My (hopefully) constructive criticism review (long post)

[Nugget699]

Now, before I start, I'd just like to say hello to everyone as this is my first post on this board. Secondly, I live in Australia, having been born in England and follow Soccer passionately, and show a relatively big interest in NFL, yet have basically no knowledge of College Football. So this review may seem a bit biased but this is merely my interpretation of the game. I'm basing this review from the demo. [U][B]Here we go then...[/B][/U] As a fan of management/coaching games I am always keen on trying out new games, just to see where each game is heading, and I feel that this game is brilliant in simulating the real world of College Football but falls short on the actual gameplay, allow me to explain. [B]Starting the game[/B] As soon as you select "New Game" you are presented with the standard options of including your name and which team you wish to coach. In BBCF, you can also edit team names and conference names to create a "fantasy" league, but this seems a tad stuck on. For example, in OOTP you can create your league entirely from scratch, how mnay conferences, how many teams in each division etc. with BBCF your stuck with the same amount of teams in each conference, except all your doing is changing the name, which to me has no point, as the idea of name changing and editing is to create an entire new fantasy world, not just rename a conference and the teams within it. As I type this I am aware of the Editor thats coming out, so perhaps that may quash those gripes I have with the game. Your also allowed various other options, which for someone with no experience in College Football can seem a tad confusing. The "Underclassman Declare" option for example, adds to a complex set-up screen, and theres nothing more frustrating then completing half a season only to realise you forgot to select a certain option, forcing you to start over to get full enjoyment. The Start up screen does seem fairly straight forward and it shouldn't take you long to get going on building up your squad. [B]The Layout[/B] The layout of the screen is fairly inituitive making full use of all avaliable space to stick in some stats or graphics to give you an "at a glance" type feel to the game. But my biggest complaint about the layout it can give the feeling of being too cluttered. And when you have a complete newbie like myself staring at tonnes of text and numbers the game can feel a bit daunting. Some solutions to the problem could be to allow the window to be a bit bigger, perhaps even full screen, or even get rid of some of the options that to be honest I don't think really need to be in full view all the time. The "New Game" "Load Game" and "Save Game" buttons for example can be tucked away into a corner or a pull out menu from the side. Even the sections within each Timeline section (Finances, Roster, Schedule and Recruit within the "Camp" section) can be placed into menus, as all the links don't *have* to be viewed all the time, i'm sure users are able to realised the budget is going to be in the Finances section without haveing to be shown all the time. This alone will free up valuable space in a small window. The text also seems too small for my liking, admittidely theres a lot of text and information to be shown on one screen at any given time, but constantly reading small text can sometimes give me a bit of a headache, however, I could be in the minority here. On the whole though the layout is very solid, and gives a real modern day feeling to the game and polishes the game off nicely. [B]Advancing the Timeline[/B] This is one of the best ideas i've seen implemented and games such as OOTP, FM and EHM can really learn from. It simply involves a Timeline showing the coach/user which problems/items need to be addressed, and even have tick boxes to help the user in organising themselves. This is a wonderful setup, and for a newbie to College Football like myself can really help as it allows the user to focus on one thing at a time rather then being bogged down with multiple tasks. The E-Mail inbox even receives E-Mails giving you the basics behind certains rules that you have to abide by, and explains the advantages and disadvantages of things like Redshirting players, again a nice touch to help the newcomers to learn the basics. Unfortunately, it seems to stop after a while and the game seems to assume you know half of the other stuff. While explaining Redshirting it fails to explain to me how Play-offs work and who gets to the bowl games etc. I think this game could do with a really thick handy manual explaining these things to stop players like myself wondering if i'm going to be playing in the post season or not. [B]Ready, Set, HIKE![/B] Of course, the simulation of the games can make or break a game and without a doubt this game has got College Football nailed. You can simply allow the game to be simmed or you can call the plays yourself. Above the "play calling area" theres a top down view of the pitch showing you the line of scrimmage aswell as various other vital stats such as yards to go, downs, timeouts etc. etc. The simulates very well and even without the play calling I sometimes sit on the edge of my seat just watching the lines going forawrd and backwards. A small gripe is I prefer to watch dots on the field ala FM2006, because if my WR is constantly getting forced out of the game then I would like to make my own decisions, rather then reading numbers showing he isnt performing. I'm much better at looking at pictures then text, but this is a minor problem, and is just something I would like to see in the future. [B]The Database[/B] The number crunching in the game seems very realistic, but without any knowledge of College Football I think its unfair to comment on something I know nothing of, but I would like to see an option to get rid of the "Overall" and "Potential Overall" columns. To me, this is a form of cheating, and its much more enjoyable to discover a player with a huge potential then *know* his got a huge potential just by looking at a column. It makes things much more interesting to judge a player by his skills rather then just saying "This guy is 4.5 overall where as he is 4.0, so I'll play the first guy instead". [B]Odds and Ends, Summary[/B] On the whole it is a superb game, and seeing as its the first version the only way to go is up for this great title, which does seem to suffer from long loading times, but that is forgivable knowing its a great game. On thing which I would like to see added, is the tool tips, where you hover over things and it gives a description. In a game that uses many abbreviations this could come in really handy as I sometimes feel a bit lost looking at all the differant numbers and text without knowing exactly what they are. For me, personally, I don't really enjoy College Football and the $35 price tag is just a bit high for me, so I won't be investing in the game this season. Hopefully Grey Dog brings the NFL to our fingertips to, as that would be a real treat, but if College Football is your thing and you want to make the calls without leaving the comfort of your home then this is a must. 7/10 from me :) Disclaimer: I understand this might be a tad biased, but please leave your comments, perhaps even direct me to some websites that explain the set-up of the College Football and how the Bowls are worked out would be great too. And please don't flame me, i'm just offering my opinions on the game :)

[Bryan Swartz]

Good, thoughtful, well-intentioned post. If you get flamed, they are idiots, ignore them. On the Overall/Potential columns, I would agree with you if they were always accurate. They aren't, to my understanding. They are based on your scouting abilities, and as such, can be wrong. There are also many situations where you may want to ignore them entirely -- for example if you have an extremely run or pass-based offense linemen who are slightly better, but are bad at run/pass blocking aren't the best for you. So automatically playing the best 'rated' overall guys is not always going to be the best thing. The desire to have more flexibility with league setup is something that is totally understandable, but a bit ambitious IMO for a first-generation game. For me I want depth and realism before that specific kind of flexibility. A game that really plays like college football. This will, I think, be the closest thing I've yet seen to it once Arlie gets done working out all the updates/patches. It certainly has the potential to be at least. Layout is more of a personal preference thing. It has grown on me, though opinions will differ of course. For general info on college football, bowls, conferences, etc. I would recommend ncaafootball.com, though there are many excellent sites you could choose from.

[jbergey_2005]

Good Post, IN regards to the cluttered screen, this game is so in depth it is needed, and I personally prefer it that way. What makes a game get stale in a hurry is lack of depth. One thing I have noticed from every GDS game I have purchased, TEW05, TPB05, and now bowl Bound, is the depth and accuracy of its simulation engine and the variable outcome generator. With the depth of GDS games, I would be very difficult to disguise options to simplify the game. When I purchased TEW05, I basically hadnt watched wrestling in 15 years and had no idea about Kayfabe and current workers. Just from learning the game and reading the forums, I have started watching wrestling again and loving the game. Being a person, that cant play arcade games due to boredom once you learn that game, feeling that beating on the computer 42-0 gets reduntant. I truely love what GDS offers, the game is never too easy and never lets you become bored because you can always get a 'curveball' thrown your direction. I would truely recommend this game, the simple mistakes seem to be getting fixed shortly and you will soon become addicted to college fb and this game. Sorry to get off your post, the email and checklist helps you learn the game fast. I do agree watching plays unfold would be nice, I am sure a sequal to the game may add that, like the total pro basketball has. I do know what you may be feeling in regards to not having a grasp of college football however, The popular soccer sim, I wont mention it on this site but I am sure you know what it is. I have tried figuring that out, and I have the slightest idea how the loan system in Europe works in regards to soccer, so I guess with no background into the sport it makes it for difficult me to play. A taskbar and explanation would be very beneficial for me in this game.