. In addition to problems with new features, there were also numerous instability problems that caused the game to freeze or crash, as well as several glitches that affected online dynasty mode, such as dynasties not being able to be advanced properly and wins not being correctly recorded. At this point, the game is so bug filled that you are lucky to finish a game without a crash or disconnection. Even if you do finish the game, the result may have been recorded incorrectly, making your efforts futile. It is like clockwork; every new feature will be completely broken at launch and features that worked in the past will have new and crippling bugs.

We acknowledge that all video games are released with some bugs, but we feel that the lack of competition due to exclusivity has allowed EA to release football games that have more numerous and game-killing bugs than any other title. NCAA12 is the least stable console game that we have ever played. If EA had true competition in the football gaming world, they would be forced to either shelve the game, like NBA Live, or go back to the drawing board and dedicate more resources to releasing a quality game, like the FIFA series.

Problems Caused by EA's Patching Methodology:

In general, the ability to patch games has been both a blessing and a curse for gamers. While a good patch can save a game that would be otherwise derailed by a small bug, it also allows developers to release games that are basically unfinished, counting on patches to tie up all the loose ends. Nowhere is this practice more prevalent than in sports games, with their rushed yearly development cycle.

With the NCAA series, EA manages to take the "release an incomplete game and patch it" model to an incredible new low. Not only do they release obviously unfinished games, but in an effort to patch problems, they introduce new and bigger problems. For instance, last year EA released a patch that was supposed to address some problems with defensive AI and overpowered man to man coverage, and it instead resulted in a new glitch were the QB could pump fake backwards (towards his own goal line), and cause all of the defenders to immediately abandon their assignments and run towards the line of scrimmage.

While there is a long, well documented history of these issues, NCAA12 has taken things to a completely different level. This year, after waiting for nearly two months, EA released a patch that was supposed to correct some of the problems with custom playbooks, online dynasties and system stability. Producer Ben Haumiller closed his blog about the title 2 update with "Thank you again for your patience for the arrival of this second Title Update. I trust you will find that it has been well worth the wait." To put it bluntly, Ben, It was not "worth the wait." The patch not only failed to fix the majority of the problems it claimed to fix, but it also caused new problems that affected the no-huddle (a prominent feature for NCAA 11) , completely removed some formations from the game, and caused a host of new issues with the few custom playbooks and online dynasties that had the good fortune to work before the patch. Not only did EA release an extremely flawed product for sale at retail in July, but it took almost 2 months to release a patch, and the patch turned out to cause numerous new problems. At this point, it is obvious that the development team for NCAA football cannot even patch their own game without introducing a cornucopia of new glitches and bugs.

Problems caused by EA hijacking "The Community."

Over the past few years EA has gone to great lengths to improve their faltering reputation with "The NCAA Community." Whether it came in the form of sending EA representatives to forums, the "Community Leaders" program, or the Game Changers" program; EA has shown that they value having a positive image in "The NCAA Community." While this all sounds great, we find their efforts to be entirely disingenuous.

Before they even try to reach out to "The NCAA Community," EA attempts to define "The NCAA Community" in a way that eliminates those who are openly critical of their product. For instance, Utopia is notably absent from EA's list of "Community Sites," despite the fact that we are the largest NCAA specific community. The only interaction we've had with EA this year was a Cease and Desist letter in response to our April Fool's prank, proving that they not only read the site, but they also did not find our prank nearly as funny as we did (in retrospect, our April Fools descriptions of the game were actually far more accurate than the glowing reviews found on other sites). We acknowledge that EA attempts to avoid interaction with us because we are uncouth, drunk, and/or overly hostile; but that doesn't mean we aren't part of the community!

We also aren't the only ones to be excluded from EA's community program. Several other critical community members, including those who belong to TheSimStandard YouTube group (many of whom have provided incredibly detailed documentation to show problems with the game and ways to solve them) are also shunned by EA. This, despite the fact that they reach far more people than many of the "Community" sites that are included. For example, videos uploaded by TheSimStandard channel contributors have combined for a total of 713,955 views and they have well over 20,000 subscribers, while several of the sites that are included in the program appear to reach fewer than 100 members and are rarely updated with new NCAA related content. The simple fact is that EA has systematically worked to prevent anybody who is openly critical of their game from receiving any official recognition for their efforts. Instead, they choose to define "The community" as those sites, regardless of size/exposure, who will toe the EA company line.

The "Game Changers" program, much like the "Community Leaders" program before it, is a complete farce. As much as EA talks about incorporating community feedback into the game, it is increasingly evident that EA does nothing of the sort, and these programs are simply an extension of EA's marketing strategy. Simply put, we do not see any substantial in-game results from the "Game Changers" program, but we do consistently see a ton of pre-release hype along with glowing reviews. To be fair, we do not fault the "Game Changers" in this. We truly believe that most of them have the best intentions and that they have put in a lot of work attempting to make this a better game. The problem lies entirely in the fact that EA simply can't (or won't) make most of the changes suggested by the "Game Changers." The game engine itself is so archaic, bug-filled, and ad-hoc at this point that most of the common and recurring issues cannot be solved without a significant commitment of resources from EA, which is a commitment they won't make. Instead, EA will take input from the game changers and promise grandiose changes like "Custom Playbooks" and "Pattern Matching Coverage," while the actual implementation of those "features" will be nothing but ham-fisted tweaks to an aging game.

Beyond being simply ineffective, we believe that the "Game Changers" and other EA sponsored "Community" programs fracture the true gaming community and create a divisive environment that allows EA to release such buggy games without the proper amount of community outcry. This is due to the fact that EA places the "Game Changers" in the unenviable position of answering to angry gamers for all of EA's fumbles. These "Game Changers" serve as the only link between the average frustrated gamer and the NCAA football developers. They become de-facto customer service representatives, without the paycheck. The frustrated gamers and the frustrated "Game Changers," who now must put up with misguided personal attacks, end up divided. Instead of directing the frustrations and anger at the proper target, the community bickers between themselves.

We are therefore extending an olive branch to the "Game Changers." We don't hate you, we just lash out in frustration because EA has forced you to play customer service representative for a terrible product. We even apologize for directing our anger and frustrations at you, when EA is clearly the culprit. Please join us in calling EA out for the incredible levels of failure that are present in NCAA12 and Patch #2.

Signed-
The Utopia moderating staff and frustrated NCAA gamers elsewhere Read more ›

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars So close, yet so far away... February 16, 2012

By C. Kowalski

Platform for Display:Xbox 360|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

Where to begin? OK, before you all "dislike" my review, let me state my NCAA credentials. I have owned almost every iteration of NCAA football from EA sports since 2002. That's ten years of NCAA experience. So, believe me I am a lover of NCAA (mostly because it is college football, NOT because of EA's game). My review is going to be about the core mechanics of the game, not so much about the different modes and such. Of course those are a fun/cool twist on the game, but if the actual gameplay is lacking it doesn't matter how many cool game modes you have, the game still sucks.

Graphics - OK, let me first say I am a HUGE graphics guy. I love nothing more than a beautiful game/movie. Let me say the graphics on this game are top notch. I would say 4/5 stars for graphics. The movements of the players, the tackles, catches, etc. are great. I take one star away because there is always room for improvement and some tackling/catching/throwing sequences don't look that great.

Overall college environment - Good. I like that they brought back the intro to the games with all the mascots and fans cheering. That's fun and adds to the overall college football feel. 4.5/5 stars.

New tackling system - Great. This is a much needed improvement; no more sliding to make a tackle/get tackled. HOWEVER, the game has other ways of getting around this (see my AI section). 4.5/5 stars. The tackling really is this good and there are what seem like endless ways for a player to be tackled. I also really like that you have the option of performing a low or high tackle. For instance, if you are controlling a DB and a big running back comes out of the backfield and you don't hit him low, your guy is gonna get run over. JUST LIKE IN REAL LIFE. I like this touch.... One drawback is that you really have to be spot on with your tackling with this new system. I can't tell you how many tackles I have missed by simply running right by the ball carrier. If you press "x" before you get to the runner the game will help you with the tackle but this doesn't really help either because you have to press that button at exactly the right time or you will fall flat on your face if you press it too early, or you will completely miss the tackle if you press it a hair too late. This gets annoying but I'll take it over the previous slide tackling system.

Running - Great. I like the current running system because it is doable but difficult at the same time. If you're good and can spot holes or see potential holes getting ready to open up, you will torch defenses. But, if you come across a stellar D you will be hit in the backfield many times because your linemen can't sustain their blocks long enough. 4.5/5 stars.

Passing - Terrible. 2/5 stars. It seems NCAA will never get the perfect combination between the passing and running game. Some years the passing is amazing and the running is ridiculous. This year the running is fun, the passing is horrible. This section will leak a little into my AI discussion but oh well. So, first off the thing I can't stand more than anything is how high the linebackers can jump. It's laughable. If the AI decides it won't let you complete a pass over the linebacker's heads, even if you're guy is wide open down the center of the field and there's no possible way the safety can make it to him, the linebacker will LITERALLY jump at least 3-4 feet in the air to knock the ball away or intercept it. It is probably (emphasis on the probably) the worst part of the game. And this isn't new to this edition of NCAA, it has been a chronic problem that still hasn't been addressed. Second, if the AI has decided you will not get a first down/win the game/score a touchdown what they'll do is send 5-7 guys on a blitz and drop back the rest into coverage. So, let's say you have a couple deep patterns called, the game will have one DB covering two receivers (that ARE NOT close to each other by the way) and it doesn't matter who you throw to because the DB will have just enough time to make it to either receiver to knock the ball away or intercept it. How is this accomplished you ask? No, the defender does not warp to the ball or fly or anything crazy, he just has eyes in the back of his head and instantaneously starts running toward the receiver whose button you just pressed. Oh, and his back is turned to you the whole time because he's running with the receivers. No exaggeration at all. How is that fun? How is that realistic? Do DB's know exactly where the ball is being thrown on every play especially when their back is turned? Hell no! It's completely stupid and makes the passing game ludicrous. So, long story short, if the AI has decided against you when you call a pass play, there is LITERALLY NOTHING YOU CAN DO. OK, some of you might say, "Well that happens sometimes, some teams just have good D!" I say to you no, defenses can't see with the back of their heads. There are way better ways to make the passing game more difficult.

Defense - Fine. Defense is fun. It is fluid, has good plays, and in my opinion has never really been the weakness of NCAA. The AI is terrible though but I'll save that for later. 4/5 stars for defense.

AI - OK, EA if you are reading. PLEASE MAKE YOUR AI BETTER. Easily the worst part of the game. No question. 0/5 stars and I do no exaggerate. I could write 4-5 pages on how bad the AI is. It makes the game a 4.5/5 stars to a 1/5 stars in my opinion because the AI IS the game. The quality of the AI makes or breaks the game, period. OK, so it's pretty simple. The AI has an agenda. Every game you play is predetermined who will win. I guarantee it. So, if you are playing a dynasty mode, your entire dynasty is planned out (probably even if you play 50 seasons). The computer probably has your win/loss record already mapped our for you. Why do I say this? Because there is no beating the computer. The computer is in complete control of the game. Every aspect of the game besides you is 100% controlled by the AI. Every QB pass (accuracy/distance), every receiver's route, every linebacker's step, EVERY PLAY. If you don't believe me, when was the last time you played EVERY SINGLE PLAYER'S POSITION ON THE FIELD? Exactly, you play one guy and the computer plays everyone else including the guys on your team. So, let's say you're on offense and you call a run play during a game where the computer will not let you win. What happens? Missed blocks, fumbles, holding penalties, defensive linemen that are as fast are your 99 speed RB. So, let's imagine it's 2nd and 4 and you call a run play on a crucial possession (you have to score or you lose). You bust through the line and make a beautiful few moves to get a 12 yard gain, but the AI doesn't like that, so they call a holding penalty pretty much as you're getting tackled... On a LINEMAN!!! The guy that is 10 yards back and you have already long since passed him? That would NEVER happen in real football, it's just the computer calling back that 12 yard run because it would make it so the computer wouldn't win. Haha, and this is only the beginning. So, this morning I played a game (pretty much the reason why I finally decided to write this review) and I had 5 turnovers in the first quarter. FIVE. 3 fumbles and 2 ridiculous interceptions. All but one turnover resulted in a TD for the other team. I was down 31-0 by the end of the first quarter. And my team was ranked no. 2 in the country and my team was AMAZING. That never happens either. I could rant for hours, but let's just say the AI blatantly cheats when it isn't going to let you win. Fumbles, interceptions, dropped passes, penalties, missed blocks, passes smacking the receiver right in the face without them even raising their arms to try and catch it (happens a lot actually), defender's starting speed (if I'm playing safety and instantly recognize the run or pass play the AI makes my guy run ultra slow-mo until it knows I don't have enough time to get to the ball and then it lets me go), EVERYYYYYYYTHING is controlled by the AI. Even the great passes and runs you make, those are because the AI held up someone so you could make the play. I have had countless bomb TD passes where I go to instant replay after and see the DB covering my guy just slow down midway through the play which gave my receiver that extra step and led to the TD. The only game you win is the game the AI lets you win. End of story. So, how do you make this better? Make the defense better! Make the players faster, the coverage tighter, the D linemen shed their blocks fast! Make it so I literally have NO receivers to throw to! Make the linebackers read plays faster! Just make it so player skill is actually a part of the game. If I'm an amazing NCAA player, then I should beat the computer sometimes legitimately (without it letting me win). Player skill has no place here because AI decides it all.

Summary - I would give this game a 4.5/5 stars if it weren't for the horrific AI. That easily brings this game down to a 1/5 stars because it makes it not fun to play. DEFINITELY PASS ON ALL SUBSEQUENT VERSIONS OF NCAA FOOTBALL UNTIL EA DECIDES TO MAKE THE AI MORE REALISTIC. Sorry this is long-winded but it all had to be said. Read more ›