There’s an previous concept that second efforts usually aren’t nearly as good as the primary. It’s referred to as the sophomore hunch, and there are a dozen causes for it. Sophomore college students don't care as a lot as freshmen; bands have much less time to jot down, apply, and document a second album than the “breakout” hit they labored on for years earlier than anybody knew who they have been; athletes who’ve distinctive rookie years regress to the imply; and so forth. There’s no denying the facility of new automobile odor. I feel half of the rationale College Football 25 popped off as onerous because it did (and trust me if you happen to’re not sure: it popped off) was it’d been more than a decade since NCAA 14 and people actually, actually wished a new game based mostly on school football. It didn’t damage that it was additionally a good game, however the yearly “it’s the same game as last year” fatigue of the sports style hadn’t set in but. That makes College Football 26 the true check.
I’ll be sincere, reader: I haven’t had a ton of time with this sequel but (I've been busy ending up my review of Mecha Break, which I assumed was fairly great), so these impressions are going to be fairly gentle. One of the issues I’m in as I play more is how this automobile handles after we’ve put some miles on her, and if it falls into the identical hunch so many video games, bands, and college students have hit earlier than it. But whereas that continues to be to be seen, I’m having a fairly good time to date.
Part of that is College Football 26 is built on a really firm foundation. College Football 25 was a good game, and it still has that infectious spirit and sense of tradition that made it a nice change of pace from the more straight-laced Madden. From what I’ve seen, College Football 26 builds on that in good methods. One of the issues I’m appreciating most is the Trophy Room, which tracks the true world trophies you’ll accumulate throughout your whole profession, no matter what mode you’re in. It’s cool to see stuff just like the Heisman Trophy, the Unitas Golden Arm Award, and the Orange Bowl Trophy collected in one place, and be capable to find out about them, too. There’s a lot of historical past to varsity football, and I respect that EA has tried to seize that.
So far, most of my time has been spent sneaking Quick Play video games in the place I can, so I haven’t actually dug into College Football’s main modes an excessive amount of but (one thing I plan to treatment this weekend), however I’ve observed some on-the-field stuff that makes me completely satisfied.
The little change I’m happiest about is to how defenders play the football when it’s in the air. If you’ve performed College Football or Madden in the previous couple of years, you’ve most likely been intercepted (or had one of your defenders intercept) a move that they will’t see with out turning round. They’ve basically acquired eyes in the back of their heads, and it may very well be very irritating. EA has stated they’ve modified that, and in my testing, it’s confirmed true. Now a defender has to see the ball to choose it off, and also you’ll discover defenders turning their heads (or not) earlier than the ball arrives. If they don’t, nonetheless, it doesn’t imply that defender can’t make a play on the ball. They can nonetheless swat it. It’s a good change as a result of it’s two-fold: you now even have a cause to swat the ball down as a substitute of going for the choose each time, and higher defenders can now make plays average ones can’t.
I’m additionally a large fan of dynamic subs and customized zones for defenders. The former permits you to swap gamers on the sphere and never simply on the playcall display (thank God), although you will have to attend a play for the substitution to take impact, and the latter is the defensive model of final 12 months’s customized stems for routes on offense. I benefit from the defensive game more than the offensive one, so with the ability to set the place I need my zones to be on the sphere in real-time and never in a menu is welcome. I’m having fun with enjoying round with these things, and I think about I’ll be utilizing it fairly a bit.
Now that I’ve the time to actually dig into College Football 26, I’m excited to see all the brand new additions to Road to Glory, the place I’m actually trying ahead to with the ability to play my high faculty profession, in addition to all the brand new bells and whistles in Dynasty, which is the place I think about I’ll be spending most of my time. But the on-field stuff is the place it counts. I can’t say but if EA has averted the sophomore hunch with College Football 26, however I’m going into this 12 months optimistic, and that’s not nothing.