Follow TV Tropes

Following

YMMV / NCAA Football

Go To

  • Broken Base: EA's announcement that the series will contain an "Ultimate Team" mode (just like Madden and FIFA Soccer) when it resumes following its hiatus has devastated long-time fans of the series. The microtransaction laden, online-only mode essentially turns it into a collectable card game with an arcade sports game tacked onto it and you can get better "cards" by paying real money. If it is anything like its EA Sports sister series, it will shift the emphasis away from the classic, single-player modes (such as the popular Dynasty) which seems to be more stripped down in terms of features and struggles with more bugs/poor AI decision making/odd simulation results which get worse each year.
  • It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: A common complaint toward the series is that each new installment is "just a roster update" from the previous year. It's worse here than in Madden, because it technically isn't supposed to be a roster update.
  • Scrappy Mechanic: The despised system for making phone calls to recruits which basically spins a roulette wheel of topics, allowing you the option of pitching your school's merits on that topic or discrediting your rivals on that topic. It's obnoxious enough that you, the head coach, can't choose to pitch whatever you want. This can lead to the bizarre result that the coach of Stanford might never get to sell his school's academics or the coach of Miami can never sell the school's gorgeous campus. However the roulette wheel sometimes stops on topics that you know the player doesn't care about leaving you forced to try and pitch him anyway. This was removed for 13, then the recruiting system was completely overhauled the following year.
  • Screwed by the Lawyers:
    • The game was suspended between 2014 and 2024. The NCAA strictly forbids athletes from receiving any financial compensation for their participation in college sports, including endorsements and licensing. This means that all the players in the games could not be referred to by name (but stats, age, and team was okay). In response to legal disputes from former players over demands for royalties for their apparent portrayal, the NCAA ended its licensing agreement with EA. This only meant that they couldn't brand it as an NCAA game (in fact, the first two were called Bill Walsh College Football instead), as EA still had license agreements for team names and other elements from unrelated parties (such as individual conferences and the Collegiate Licensing Company, while ESPN had tie-ins for integration of its talent and television presentation in the games). However, the conferences followed suit and pulled their license as well, essentially shutting down the series during that span.
    • In 2021, EA announced that they were reviving the series around the time it became clear the NCAA was going to fold on its restrictions on players making Name, Image and Likeness deals. They have the rights to use around 120 of the 130 FBS schools (notably missing Notre Dame) and may feature students' likenesses if the NIL deals can be sorted out. The game is on track for a 2024 release.
  • Tainted by the Preview: When the series resumes, EA has confirmed that there will be an "Ultimate Team" mode, just like Madden and FIFA. The microtransaction laden, online-only mode has long been detested by veteran players of those series due to the focus it receives detracting from the single-player modes, which seem to be more stripped down in terms of features and struggles with more bugs/poor AI decision making/odd simulation results which get worse each year. This announcement was met with revulsion by long time NCAA Football fans hoping for a return to the Dynasty Mode glory years of the early '10s.

Top