EA Sports' "NCAA Football 12" hits stores today, and it looks "stunning, whether it's the details to shadows and lighting or the new-look 3D grass," according to Joe Cowley of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. How the game "feels compared with the 11 version is even better." Its "new looks include a more detailed 'Road to Glory' in which you can play offense and defense as a high school prospect to increase your worth to colleges," and there is a "new 'Coaching Carousel' where you simply call the plays." Cowley notes the game "actually had" NCAA sanctions and investigations "on the PlayStation 2 version, but when the PS3 version came out, the NCAA asked to have the sanctions aspect removed." Game designer Ben Haumiller said, "We had to make that concession even though it is a black eye and something you can't help hear about. ... (The NCAA) doesn't want the perception that there are things out there that they don't know about" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 7/12). In N.Y., Lang Whitaker writes the game as a "sports simulator" is "entertaining and immersive." Cheerleaders, marching bands, "various mascots and field-entrance traditions have been included," and these "flourishes certainly add to the realism and evoke the spirit of the college football experience." Whitaker: "It is hard to find room for improvement in a game that has more than a decade of refinement built in" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/12).
GOOD NEW HOCKEY GAME: PRO HOCKEY TALK's James O'Brien notes it has already been reported that EA Sports' "NHL 12" will "include a Winter Classic mode" and be released Sept. 13, but EA "provided a more complete view of the biggest changes in store for NHL '12 recently." Among these changes are "anticipation AI," "full contact physics" and "dynamic goalies." O'Brien writes, "It looks like 'NHL '12' could be a significant upgrade over 'NHL '11' if EA's innovations work out as well as advertised" (PROHOCKEYTALK.com, 7/12).
