NCAA Football 13 Review with a Giveaway

NCAA Football 13 was released last week, and my son wanted a copy to try out all the new features and manage his online Dynasty team.  The game was released a few days before he left for a week at Boy Scout camp, and he wasn’t expecting to get it until he got back, but I thought it would be fun to get it beforehand and play it together as a family. So I headed off to Walmart to pick up a copy.

Now many Walmarts have big displays like this one to promote the game,

 

but the Walmart I went to was under construction and reorganizing, and I had a hard time finding it.  It was on the shelf mixed in with all the other games.

 

I grabbed my copy, along with some other last minute things my son needed for camp, and headed home give it a try.  You can see my entire shopping trip in my Google Plus album.

 

Of course there are a bunch of features that are new and exciting for NCAA13.

• An All-New Passing Game – This was the most noticeable difference we saw when we started playing.  Even a casual player like me could tell that I had a lot more control of where the quarterback put the ball.  You can make the receiver react to the defense, and it was fun, but not too hard to use.
• Reaction Time – This allows you to slow the game down during key moments and increase you on-field awareness.  This was nice, and is definitely gives the game a different feel.
• Heisman Challenge – With this feature you can pick from a selection of former Heisman greats and add them to your team!  This is cool, and it challenges you to try to match their stats from their Heisman winning season, which is harder than it sounds.
• Dynamic Dynasty – This takes recruiting to a new level because it adds scouting into the recruiting picture and changes your recruiting grades each week based on how you perform.  I am not into making a Dynasty, but this is one aspect of the game my son loves.  He really gets into the details of creating a team, and following it for a season of play.

One of the things I Iike about NCAA13 Football is that is not just for football fanatics like my son, but is fun for the whole family.

You can play in silly modes, like Mascot Mashup, where you field a team made up team mascots.  My son and daughter had a blast playing the Stanford Trees against the South Carolina Chickens, and watching trees and chickens run around and tackle each other.  For non-football fans like my daughters this adds a layer of goofiness which makes the game more appealing.

It also allows you to pick quirky matchups, like Alabama against Idaho.  No, they probably wouldn’t play in real life, but it is amusing to see how far you can run up the score!

Another thing you can do to add to the enjoyment is the You’re Covered program.  With this you can upload a picture of yourself or a loved one and replace the cover photo on the box.

To do this you just go the app on the EA Facebook page, and follow the simple instructions.  Not all the teams are available for the cover photo, so I couldn’t make my son a player at our local school, Syracuse University.  But he is a big fan of Navy too, so I selected their blue and gold navy uniform for his cover.

Then I uploaded a recent picture of him and printed it out on my printer.

It was simple to cut along the lines and slip it into the case, and he loved the result.